Knock Down Off Colombian Coast

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

Especially a Triton. Those are usually regarded as extra tank like. Goes to show anything can happen.

See, I think it's just as logical to make the argument that thankfully she was built like a tank, otherwise she would be on the bottom. who knows what forces that hull saw, may well have crushed a more lightly built boat?



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[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

See, I think it's just as logical to make the argument that thankfully she was built like a tank, otherwise she would be on the bottom. who knows what forces that hull saw, may well have crushed a more lightly built boat?



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touche'

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

See, I think it's just as logical to make the argument that thankfully she was built like a tank, otherwise she would be on the bottom. who knows what forces that hull saw, may well have crushed a more lightly built boat?



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Could be some truth to that. I've heard of boats being rolled before, but never heard of the side caving in from it though.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Could be some truth to that. I've heard of boats being rolled before, but never heard of the side caving in from it though.

Makes me think the wave broke just at the perfect moment to slam into the side?
That or somehow a weak hull or both?

[SakPase]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

Sakpase,

Thanks for sharing on the thread. Glad to know everyone was safe and well after it was over. If it were me there I probably would have evacuated my bowels before the dog did. If you have anymore details, pictures, or points you left out of the article I am positive there are many here that would love to hear or see them

First, thank everyone for their feedback and kind words. One of the issues is that magazine articles is that they are of a limited length. So things like route planning for the area, local weather, preparations, past sailing experiences and even most of the sailing that happened on that passage had to be left out because the focus was on the events after the wave.

I definitely put a lot of faith into the notion that old boats(like Tritons) are over built and that in general stronger than the men who sail them. As it turns out at least in my case the lay-up was not nearly as robust as the legend.

It was very much a stuff happens kind of event, if we were slightly slow or slightly faster we may have never even know that wave came through, and continued on to our destination none the wiser that the potential for catastrophic failure was one wave away.
I do not believe the failure is really a issue of UV degradation on the fiber glass but one of structural design. Tritons (west coast ones anyway) have an outward facing flange that is through bolted and lightly glassed in. It is a design high in stress risers and old poly resins don't stick well to cured items (which I am sure the deck and hull were before they were joined at the factory). We just got hit at the right angle by the right wave that opened her up.

[malbert73]

Thanks for posting. It's great to hear firsthand experience on a thread where there was a lot of armchairing!!!


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