Catamaran Capsizes in Galveston Bay

[Unicorn Dreams]

Happened about 3PM. 36' Cat blue and white, all 3 rescued by helo. Heard on VHF, no further info, sorry...

[Cormorant]

Barebones news stories on a few sites. Sure would love to hear all the details of how this happened. Any info on the weather at the time of capsize, Unicorn Dreams?

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people Saturday after their boat capsized in East Bay.


USCG Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders received a call around 3:15pm from someone in the water. The caller said their 36-foot catamaran had capsized and the three onboard were unable to put on their life jackets.
The USCG launched a 25-foot response boat and crew from Station Galveston and a MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter and crew from Air Station Houston to assist.
The boat crew was able to reach two of the people in the water, officials said.
According to authorities, the catamaran's rigging in the water prevented the small boat crew from reaching the third person, a senior citizen.
The helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer to help the elder man to the rescue boat.
All three people in the water were rescued without injury.
"This was an instance that our training came into play," Petty Officer 3rd Class Josh Magie, an aviation survival technician at Air Station Houston, said in a release Saturday. "All of us working together made this rescue run smoothly and without unnecessary risks."

[David M]

Hooray for the Coast Guard!

[s/v Jedi]

Yes, good job of the USCG !!

And again, as with all these "cat capsized" events, utter silence from all the cat owners that preach that cats don't flip...

ciao!
Nick.

[andreas.mehlin]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Yes, good job of the USCG !!

And again, as with all these "cat capsized" events, utter silence from all the cat owners that preach that cats don't flip...

ciao!
Nick.

yada yada

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by David M

Hooray for the Coast Guard!

USCG good job!

[Ram]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Yes, good job of the USCG !!

And again, as with all these "cat capsized" events, utter silence from all the cat owners that preach that cats don't flip...

ciao!
Nick.

I don’t think anyone says cats don’t flip , no more than mono owners don’t say moons don’t sink /flip-what is known is it takes a lot to flip a newer cat-and its usually a combination of events that make this happen-

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Yes, good job of the USCG !!

And again, as with all these "cat capsized" events, utter silence from all the cat owners that preach that cats don't flip...

ciao!
Nick.

I was waiting for more information.

And who said cats don't flip........where......when?

[Dockhead]

As far as I know, cruising catamarans are perfectly safe. However, it is true that I have heard three (!) rescue missions to capsized cats in the UK on VHF just this year, probably half of the distress situations we heard (not counting windsurfers). One was during the Round-the-Island Race. Considering that cruising catamarans are very rare in the UK (surely less than 1% of cruising boats), I thought that was quite remarkable. Perhaps these waters - with lots of gales and heavy weather, are not so good for cats.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

As far as I know, cruising catamarans are perfectly safe. However, it is true that I have heard three (!) rescue missions to capsized cats in the UK on VHF just this year, probably half of the distress situations we heard (not counting windsurfers). One was during the Round-the-Island Race. Considering that cruising catamarans are very rare in the UK (surely less than 1% of cruising boats), I thought that was quite remarkable. Perhaps these waters - with lots of gales and heavy weather, are not so good for cats.

This season I sailed past 4 recently sunken monohulls in Queensland. Also saw one more mentioned as a hazard to navigation in the notices to mariners. Would you surmise from that that monohulls are unsuitable for Queensland waters?

EVERY TIME a catamaran capsizes anywhere on the planet, under any circumstances, we get the same garbage in here.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

This season I sailed past 4 recently sunken monohulls in Queensland. Also saw one more mentioned as a hazard to navigation in the notices to mariners. Would you surmise from that that monohulls are unsuitable for Queensland waters?

EVERY TIME a catamaran capsizes anywhere on the planet, under any circumstances, we get the same garbage in here.

Personally I don't think Dockhead's assertion was garbage; it may not be correct but it's not unreasonable to think there maybe waters where one boat is better then another. It does swing both ways.

s/v Jedi's post on the other hand was an undisguised attempt to stir up trouble, complete with whistling icon. From the results of his post are we to presume that catamaran owners are more easily duped then others? No, I suspect that amongst monohull owners there are those that can be successfully trolled as well.

In any event we all know where this train wreck ends so why don't we discuss the original topic instead of rubbernecking for casualties.

[snort]

The sea can be a dangerous place. Anyone who's ever been out in really bad seas would probably have doubts about the huge (fill in the blank- freighter, cruise ship, etc...) they're on. Any kind of boat has its limits, strong points and challenges.

[Factor]

Twould be nice to know what caused this - what sort of boat it was etc. I would also like to thank Jedi for his insightful input to this discussion. Prec isley where has anyone ever said that cats dont capsize, when - by whom?

On dockheads comment - I learned very early on in my Quantative Methods studies at Uni that anecdotal evidence is the worst kind.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by hummingway

s/v Jedi's post on the other hand was an undisguised attempt to stir up trouble, complete with whistling icon.

Yes, I would have thought that undisguising it with the emoticon would clearly show my comment was in jest and I had hoped to get some good, funny responses instead of all that seriousness and cropped up frustrations

From the results of his post are we to presume that catamaran owners are more easily duped then others? No, I suspect that amongst monohull owners there are those that can be successfully trolled as well.

Aha.. I just detected humor in that passage so not all hope is lost

ciao!
Nick.

[44'cruisingcat]

Good thing is, the boat stayed afloat, and everyone survived. Far too many boats don't stay afloat, and far too many people die as a result.