North Atlantic rescue off Delaware coast

[Scott T-Bird]

I heard on the radio this morning about 2 sailors being rescued about 200 miles off the Delaware coast. The story says they left Cape May after Thanksgiving bound for Marathon in the Keys. They were last seen exiting Oregon Inlet on December 3rd and were rescued December 13th. Their Catalina 30 was dismasted in a storm and they were adrift with no fuel, power, food or water reserves left. I don't know about everybody else, but it seems madness to take a chance in the North Atlantic in Late November/Early December, particularly leaving Oregon Inlet and having to sail around Cape Hatteras in a 30' sailboat when there are perfectly good inland routes through that area. Yet, this situation seems to occur almost every year in December. It seems that the itch to travel south can lead to very sketchy brain functions as the holidays approach!

Sailors Are Rescued After 10 Days Adrift in the Atlantic

Joe DiTomasso and Kevin Hyde were sailing to Florida from New Jersey when they lost contact with family and friends on Dec. 3. On Tuesday, they were found more than 200 miles off the coast of Delaware.

www.nytimes.com

 

[PaulK]

Catalina 30. Seems they left in clear weather and a storm surprised them. Ran out of water, though? Cat 30 tanks hold more than 40 gallons. Even half-full, they should have had enough for 20 days. (Half a gallon per man per day, no?) It is easier to understand running out of fuel if you're dismasted and simply trying to maintain a heading in bad weather over a long period, without making any progress. 21 gallons of diesel will only last so long.

 

[jssailem]

Interesting story Scott. Thanks for sharing.

Being here in a warm solid home, I can read this and think about the events.

Statements like: "a storm moved in, blew them off course, and destroyed their mast." makes them sound like victims of a storm.

My conjecture is they were responsible for not having a boat prepared and venturing out when weather forecasts were telling them about approaching storms. They were victims of their own making.

We will never know how old or the condition of the standing rigging. They did wisely cut the mast loose. I liked the comment that the waves were 46 ft yet the boat seemed to handle it. We the sailors couldn't.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

No EPIRP, no SPOT, no Satphone, no spare battery or handheld… just lots of luck.

 

[MikeHoncho]

“Hope is not a plan”

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I'm curious about a comment that I read in one of the articles ... apparently it wasn't clear if they made it to Morehead City or not. That tells me that they had a goal of reaching Morehead City for their next stop after leaving Oregon Inlet. If they were at Roanoke Island (surely their departure for Oregon Inlet) why wouldn't they take the safe route (and shortcut) to Morehead City? Rounding Cape Hatteras should NEVER be taken lightly. Perhaps over-confidence played a part? The gulf stream passes so closely by the Cape and it is so shallow far out to sea at the Cape that I wonder if it is even possible to skirt by without entering the Stream. And if they entered the northbound stream with a northerly blow (favorable for traveling south), then they are just begging for wild, confusing, standing seas. A broken mast (apparently the rig couldn't handle the conditions) and they are set to drift north, thus their position off Delaware. They could not possibly have rounded the Cape and gotten out of the Stream.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Catalina 30. Seems they left in clear weather and a storm surprised them. Ran out of water, though? Cat 30 tanks hold more than 40 gallons. Even half-full, they should have had enough for 20 days. (Half a gallon per man per day, no?) It is easier to understand running out of fuel if you're dismasted and simply trying to maintain a heading in bad weather over a long period, without making any progress. 21 gallons of diesel will only last so long.

Spot on ... I'm thinking extreme over-confidence & lack of preparation. As insinuated in one of the articles, if their next stop was planned to be Morehead City, perhaps they didn't top-off tanks before leaving. Morehead City is about 150 miles around the Cape. If they got into the Stream and lost their mast, why wouldn't they have enough fuel to limp back to Oregon Inlet? Perhaps a northerly gale was preventing return and perhaps the rough conditions stirred the fuel tank to the point of clogging the fuel filter.

 

[jssailem]

The Stream runs north about 19nm off the coast of Cape Hatteras (the grave yard of the Atlantic).

Poor Poseidon. He must be disappointed. Thought he had two old goats and a Catalina. Easy pickings. Then they go and survive.

 

[william24424]

Great boat name Atrevida, which in Spanish means daring or unprepared? My thoughts..
1) No power? No radio? Good idea to have battery backup, maybe solar charger for phone? Handheld VHF.
2) Coast guard used media attention to remind mariners to have proper safety equipment aboard, a beacon locator, like an EPIRB = good idea.
3) Although we probably don't all need Epirbs for coastal cruising, new iphone has globalstar for emergency messages from remote locations.
Thanks for sharing. Sail safe!

 

[rgranger]

“Hope is not a plan”

One of my favorite quotes... Also makes a good T-shirt

 

[dlochner]

What's that expression, God watches over drunks and fools?

On December 3 at Cape Hatteras the wind was from the south and southwest at 16 kt with gusts to 23, average wind for the day was 8.8k. A great day for heading north on the Gulf Stream, probably good for getting around Cape Hatteras, not so good for going south, beating into the the wind and GS. Unless they planned to sail close to shore to avoid the GS. These conditions would have made sailing on Pamilco sound not much fun either, shallow with a long fetch.

