Sailboat Sank In St. Augustine Inlet

[Surrymark]

Originally Posted by tartansail

The link in post #5 is to a report dated 12/11/2011.

Thanks. I missed that. There seem to be plenty of St. Augustine sailors on the forum. Maybe somebody will turn up some more details on the boat, and how she destructed.

[timbenner]

Moondancer:

"Anyone with any sense of seamanship would have contined south to Jacksonville to get out of the weather."

Jacksonville is north of St. Augustine and I think they were headed south, so the next navigable inlet south is Ponce Inlet, over 60 miles south and very narrow. Not a good inlet either, in bad weather.

Turning back north to Jacksonville is over 30 miles and they would have been sailing into the weather. Anyway you look at it, they were not in a god situation.

Hind sight is 20/20, but I would have called BoatUS or TowBoat and discussed how to get through the inlet. They have local knowledge, are happy to help and might have even guided them through. I ALWAYS call them for advise prior to entering any inlet, even if I think I'm familiar with it. Inlets are always changing.

You're right about the Mayport (Jacksonville) Inlet though, it is maintained for the ports and shipping, so is definitely one of the safest.

Don't ever hesitate to call BoatUS for local advise.

[sailcruiser]

Originally Posted by speciald@ocens.

Last year a Bendy-boat ran aground on the reef outside Oyster Pond in Sint Maarten (a fifty footer, 3 months old). During the rescue attempt, the tow boat pulled the keel off the boat. It sank

Was that the boat that got hit with about $40k in environmental fines? I remember a story on something like that. The channel into the pond has always given me pause! SC

[jmackay]

Don't blame the inlet. I have been in and out of there many times and if you favor the reds you will be OK. This is well documented knowledge. We draw 6'6" and bumped once in heavy seas and a low tide. The one marker at the tip of the shoal can be difficult to see.

[sailstoo]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

about time someone admitted the turth!

What's a "turth"?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

One would hope but while owners of these "modern" designs tout all their advantages, situations like this speak volumes of the vessels integrity.

I'm not so sure about that. The boat was aground and being pounded by waves. They don't have to be big waves. They only have to big enough to lift the boat out of its hole in the sand bar and drop it down again. Over and over and over.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Surrymark

Right. The thread started like this:
"Heard RUMOR (caps added) about a sailboat that sank while coming in the St. Augustine FL inlet a few days ago . . . . Anyone have any better information about this?"

Rakuflames, you have any info on the actual event, if it happened?

Someone posted a link here. Maybe you missed it. It isn't a long thread. I think you could go back to the beginning and find it.

[scallywag]

StAugustine.com

Video on sailboat that sank in St. Augustine Inlet. The paper reported that it hit a sandbar and the waves capsized the 30 foot boat. The seas were rough that day and small craft warnings posted.

[Rakuflames]

YIKES -- that's shallow water!

[Cheechako]

I think it's pretty evident that some of the newer designs will not hold up to this kind of abuse. I'm not knocking these boats, they are what they are, and work well for general sailing and can work well for other purposes depending on the owner. My impression is they are built to a price point. When that happens safety factors get reduced to save money and become far lower. Acceleration goes up with less weight. It's a good selling factor in today's world.
A couple years ago Ericson had problems with brand new boats loosing their keels! (remember that?) Remember the americas cup boat that broke in half in light air? There have been a couple losses in the offshore races recently too. A good engineer pays a lot of attention to his gut, and just a little attention to the theoretical numbers....
When I was workng for a charter company, a Catalina 42 hit a rock motoring at 5.5-6 knots. Cracked the hull forward of the keel and buckled up the hull aft of the keel loosening the engine bed. The boat leaked but didnt sink. In my Passport 47, I hit a coral head very hard. No damage other than a good scrape in the keel. Also hit a hard submerged object in the ICW near Fort Pierce. Stopped the boat completely. No apparant damage. There's a lot to be said for extra glass.....and encased ballast rather than bolt on keels....

[keyspc]

after unexpected blow(50~85 kn) in early october i suspected bouncing up and down on mud flat, soft mud but still. found nuts on keel bolts jared loose. one took a full turn to re tighten. one of those things that wake me up at night during rough weather wondering if i've done everthing i can!

[Tbrad]

Hmmm. Continuing South to Jax would be a really LLLLOOOONNNG trip.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by maxingout

Interesting article. The keel broke off on a sandbar and water instantly engulfed the boat. Is it common for keels to break off in a few minutes on a sandbar in modern yachts? The waves in the picture are not that impressive. Shouldn't a seaworthy yacht be able to pound for hours/days on a sandbar without a keel breaking off?

Full keel going up on a sandbar at hull speed is going to respond a lot differently to daggerboards or fin keels. Stuff like this, to me, is part of what makes up the elusive "blue water boat" distinction. In essence I guess it comes down to tolerating abuse by the owner or sea.

[Captain Bill]

The wind was blowing out of the NW the day I went through. I didn't think the inlet was all that bad. It's obvoius from the video that the boat is well up on the bar, but the channel is 14 feet deep at low tide. If you miss that starboard turn at the bar you'll run aground almost instantly. As inlets go, it's certainly not a class A but it's better than many along the east coast. It's certainly much easier than Ocracoke inlet which has more twists and turns and is much shallower. It's also easier than Ponce Inlet which is the next one south. If one is going to continue south in a significant North wind you're probably better off going all the way to Port Canaveral. You have to go a ways off shore to clear the shoals at the cape, but once you round the cape you're in the lee of the shoals on north wind and you've got a class A inlet.

[Celestialsailor]

Even a glass encased fin keel boat stands a much better chance to grounding and even bouncing. I saw a bolted on keel sheered off after a grounding in Santa Cruz, Ca.