Two rescued from sailboat off Cape Lookout,NC

[Kettlewell]

Take the ICW instead of going around Cape Hatteras, especially during the winter, please.

[sailvayu]

Kettlewell is right, During the spring and fall we get rapidly moving frontal systems that push off the coast here often intensifying as they do. The waters in that area are very shallow for a good distance off the coast. Causing ocean waves to pile up and get very short and steep. You can always tell when you approach the shelf from off shore by the waves alone. There are really no usable inlets till you get south of Lookout as well. I am not going to armchair this one other than to say I would not make that jump unless I was very sure I had at least a week of good weather.

[estarzinger]

^^

"called rescuers after running out of gas and tiring from battling the stormy conditions."

If that's a true statement of the facts (and it may well not be, because these newspaper reports are often full of errors). Then (IMHO) this was professional negligence on the part of the paid captain on several levels, (a) should have gone inside the ICW, (b) should not have run out of fuel, (c) should have been able to sail with a following wind after running out of fuel. These are very basic elements of seamanship that one should/would expect a professional captain to have well in hand.

[boatman61]

Having come into Beaufort in a blow heading back from N of Bermuda I can vouch for some crazy waves... not so bad with southerly's but once it goes N they start stacking up.. and 20 miles out is not far enough.. always go for the searoom... land is an illusionary refuge...

[Blue Crab]

I missed this though I live right here. I can say it was windy. I had trouble getting from the truck to the bar. Seemed to blow 25+ for at least two days, and big gusts. And a north wind, as noted, is really tough here, and being on the edge of the stream, against the flow, tougher still. It calmed way down today. Maybe it will be brought in here. I'll check it out.

The Graveyard of the Atlantic stikes again. I wouldn't have wanted to be in the ICW with this wind.

[IrishMistIV]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

Glad they made it off okay. I wonder what happened. . . .

Sailboat rescued off Cape Lookout - Local - The Daily News, Jacksonville

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Two men were rescued by the Coast Guard Wednesday after their sailboat became disabled off of Cape Lookout.

Jim Southward and Pat Schoenberger were aboard the Andante II approximately 25 miles east of Cape Lookout at about 5:34 p.m. when they contacted the Coast Guard that they had lost engine power, steering and were taking on water, according to a Coast Guard news release.

When an aircrew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City arrived the two men jumped into the water and swam away from the sailboat, allowing the aircrew to hoist the men while avoiding the hazard of the sailboat’s 41-foot mast, the release said.

The men were hoisted into the helicopter and taken to the air station. There were no reports of injuries.

Hhhhh

[Kettlewell]

Practically every time I've been in Beaufort during the late fall or early spring someone has either limped in or been towed in with significant damage after a struggle in the Graveyard of the Atlantic or the Gulf Stream. It is not worth it to flirt with the arrival of bad weather thinking "we can just make it." Things go wrong, the weather speeds up...

[Blue Crab]

Caution: Unofficial report

Both Seatow, Morehead City and the Coast Guard had no info on the boat, and opined that she was still adrift. The CG asked if I had seen it.

Then I called local salvor/pilot/diver/adventurer/rancher Craig Cannon, infamous in these parts for jumping out of his Cessna to recover an abandoned boat a couple of years back. Craig was under the impression the boat sank. He seem quite reserved about it and two beers says he goes flying today to have a looksee. With luck, he'll call me to go along.

Checking further I found a Baltimore Sun article reporting 4 rescues that same night and two elderly fishermen's deaths north of this incident off Assateague barrier island. The CG had troubles themselves:

While it was possible to pull off amazing rescues from the air, on the water it was a different story.
A Coast Guard crew feared for safety on its way to the fishing boat off Assateague.
“There was a point where we actually went from a search mode to a survival mode ourselves. Actually went into some of the worst sea conditions I’ve ever seen in my 20 years in service,” a Coast Guardsman said. Coast Guard Rescues 4 Sailors Between Md. & N.C. During Winter Storm « CBS Baltimore

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

...... I have read of boats calling MayDay thinking they were sinking only to discover the water was coming in through the cockpit lockers as they were continuously swept by breaking seas.

Even as a wet-behind-the-ears adolescent, when I first got the chance to crew for real sailors on real sailing boats, I could NEVER understand why any builder would make cockpit lockers effectively part of the interior, instead of part of the cockpit.

Even for sailing in harbours, it made no sense to me whatsoever, and it still doesn't.

[Kettlewell]

I had a boat once that had cockpit lockers that ended at the cockpit sole--in other words, they were part of the seats, but sealed off completely from the interior. Plus the cockpit drained aft through holes in the transom, eliminating a couple of big through hulls. It was a great system, and I could even store things like gasoline jugs in those lockers because the drains in the bottom were pretty big and vented both ways--into the cockpit and overboard.

[Kettlewell]

Anybody have an update on this? Has the boat been salvaged?

[Blue Crab]

I checked this a.m., as I imagine you did. Nutin. Even my salvage guy knows nutin. Maybe the "pro captains" scuttled it. We've got to have someone in Annapolis that can check this out.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I had a boat once that had cockpit lockers that ended at the cockpit sole--in other words, they were part of the seats, but sealed off completely from the interior. Plus the cockpit drained aft through holes in the transom, eliminating a couple of big through hulls. It was a great system, and I could even store things like gasoline jugs in those lockers because the drains in the bottom were pretty big and vented both ways--into the cockpit and overboard.

Seems like a good idea even to retro fit something that will seal the lockers better. Though the prudent mariner would also keep them latched somehow too when in bad weather.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

I checked this a.m., as I imagine you did. Nutin. Even my salvage guy knows nutin. Maybe the "pro captains" scuttled it. We've got to have someone in Annapolis that can check this out.

Thanks I too am curious where she might end up. Might be heading this way riding the Gulfstream. Would be easier to find these abandoned boats if all ocean cruisers had AIS transponders left on or their EPIRBS left on board once they leave the boat.

[Kettlewell]

Even when latched a lot of lockers will let in copious amounts of water if submerged, which will be happening in really bad conditions. In those conditions water pressure finds every little crack and sends streams of water into the boat interior.