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

[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...

[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.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by 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.

Creating watertight bulkheads does add expense, but it does not add any significant weight. It just requires some care in construction.

[jordanbigel]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

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).

To hell with performance, I want to live (and I want to be comfortable doing it). I could care less about being slow in light air, and while I am sure you are right a strong spade rudder is possible, I'll never believe that a boat half the weight of mine is going to be as comfortable in heavy seas, or as survivable in a collision.