clipper race yacht abandoned after grounding

[atoll]

this is getting to be a common occurance!

i wonder if yet again electronic plotters are to blame,and lack of traditional navigation skills.

https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com...unning-aground

Cape Town's maritime community woke up to a conundrum on Wednesday: how did a world-class ocean racing crew with state-of-the-art technology run aground in one of South Africa's most infamous ship graveyards?

The 18-member crew of CV24 Team Greenings‚ one of 12 boats participating in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race‚ had to be rescued on Tuesday night from an offshore reef at Olifantsbospunt between Cape Town and Cape Point.

The team escaped unharmed in relatively calm conditions‚ not long after the Table Bay start of the third leg of the race.

Sailing experts said the Olifantsbospunt site has claimed several victims over the years and is near a treacherous shipwreck hot spot called Albatross Rocks.

A boating social media site was abuzz with speculation as to the cause of the mishap: “Albatross Rocks infamous for shipwrecks. There’s already a good few on there‚” said one commentator. “The wrecks were there in the days of no GPS however‚ so not sure what reason these guys have to hit it.”

NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said the accident site was near to but not exactly at Albatross Rocks.

Ships that have sunk in the area include the Dutch coaster Nolloth in 1965; the US liberty ship Thomas T Tucker‚ laden with tanks and other military equipment‚ in 1942; and the South African trawler Phyllisia in 1968.

Maritime historian Michael Walker described Albatross Rocks as “probably one of the most historic rocks in Southern Africa”. He said there were about six major wrecks in the area‚ including a Royal Mail steamer. The NSRI described the rescue as a success and said the crew had not been in serious danger. “On arrival on the scene we found the yacht hard aground on rocks and all casualty crew onboard were in life-jackets on the yacht and safe and in no imminent danger in an onshore 14 knot North Westerly wind and 1.5 meter swell in a rising Spring High tide‚” the organisation said in a statement.

“An NSRI Kommetjie rescue swimmer ... swam to the yacht through the surf and boarded the yacht to assess the casualty crew medically and to assess the damage to the yacht. All casualty crew were safe and not injured.”

Clipper Round the World organisers said the incident would be investigated. Pictures of the rescued crew were posted on the race website. “Greenings skipper Andy Woodruff and crew are doing well after some rest in Cape Town and are currently being debriefed by the Clipper Race office team‚” the organisers said.
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/sou...-racing-yacht/

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by atoll

this is getting to be a common occurance!

i wonder if yet again electronic plotters are to blame,and lack of traditional navigation skills.

This is what is what is being closely examined with this incident, especially after the highlighted below, 16 knots ouch!

THE Reef watchdog cannot say yet what damage — if any — there is to a coral reef that was struck by an Australian Border Force vessel, nearly a week after the incident occurred.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has blamed the remoteness of Henry Reef, northeast of Lockhart River, for it not yet being able to determine time frames for assessment of the site where the Roebuck Bay ran aground on Saturday.

The Bay-class patrol boat was grounded on the reef at 12.48am on September 30, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

It was refloated and taken under tow by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s emergency towing vessel Coral Knight.

The damaged boat limped into Cairns early yesterday morning, and is undergoing repairs in a Portsmith dry dock.

It suffered serious damage to its hull, with one hole measuring approximately 8m long, by 500cm wide.

The cause of the incident has not yet been revealed, however maritime sources have informed the Cairns Post that the vessel was travelling at a cruising speed of about 16 knots at the time of the crash.

The ABF has refused to release any information about the incident, other than to say it is still under investigation.

In June this year, $5 million in upgrades to the Roebuck Bay were completed, including state-of-the-art navigation and surveillance equipment.

A GBRMPA spokeswoman confirmed the authority would be assessing if there was any environmental damage to the Reef.

“A site inspection is part of our standard procedure,” she said.

“Being in a remote location, we are yet to determine the time frames for assessment.

“With respect to next steps, it will be determined once further information is gathered.

“We cannot comment while this mater is under investigation.”

The 134-tonne Roebuck Bay vessel carries 12 crew members and has a maximum speed of 37km/h.

No Cookies | The Cairns Post

[rognvald]

Great story, Atoll,
I think, perhaps, you are delusional since no well found vessel with electronic navigation could possibly suffer a mishap of this magnitude.
Electronic navigation is indisputably safe, infallible and accessible to even the most brain-dead captains among us . . .surely there must be some mistake! I am convinced that this grounding was, perhaps, a chimera and the ultimate power and trustworthiness of electronic navigation needs to be protected for future generations of electro-magnetic captains. Please tell me this a just an imagined fiction . . . if not, I may never take a boat to sea again. Good luck and safe sailing . . . by electro-navigation, of course. P.S. Do you think the reef was in a "cone of uncertainty????"

