Yet another yacht lost last night

[jamhass]

There's lots of stuff in the water just waiting to be hit. In nearly every long distance race, at least one boat loses a rudder, skeg, whatever due to a collision with an unseen object.

[lesterbutch]

I see someone mentioned a shipping container, I have seen them on a couple of occasions at sea. Even in the daytime they can be difficult to see. The two I saw were both set level with the surface and from 20/30 yards just looked like a kind of calm spot on the surface, I'm lucky, I'm in a slow moving sailboat, I can see a fast moving power boat hiting it before they had chance to divert. At night, all bets are off!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by lesterbutch

I see someone mentioned a shipping container, I have seen them on a couple of occasions at sea. Even in the daytime they can be difficult to see. The two I saw were both set level with the surface and from 20/30 yards just looked like a kind of calm spot on the surface, I'm lucky, I'm in a slow moving sailboat, I can see a fast moving power boat hiting it before they had chance to divert. At night, all bets are off!

Yep have a few wash up on the beaches here every year. From all over the world.

[CarinaPDX]

In the PNW it is not rare for a boat to hit a semi-submerged log; hit end-on they can easily sink a boat. If the skipper didn't see the collision coming - often the case - then the impact could have thrown him off his feet causing him to smack his head. After that I wouldn't expect anyone to be totally rational. Given the location I think the story is quite plausible, if a bit odd-sounding. I can be as cynical as the rest but in this case I think not. In any event accusations should have some evidence before being voiced.

Greg

[taxwizz]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Yep many variations of this meme I prefer mine.

The only use I have ever found for high school Latin.

[Kenomac]

45ft sailboat with a 17ft tender? Interesting.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

45ft sailboat with a 17ft tender?

If you are going to sink 10 miles offshore you don't want to be bobbing about in a little Avon inflatable dinghy now do you.

Pete

[hellosailor]

Given a solo crew with a possible concussion, the prudent thing to do is medevac him to a hospital for a brain scan and overnight observation. No choices about it.

And that means the condition of his tender doesn't matter, it gets abandoned because USCG helo crews don't carry delivery crews onboard, there's no one to care for the tender.

There's nothing suspicious here, and everything seems totally by the book. The only question being what did he hit, or did he hit something, that promptly sunk his boat. But even there, if he did lose conciousness? He could have been out for 1/2 hour and the boat could have taken on plenty of water through "just" the hole that one floating log would make. There's a lot of logging in that part of the coast, a lot of log floats, and that means a lot of logs that have escaped from the floats and are out looking for boats to sink.
Sorry guys, either he's a very clever scoundrel, or there's just no there there. Ships sink.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Pete7

If you are going to sink 10 miles offshore you don't want to be bobbing about in a little Avon inflatable dinghy now do you.

Pete

It appears that he may have had a premonition, and so logically took the necessary precaution to be somewhat overly-prepared.

Hopefully, he'll remember what happened so he can assist with the investigation.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Dave22q

I do know insurance companies pay pretty good money to folks who look for reasons such as fraud to deny claims.

Rest assured, if he's insured, there will be a diver visiting the sunken boat. We may just be missing some information. I feel bad for those who are innocent facing the questions from their insurer. It's like if you're out with someone and they fall overboard and drown. You're immediately a murder suspect. It's like Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood. Either he got away with murder or he's lived a life under a suspicion that he didn't deserve.

I knew of a building burned and immediately everyone suspected the owner of arson as he was a bit shady, well a lot shady. Only thing was he had no insurance on the building or it's contents. The police dropped the investigation as even if he did burn it down, the only laws he broke were fire laws. In his state burning one's own property wasn't arson unless it was to collect insurance. No one ever did figure that fire out.

[taxwizz]

Originally Posted by BandB

I knew of a building burned and immediately everyone suspected the owner of arson as he was a bit shady, well a lot shady. Only thing was he had no insurance on the building or it's contents. The police dropped the investigation as even if he did burn it down, the only laws he broke were fire laws. In his state burning one's own property wasn't arson unless it was to collect insurance. No one ever did figure that fire out.

"Whaddya mean I forgot to pay the premiums?"

[Cormorant]

Some more info in this article:
Coast Guard aids mariner after vessel hits object, sinks off southern Washington coast | Coast Guard News

An MH-60 Jaywhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria hoisted the mariner from his yacht tender and safely transported him to the station where he was checked by emergency medical service personnel.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River were contacted over VHF channel 16 at 10:17 p.m. by the mariner, who advised he had struck an unknown object and his 45-foot pleasure yacht Sea Crest was taking on water. He reported that during the collision he hit his head and may have lost consciousness, but was not sure for how long, and water was coming into the deck scuppers.

As the sole person aboard, the mariner abandoned ship into his 17-foot yacht tender with a life jacket, survival suit and flares. Shortly after he notified the watchstanders of this, he reportedly lost sight of the lights of the Sea Crest and heard sounds that indicated the vessel might have sunk.

The aircrew was on scene with the yacht tender at 11:06 p.m. and while preparing for the hoist, the sighted small items in the water. After they finished the hoist at 11:35 p.m., they marked the yacht tender with a strobe light as the onboard lights had been extinguished. They landed at the air station at 11:56 p.m., and after the mariner was checked by EMS, he refused any further medical treatment.

A 47-Foot Motor Life Boat crew, from Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor in Westport, Washington, also responded. They arrived on scene at 12:04 a.m., located the yacht tender and towed it back to their station.

Saturday morning, a second Jayhawk helicopter crew from the air station conducted an overflight where they located the sunken vessel and spotted two sheens on the water. The crew marked the location with a self-locating datum marker buoy and sector watchstanders issued an safety marine information broadcast to alert mariners of the potential navigation hazard.

The mariner reported that he was underway conducting vessel check for a new navigation system and was on auto-pilot at the time of the collision.

[taxwizz]

Hi Cormorant;
Excellent research.
Excellent follow up by Coast Guard.
Too bad the boat sank.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by BandB

I'm glad I'm not the only cynic here. Just sounds fishy. Hit something unknown 9 miles out? Launched tender, got in it, notified CG, and then heard it sink? Didn't take the tender to shore, why? It may all be legitimate but just seems very strange.

Cynics, yes, but there are actually things such as logs, and those proverbial shipping containers. All that stuff is not just Japanese glass fishing net floats and plastic. And probably not Navonics this time, or is it? Those doing that two hundred nm per day, or trying to do it, are probably too busy to notice.

[danielamartindm]

Lots of unanswered questions about this tragic loss. I draw on past experience as a pilot, where a cardinal rule is that when visibility decreases, you throttle back and slow down. For yachts, should we be motoring at night at a power setting or with canvas enough, to cause serious personal injury if we hit an unseen, heavy object? I'm just asking, in light of this incident and the recent loss of the Leopard 46, which was also powering at night at a good clip. Shouldn't we be purposely moving slower at night?