Sailboat rescue in rough weather

[refuge]

If their boat didn’t go to the bottom of the ocean then they should repay the tax payers the $80,000 for the helo extraction.

If you can’t handle an open ocean storm then you have no business being on the high seas.

[Fi2010]

The sailors made the correct choice to leave. If they waited too long, they could potentially lose more confidence as the situation continued. Loss of confidence can easily turn to panic. Panic often leads to poor decision making with a life altering mistake as the end result.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by h20man

I had understood that this was a new owner.. and the vessel had been sold. You are sure it is the same couple? BTW, there is a sad quote on yachtworld regarding the Amel Super Maramu:

I watched them fuel up and then depart. When I heard the news I also confirmed with the dockmaster that Bali Hai was the same vessel. However, there was another SM 53 that was on the hard getting a bottom job that was launched not long before the one in question came in for fuel. I had heard that the owner of this other SM was a newbie, but I have no idea where it went. I can check into it again and try to confirm.

Why do you think it's a sad quote? The SM 53 is not difficult to sail solo or by a couple. Neither is my 47'er for that matter. Except possibly for docking, I think it's more about how a boat is rigged than size alone. Many larger boats are more stable and thus forgiving in rough conditions. Mine certainly is, and I've both solo'd and short-handed mine many times. You need to be diligent about contingency plans, redundancy, etc., but that's just good seamanship.

[pbmaise]

I was sailing as a prospective crew for a Pacific crossing. Nce conditions along the California coast when winds died. The captain attempted to start engine. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

After it was clear engine wouldn't start...the captain prostrated himself on the cockpit floor and cried out..WE DONT HAVE AN ENGINE. WE DON'T HAVE AN ENGINE!!!

I just stared at him thinking.

I am on a perfectly good sailboat. Have working cellphones in range of shore.

Have multiple other communication.

Have food and water.

I thought this is the guy who wants to cross, Pacific?

A few moments later he thought to check the position of the engine kill switch.

IMHO if a crew and captain are not prepared to sail in rough seas or high winds or at worst wait for them to relent, then they shouldn't be there.

[Searles]

Just a small tip, I have passed on ,if you look like leaving a disabled but not sinking vsl deploy your anchor and all your chain, make sure the bitter end is fast ,carefully pay out your anchor and chain over the bow roller add some form of anti chafe gear if possible ,make sure it streams from the bow fit a bridle if possible this small last job may save your vsl ⛵️⚓️👍

[Linesledaft]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

my estimate: sea is filling up with incompetent sailors, beneficiaries of money printing and corona/riots escapees. one needs to be very careful when around these 'newbies'. Few will make it to adulthood.

You must be a helluva sailor to talk like that...

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Searles

Just a small tip, I have passed on ,if you look like leaving a disabled but not sinking vsl deploy your anchor and all your chain, make sure the bitter end is fast ,carefully pay out your anchor and chain over the bow roller add some form of anti chafe gear if possible ,make sure it streams from the bow fit a bridle if possible this small last job may save your vsl ⛵️⚓️👍

Depending on your anchor and rode, it could serve as a sea anchor, too. Or a supplement to your sea anchor. I have never tried it, though.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Exile

I watched them fuel up and then depart. When I heard the news I also confirmed with the dockmaster that Bali Hai was the same vessel. However, there was another SM 53 that was on the hard getting a bottom job that was launched not long before the one in question came in for fuel. I had heard that the owner of this other SM was a newbie, but I have no idea where it went. I can check into it again and try to confirm.

According to marina staff it was the same boat I watched fuel up and depart, and not the SM 53 that had previously been on the hard. I also remembered that Bali Hai had an unusual (to me) aft solar panel set-up (suspended by lines) which the rescue photo shows had obviously been compromised. According to the owner, he and his wife had sailed from the Med to the Carib, and then to the Chesapeake. Doesn't necessarily mean they had ever encountered the conditions which precipitated the rescue, but if true they certainly weren't newbies. It was reported that they told the USCG that they activated their epirb due to loss of their engine and rough conditions. Probably more to the story, as it's hard to imagine that such a decision would be taken lightly. Who knows . . .

[thataway41]

Thru the years we have known of a number of capable sailboats which were abandoned and then found months and even thousands of miles at sea.

I always advise "polishing" the diesel fuel--cleaning the tanks, and running the fuel thru a series of filters. It is not unusual for boats in calmer waters to have debris and sediment in the tanks. Plug up the filters, change, start engine, plug up again etc.. Eventually the batteries run down, not enough filters etc. We heard "maydays" from 3 of such sailing vessels on one of our trips down the West Coast of the USA. We even stood by one, since they had only a hand held VHF--and ran the main batteries down to a point where the fixed VHF would not transmit. I would have taken them in tow, but they had already called "Sea Tow" which took almost 6 hours to get to their position.


