Sea Nymph Spotted Adrift

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

boatman-
Whether the Captain chooses to use a vessel for target practice (a bona fide need) or perhaps simply chooses not to risk having any crew on a vessel that is going to be sinking...for some reason their practice is to shoot the hell out of a boat in order to sink it. Not to just open the seacocks. (Open seacock, slip in companionway, drown with boat. Board of inquiry will never be happy with that one.)

I'm only commenting on what news keeps getting back to me. Above my pay grade to ask or explain why they decide to do it that way. (Maybe firing lots of guns is considered good PR.)

OTOH there's a story that keeps going around about an assist from the battleship New Jersey (?) off the California coast in the 70's. Supposedly, they just swung out a recovery crane and took someone's sailboat on board, all the way back to port. Nice to have resources that size.(G)

Good excuse for Gunnery exercise and target practice would be my thought.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

OTOH there's a story that keeps going around about an assist from the battleship New Jersey (?) off the California coast in the 70's. Supposedly, they just swung out a recovery crane and took someone's sailboat on board, all the way back to port. Nice to have resources that size.(G)

Very cool, if true. What a great opportunity to clean your bottom while getting an assist!

[Lihuedooley77]

Back in the day, when I was flight instructing, we flew out of fullerton , Ca.
in southern calif. To do our our work over the ocean, the New Jersey and another BB was in long beach naval yard getting a refit. Looking down at her, she was one mean looking muther.....and if she were to unleash any of her guns on that derelect there would be nada left of that sail boat. And I mean zero.

When this tall sea tale of the two women and dog hit the news and this forum, the whole tale sounded like BS. A lot of things were racially wrong.

Including the mentality, seamanship and common sense of the crew. As to the idea of writing a book. let the dog be the author, and you may get some actual facts.

Their horror story about about sharks circling the boat. Well, a long, long time ago, before I got into sailing, I was flying at the time I went out on a fiends wooden power , fishing boat. maybe 22-25 feet .

That day, This real shark incident occurred a few miles outside of long beach , L.A, harbor. Between the mainland and catalina.

The sea was glassy calm and it was foggy. And the owner and my other work friends were slamming down the booze. I just held off. I had a bad feeling . I know zip about boats. No time to be whacked out on booze.

All of sudden, we were surrounded by , my guess, hundred or more blue sharks, they were all around us , in the very glassy and calm seas. No worries, just stay on board the boat, no big deal. They were just cruising probably looking for some free chum, bait lunches.

Well, one of the group of four, grabs a pike, leans over the side, and snags a blue...maybe 4.5 to 5 feet LOA. He pulls it over the gunnel into to aft deck of this old power boat. Now this is not a tired , worn out shark caught by a fisherman, This is one P.O'd angry shark that is flopping and snapping.

My brave okole, immediately went up the short ladder to the birdge, and looked at chaos going on in the aft deck area. Some how, they got that snapping shark back over board with out being bit. Bloody stupid !

Well, that was my first and last experience on power boat with drunk fisherman.

Oh, and here we are in the thick fog, and the drunk skipper tells me to take the boat back into the harbor thru Angels Gate....( entrance thru the Los Angeles harbor entrance thru the rock break water. He says " You fly airplanes, take us back. " We cannot see jack, vis is about 50 to 75 yards. I asked about a chart, and what was our pos. NO GPS in those days. I needed to know where we were to plot a course to where we wanted to go.

Nope, zip to all of the above. All he says is the heading is about such and such. So, I flew IFR on the ships mag compass, and darned if we did not find the entrance, but the vis had come up to about 1/4 mile. I could see the long break water rocks. We returned safely to the slip.

The next week, this boat owner , who was a fellow employee where I worked asked me if I wanted to go out with them again. That was a no.

Trust me , I am not making this up. That next trip, on the following monday, I find that they left the dock and got as far as the floating bait barge. They wound up loading up with beer and stayed at the barge, knocking em down.

Now they are headed back to the slip in in the narrow channel, and the same idiot ( who was my supervisor at work ) a handsome 6'3" of supposed leader ship, as they are in the narrow marina channel he leaps off the stern of the vessel into the water.

