Another Keel Lost; Another Capsize

[flyingfin]

Mistakes????? Putting a sailboat on a nice soft sandbar on a foggy night in Clearwater, where there would be no wind, barely any swells, and certainly no rocks. I have done that many times and the keel didnt fall off!

They only made one mistake - not having a qualified mechanic or surveyor inspect the vessel before they bought it. I have seen similar boats up in the mangroves after hurricanes pushed them into the trees, still standing upright on their keels. Somebody just needed to throw a wrench on the bolts before they bought that vessel. Prior owner was partly responsible, but was probably just another ir-responsible boat owner. no maintenance, out of sight out of mind. The good Lord was looking out for them when they were able to walk ashore!

[Steadman Uhlich]

It is sad to see a boat wrecked or sunk.

But, I also don't like to see CF become a place full of name calling, back biting, sniping, unfriendly remarks, taunts, anger, unnecessary criticism of sailors or members, and politicization. As a community of sailors, we can do better.

I seem to recall the young couple in this incident did join CF some time ago.
______

My POV?
I see this as a cautionary tale, one that could help other newbies (or others) avoid the same mistakes that led to the sunk boat.

I shared this news story on Facebook because their example may prove useful to others who have little sailing experience and are not aware of the risks (including the risk of liability for a sunken boat).

My Suggestion: If you feel there is a lesson to be learned here, post your suggestion or observation or tip in a way that could help the readers of this thread.

It may help another new owner/sailor avoid the same mishap.

Let's keep this forum mature, helpful, and about sharing good seamanship and sailing tips.

For example, here are what I see as lessons a newbie should take away from this incident. Feel free to add more to this list.
__________

Lessons to Keep in Mind

1. Not all boats sink due to storms and hurricanes. Groundings are a common cause.

2. Avoid entering an unfamiliar port in fog or at night. It can be better to stay offshore until daylight or until you can be sure of your exact location and the local conditions.

3. Have insurance. Unexpected things happen on even a short trip on the water. The owner of a boat is liable for environmental damage from sunken vessels when in harbors or coastal waters.

4. Older boats should have their keel bolts checked, if the boat has a bolt-on keel. The bolts may appear sound but have hidden faults or weaknesses.

5. If you are entering a pass or port for the first time, and if you have towing insurance, it is prudent to call the towing company to ask about recent local conditions or advice on entering the pass or going over the bar. It is likely they have already pullied someone off troublesome bars and shoals near the entrance.

If you don't have towing insurance, consider waiting until you can follow another boat that has a similar draft as your boat.

6. Make sure you wear a PFD whenever on deck, especially in surf or fog or limited visibility such as at night.

7. Have a ditch bag with a means to communicate, some form of ID for each member of the crew, and some form of money in a waterproof pouch.

8. Be aware that local conditions may change and navigation aids may move or storms may cause channels to fill and marks to be moved on purpose. Check local conditions prior to entering a pass or harbor.

9. When entering shallow waters, be aware that the trough of a wave may cause you to have less than normal depth below your keel. There can be a danger of grounding or pounding your keel if you have little depth below your keel draft.

10. Have a professional yacht survey done prior to purchase of a boat.

11. Have an adequate reserve of money for the inevitable need to repair or replace things on the boat.

12. Learn to sail before heading offshore alone. If you are a newbie, take someone with some experience with you till you have gained experience yourself.

Etc.

[Scaramanga F25]

Lucky for them that the cruise ended in that harbor and not...

