51 Foot Danish Sloop goes Down Halfway to Polynesia

[carstenb]

The 51 foot Danish Sloop Lulu, apparently hit either 1 or two whales halfway between Galapagos and Marquesas. The boat sustained so much damage and had water ingress that was unstoppable. The 8 man crew took to their liferaft and Lulu sank. Towing their dinghy, they set off their EPIRB and made several Mayday calls on their IN-Reach and Sat phone.
The crew was picked up within 24 hours by a large fishing trawler and later transferred to a Mærsk freighter that was headed for Tahiti

All crew safe, no further details are available now.

[AlfaGTV]

I believe this is the second boat that has sank in the pacific this season from hitting a whale?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by AlfaGTV

I believe this is the second boat that has sank in the pacific this season from hitting a whale?

Whales! This is getting serious

[boatman61]

Fishing boats, Whales, Ships, other sailboats.. slip in the bath, fall down the stairs..
$hit happens.

[Captain-Memo]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Fishing boats, Whales, Ships, other sailboats.. slip in the bath, fall down the stairs..
$hit happens.

That´s right, is part of a life

[carstenb]

Yes it is a reminder that what we do is not without an element of danger. Here all crew are safe, a testament to a skipper who insured his safery equipment was up to date, adequate, and in working order

We have sailed surrounded byflocks of whales numerous times also at night and every time I simply hope they know we are there

[boatman61]

Same here, went down the West Coast of Australia during the September migration South and were surrounded by whales all the way to Perth near enough.. generally they paralleled us with youngsters occasionally coming across for a closer look, have encountered a variety in the Atlantic both large and small.. one thing I learnt is when they are on a mission to get somewhere, get outa the way.. they ain't gonna stop or alter course.
Had a Sperm whale surface right beside me nearing Horta, who then swam alongside for around 5 mins before diving and not seen again.. stared right at me on the helm.
Orca's have accompanied me over the years along with an occasion where they were coming S and I was headed N, a fair sized pod, a group of three dived just ahead of me and passed under to surface astern and proceeded to give me a scolding.. Presumably Orca for "Oy.. Watch where your going a$$hole.."
My experiences though very close have been peaceful.
I imagine one of the big fellas coming up after 20mins at depth ain't likely to be watching where he's going, engine sounds may deflect him but otherwise it's just surface noise.

[MicHughV]

The thing is....during the day, you can usually spot a whale, but at night....no such luck..

Having a steel hull might provide some security....maybe....???

[SaylorMade]

It is great that whale population is growing, but this is what we are going to see a lot more of.
Maybe it's time to consider steel hulls again for ocean crusing.

Are there any production boats today, made from steel (in any signigicant number) ?

And how much more protected would you actually be?

[rslifkin]

I'm not sure a steel hull is all that necessary. It's more a matter of designing for these failure scenarios. Make the hull itself strong, and particularly around things like the rudder post. The rudder post should snap without the hull failing in a worst case hit. And ideally, the rudder post should be in a standpipe or sealed compartment so that total loss of the rudder won't flood the whole boat.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

I'm not sure a steel hull is all that necessary. It's more a matter of designing for these failure scenarios. Make the hull itself strong, and particularly around things like the rudder post. The rudder post should snap without the hull failing in a worst case hit. And ideally, the rudder post should be in a standpipe or sealed compartment so that total loss of the rudder won't flood the whole boat.

Whale strikes are actually way more common than we hear about, because it is usually not international news. I have twice been on boats that struck whales, neither made even the local news. Of course, neither boat sank a thousand miles from shore either!

Many, many things in boat design that can be done to make a boat safer offshore. Few off them are done by the mass market builders because that's not their market, and some of the things that need to be done to improve a boat's survivability arguably impart performance. But your boat doesn't sail well at the bottom of the ocean.

Keels that have high length to depth ratios are always going to be stronger than deep, skinny fins. Robust skegs in front of rudders. MULTIPLE water tight compartments that actually WORK. And, no a single "crash bulkhead" behind the anchor locker does NOT count! Bulkheads that are properly tabbed to the hull, not just glued. Interior furniture that is also tabbed to the hull making a single, solid, inflexible structure. Nothing is rocket science. Nothing "fashionable". Just good solid boat building.

A fiberglass boat built with offshore safety and survivability as a goal, should have no trouble surviving a whale strike at hull speed. It might suffer damage, possibly serious damage, but it damn well should not sink!

Now if you put a boat up on a reef and set the surf to grinding it on the rocks, a steel boat will win, hands down.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

Whale strikes are actually way more common than we hear about, because it is usually not international news. I have twice been on boats that struck whales, neither made even the local news. Of course, neither boat sank a thousand miles from shore either!

Many, many things in boat design that can be done to make a boat safer offshore. Few off them are done by the mass market builders because that's not their market, and some of the things that need to be done to improve a boat's survivability arguably impart performance. But your boat doesn't sail well at the bottom of the ocean.

Keels that have high length to depth ratios are always going to be stronger than deep, skinny fins. Robust skegs in front of rudders. MULTIPLE water tight compartments that actually WORK. And, no a single "crash bulkhead" behind the anchor locker does NOT count! Bulkheads that are properly tabbed to the hull, not just glued. Interior furniture that is also tabbed to the hull making a single, solid, inflexible structure. Nothing is rocket science. Nothing "fashionable". Just good solid boat building.

A fiberglass boat built with offshore safety and survivability as a goal, should have no trouble surviving a whale strike at hull speed. It might suffer damage, possibly serious damage, but it damn well should not sink!

Now if you put a boat up on a reef and set the surf to grinding it on the rocks, a steel boat will win, hands down.

I'm not convinced the performance penalty of a skeg is worthwhile. You can make a pretty darn strong spade rudder. And knowing that nothing is unbreakable, it's important with any rudder design (skeg or spade) to know that breaking the rudder won't compromise the watertight integrity of the boat. One failure (the rudder) should remain as 1 failure (loss of steering).

[carstenb]

Well I suppose it is possible to build an "unsinkable boat" - did someone mention the Titanic?

Any boat is a compromise. You want it to be "unsinkable" - ti will cost $$$$$$ and be heavy and slow.

[bcguy]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Whales! This is getting serious

Please clarify. Are you saying Whales are saying this is serious. Gotta really hurt. Jokingly of course. A tragedy. Said in the sad knowledge of dead whales killed by boats on my coast...

[Scorpius]

It was probably not the initial boat-strikes-whale that did the damage. I would think it more likely that the damage was done when the whale crash dove and its tail struck the boat - and it could have hit the hull anywhere. There's a horrendous amount of power in them thar tails!