The owner / skipper , knows zip about man overboard procedures, slams in the power and spins the wheel hard over. He is hauling okole, doing a tight 180 in that very narrow channel....

Kee- rack ...Bam The aft quarter area of the wooden hull slams with force into the end of a finger slip. Huh-0h !

The hit punches a good sized hole in the hull and the the old wooden power cruiser is really taking on water.

They haul a drunk, wet an soggy, studly smooth back on board and all ahead full to a hall out company, run the straps under her bottom and pulled the boat out before she sank.

The point being, the skipper and the drunks, as well as those two women knew zip about seamanship or had an ounce of common sense.

The difference in the women's shark story and the supposed eminent sinking of their sail boat, to be devoured, and the above sea story, is that the above was factual.

The positive thing about what I experienced was that I learned about who to have on board my vessel, and when someone invites me out sailing, I really look at their seamanship ability and their mind set. Since I have no say in the operation of the vessel.

Even then, you never know exactly what the crew will be like, but we have managed thru a few bad decisions on my part. One was a delivery from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico up to LA. harbor....that that was posted here before...total surprise as the three bearded crew were trained in our sailing club....makes no difference with all three I discovered to be alcholoics. Big time. The only one that I could trust for the passage was Erica.

And you all need a break, so end of tales....

All of the posts that i read here , agree that Sea Nymph's sea story had many, many snags and shoals..

Yea for the dog !

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by LLCoolDave

After the rescue why wasn't the boat scuttled? Honest question.

It seems to me she should have been. Does anyone on this forum know why not? Any applicable law of the sea or potential liability for not having done so?

[Lihuedooley77]

Buzz

This whole situation is not understandable. The Navy who originally rescued the two women, is an official entiiy, and we would think they would have the authorization to declare the sailing vessel a hazzard to navigation.

Personally, and of course this is all hindsight, the race vessel also could have sent a boarding party to track down the source of the leak. Like a loose fitting or hose in the head area ( especially if the head was up forward . or a thru hull that was blown out or leaking.

When we see water down below on the cabin sole or anywhere, I taste it to see if it is fresh or salt. That narrows down where the problem might be.

Another actual sea story.....Erica and I were sailing a rented 34 ft sailing vessel , which we were members ( more like the individual owner had his own private sailing club, and we paid the dues, along with a few other members ..maybe three ).

We were sailing from Newport Bay, down to Dana Point, The winds had picked up, about halfway down the coast. We fun flowed into one of those, I see another boat nearby lets race. The other vessel of cruisers were off our port beam about 100 yds, same direction. Sailing well.

I went down below to do something, and discover we have a cabin sole covered in water. I tasted it...Salt. So I started searching the source.

I open up the door under the sink in the marine head, and find that a large hose was not connected anything except the thru hull. It had been carelessly re -positioned and the open end stuffed up high above other head area hoses. We were heeled over on a starboard tack and the intake was under water. We were taking on sea water at a rather rapid rate.

I closed the thru hull, turned on the bilge pump and got a bucket out of the cockpit locker and started bailing. Just Erica and I, she was at the helm.
We continued sailing and keeping our vessel under command.

Up goes bucket after bucket and I am tossing the contents overboard, the people on the other vessel are looking and pointing . " What is up with those people. ?" ( meaning us ). Good question.

We just kept on sailing and passed them . After all the bailing, I swabbed the cabin sole clean and dry so we would not slip or lose footing. The race continued.

What the heck happened ? Well, the owner had redone his head system, DIY, and took that intake hose that really had no were to connect to, since he rerouted the system..and just stuffed the open end up high into the dark upper recess under the head sink...my closing off the intake fixed the problem.

Prior to departure, when I was checking out the head valve settings on overboard, , and Also closing off the marine head sink intake, that would back syphon under way, I did not see that the large end of the hose that was up very high and out of my normal sight range, was totally free but still connected to the intake system.

That was my bad, lousey inspection. the buck stops at the skipper.

Point being, maybe for Sea Nynph, if competent crew, or sea wise personnel from the ship or the race boat would have boarded and inspected they may have been able to find and fix the problem.

