Missing 75´s.y. Lady Domina

[Jim Cate]

Looks like that shattered boat was constructed of foam cored glass. Should be possible to find out if the French boat was thus built, and perhaps the Lady D as well.

Jim

[minaret]

Seems to me the only way a boat in the middle of the Atlantic could be shattered like that is to be run down by a ship.

[hellosailor]

Or a whale, there was one last year? Off the coast of Cali or Mexico? where a whale jumped and came down on the boat. That looks like either a transom corner or a piece of hull and deck or bulkhead. The joinery and construction detail should say something, if the piece was recovered. The presence or lack of commercial gelcoat on the exterior would also indicate if it was a commercially built yacht, again IF they recovered the debris. The maker of the resins and glass could also be determined in a lab. Hopefully the SAR crew would have done that.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by minaret

Seems to me the only way a boat in the middle of the Atlantic could be shattered like that is to be run down by a ship.

Agreed! Even a whale strike wouldn't likely cause that much dis-assembly, especially on a boat as large as the Lady D.

Cheers,

Jim

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Agreed! Even a whale strike wouldn't likely cause that much dis-assembly, especially on a boat as large as the Lady D.

Cheers,

Jim

If they were out of fuel and out of power it is conceivable that they could have been run down by a freighter or cargo ship, but surely they would have had to report that?

[Anne]

Hubbie, who has some experience in glass fibre boats has the following observations:
"A piece of solid glass fibre wreckage would sink, unless it had huge air voids in it, which is highly unlikely if it was part of the hull;
This piece of wreckage looks as though it has insulating foam of some kind attached to it;
The manufacturer of the French yacht should be able to confirm if any foam was used in the construction of the boat, and also be able to identify the lay-up of the piece of glass fibre;
The difference in thickness between "Lady Domina" and the French yacht should be significant, given the relative sizes of the 2 boats."
Hopes this helps!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

If they were out of fuel and out of power it is conceivable that they could have been run down by a freighter or cargo ship, but surely they would have had to report that?

Only in a perfect world, Raku. Friends of ours in a steel Spray replica (Ara-A-Kiwa) were hit by an unlit merchant vessel about 300 miles west of New Caledonia a few years ago. They were unable to see the ships name in the dark, and, not being sure of the extent of the damage, called on the VHF asking the ship to identify itself and to stand by while they assessed the situation. The only reply was "do you think I'm crazy?", and the ship sailed on.

They survived and eventually reached Oz where they reported the incident to appropriate authorities. They were told that it was not the first such case in that area, and that there was little chance of any action. They were fortunate that the hull, while dented and distorted, was not breached, and that there was enough of the rig left standing to get them home.

It is sad but true that not everyone who plies the seas is a good guy.

Cheers,

Jim

[estarzinger]

By the way, here is the weather picture on April 24th (when the French eprib went off). A classic crush zone (between a high near newfoundland and a low near the azores) causing strong headwinds.

I would think the Domina would have been driven quite far back toward the Caribbean if they got caught up in this weather.

[sinbad7]

I agree with Anne,looks like foam insulation. Not so unusual but the question is,did Lady Domina have such insulation in the hull?

From the piece of wreckage found and the dirty state of the vertical outside hull piece it could be part of the transom and bottom.

Tore

[Cormorant]

Hard to tell but that piece of wreckage looks sort of old and weathered. Could be something from, say, Sandy on the US east coast, slowly floated out by the Gulf Stream and the Azores current. Not necessarily wrecked in situ. . . .

[estarzinger]

The Grain de Soleil search team have stated with some certainty that this hull piece is not from their boat.

But there was also a third boat missing . . . "Team 2 Choc" a Dufour Arpège 9m white hull.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

This is done by thousands of airline pilots every day around the world,it should not be any different for pleasure craft.

i am a pilot, filing a flight plan is not mandatory. the only reason i do it are safely and practice. unless you go into IFR you do not need a flight plan, or to file.
boats should be allowed to come and go as they please. and not be tracked.
i would do eprib, but i do not want the government or anyone else to know where i am.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

I agree with Anne,looks like foam insulation. Not so unusual but the question is,did Lady Domina have such insulation in the hull?

From the piece of wreckage found and the dirty state of the vertical outside hull piece it could be part of the transom and bottom.

Tore

Not foam insulation, foam core.

[neilpride]

Is just me, or someone notice the light blue color in the pieces of wreckage ! Lady Domina is dark blue color hull more close to a black color..

[foolishsailor]

Looks to me that this is the wreckage of the hull just infront of where the keel starts.

I have traced an outline in red on the pic in the top left and continued the shape past where the wreckage ends. Looks like a cross section of the hull from just in front of the keel forward. This is likely a fairly large piece of debris?

As the leading edge of the keel also looks rather bulky this would lead me to guess that this was a full keel hull and not a fin keel hull?

edit: I would also tend to agree that it looks more like collision damage than storm damage?