Couple's Dream Crushed in Strait

[Hud3]

I'm on it, Sandy!

Re: recent Chesapeake weather. You can keep that stuff up there!

Actually that big front that blew off the coast earlier this week is planning to spawn a Low in the Atlantic a bit north of us, and give us some "enhanced" northerly winds this weekend. Hope it doesn't interfere with my golf on Sunday!

[trinescape]

my boat was a 'one off ' home built and once it had been surveyed i found it difficult to find some one to comprehensivily insure it BUT i did find some one in the end and if it were me i think i wouldnt leave with-out it but everyone is different and unfortunately for this couple they paid the ultimate price ,i hope that they can salvage ,it what a shame

[MidLandOne]

The cat was a "Wharram" as far as I am aware. Wharram in "" because I don't know how accurately it followed the plans.

I am not aware of any particular difficulty in insuring multihulls in NZ for coastal. Not that I've tried to insure one but I suspect I would have heard if any general issue. I suspect that if the owner had tried to get insurance and was refused (and see below regarding veracity of that claim) then I suspect that the insurers just didn't want to know him or that particular boat. Or maybe he just couldn't afford it.

Regarding the veracity of the news item linked to I would regard it with much suspicion. Just one example - was claimed that if it had sunk it may have damaged the Cook Strait cables. Unlikely it would have sunk in the first place and if it did it wouldn't have damaged the cables. Was written by someone who wouldn't know a cat from a dog .

Errr, Talbot - is unusual for you to get into sour grapes territory . Is not a claim I've ever heard made by a NZ yachtsmen and of course I've talked with lots of them.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Talbot

a Wharram Tiki is a good seaworthy boat, but like any other can easily be overpressed. That is when any weakness in build or materials will reveal itself.

Pretty minuscule rig on the Wharrams in my opinion, which is a reason why they are considered safe by many, as they are by design, heavily reefed compared to others.

I would find it hard to believe that they could be overpressed and I would put the failure at a guess to build quality or lack of.

Dave

[MidLandOne]

Originally Posted by cat man do

I would find it hard to believe that they could be overpressed and I would put the failure at a guess to build quality or lack of.

I have been told that it wasn't particularly windy that day so I think you are correct - at that time of the year the forecasts were generally for 20-30 knots through the Strait, however, typically in that area the wind can be twice that forecast and elsewhere in the Strait. On the windier days I doubt that they would have been out there in anything that small unless stupid.

But, the accident happened in one of the worst tidal rip areas of the Strait and even on relatively calm days the seas can be surprisingly big, very steep and very confused - all at the same time. Very unpredictable too, can be wind against tide and no problem at all or wind with tide and very rocky ride. It can also be difficult to do them at slack water as the tides lead or lag the forecast time by up to hours according to what wind has prevailed and atmospheric pressure gradient.

I would expect the rip seas is what exposed the structural weakness in the boat, whatever that weakness was originally due to.

Also in that area if a heavy southerly swell is running into the Strait then sometimes within a few miles of shore it can look ok but periodically the swells will suddenly start breaking up to several miles out to sea in big combers and then just as suddenly subside again. One of those could be catastrophic and if the reports are correct that they didn't see the seas until they were in them are correct then that is a "maybe".

[boatsmith]

The boat is a Wharram design. The photos clearly show that the beams were not built to plan. These folks are lucky they broke sooner rather than later. Wharrams beam and lashing details are engineered to cantilever one hull out completely. David