42: Lagoon 42 loses mast

[BlueBuddha]

It appears that hull 112 lost its mast in just 25knots and 2.5m seas. Apparently, the mast just came off the step.

According to the owner, who posted in the FB lagoon's owner group, none of the shrouds broke. The mast simply came off the step. I assume the most likely cause is extremely loose shrouds?

There are pictures of the clean step with no sign of damage in the FB post.

[BlueBuddha]

The owner says the stays did not fail. He said that nothing really broke and that the mast just slipped off the step.

This suggests the shrouds were likely extremely loose. Either because they were never re-tensioned after the initial shakedowns, or something happened that led to a rapid loss of tension in between tension checks.

I rather this be a human error (failure to tension the shrouds correctly) than a mechanical failure of the stays in such a new boat. If the stays just failed I hope lagoon takes a close look at the rig supplier. Scary!

[danielamartindm]

Something is wrong with this storyline. Lagoon 42 is a proven design, a BLUE WATER design. 25 knots and 2.5 meter seas? I'm calling BS. The engineering of L42 wasn't at fault here.

[PaulinOz]

[RoadRacer]

Following.....

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by danielamartindm

Something is wrong with this storyline. Lagoon 42 is a proven design, a BLUE WATER design. 25 knots and 2.5 meter seas? I'm calling BS. The engineering of L42 wasn't at fault here.

As you say they have been around for a while and unless this is a new revision it should be well proven. From the image it looks like it seats in less than 25mm / 1" with no fixings which is surprising (images can be deceiving). From the marks on the footing it looks like it almost came out at least once before it actually did but not many times which suggests it wasn't always loose and that something quickly changed.

If nothing broke, my vote would be for a pulled cable in the rigging ?

[BlueBuddha]

This is the New L42 not the 90s version. The new is less performance oriented ie significantly heavier. One possibility is that the rig was not re-tuned after the shakedowns and that the skipper had not noticed that the shrouds and or stay were significantly loose. Either way I will be checking my stays daily.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by BlueBuddha

It appears that hull 112 lost its mast in just 25knots and 2.5m seas. Apparently, the mast just came off the step.

According to the owner, who posted in the FB lagoon's owner group, none of the shrouds broke. The mast simply came off the step. I assume the most likely cause is extremely loose shrouds?

There are pictures of the clean step with no sign of damage in the FB post.

How can you "not notice" shrouds THAT loose??? Guess he has the newest power cat version now....

[brownoarsman]

Did they remember to put the cotter pins in?

[arsenelupiga]

Inverted mast that managed to walk out of hole due to major twisting forces...

could invert if having code 0 up in such conditions and going for records..

[Bean Counter]

Did they recover the mast and examine the stay attachments?

[Snowpetrel]

Interesting that it isn't pinned into the step. Thats been a Category 1 racing requirement for a long time. For exactly this reason.

I remember having a dinghy mast jump out it a shallow step when I was a kid sue to slack rigging. Only happened once, I was much more careful afterwards!

[BlueBuddha]

Originally Posted by Bean Counter

Did they recover the mast and examine the stay attachments?

He said the mast was at the bottom of the ocean. He did not indicate whether he inspected the rigging but stated that nothing broke; that the mast simply slipped off.

[BlueBuddha]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

Inverted mast that managed to walk out of hole due to major twisting forces...

could invert if having code 0 up in such conditions and going for records.

He has a video of him flying a para-sailor. I asked him if by any chance he was flying the kite when the mast came off but he has not responded.

Maybe he was trying to recreate the Lagoon 42 promo video, in which they were flying a shoot in 23knots of wind and doing 16nknts of speed.

[jugga]

Wow this is something ! But this could only happen with the stays being too slack, can't see any other cause. My jaw did drop though when I saw the photo PaulinOz posted of the step, is that mast really supposed to stay in place on a foot of just about an inch high ?? I flew my parasailor almost non stop for seven days and nights while crossing the Atlantic in January, can't even begin to imagine my mast just walks away on me somewhere mid atlantic ... And the video BlueBuddha is referring to is not really a Lagoon 42 promo, but made by a german crew on a 400. I'm still having doubt on all the given numbers in that video ... Did you see and hear that wake ?! Crazy !