Ship Hits Catamaran

[Morgan Paul]

1) Why did they leave the boat, even though they said both engine rooms were flooded, she is sitting up very well, I can see that the seas are pretty severe but the cat is riding it excellently, and will probably be still afloat for a very long time.

This is what I was thinking when I first saw the pics. The only reason I can figure is that this guy has big bucks so he just said to himself f-it I will buy another boat.

[ireaney]

Originally Posted by Morgan Paul

This is what I was thinking when I first saw the pics. The only reason I can figure is that this guy has big bucks so he just said to himself f-it I will buy another boat.

If he had big bucks, why did he buy a 10 year old boat.

[Tempest245]

That's a Whale of a Story.....

I'm not clear...why didn't he insure his $200,000 boat? He needed to go south? Does this means he paid Cash for the boat...since no lien holder is going to let you take possesion without insurance...

Why do you have to go anywhere to obtain insurance? it's a phone call, a check, and maybe a faxed survey....

For a guy who doesn't believe in carrying epirbs, he didn't hesitate to set it off.

He's out sailing on his new boat...while two fiberglass Harpoons are in their way to England in the Gulf stream...

Well no loss of life ...that's good......must be nice to have money..

[sabray]

The way I read it they had no steering. the sail drive was blown through one of the the engine rooms. Both amas were flooded in the stern and a gail was forecast. I am not sure what they had on board to make repairs. But the choice seems like you have materails and knowledge and cool to fix some significant damage or you call mayday.
AS for it doesn't look bad the shots are from a 600' ship. If you have ever shot pictures in heavy seas it can be very decieving. The boat is not surfing down the face of a wave but there is a sea running depending on where they are and forecasted weather it could get quite nasty and pictures may not display that well either. Try to guess the wave size in my avatar look closely at the top left corner and you will get a perspective from the tip of a following wave. I would love to here how else this could have been handled given the facts. So instead of how could they do that on such a nice day ona boat that looks fine. how would you get out of this situation?

[Therapy]

Latitude 38 - The West's Premier Sailing & Marine Magazine

.........Fred bought a Venezia 42 in Annapolis for $200,000. Because it was already November, he couldn't get insurance until he got further south......


.......Alas, the weather conditions were bad enough that the ship couldn't get close enough to rescue the two men during the first three passes.......

......
After looking at today's video, we know some armchair sailors are going to scoff that it wasn't rough at all, that it wasn't really getting dark, and that the boat shouldn't have been abandoned. First of all, videos and photographs of the ocean always make it look calmer than it really is. Second, today's video equipment does so well in low light conditions that they make it seem brighter out than it actually is. Lastly, a very experienced cruiser, civil engineer and contractor, Fred didn't make the decision to abandon his uninsured boat lightly. "I cried like a baby when I had to leave her," he admits........

...... Fred returned to St. Barth. Thanks to many friends and a long relationship with a local bank, he and Sophy managed to acquire the Oceanis 40 Tres Palmeras, which they are now living aboard in the Gustavia anchorage......


Stuff happens.
I think he does have a few boat bucks though.
Dunno about the inability to get insurnace.
Maybe whats-her-name can tell us?

[Tempest245]

hmm...I wonder.....Does insurance cover striking a whale, resulting in the loss of your vessel..?

[twisty]

I don't know still something doesn't seem quite right.

[sabray]

hmmm your boats holed and you can't stear. The only off thing is that these guys couldn't communicate. Presume there is a boarding ladder on the bow of the tanker. Is it still off. I don't see how this is questionable.

[David M]

Should you wait until your boat literally sinks or capsizes before considering abandoning ship? I don't think so, especially when a rescue is right there. Looks to me he did exactly that. He got out of a bad situation before it got worse. Sounds smart to me!

Not trying to sound cynical but perhaps he is just not as macho as other sailors who would ride things out until the situation got a lot worse?

[twisty]

Maybe it is just the thought of letting something go that I just paid $200k for which they themselves admit will probably stay afloat if the bulkheads weren't breached by being tboned. Now after it was T-boned, thats a different story.

[sabray]

There is an open hole in the boat. you cant steer. You are disabled can not steer and a low presure system is approaching. What would you do? So yeah I would like to think that I would glass up a bulkhead or 2. Its gotta suck to kiss that boat good bye. It sucks even more when people qualify themselves second guessing the decission to ditch who haven't seen what the ocean can present.Do you have offshore sailing experience?

[senormechanico]

I have offshore experience, although not anywhere near as much as some others on this board. I've seen 20' breaking seas from three directions at once, and although not fun, I never gave a thought to abandoning ship. I've had to repair a Monitor windvane which came apart (while underway offshore at 8 knots ) shortly after being serviced by them in Sausalito, but that's a different story.

So, here's my two cents.

I don't understand why these boobs didn't try to disconnect the bent rudder, stuff the hole between engine rooms (I'll bet FP changes their design!) and bail out the other one. Some honking on the bent rudder shaft with tools (they DID have tools, didn't they?) or even cutting it loose and the boat would sail slowly with one room holed.

As long as you aren't in danger of sinking, if you can't deal with basic Rube Goldberg fixes to your boat, you don't belong out there.

Flame away!

Steve B.

[Lodesman]

So what happened to the starboard rudder? And just how big is the "steering tube" that it couldn't be bunged tight enough for a bilge pump to keep the stbd eng compartment from flooding? And final question - if T-boning the cat was supposed to get the crew off, then how come they're still on board after the ramming? Makes no sense to me.

[sabray]

boarding ladder hangs off the bow you jump at the moment of impact or before. some how they couldn't communocate. This was some hours into the the rescue attempts

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by David M

A ship with its propeller in reverse has no steerage. Its irrelevant where the rudder was.

How wrong you are, David. Steerage depends on water-flow over the rudder, so as long as the ship is making sufficient headway or sternway, then it has steerage, regardless of what the screw is doing. Depending on the ship's own characteristics, the rudder can sometimes be useful when manoeuvring at rest.
When I pointed out the gauges, it wasn't to suggest that it was indicative of evasive manoeuvring; the combination of helm and slow astern seemed to suggest manoeuvring at rest.

Kevin