GUNBOAT Dismasting

[yeloya]

This thread goes nowhere..

-noone knows exactly why and how the whole s..t has happpened. Everyone is just speculating and trying to prove how knowledgeable they are, even the ones who have never been on a cat,
-whatever has happpened, GB is still a GB,
-what happened has nothing to do with whether the boat was a cat or a mono.

I just wonder where the boat is now and is she still afloat ??

Cheers

Yeloya

[transmitterdan]

This is an open forum on the Internet. If you want hard news try http://www.theonion.com/articles/ris...ericans,37652/

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by yeloya

This thread goes nowhere..

-noone knows exactly why and how the whole s..t has happpened. Everyone is just speculating and trying to prove how knowledgeable they are, even the ones who have never been on a cat,
-whatever has happpened, GB is still a GB,
-what happened has nothing to do with whether the boat was a cat or a mono.

I just wonder where the boat is now and is she still afloat ??

Hmmm, but to answer that would be inviting "speculation", no?

:-)

My guess is "Still Afloat", but possibly turning into a very expensive bird roost...

[Dogfish]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

One of the things that scares me the most about boats of that size and power, is how heavily dependent they often are on hydraulics... I assume there were hydraulic lines run to the mast, powering something like the boom vang, for instance... When the rig went over the side, such a line would have been broken, and all of a sudden you might have hydraulic fluid under pressure sprayed anywhere. As anyone who's ever had diesel fuel or hydraulic fluid spilled on deck offshore, it can turn any surface into a skating rink, and be a very dangerous and difficult situation to deal with. So, that's just one of the hypothetical situations they might have been dealing with...

Originally Posted by robert sailor

People and especially sailors being who they are won't believe it when the so called facts come out anyways so the speculation will continue because people love the whole speculation ******** from slipping in hydraulic fluid to the vessel unzipping itself, may this thread continue!

CB: We tried to be as calm as we could, but it was all a bit chaotic; I grab my ceramic knife, open the forward sliding windows, and begin cutting all the running rigging and hydraulic hoses. I get hydraulic fluid in my eyes,

CB: We attempt to push the boom off the coachroof, but we can’t move it. There is hydraulic fluid and glass on the deck.

CB: I went back to our damage assessment. The port companionway hatch is a concern without being able to close it. If we have to motor into a seaway, the longeron could be an issue and may need to be cutaway, but would be a huge risk trying to get that thing free. Port engine is out with the lines on the prop, and starboard is still having issues. The aft enclosure tracks are blown out. The cockpit and deck have broken glass and hydraulic fluid.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Wow, the sea state looks horrible! Must be at least 5 footers and 15 knots of wind. Thank God they called in the Calvary.

[jaybird1111]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Wow, the sea state looks horrible! Must be at least 5 footers and 15 knots of wind. Thank God they called in the Cavalry.

What Mr Eisburg did not mention, when he posted the above picture, is that the pic was taken from the deck of the I believe it was 300' cargo vessel which was laying to windward of the catamaran, affording it a tidy slick as you can see.

Below is another picture also taken from the cargo ship, as it moved away from the scene

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Wow, the sea state looks horrible! Must be at least 5 footers and 15 knots of wind. Thank God they called in the Calvary.

Well, to be fair, that shot is taken when RAINMAKER was lying in the lee of the OCEAN CRESCENT...

This shot of the evacuation gives a better idea of the conditions at the time of the rescue...

Not exactly a millpond, to my eye... :-)




And, the wider view of the first shot posted, here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wi6cz4pooh..._1031.jpg?dl=0

[Sand crab]

And weren't the conditions forecast to get worse?

[Steadman Uhlich]

I predict there will be a new line of boats from Gunboat: Mastless PowerCats.

[Sand crab]

These pics came from a story on the front page of SA.
Sailing Anarchy
They link to this:
Crowley-Managed Ocean Crescent Provides At-Sea Assistance to Ill-Fated Catamaran

And here's a pic of Ocean Crescent.

[jaybird1111]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

And here's a pic of Ocean Crescent.

If it had been me, I'd have seen if I couldn't slip those boys a few thousand and get that Gunboat loaded on deck

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

And weren't the conditions forecast to get worse?

Yes, a lot worse. I'm guessing the port hull became mostly submerged shortly after they were pulled off. The port companionway was jammed in the open position and the aft sliding door tracks were off so big waves from front or back would probably flood that hull pretty quickly. The more I read the more it sounds like they made a reasonable decision to get off when they did. I know some here don't agree with me on that but it's just a boat. It can be replaced but the crew cannot.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

Yes, a lot worse. I'm guessing the port hull became mostly submerged shortly after they were pulled off. The port companionway was jammed in the open position and the aft sliding door tracks were off so big waves from front or back would probably flood that hull pretty quickly. The more I read the more it sounds like they made a reasonable decision to get off when they did. I know some here don't agree with me on that but it's just a boat. It can be replaced but the crew cannot.

At the rescue moment the conditions didn't look bad neither the boat seem to have a significantly flooded hull. It seems to me it would be easy to prevent significant water ingress on these conditions (waves entering the jammed port companionway).

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Polux

At the rescue moment the conditions didn't look bad neither the boat seem to have a significantly flooded hull. It seems to me it would be easy to prevent significant water ingress on these conditions (waves entering the jammed port companionway).

I agree.

Notice the visibility in those photos.

From the earliest reports, I assumed they were rescued in almost zero visibility conditions, with heavy driving rain and high seas ("winter gale conditions").
______________

When reading the skippers account (on SA), I was struck by how they used the engines after the mast came down.

Seems they fouled one prop, and could not keep the other engine going?
Redundant engines. ??

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by yeloya

This thread goes nowhere..

-noone knows exactly why and how the whole s..t has happpened. Everyone is just speculating and trying to prove how knowledgeable they are, even the ones who have never been on a cat,
-whatever has happpened, GB is still a GB,
-what happened has nothing to do with whether the boat was a cat or a mono.

I just wonder where the boat is now and is she still afloat ??

Cheers

Yeloya

That's what I thought, until I started digging into it. There's a lot of data on Sailing Anarchy, both in the interviews with the skipper and the catfight forums. You just have to sift through an incredible amount of trash to get it.

This GB is different from the previous ones, and not necessarily for the better. The dismasting was most likely a design problem, not a component failure or operator error, and is related to the fact that it is a cat. The almost immediate decision to abandon was partly due to operator error, but is also an indictment of a lot of modern boats, both cats and monos.

I'll wait till I read the 3rd installment of the skipper's tale, but right now it looks like the marketing department made all the design decisions at GB, and what they came up with is not anywhere near the boat it was promised to be.