[Kerry1]

As always there is a plethora of views about the incident, and the only ones that should be largely ignored are those whose arguments reduce to insult and disrespect. As a "Cruiser's Forum" and with due regard to free speech, eveyone is entitled to an opinion and we will all take from it what we will. Personally, I can think of their lack of experience and relate to it as part of my own story, knowing full well that the same could have happened to me. The great thing about the forum is that we can learn from the mistakes of others, and have things reconfirmed, like the perils of entering a strange harbour with a bar and at night at that. Theyr'e young, they have family support and they can renew the dream if they have the courage after this. The young lady may have been totally put off which is always the danger after this bad experience. I agree with the comment about the Bush Pilot's World. Those who write books and make comment about the cruising life in places like 'Cruiser's Forum" all contribute to the dreams of others like this young couple, and in that sense we are all responsible for what they did right and even in a small way what they did wrong. From the limited facts we have, I don't think there is any indication that they were going to start a "go fund me" sort of exercise, nor resort to that sort of burden upon others. They are fortunate enough to live in an area of the freeworld where life is forgiving enough to afford the sort of damage they have sustained and pick themselves up and renew the life they dreamed of.

Good luck and God'speed to them...(which next time might be a little more cautiously and sedately into the next strange harbour!)

[svfinlandia]

I vote for post number 101. Good post Jim.
My ceiling dream started in my 20s. I started reading everything that I could get my hands on about sailing. Wrnt to the Annapolis boat show off and on for many years looking for the right boat. In 1993 I took my first beer boat sale course. In 2007 I flew to St. Vincent and took a two week course sailing in the Grenadines.
Finally at the age of 62 I am retired and bought the boat that I now own. Then last year after 10 years of sailing experience up and down the East Coast of the US I got knocked down to the mast while transiting Oregon Inlet.
But that was in the daylight in reasonably good conditions, going in and then with that I have been in and out several times before. These young folks main mistake was entering an unknown inlet in the worst possible of comditioms.
I wish them well and hope they can recover. And I bet they never attempt an unknown inlet after dark again

Al, S/V Finlandia

[danielamartindm]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Seems to be a lot of people trying to convince themselves "This couldn't possibly happen to me".

Yes, it's a common reaction, among sailors AND pilots. What we're doing is dangerous, and it's natural to ask one's self "Can I learn something from this, or is it something I already know?"

[darylat8750]

"
And the "they lost everything" slant of the article is a bit much. If you're in your mid 20s, healthy, in a relationship, and with family and friends to help out... you have more (of what counts) than the richest retiree. Work some, get some real sailing experience, try again in a few years."

This. Many mid 20s folks are broke. Learn from the experience. Get jobs and save and try again. If it were easy everyone could do it.

[woodyapex]

I used to have a Catalina 30 1975
I did a lot of research on the Catalina smile and made sure I replaced and strengthened my keel bolts to prevent it happening to me . I used to have photos of the nuts I took off the keel bolts that stood in bilge water 24 hours a day . They were rotten and so were the bolts . I know if I’d have hit bottom I would have had 7 nice inch holes letting in water and no keel . Without action . Theses people obviously did not .
I’ve also a sneaky feeling it’s going to rapidly become fashion to buy a cheap boat , spend your life savings on it , sink it intentionally with a nice back ground story pre wrote and then make a small fortune with a nice go fund me account . I bet it’s only hours away for one for this couple .

[Kita]

Originally Posted by flyingfin

Mistakes????? Putting a sailboat on a nice soft sandbar on a foggy night in Clearwater, where there would be no wind, barely any swells, and certainly no rocks. I have done that many times and the keel didnt fall off!

They only made one mistake - not having a qualified mechanic or surveyor inspect the vessel before they bought it. I have seen similar boats up in the mangroves after hurricanes pushed them into the trees, still standing upright on their keels. Somebody just needed to throw a wrench on the bolts before they bought that vessel. Prior owner was partly responsible, but was probably just another ir-responsible boat owner. no maintenance, out of sight out of mind. The good Lord was looking out for them when they were able to walk ashore!

I think I would respectfully disagree I came through that pass just a couple days before this accident and I was told because I did a little research before I got there that there was quite a current and to be prepared and maybe I should try it at slack tide so I anchored out and yeah it was rough and I bounced around that night but I survived. Common Sense would dictate never go to a unknown port in the fog or at night I do believe that would be considered a second mistake. I'm no expert but those couple of nights that they came in it was foggy. I am anchored in Boca ciega Bay maybe a mile away from John's Pass and I couldn't see my dingy tied of the back of my boat. So yeah it was foggy.

