Sailboat sunk in Delaware Bay

[Love2 boat]

Originally Posted by malbert73

In other updates, someone on sail net looked at historic weather and it reported “light fog” the night the accident happened. Apparently also light winds, so we can imagine the sailboat likely was motoring. With fog, and the motor running, sight and hearing would be “off” so you’d need radar and AIS for collision avoidance. And stay out of channel

So while motoring - who was on watch / at the helm? Would it not be easy to ask the person that used their cell phone - Hey what did you get hit by or what did you hit? Something seems really off...

[Kettlewell]

Quote from that update:

According to public information officer Matthew West, the sailboat was near the Brandywine Light in Delaware River headed to Delaware Bay when it was hit by another vessel or an obstruction in the water and started taking on water through a 4-foot gash in the hull.

The photos indicate the gash is mostly well above the waterline, though it extends right down to the waterline. Which makes sense considering they had time to be rescued from the vessel before she sank. Even a small gash well under the waterline usually results in a boat going down quite quickly.

[Kettlewell]

What I don't understand is why they towed a sinking boat all the way to the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal! Considering they almost made it wouldn't it have been better to try for Cape May?

[CaptTom]

That photo just raises more questions. It suggests an angle of impact from behind, but it's hard to imagine that could happen without the other vessel knowing it. Maybe it wasn't a vessel which hit, but an outrigger or something.

I hope we get some answers in the end.

[Kd9truck]

I am glad to hear many say what I am coming to know, that the Delaware is not a great place for sailing. As mentioned previously by several posts, AIS has great worth to safety in navigation and collision avoidance.

When they are on and being monitored.

I sail mostly the sound and NYNJ/CONN area, a great many vessels with AIS turn there systems off so that they can not be penalized for exceeding a speed limit and/or fishing vessels concealing their productive fishing spots. I’ve seen fishing vessels running silent from NC to Nova Scotia for that reason.

The Coast Guard is using AIS as a tool of code enforcement in this area to get vessels to comply with speed restrictions. (In my opinion a bad idea)

I am not saying it played a part in this incident but it does give pause to this regulation, if it played a part.

[psk125]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

That photo just raises more questions. It suggests an angle of impact from behind, but it's hard to imagine that could happen without the other vessel knowing it. Maybe it wasn't a vessel which hit, but an outrigger or something.

I hope we get some answers in the end.

The photo shows damage to Pegasus' hull port side, forward. How does this suggest an impact from behind?
One of the Coast Guard news releases states that they were hit by a tanker. It would be very easy for a tanker to not realize they'd hit anything.

[psk125]

Originally Posted by Kd9truck

I am glad to hear many say what I am coming to know, that the Delaware is not a great place for sailing. As mentioned previously by several posts, AIS has great worth to safety in navigation and collision avoidance.

When they are on and being monitored.

I sail mostly the sound and NYNJ/CONN area, a great many vessels with AIS turn there systems off so that they can not be penalized for exceeding a speed limit and/or fishing vessels concealing their productive fishing spots. I’ve seen fishing vessels running silent from NC to Nova Scotia for that reason.

The Coast Guard is using AIS as a tool of code enforcement in this area to get vessels to comply with speed restrictions. (In my opinion a bad idea)

I am not saying it played a part in this incident but it does give pause to this regulation, if it played a part.

Is there a speed restriction off Brandywine Light? Difficult to believe a tanker would be doing better than around 12 knots.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by psk125

The photo shows damage to Pegasus' hull port side, forward. How does this suggest an impact from behind?...

Other photos made it look like maybe they struck something fixed (like a buoy or pile) just to port. But when I saw this photo, with the broken pieces of hull bent out forward of the gash, and pushed in aft of the gash, it seems as though something like the bow of a small boat (not a tanker or freighter) came in at something like a 45-degree angle. In that case it would have to be overtaking from their port quarter on a converging course when it struck.

But of course photos can be deceiving. I wasn't there. Maybe part of the rig crashed down and caused that damage. Nobody who really knows right now is talking (or at least, publishing.)

[Kettlewell]

But of course photos can be deceiving. I wasn't there. Maybe part of the rig crashed down and caused that damage. Nobody who really knows right now is talking (or at least, publishing.)

Also, further damage could have been incurred in the salvage operation: dragging a partially sunk boat and then hauling a waterlogged boat out of the water.

[SV Confianza]

Narrow canals in the fog are nightmarish. Radar is basically useless because of everything around. Always afraid of going off course and running into something. And AIS for pleasure boats don't update as frequently as you want for tight spaces.

And for those who say to just avoid the fog...it can dive so quick into a canal you'll have clear vision one minute and complete whiteout the next. Been there a few times. Scary stuff.

We just slow down to a crawl and get on the horn blasts at regular intervals.

[Kettlewell]

Narrow canals in the fog are nightmarish.

True, but they were in the middle of Delaware Bay when hit.

[GordMay]

Wow!

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

True, but they were in the middle of Delaware Bay when hit.

Your point is correct with regards to the amount of clutter around. But it is important to remember that the middle of the Delaware Bay has very little navigable water. We draw seven feet and we can run aground in large patches of that bay! Still, you can mostly stay out of the channel and mostly see all the traffic around you on radar, ais, and eyeball.

[Kettlewell]

Still, you can mostly stay out of the channel and mostly see all the traffic around you on radar, ais, and eyeball.

There's 30-50 feet of water well outside the shipping channel most of the way to the C&D Canal, but we don't know exactly where they were hit or by what so we are all just speculating. I'm still perplexed as to why they towed a dismasted and sinking sailboat all the way from Brandywine Shoal up to Lewes when Cape May was much closer.

[NYSail]

Strange that nobody on the sailboat has given an account of what happened….. it would only be logical that they saw the hitting vessel at some point and could describe her.