Do monohulls capsize??

[RonRicco]

Just a teaser... but it does happen to them too


GALVESTON, Texas - A Coast Guard helicopter crew early Sunday rescued five regatta competitors who had drifted for 26 hours in the Gulf of Mexico after their boat capsized.

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Rescuers were continuing to search for a missing sailor, identified as boat safety officer Roger Stone.

The search started after the 38-foot Cynthia Woods missed a radio check Saturday morning. The crew included four college students and two safety officers.

A helicopter crew from Air Station Houston pulled the five men from the water 23 miles south of Freeport, Texas, Petty Officer Renee C. Aiello said Sunday. They had drifted about five miles northwest of their capsized boat.

They were taken to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where all five were listed in good condition. They were suffering from sunburn and dehydration, said R. Bowen Loftin, CEO of Texas A&M at Galveston.

"I've talked to all of them and they're all doing fine," he said. "They were extremely happy to be alive."

Three of the students — Steven Guy, Joe Savana and Travis Wright — attend Texas A&M at Galveston, the school said in a news release. The fourth, Ross James Buzbee, attends Texas A&M in College Station, the school said.

The other safety officer was identified as Steve Conway of Texas A&M at Galveston.

The boat, which lost communication around midnight Friday, was competing in the Regata de Amigos. The race, which covers 610 nautical miles from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico, started Friday and continues into next week.

Coast Guard officials said the keel of the overturned vessel was ripped off, indicating the sailboat may have hit something in the water, according to the school. Race director Kevin Box said the loss of the keel can cause a boat to overturn in seconds.

The five who were rescued stayed afloat with four life vests in 4 to 6-foot seas, Loftin said. A few were below deck when the boat capsized. They said Stone was not among them when they went into the water, Loftin said.

It was Conway who kept the group together in the water and used a flashlight to signal Coast Guard searchers, Loftin said.

The boat went missing 11 miles south of Matagorda, which is about 110 miles down the coast from Galveston.

[Sunspot Baby]

Most monohulls will self right because of weight in the keel. Some high performance monos don't carry the weight and if knocked down can capsize and stay that way.

It is possible though unlikely that a cruising mono would capsize. In the worst case scenario the heavy keel would assure that they were upright when they reached the bottom. ;-)

George

[ireaney]

Yup.

Are we talking cruising or racing?

If cruising probably as many if not more than multi's.

If racing probably the other way round.

I am sure that someone will try and prove me wrong, hey ho.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Yes.

Although often they will self right - but not always. and not always in a nice or sustainable condition.

So best avoided*




*As I have no personal experiance of capzising, please free to disregard my advise that it is best avoided.

[Boomp]

'No'...unless the wind blows, or you get in over your head....or if the keel falls off!

[Lodesman]

Seems keels can get knocked off in a collision or the bolts can fail - it doesn't happen often; probably on par with cat's turning turtle.

[Sunspot Baby]

And in today's news, a monohull lost the keel and capsized in the Gulf of Mexico

See link 5 of 6 missing sailors rescued from Gulf - CNN.com

George

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by FlyBri737

Just a teaser... but it does happen to them too...

Sure; Buildings capsize -- sorta – boats are no question… Given extreme enough conditions there is no such thing as an uncapsizable boat – marketing lore to the contrary… many of the better known voyagers (not those of the boutique sabbatical cruise genre…), mostly only monohulls for years, have suffered capsizes over their history – some of them repeated -- of course they ventured into areas where many of us seldom go during an era where instant weather information wasn’t easily available; and they were the ones who experimented with the various techniques we attempt to use these days to prevent it…

[Steve Rust]

I am a little blown away by that bottom picture in Lodesman's post. Look at the size of the wave in the background and is that a person standing by the rudder on that boat? Let's hope he held on tight.

A monohull has about 1/3 the initial stability of a multihull. So self righting is a very important if not an absolutely critical attribute. It is not so important in a multihull due to the high initial stability positive floatation.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Steve Rust

I am a little blown away by that bottom picture in Lodesman's post. Look at the size of the wave in the background and is that a person standing by the rudder on that boat? Let's hope he held on tight.

I would like to see the video of that one.

[Howyawldoin]

It sounds like the crew of the capsized Cynthia Woods did some things right to save 5 out of 6 of the crew. But has anybody said how much canvas they had up at the time they capsized? I guess that when you suddenly lose your keel and ballast, having ANY canvas on could be too much, but if they viewed this regatta as a race, then I wonder how much were they trying to force things in those rough seas?

[Joli]

Originally Posted by Therapy

I would like to see the video of that one.

Not sure if a video exists but that is Isabelle Autissier in the Southern Ocean prior to being rescued by Giovoni Soldino (sp?). Open 60 race boat.

Missing keels are Skandia, Mouquini, and not sure what the last one is but it has a forward daggerboard so it is probably a kanter. The only one that bothers me is Mouquini since that was a production boat, the other three are built on the edge so problems must be expected.

Sure you want to live upside down?

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by Howyawldoin

It sounds like the crew of the capsized Cynthia Woods did some things right to save 5 out of 6 of the crew. But has anybody said how much canvas they had up at the time they capsized? I guess that when you suddenly lose your keel and ballast, having ANY canvas on could be too much, but if they viewed this regatta as a race, then I wonder how much were they trying to force things in those rough seas?

In the past I had assumed that any reasonable amount of sail up while on the wind would result in a capsize if the keel fell off, but in Surviving the Storm, Dashew, is a story by Chuck Hawley about his delivery of Charley leaving from Hawaii in 1983. The boat fairly suddenly heeled 50 degrees. Looking over the side they saw that all that remained of the 10 foot deep keel were the keelbolts, so only the 12 inch stub keel with no ballast was left. Striking the sails reduced the heel angle to 20 degrees. They called the Coast Guard, set up a comm schedule so that if they didn't report in the Coast Guard would come looking, moved a lot of gear to the high side and started motoring back. I'm sure there are many, if not most designs that would just capsize with the loss of the keel.

John

[TheEngineer]

Many builders don't build boats properly: They figure that most boats seldom go to sea and spend most of their time tied to a dock. Serious offshore races have reqirements that boats are self-righting and have a formula. It started with the losses at the Fastnet. It was found that very beamy light displacement hulls don't come back up. IOR has a measurement of positive stability that gives you a measure. Bermuda 40's don't make the grade, S&S Swan's do. But it works only if water is kept out of the boat. Many boats fall short in that regard: Hatches are not tight, windows break. It's expensive to build a boat to offshore standards and women like a beamy boat that gives them the space of an apartment. People wanting to go sailing around the world are often very inexperienced. The power of the sea comes as a very nasty surprise. The good news is how many people survive.

[colemj]

The Bermuda 40 was designed as a CCA-rule boat, not IOR. It is surprising to hear it described as a beamy light displacement hull! I think its lower positive stability is due to the fact that it is a shallow drafted (relatively) keel/centerboard boat.

Mark