As to any maritime law that would prevent boarding and inspection, I am not aware.

From what the original crew appeared as to seamanship and sailing ability, maybe the tought was, If we scuttle this boat, those two owners will probably sue us.

Why no one boarded the vessel to ascertain what was causing the problem and perhaps fixing it, thus making the vessel seaworthy again....I guess that is just another take from this whole wierd situation.

It even compounds into more problems...the Navy boards the vessel, fixes the problem, pumps her out, and puts the women back on board to sail the boat to the nearest port.....off they go again to get lost or have other extremus situations occur and are permanently lost at sea. , or killed running up on reef....who knows.

Here come more lawyers hired by mommy and daddy.

Fun and interesting thread .

[CaptTom]

Was that really the Sea Nymph? Did anyone catch the name in that drone video?

I'm quite sure, if I were just cruising around, I'd investigate a vessel adrift. Once I was sure no-one was ill or worse on board, My damage control instincts would probably kick in and I'd do any minor repairs, hatch placements or thru-hull valve settings within reason to keep it seaworthy.

If it were a notorious vessel like Sea Nymph, I'd do everything possible to make it salvageable. A lot of people want to know the true condition of that boat and rig!

I suppose in a race things would be different. Just make sure there's no-one in peril and be on your way.

In a way, it's sad we'll never know the whole story. In another way, I think we already do.

[Bill Seal]

The last copy of Sail mag has an editorial excoriating others for not believing the cock-and-bull fairy tale of these "simply scared" ding-bats.
You really CAN fool some of the people some of the time.

[1000 islands]

Originally Posted by LLCoolDave

After the rescue why wasn't the boat scuttled? Honest question.

Weren't the crew planning on coming back to claim her and bring her back home?

I think I hear or read somewhere that they had dropped one of the dog's poops close by so they would know where to find the Sea Nymph.

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "The last copy of Sail mag has an editorial excoriating others for not believing the cock-and-bull fairy tale of these "simply scared" ding-bats."

Of course it has! How SAIL mag keep the advertisers aboard if they weren't Politically Correct?

TP

[CatNewBee]

Well, the wind generator is still running, solar is up too.
No problems at all I guess...

Would be nice if she circumnavigates as the first vessel
without crew and steering to show them how it works ...

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Lihuedooley77

Back in the day, when I was flight instructing, we flew out of fullerton , Ca.
in southern calif. To do our our work over the ocean, the New Jersey and another BB was in long beach naval yard getting a refit. Looking down at her, she was one mean looking muther.....and if she were to unleash any of her guns on that derelect there would be nada left of that sail boat. And I mean zero.

When this tall sea tale of the two women and dog hit the news and this forum, the whole tale sounded like BS. A lot of things were racially wrong.

Including the mentality, seamanship and common sense of the crew. As to the idea of writing a book. let the dog be the author, and you may get some actual facts.

Their horror story about about sharks circling the boat. Well, a long, long time ago, before I got into sailing, I was flying at the time I went out on a fiends wooden power , fishing boat. maybe 22-25 feet .

That day, This real shark incident occurred a few miles outside of long beach , L.A, harbor. Between the mainland and catalina.

The sea was glassy calm and it was foggy. And the owner and my other work friends were slamming down the booze. I just held off. I had a bad feeling . I know zip about boats. No time to be whacked out on booze.

All of sudden, we were surrounded by , my guess, hundred or more blue sharks, they were all around us , in the very glassy and calm seas. No worries, just stay on board the boat, no big deal. They were just cruising probably looking for some free chum, bait lunches.

Well, one of the group of four, grabs a pike, leans over the side, and snags a blue...maybe 4.5 to 5 feet LOA. He pulls it over the gunnel into to aft deck of this old power boat. Now this is not a tired , worn out shark caught by a fisherman, This is one P.O'd angry shark that is flopping and snapping.

My brave okole, immediately went up the short ladder to the birdge, and looked at chaos going on in the aft deck area. Some how, they got that snapping shark back over board with out being bit. Bloody stupid !

Well, that was my first and last experience on power boat with drunk fisherman.

