Hunter sinks at Catalina due to bow cleat failure

[autumnbreeze27]

It's very sad about the loss of life and 8 boats at Avalon harbor last week. Just a heads up to you hunter owners, the sailboat that sank on her mooring was a Hunter, and sank after a bow cleat "snapped off". Hopefully you never find yourself in a gale, but if you do, consider securing the bow line to something else extra as a backup.

Here's a pic of the Hunter before she went to Davey Jones

[neilpride]

Man that sucks, sad for the owners, and holy crow this is going to be a can of worms topic in short order....

[skipmac]

Don't understand how snapping a bow cleat sank the boat. If the cleat snapped, the boat lost the mooring line and blew ashore that would be easy but it looks like the boat is still attached to the mooring and sank there.

If the cleat snapped how was the mooring line attached?

How did the water enter the boat due to broken cleat on the deck?

So, what happened exactly?

[colemj]

How did a broken cleat sink a boat? Even if the cleat ripped a hole in the deck? How did it stay on its mooring to sink?

Did the other 7 boats sink by less nefarious, and more honorable, means?

Mark

[Paul L]

Not sure how this boat sunk, but the moorings at Catalina are all dual moorings, one bow and one stern.

[ryon]

I was going to ask the same question. Maybe she swung around, and the swim step scooped water over her stern? This looks like an early morning photo, but you'd think someone would have seen this in time to bring in a pump.

It was a pretty nice little breeze that night, 26 miles upwind in San Pedro. I was more worried about the dock cleats than about our cathead belay, so I sent a second dock line from our windlass to another dock cleat further forward, then went below and slept hard.

[s/v Beth]

Sounds like we need more of the story before we can make sense of "loss of life" and multiple boat sinkings in a mooring field.

[Cormorant]

Details and news video here:
Men Who Died After Storm Slams Catalina Identified | NBC Southern California

(nothing about a bow cleat though. . . .)
Men Who Died After Storm Slams Catalina Identified

Several boats broke loose from their moorings during 40-mph wind gusts and fierce waves in Avalon Harbor

By Jason Kandel and Michael Larkin

The community of Avalon is mourning the loss of two men killed during a powerful winter storm. Ted Chen reports for the NBC4 News at 5 and 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. (Published Wednesday, Dec 31, 2014)
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2014 • Updated at 10:29 PM PST
Two men died Tuesday when fierce winds and big waves tore boats from their moorings and tossed vessels onto the rocky shore in one of the worst storms to hit Santa Catalina Island.
Timothy Mitchell, 39, an Avalon Harbor Patrol officer, was crushed to death between a boat and a rock. Bruce Ryder, 53, was found floating in the water at 6:30 a.m. and died at a hospital, officials said.
The Harbor Patrol officer died while trying to save a dive boat, the King Neptune, from sinking.
He jumped off the boat as it came "perilously close" to striking rocks in the harbor, officials said.
Two Killed, One Missing After Storm

[IMG]http://media.nbclosangeles.com/images/623*349/12-31-2014-santa-catalina-island-storm-boats.jpg[/IMG]
A harbor patrol officer was among two people killed after strong winds slammed Avalon Harbor. Ted Chen reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Wednesday Dec. 31, 2014. (Published Wednesday, Dec 31, 2014)


"The patrolman became lodged between the vessel and the rocks under the turbulent waves and could not be reached," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
At least three boats broke from moorings as wind gusts up to 40 mph lashed the island and swells up to 8 feet crashed onto the beach. Catalina is about 20 miles off the coast of Southern California.
The storm snapped a section of pier on Avalon's beach. Three pleasure boats lay hard on their side on the beach, one smashed by rocks.
Don MacKenzie and Lois Laughlin were not on the boat they live in when the storm hit.

"We tried to get on it, but thank God we really weren't," Lois Laughlin said.
The cove was vulnerable in this storm because it's not protected from waves washing in from the northeast.

Residents said it was the worst storm to hit in years. Kurt Kaplan, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, said cold, dense winds "crashed down" on the island harder and persisted longer than in recent memory.
"It's rare to see one that strong," he said.
Avalon's harbor patrol assigns moorings and provides security on the city's waterfront. The staff includes 11 harbor patrol officers, according to the city.

[autumnbreeze27]

I don't have any more info. The snapped cleat info came from somebody that was either the owner or knew the owner personally. I'm not going to ask questions, I just saw it via a friend on Facebook and passed it along.

Most of the boats that wound up on the beach had moorings that failed, and a lot of boats were damaged by the boats that broke free.

The boat could have started taking on water through leaks, or waves if it got sideways or stern to?

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by autumnbreeze27

It's very sad about the loss of life and 8 boats at Avalon harbor last week. Just a heads up to you hunter owners, the sailboat that sank on her mooring was a Hunter, and sank after a bow cleat "snapped off". Hopefully you never find yourself in a gale, but if you do, consider securing the bow line to something else extra as a backup.

Here's a pic of the Hunter before she went to Davey Jones

It looks as if the rudder caught the mooring line of the power boat off its stern.. Perhaps this caused damage to the rudder which then sank the boat..?? A cleat that failed on deck should not sink a boat...

[MarkJ]

Yes, I wonder how a bow cleat popping can sink a boat. But here is two things to check for all boats:

1) i had my head up my boats butt the other day and saw a cleats base plate was rusted. How often do you check yours? And are they substantial to start with?

2) for some odd reason people think that moorings are inherently safe. They are NOT. A mooring with short scope may well induce a huge jarring inpact in a sea... Just like a dock cleat it ain't got no give unlike your nice long anchor scope. The mooring field in the photo looks like they have packed the moorings i tigt to maximise their dollar... Maybe too tight. Paul says they are moored fore and aft... Tha could exacerbate the problem in a storm.

[MarkJ]

The death of the harbor patrol officer trying to save someone elses boat is just terrible. But a good indication of what a great man he must have been.

[OldFrog75]

Originally Posted by autumnbreeze27

The boat could have started taking on water through leaks, or waves if it got sideways or stern to?

Having moored quite a few times at Catalina that would be my guess. The bow cleat snapped off, the boat pivoted on the stern mooring cleat stern to windward, and she took on water from the stern into the cockpit and down below.

[MarcStAug]

I have a good friend who lives on the whitewater side of the PCH in Laguna Beach and has a head on view toward Catalina. He says this was an enormous storm and waves were so strong they sprayed up the cliff to his place. That kind of action, with boats on close moorings at that field, it's little wonder there wasn't more damage.

The death of the officer is particularly poignant given the circumstance.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by autumnbreeze27

I don't have any more info. The snapped cleat info came from somebody that was either the owner or knew the owner personally. I'm not going to ask questions, I just saw it via a friend on Facebook and passed it along.

Most of the boats that wound up on the beach had moorings that failed, and a lot of boats were damaged by the boats that broke free.

The boat could have started taking on water through leaks, or waves if it got sideways or stern to?

So you saw a posting on facebook that you have no information on, or relation to, that involved a severe storm causing 8 boats to sink and two men to be killed - and you decided that the best way to advance your knowledge of this was to start a thread titled with a hypothetical, and unknown, failure of one specific model of boat, with a warning to all owners of this brand of boat?

Yeah, I get it.

Mark