Sailboat in Dire Situation Off Hawaii

[AnchorageGuy]

Not a situation any of us would like to find ourselves...Conditions at the time of the call were 92 to 115 mph winds with 30-foot seas.
Sailboat in Dire Situation Off Hawaii, Matson Containership Diverts to Assist - gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News

[MarkJ]

Conditions at the time of the call were 92 to 115 mph winds with 30-foot seas. One of the hatches has blown away and onboard bilge pumps are unable to keep up with the flooding, according to the report received by the Coast Guard. The vessel’s life raft has also been blown overboard.

Photo looks like the boat is lying ahull, no drogue or parachute anchor.

need to cover that blown hatch with something.

[Palarran]

No doubt a scared man and a bucket situation. The only thing that struck me about the article on the main news was the headline stating the boat was "caught" and "snared" by the hurricane. The predications for the path are at least a week old so really it wasn't an accidental meeting.

[scuba0_1]

He gonna find out what his boat can handle.

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[model 10]

It looks like a Slocum or a Passport? We may have seen the boat earlier this year. It gives you a little different feeling about their plight.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Not sure if the sea state looks like 90MPH winds, at those speeds the white caps would be blown off and streaking foam. Sure hope they are ok.

[Khagan1227]

Wonder how their liferaft got blown over the side.

Perhaps they were trying to deploy it and didn't tie off the painter first.

With the hatch missing, they might have had a rather large wave activate the HRU and that cut the painter.

[Krawdad]

They are trailing something astern, perhaps a drogue but it seems too close for that. I notice off to Port there is another item in the water, perhaps the coast guard life raft they couldn't reach. Man those are some really confused seas, wouldn't matter what you do your going to get your butt kicked badly.

[Wendi]

Have to wonder why they would go sailing when the hurricane was right on the path. Were they trying to outrun it to avoid having their boat damaged?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Not sure if the sea state looks like 90MPH winds, at those speeds the white caps would be blown off and streaking foam. Sure hope they are ok.

Current weather report shows Julio has max sustained winds of 75 mph.

[Glenn.Brooks]

Fox News, for what that is worth, reports Sunday night and this morning a Mattson Container ship was standing buy to take the crew off the sailboat. JRCC Honolulu reported Julio had passed through the area, leaving winds from 29-35 kts and seas to 15 feet- strong trades essentially, and pretty much the conditions shown in the photo. Looks like they have survived, so wonder why they are continuing to abandon ship?


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[scuba0_1]

Are they still abandoning ship

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[Sailor_Hutch]

The very bottom of the gCaptain article says that they were dismasted (I guess since photos were taken)

[roverhi]

The spreaders look to be drooping in the photo. As the angle decreases to the negative side the shrouds will loosen. In those conditions probably wouldn't take long for that to seriously effect the rig.

They were extremely unlucky. They probably left the islands because of a lack of secure anchorages and/or space in protected harbors with Iselle drawing a bead on the Big Island. The hurricanes almost always drop below tropical storm class by the time they get here and pass to the south of the Islands. Occasionally one will pass to the north but stay pretty much at 20 degrees north latitude or lower. Julio is breaking all the rules. It's always been predicted to pass to the north but is veering north to the extreme and actually forecast to do a right turn and head due north as it passes the Islands. It's also maintaining its strength as Iselle did. Sure the boat had figured with a weeks notice that they would be able to get far enough north to not be effected by the storms. Haven't looked at the surface winds but it's possible the NW quadrant winds could be NW which is the worst conditions for getting out of the way.

Photos always seem to make seas and sea conditions look less threatening they do from the deck of sailboat or even a ship. Still, with hurricane force winds, the sea surface would typically be white with blown spray and waves. The seas look confused with winds apparently from right to left but some waves at 90 degrees to the wind direction. Definitely not a pleasant condition to be in.

As far as abandoning ship, they are less than a third of the way to the west coast. Maybe figure that they don't want to get in another storm with that missing hatch and no life raft. Just time to call it quits while they can bail out.

[Cheechako]

“Despite surviving a hurricane, Walkabout may still be afloat and drifting according to one report today. By the time her crew was rescued this morning, they had reportedly bailed her out and she was no longer in danger of sinking. As you can see, when this image was shot on Sunday, the sloop's rig was still intact. “

“the 42-ft sailboat was en route from Stockton to Oahu when Hurricane Julio overran her roughly 414 miles northeast of Oahu”

“the boat's liferaft and main cabin hatch had been ripped off, and Walkabout was taking on lots of water. Bilge pumps were not capable of keeping up with the inflow, so the crewmen, whose names have yet to be released, had to bail manually also. At some point, the boat was also dismasted, according to the Coast Guard.”