Oh, and here we are in the thick fog, and the drunk skipper tells me to take the boat back into the harbor thru Angels Gate....( entrance thru the Los Angeles harbor entrance thru the rock break water. He says " You fly airplanes, take us back. " We cannot see jack, vis is about 50 to 75 yards. I asked about a chart, and what was our pos. NO GPS in those days. I needed to know where we were to plot a course to where we wanted to go.

Nope, zip to all of the above. All he says is the heading is about such and such. So, I flew IFR on the ships mag compass, and darned if we did not find the entrance, but the vis had come up to about 1/4 mile. I could see the long break water rocks. We returned safely to the slip.

The next week, this boat owner , who was a fellow employee where I worked asked me if I wanted to go out with them again. That was a no.

Trust me , I am not making this up. That next trip, on the following monday, I find that they left the dock and got as far as the floating bait barge. They wound up loading up with beer and stayed at the barge, knocking em down.

Now they are headed back to the slip in in the narrow channel, and the same idiot ( who was my supervisor at work ) a handsome 6'3" of supposed leader ship, as they are in the narrow marina channel he leaps off the stern of the vessel into the water.

The owner / skipper , knows zip about man overboard procedures, slams in the power and spins the wheel hard over. He is hauling okole, doing a tight 180 in that very narrow channel....

Kee- rack ...Bam The aft quarter area of the wooden hull slams with force into the end of a finger slip. Huh-0h !

The hit punches a good sized hole in the hull and the the old wooden power cruiser is really taking on water.

They haul a drunk, wet an soggy, studly smooth back on board and all ahead full to a hall out company, run the straps under her bottom and pulled the boat out before she sank.

The point being, the skipper and the drunks, as well as those two women knew zip about seamanship or had an ounce of common sense.

The difference in the women's shark story and the supposed eminent sinking of their sail boat, to be devoured, and the above sea story, is that the above was factual.

The positive thing about what I experienced was that I learned about who to have on board my vessel, and when someone invites me out sailing, I really look at their seamanship ability and their mind set. Since I have no say in the operation of the vessel.

Even then, you never know exactly what the crew will be like, but we have managed thru a few bad decisions on my part. One was a delivery from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico up to LA. harbor....that that was posted here before...total surprise as the three bearded crew were trained in our sailing club....makes no difference with all three I discovered to be alcholoics. Big time. The only one that I could trust for the passage was Erica.

And you all need a break, so end of tales....

All of the posts that i read here , agree that Sea Nymph's sea story had many, many snags and shoals..

Yea for the dog !

Probably the most brains aboard other than possibly conniving.

[goat]

Someone should helicopter Rimas aboard. He's looking for a good driftworthy boat.

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"After the rescue why wasn't the boat scuttled? Honest question."
Do you have any idea how expensive ammunition is?
Since it was in the middle of nowhere, endangering nothing, and potentially sinking it could be seen as grounds for a lawsuit (can't salvage it if it is sunk out there)...The Navy ignored it. Not their problem.

Now as to salvage...
If you want to spend the money to charter a C130, or whatever can get out there and try to spot the boat again, fast, before it moves. And you can put together a salvage crew, including repair parts and provisions for maybe a month to cover your landfall somewhere....Sure, you can invest fifty or a hundred grand to salvage a boat that has been so extensively kludged that it probably is worth five grand on a good day. Oh, remember you may need to take sails out with you too, or a new engine. It is unclear whether anything still works on that boat.
Gotta move fast though, before you lose it again.

Somehow, someway this boat should be united with the young couple that ran their boat aground in western Florida after 2 days and since then has been begging online for money.

That would be a match made in heaven :-)

[goat]

Originally Posted by Mikado

Somehow, someway this boat should be united with the young couple that ran their boat aground in western Florida after 2 days and since then has been begging online for money.

That would be a match made in heaven :-)

Haven't they suffered enough?

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by Pete7

It remains a permanent reminder of a great folly.

It also has its own eco system growing on the hull by the looks in the latest video, so the environmentalists will want it protecting from any interference.

I doubt that since it would encourage invasive species wherever it finally goes aground...