[Don C L]

As much as I love and prefer my long molded-in keel, I wouldn't agree we'd need to write off all old bolt-on keels. I know of at least one ol' Columbia 43, same kind of keel and stub structure, that was totally re-fit, new keel bolts included and is now in Hawaii doing fine and in a lazy RTW with some ecstatic owners.

edit: oops, I was thinking C26 keel (compared to C43), not C28. Still, I stand by that, if the bolts had been replaced, it would probably have been ok.

[OldManMirage]

Reminds me of one of my first outings with my wife on our Skipper 17.

We towed it over to Cedar Key on the west coast of Florida. On the way over, as I'm looking at the ROAD MAP of Florida, I say "Hey honey, look, the Suwannee River is only about 20 miles up the coast. We can sail there in about 5 hours. Let's go for it !"

We did. And on the way we ran into a nice little Florida late summer thunderstorm. When it hit we were laid over with too much sail up. We got it all down, and with no charts at all, we headed closer to shore. Ran into a bunch of oyster beds on an outgoing tide, and ended up spending the night aground. Luckily, with our 1' draft and swing keel, we just sort of settled onto the bottom as we ran out of water. The next day we floated off and sailed back. Happy ending.

But as I look back I know things could have turned out a lot differently. We were lucky. And the experience didn't turn us off from sailing, it just made us a little more cautious, and a little wiser.

I hope this couple learns from it too, and doesn't quit !

[atoll]

Originally Posted by akprb

No. This just encourages more of the same.

There is a piece called Ultra Budget on our blog, applies here.

An earlier poster is correct, this becomes a burden for Madeira Beach. I’m all for folks living their dreams but when I read things like folks wanting to sail a 23’ whatever across the Pacific with no money and no experience I just can’t help but cringe.

Cruising is not all sunset and margaritas. The reasons they feel so good is because the bad is so bad. We worked a solid decade 24/7 to craft the life to be able to leave for a decade. No luck, thousands of hard hours and a desire not to be a burden on others.

These folks will organize some crowd sourcing and raise 100k plus, have a 40’ center cockpit donated and take off again in 10 months.

We’ll see.

this was said with tongue in cheek

but given all the others out there with patreon and you tube subscribers who document their dramas of life,and if joe public is happy to contribute to the drivel...so be it

[JPA Cate]

@ Cully, post #23: Yes, if you have good reason to fear the loss of the boat or of life, that is a legitimate Mayday call. You must realize, the response is a lot slower than the 5 min. time aimed at for ambulances, as it takes time to get the crew to the boat, and even when they're there, it takes time to get them to the vessel in distress.

Another point here, it was media that wrote they lost everything. I'm sure the young people in question realize they still have family who will support them. But to sell news, making something sound catastrophic is more effective. Truth seems to be a bit out of fashion.

Finally, someone wrote that the woman may be terrified and not want to go to sea again. Yes, that is a possible outcome, but equally possible she has a lot more gumption than that. But for the fellow, his failures as a captain that got them into the loss of the boat, well it depends for him, on his character, too; but of the people we know who've lost boats, usually the skipper has a whole lot of healing to do.

You can see why I belong to the "when facing an unknown entry, heave to for the night and come in in the daylight, when the visibility is good" crowd....but it was Jim who taught me, and maybe this young couple hadn't learned it, or believed it. They might well have a different take on it now. How they choose to spend their futures isn't really up to us, and I wish them well.

"The government" doesn't pay for wreck cleanup these days, States have laws that make the owners liable for the cleanups. Otherwise, it is possible that tax monies would be used.

Ann

[Vasco]

Lots of speculation. Has it been confirmed that the keel was lost?

[boatman61]

Someone said he/they are CF members so maybe.. if we are lucky.. we will hear it from the horses mouth so to speak.