Also I always put an electric fuel pump in series with the parallel set of fuel filters,(and selector valve) to facilitate priming the fuel system, and changing filters. Another real feature is real "man holes" In the top of fuel tanks. (We had contaminated one tank on a particularly rough Atlantic Crossing. Ran the fuel into the other tank thru the on board polishing system, but when got to the salt water, pumped it into buckets to go overboard, and then opened the man hole to manually clean the bottom of the tank.). This also illustrates the reason to have more than one fuel tank--and best practice to have a small "day tank".

No one has mentioned using the Jordon Series Drogue. Is there a reason this is being ignored--I believe this would be an ideal situation for its use, if for some reason heaving too is not feasible? We have carried these on all of our passages.

We (My wife and I) have about 100,000 miles in vessels very similar in size and design to the Amel 52 SM. Granted we were in our 40's and 50's, but never found that size vessel too difficult to handle (even without fancy electric or hydraulic winches). We have experienced storms at sea far worse than the conditions pictured there for up to 6 days at a time. Yes, you have to be disciplined to rest, to have food prepared ahead of time which will sustain you. Also if something breaks--have alternatives or jury rig.

The Amel has bunks which lend well for heavy weather with full lee cloths--which can wrap over the bunk and prevent being thrown "up" against the ceilings. You have to be prepared for a 90* roll.

Sails--our voyaging vessels always had a double head sail rig--if only set up for storm use. You have an option if for some reason you loose the function of the "normal" headsail..(such as furling jamming). For the reasons noted, I had avoided in mast furling--you can always use slab reefing and tie in the reefs.

Finally we took a ketch with 7' draft and 63.5'(+VHF of 33") air draft down the ICW. The Amel draws 6'7" and air draft at Tricolor light 64' 1". Our boat occasionally went "ting, ting, ting" as we went under bridges, but we made it under all of the 65' bridges. One had to watch the tides and follow channels very carefully--occasionally sending the dinghy ahead with a sounder to check the depths.

Glad that folks survived without injury---sorry to see the loss of a good boat--hopefully it will be salvaged.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by tenchiki

The story does leave out a lot of detail. One possible scenario: a couple on a 52ft boat could be relying on powered winches to manage it. If the engine gets disabled, once the batteries run down, no power means no managing the boat.

Actually, though I don’t know the details regarding why this couple needed to be rescued, I’ve been in just the situation in your scenario with no engine and no electricity available to run anything in the Gulf Stream with strong northerly winds. But though I was sailing, the winches or lack of power to them wasn’t a factor because I wasn’t about to try tacking into that wind and waves combo so just sailed steadily west until out of the stream, which was a matter of about 6-8 hours of fast sailing obliquely on one continuous tack up and down mountainous waves. Bermuda racers are in a different situation because they are trying to get to a particular location as quickly as possible which may mean battling Gulf Stream waves for much longer than someone like me whose only priority was to get out of it ASAP and then figure out where go go from wherever I ended up.

[Supercat568]

Maybe the couple was one of those "hey let's get a sailboat, then take an online sailing course and sail to Paris!" types. Or worse, the guy might have had a man bun.
Or..
They were upside down on their boat mortgage but paid up on their insurance and decided to roll the dice?
Just guessing..fake news style.

[B23iL23]

Sounds like you jumped right in, didn't bother to read ANY of the previous comments and off you went - "Fake new style"

They had spent time sailing the boat in the Med, then across the Atlantic and spent the Winter in the Caribbean. Think that qualifies more than any online sailing course.

Originally Posted by Supercat568

Maybe the couple was one of those "hey let's get a sailboat, then take an online sailing course and sail to Paris!" types. Or worse, the guy might have had a man bun.
Or..
They were upside down on their boat mortgage but paid up on their insurance and decided to roll the dice?
Just guessing..fake news style.

[Supercat568]

My post was a joke, kidding, it was fake news style..my post was fake news. Amazing that you didn't realize that. The mention of a man bun causing the problems didn't clue you in?

[scargo]

This Amel was spoted at sea by a team delivering Fabrice Amedeo's Imoca 60 back to France from Martinque after the end of the race Transat Jacques Vabre.


Article is in French, please google translate it if you don't read French.


https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/vo...d-0aa76b68b4bb

[Tetepare]

A free Amel? Ooohhhh