S/V 'Riot'

[jacob30]

Riot crew prevail in unruly weather | Bermuda News


A first attempt at an ocean crossing nearly ended in disaster after the sailing vessel Riot lost control of its steering while battling the rough weather.
“Anything that could go wrong did go wrong,” said the vessel’s 23-year-old captain Coleman Bowen.

[Gene :^)]

I guess it isn't as exciting when they make it. The SV "Elle" abandon ship thread had multiple replies in minutes!

I'd love to hear more about what exactly broke and how they worked around or fixed it. I say great job pushing on and making land fall.

[boatman61]

What he just said...
how can one criticise success....
Always good to hear when a boat breaks through in spite of adversities....

[Matt Johnson]

I too would love to hear what broke. Good thing they had a nice size crew... boat looks nice too.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by boatman61

What he just said...
how can one criticise success....
Always good to hear when a boat breaks through in spite of adversities....

And the guy's only 23 YO. He gets an ataboy from me, for making it afloat!
At least he didn't loose the rigging.

[Hud3]

Resourceful bunch. They said the steering broke three times, three different ways, and they carried on.

...Efforts to tow the boat failed due to the inability to steer, and an attempt to tie up alongside the pilot boat resulted in more damage to the wounded boat.
Eventually, the crew made the decision to try and steer the damaged vessel through Town Cut.
“We came through in a sort of ‘s’,” Mr Bowen said. “We were maybe 100ft off the rocks and it was dark, so we didn’t really know what the lay of the land was. We could hear the waves crashing against the land, so we knew we were close.”

Going through Town Cut for the first time, in the dark is a pretty tense experience--a least it was for me. I can vouch for the fact that you can hear the waves crashing on the rocks, and they sound like they're right next to you. To do it with impaired steering takes guts!

[Blue Stocking]

His comment about bringing her into St.Georges , thru Town Cut shows some balls.
At the end of the 72 Newport, while guiding boats in at 0200hrs, with a 50knot Northeast up our stern, we had both 450hp 8-71s in a 52ft CC Roamer running in reverse to stop us surfing and possibly broaching.
It can be nasty.

[chbowen]

Just stumbled upon this thread, thanks to whomever has posted. As the Captain of RIOT I greatly appreciate the support, as we did make it in in one peace, still in pursuit of our goals to get to the BVI, and then transatlantic. If any of you that found this positive, and sure why not, those who did not think we did a good job. I encourage you all to follow our repairs, journey and experience on Facebook. If you are interested just search RIOT Sailing LLC on face book, we are the only one...

Thanks again!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, chbowen.

Thanks for sharing.

➥,RIOT Sailing LLC. | Facebook

[MacG]

Absolutely a gorgious boat. Kudo' s for the team.