Lost sailors

USCG have taken the search back up again..

Fair play to em!

Linky

Good luck to them. If you think the worlds a small place go offshore in a boat and start sinking. It soon looks very big again. I hope they have a happy ending.

Good on ’em. Give them a fighting chance at least.

The petition was also pushed hard by the Sailing Anarchy web site which some of you may know of. If you don’t it’s basically it’s a pretty US-centric bunch of very noisy and argumentative sailors who pee quite a lot of people off (…. sound familiar?) – the feeling on there was that the USGC should never have stopped in the first place.

A few top Yotters use that SA site don’t they? DC was on there and so too RC..

I used to follow it but jeeze the tirade when IAAC Boats went from 90ft’ers to Multis was unbearable..

Based on what I’ve seen on yachts, I wonder how current their EPIRB was and when their liferaft was last thoroughly checked. Fingers crossed for them.

A few top Yotters use that SA site don’t they? DC was on there and so too RC..

Yup, a lot of guys read but don’t post too. I’ve wasted a lifetime on there, gladly.

Looks like the US Coastguard have found the boat’s upturned hull.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27551917
😐

Well thats good news, could be sad news but at least they’ve found the boat. Hoping they get a diver to go under it to see if there’s anyone in the cockpit or if the life rafts been let loose.

😕

I’d say given the few days of good conditions that the liferaft would have been found if it was still afloat.
🙁

Seems surprising that they threw a surface swimmer in to check the hull when they would have had time for a diver to get ready to go straight away.

The yacht’s keel was also broken, causing a breach in the hull

Sort of surprised at this – make me wonder if the original capsize may not have been caused by the keel dropping off and maybe they were rolled and weakened bolt then gave way causing the keel to fall onto the hull.

They now expect to find the rest of the vessel soon, the spokesman added.

Eh? what ‘rest of the hull’?

Yeah I read that, seems odd.. maybe they mean the mast/sail etc..

The keel could have struck a submerged object, who knows. I just hope the search will go on longer now they have found something. Hopefully when they get a diver in they won’t just find bodies.

They put a diver in, it was confirmed that the liferaft was still stowed on deck, the windows were smashed, and the cabin completely flooded. The photos show the keel actually ripped part of the hull structure off when it came away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27551917
It’s little wonder, looking at those photos, that it was so difficult finding her, she’s the same colour underneath as the surrounding ocean; I’m astounded they found her at all. Amazing search effort by US Navy, Coastguard, US Air Force, Canadian military and RAF, as well as any number of ships and smaller vessels. Finding her in 20,000 sq miles of open ocean’s worse than looking for a needle in a haystack.
A sad outcome, but at least the families have closure.

Oh dear. Well at least there can no be no doubt.
You would have thought that the crew would have been wearing saftey harnesses given that it was bowing at the time the keel came off – but it seems they were thrown clear when the boat capsized and couldn’t get back to the liferaft.
Also surprised they didn’t have the raft ready to go.

So sad, sad indeed. But as ever those that were in the area turned around to lend a hand in the search, shows just how close the sailing community is and always will be.

Not wanting to make speculation I just hope that they would have had a few minutes together before it turned upside down, being with friends at this time is the most precious of moments.

😕

Looking at the pic of the hull, it appears there were only 4 bolts holding the keel.

Seems a bit inadequate to me.

More bolts = more holes. Less holes in a boat, the better.

Truly tragic and I feel for the relatives, friends, loved ones.

As an ex blue water sailor, faith in your boat is paramount and to have the keel tear off like that in the prevailing conditions at the time, it would have turned over within a blink of an eye, so even if they were all on deck, which they probably were as they had reported a water ingress situation, the opportunity to release the raft would have been very small. Scary stuff.

Impressive searching from the US, Canadian, UK search and rescue teams and the ARC boats and commercial shipping. Just such a shame that the find was not a more uplifting one.

I wonder if there are any repercussions on the charter company? Certainly going to hit the value of First 40.7’s for sale out there.

Possibly too many variables and unknowns for liability type repercussions? Do Stormforce have anymore 407’s? If so, I guess they’ll be being checked now. As has been suggested earlier, if they hit a semi-submerged container, or the boat had been run aground at some point, then the cause would be easier to identify/explain but without the log, difficult/impossible to ascertain

As it is, unfortunately the keel is now a couple of miles down and the USCG have stated they don’t do salvage and I doubt an assessor would want to go look.

I daresay the travel-hoists will be busy over the next few weeks.

The container ship found the hull a week ago but had no means of putting anyone into the water to check, that’s dangerous work and they wouldn’t have had the right gear anyway.

Sad news re the life raft but it is very unlikely it would still be afloat anyway

slackalice – Member
More bolts = more holes. Less holes in a boat, the better…

True enough. I owned a gaff rigged ketch for several years and I was paranoid about maintenance on through hull fixings.

However, 4 bolts all in a straight line looks like trouble waiting to happen to me. Lose one and suddenly you have only 75% left, so basically it would be like a zip. If that was my boat I would have wanted more bolts, and with an offset pattern.

Then again I would probably not be driving the boat in those sort of seas, I would have had a sea anchor out. However racing sailors are much bolder than me. 🙂

It’s a sad loss, but they died doing what they love. Pretty hard to beat that as a way to go.

Yep. Dying with your lungs filling with water must be the best way to go.

eddiebaby – Member
Yep. Dying with your lungs filling with water must be the best way to go.

You know fine what sentiment I was expressing.

yes he did and that reflects poorly on him and not you