[barnakiel]

Correct me when I am wrong but this particular race has built a long list of boats and men lost.

What's wrong with them? After all, this is not a do or die race but just a commercial event supposed to take paying guests (crews) sailing (in powerful boats on a nice and brave route). So why not track a mile further offshore and be safe?

Or am I mixing up events?

b.

[roverhi]

I recently had my GPS show me 50-60nm nautical miles east of the boats actual position and continued to give me false locations though not as great as the initial error. Stowed the GPS away and bought a new one which worked fine for the balance of the delivery. Checked out the faulty GPS after I got to me destination and it was indicating correct position. Don't know what got into it but I can non longer trust it or sell it with good conscience.

[Jman]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Correct me when I am wrong but this particular race has built a long list of boats and men lost.

What's wrong with them? After all, this is not a do or die race but just a commercial event supposed to take paying guests (crews) sailing (in powerful boats on a nice and brave route). So why not track a mile further offshore and be safe?

Or am I mixing up events?

b.

Not that these comments have anything to do with poor navigation, but if you forked over a large chunk of cash for the experience of racing around the world, you would most certainly be doing everything you could to get on the podium.

Your comments are as ridiculous as saying: if you charter a boat in the Caribbean, then your best bet is to stay at charter company’s dock for the week to avoid the possibility injury or other calamity.

Racing by its very nature, and especially around the world, is always do or die.

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by roverhi

I recently had my GPS show me 50-60nm nautical miles east of the boats actual position and continued to give me false locations though not as great as the initial error. Stowed the GPS away and bought a new one which worked fine for the balance of the delivery. Checked out the faulty GPS after I got to me destination and it was indicating correct position. Don't know what got into it but I can non longer trust it or sell it with good conscience.

I reboot my chart plotter and its gps every evening so it opens on "new" satellites, sometimes they hang onto satellites too long and give bad readings, 1-2kts is fairly common.......

[Seighlor]

Originally Posted by nwdiver

I reboot my chart plotter and its gps every evening so it opens on "new" satellites, sometimes they hang onto satellites too long and give bad readings, 1-2kts is fairly common.......

Good thought. Something I had never considered.

[anacapaisland42]

The Russians have been reported as buggering around with GPS signals in the Black Sea
Bill

Originally Posted by Seighlor

Good thought. Something I had never considered.

[fatherchronica]

Maybe their navigator was the other Atoll, No brains Atoll, from Cheers fame.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by fatherchronica

Maybe their navigator was the other Atoll, No brains Atoll, from Cheers fame.

no this looks like a waypoint error,as the yacht headed straight for the rocks.
if you look at the tracks of the 12 yachts after they left cape town on the clipper yacht race link. https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com...unning-aground

probably a school boy mistake of someone used to navigating in the northern hemisphere,and reading his lattitude the wrong way round off a chart ,then plotting it on the plotter,putting the waypoint just north of cape point rather than just south of the point.

IE off a chart north of the equator.
lattitude you count UP on the degrees scale,south of the equator you count DOWN

[SV Sailfish]

"chimera" Great word Rognvald!

And a great thread Atoll!

Hmm... "my GPS says we do not have to sail around the reef, it says we can go right through it" "and I paid $5,000 EU for the bloody thing so by damn we are going to follow the little line."

Cheers to all boats floating on the hook!

[atoll]

Originally Posted by atoll

no this looks like a waypoint error,as the yacht headed straight for the rocks.
if you look at the tracks of the 12 yachts after they left cape town on the clipper yacht race link. https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com...unning-aground

probably a school boy mistake of someone used to navigating in the northern hemisphere,and reading his lattitude the wrong way round off a chart ,then plotting it on the plotter,putting the waypoint just north of cape point rather than just south of the point.

IE off a chart north of the equator.
lattitude you count UP on the degrees scale,south of the equator you count DOWN

link to the tracks here
https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/race/standings

[El Pinguino]

That boat didn't hit a rock.... it hit Africa

Rocks are easy...

Africa? that needs a totally different skill set.........

[atoll]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

That boat didn't hit a rock.... it hit Africa

Rocks are easy...

Africa? that needs a totally different skill set.........

makes you wonder considering there were 18 people on the boat,how often anybody checked the chart