Sailing Yacht 'Scarf' Wrecks on Rocks in Lake Worth Inlet on Way to Bahamas

[Ram]

A sad bit of news today here in Palm Beach ,
Man homeless after boat blown into rocks

[Seeratlas]

Talk about Murphy's law...looks like he was only a few feet from clearing the jetty.

seer

[Ram]

I beleave he was going out on an incoming high tide and the current there is about 5-6 knots at times so I think this pushed him into the rocks after the engine died, anougher 10 feet and he would have cleared, sad!

[David M]

Really sad. There is a lot to be said about having two propulsion engines.

[svHyLyte]

Yesterday morning the winds were really honking out of the south-south-east all over the Florida mid-peninsula. Twenty to twenty-five knots with gusts in the 30's. I have just completed writing up a collision report on another boat--a 35' power boat--that tried to exit its slip, broadside to the wind, in the middle of that and was promptly blown down on the yachts to his leeward, all this in a yacht basin.

The yacht at Lake Worth Inlet was attempting to leave by reaching in heavy winds against an incoming 2 knt flood and breaking seas. Absent a strong engine, he could not possibly have made enough speed to have cleared the jetty before being set down on the rocks to leeward. I cannot imagine what would have possessed him to have made such a foolish attempt.

s/v HyLyte

[rebel heart]

An emergency on the water is right around the corner. Good luck out there folks. Eternal vigilance.

[Morgan Paul]

His insurance will make them OK ???

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Ram

A sad bit of news today here in Palm Beach ,

What a sad story!
I shed a little tear seeing the photo with the couple hugging as they watch their yacht helpless.

The article is excellently written! thats great journalism of the type we don't get here in this country anymore... or maybe its capitol city newspapers comepared with local papers. The journalist has made the situation vivid and truthful even to naming the person who gave the couple apples to eat.

Mark

[High Cotton]

That INLET is notoriously treacherous!.... FAST, NARROW and unforgiving!

[Ram]

High Cotten
The Inlet is known for be very easy to enter and exit, your thinking about the inlet north (Jupiter) and the one south of here,South Lake Worth inlet - Lake Worth Inlet is more than 100 yards wide and over 50 feet deep , and marked well -so its really very easy to go thru in any weather. I grew up here and have been navgating this inlet for 40 years, 10 of thouse as a Dive Boat capt. It dont get much better than this.

The sea can run very swift up to about 6 knots ,near the rocks where the water is about 20 feet deep, look at the pictures it looks as if the seas are only 3-4 feet or so.

HyLite
Im not sure how far away from Lake Worth Inlet you were , but we are in SOUTH Florida and have had very nice weather the last 4-5 days with winds of about 10 knots possably 15 gusts at best, I live about 2 miles from the area and its been light wind for a few days now.

A friend called me and said he helped the guy recover some of is stuff on the bottom and the guy said ; he had only his engine running and no sails up, as he was leaving when the engine died , he scrambled to rase his sails and by the time he did he was so close to making it out he kept going oncorse and mis judged the current and this threw him into the rocks because he then did not or was not able to tack, I think he missed it by about 10 feet

Somthing I suspect happened fast and could possably happen to anyone if your not careful.
Bad Break where hes party at fault, but who know what any of us might do if it happened to us?

[Celestialsailor]

In Moss Landing Ca., I was leaving the habor jetty when the engine began to loose power and quit. Luckly I was not alone and was able to raise the main and claw off a lee shore. I have never left a habor since without my main up. I was forgiven that day and never forgot it.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I have never left a habor since without my main up. I was forgiven that day and never forgot it.

Wise words. I shall stop my errant practices.

[High Cotton]

Ram, you are correct!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

In Moss Landing Ca., I was leaving the habor jetty when the engine began to loose power and quit. Luckly I was not alone and was able to raise the main and claw off a lee shore. I have never left a habor since without my main up. I was forgiven that day and never forgot it.

I've gotten lazy a few times and stopped doing this; good reminder to get my act together again. And, even when motoring out past our (mostly submerged) Zuniga Jetty, I'll stay on the windward side just to increase my chances a bit.

[Ram]

Here is a picture of whats left of the wreck as of today