Sad to see this classic gone

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Also, don't drive a car designed to crash, fly a dirigible designed to leak, run a marathon in shoes without soles.... good advice all around.

My guess is this vessel was designed to float, unless they do things a lot differently in the South Seas. Hmmm.... concrete boats .... maybe they do.


Connemara

Any mono is designed to sink, I dont mean that in a derogatory sense, its just thats the physics of monohulls, the very thing that makes them work (ballast) makes them susceptible to sinking. Doesnt mean thay arent good things - just means that a ballasted mono is always the thickness of a hull away from sinking.

And please I am not picking on monos, I and know multis have their issues to, I am simply saying - if you wnat to prevent sinking, the first step is to not sail a boat that will sink.

[Alan Wheeler]

And just exactly what good to you is a Multi that has one hull comprimised and you are in a huge sea and strong winds? If the situation is seriouse enough, it doesn't matter how many hulls you have under you, nor whether the thing is going to sink or float. You ain't going to be staying aboard.

[44'cruisingcat]

A partially flooded multi is preferable to a liferaft. Especially in huge seas and strong wind. The fact that it is going to stay afloat means staying on it is a very viable option. If your boat is sinking you don't have a choice - you have to leave, and if nobody else is nearby you have to take the liferaft (if you have one) which in big seas can be extremely dangerous, and certainly very unpleasant.

[cat man do]

Even if one hull was smashed off, i'd rather stay with that than step down into the deathraft.

I'm would like to think that the 30 ft + hull would be more livable than an upmarket orange tractor tube.

Infact I know of boats [40 ft cat] that have ripped out daggerboard cases and a fair size section of hull that have totally flooded one side and motor, yet have motored back in with the working motor.


Dave

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

And just exactly what good to you is a Multi that has one hull comprimised and you are in a huge sea and strong winds? If the situation is seriouse enough, it doesn't matter how many hulls you have under you, nor whether the thing is going to sink or float. You ain't going to be staying aboard.

You do what a number of crews off thee boats have down, including for example the Rose Noelle, you stay with the boat for up to 150 days and you stay alive.

[swagman]

Truly a sad loss - but if anyone reads Rob Mundles 'Fatal Storm' on the 93 Sydney Hobart you'll understand the sea conditions over the event and what they can do to even the most well built racing yacht.

Wood is however, not all bad.

We turned back in one WA yacht race to go to the help of a plywood 30 foot 'Dogger' - a Van de Stadt designed 1960's racer / cruiser. - who shot off some flares.

She's sprung a ply sheet on the bottom and by the time we got alongside, had settled so low her deck was level with the ocean. Fortunately the seas were flat, and she was made of wood - for she also had her crew standing up to their waists in the cockpit - and they were trimming the still drawing main and headsail as they headed back, like a submarine yacht, towards the mainland.
We along with several other particpants stood by whilst the rescue services arrived.
They threw on a spare large pump which perched on the deckhouse spewing water, and they ran more pump hoses over to eventually get even more freeboard as the two boats headed back shoreward tied alongside one another.
She made it back to Fremantle where she was lifted and sorted.

So accepting maybe wood in most cases might not match say GRP for strength - in this one instance it definately was the material that made that boat float to race another day.

Cheers
JOHN