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

December 4 was more of the same.

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

By December 5 the front was passing winds backed to NE at 14-24k.

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

And continued through Dec 6 when the wind veered back to the S in the same 15-25k range.

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

Around Dec 8 the wind backed again to the NE staying in the 15-25k range and have stayed there since.

National Weather Service

forecast.weather.gov

So long as they were in the GS it was a very unpleasant experience although I doubt the 40' high waves. Short steep 20 footers maybe.

Had they waited a couple of days for the N wind they could have surfed down Pamilco Sound on a wind blown tide to Morehead City.

 

[shemandr]

It's hard to add anything enlightening to this audience regarding this incident. I can say it would be hard to do everything wrong without a plan to do everything wrong.
I feel bad for the dog.

 

[dlochner]

We weren't there, we weren't part of the trip planning, so I am hesitant to offer much criticism of their decision to leave and take the route they did. What I can do is offer a few insights from my trip south last year.

I suspect they did not plan to go offshore, out of the CG radio's reception. The CG can receive a VHF Channel 16 signal at 1 watt from 20 miles when transmitted at sea level. So I don't fault them for not having an EPIRB or other satellite communication device. I'm sure the overall plan was to stick close to shore and/or stay in protected waters. Many people have done just this without incident.

We carried an EPIRB, a Spot, and had a life raft because when we were outfitting we anticipated crossing the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Gulf of Maine and being about 100 miles offshore. If we were planning to stay near shore, the life raft and EPIRB might not have been aboard.

While we now know what the conditions were, we don't know what the forecasts were. If the forecasts were more favorable, then taking the outside route would have been feasible. If the forecasts were incorrect, for example predicting lighter or more northerly winds, it might not have been a bad decision.

When we were in that area last November, it was cold. No fun waking up to a cabin that is 46° F. Our mantra was "GET SOUTH". They may have had similar feelings.

We can all find lots of fault with an unfortunate outcome and blame it on the crew. They may have been stupid and foolish or they may have taken reasonable precautions. I'd like to hear the whole story.

So, I will withhold any more caustic comments until l know more about their decision making process.

I do feel sorry for the dog.

 

[Rick486]

It's hard to add anything enlightening to this audience regarding this incident. I can say it would be hard to do everything wrong without a plan to do everything wrong.
I feel bad for the dog.

Wasn't the dog rescued? I will not pay NYT for that information.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I suspect they did not plan to go offshore, out of the CG radio's reception. The CG can receive a VHF Channel 16 signal at 1 watt from 20 miles when transmitted at sea level. So I don't fault them for not having an EPIRB or other satellite communication device. I'm sure the overall plan was to stick close to shore and/or stay in protected waters. Many people have done just this without incident.

While we now know what the conditions were, we don't know what the forecasts were. If the forecasts were more favorable, then taking the outside route would have been feasible. If the forecasts were incorrect, for example predicting lighter or more northerly winds, it might not have been a bad decision.

I generally agree with everything that you add, but I take exception to the 2 statements above. It's very dangerous to hug the coastline around Cape Hatteras so it should be expected to sail well-offshore, most likely in opposing current. Heading south, there really aren't any favorable conditions going around the Cape. Either you have a favorable northerly wind opposing a wicked current, causing steep, chaotic waves, or you have a south wind causing you to beat against wind and current. Besides that, rounding the Cape is the long way and it should be cutting off miles and more expedient to take the inland route to Morehead City. Assuming the reports that they left Oregon Inlet are correct, absolutely nothing makes sense in rounding the Cape, except, possibly hubris and the expectation that it would be an awesome adventure. I can't imagine why anybody would take this on in December considering the reputation of the North Atlantic and Cape Hatteras. Set me straight if there is a more charitable explanation.

 

[shemandr]

Dog's safe. Prolly still loyal to its caretaker. See if the skipper's wife is (An old joke).
I'm with you re NYT. Not one thin dime!
It's been years since I've checked in with conditions for Oregon Inlet but it was and may still be one of the most fearsome on the coast - although there is some good competition. I'm not sure they could go back there.

 

[TimFromLI]

Well, I had thought of going south for the winter in a few years - lessons learned for my trip. Especially since I can't take the intercoastal with a 67' mast.

 

[heritage]

There is a post on Active Captain in April of this year about a transit of Oregon Inlet by a 43' catamaran that illustrates why sailors should avoid it.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

No EPIRP, no SPOT, no Satphone, no spare battery or handheld… just lots of luck.

AND no common sense

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Oregon Inlet isn’t navigable by sailboats. Not only is it shallow with strong currents, but the fixed bridge is too low. They built a 90 ft section but then it shoaled in and the USACE didn’t keep up with dredging it due to the constant shifting. The spans that have passable depths are 13 feet overhead clearance. I have not read all the details of this story but it doesn’t add up.

Well, I had thought of going south for the winter in a few years - lessons learned for my trip. Especially since I can't take the intercoastal with a 67' mast.

You will need to pick your time of transit carefully. Wait for a stable/settled forecast with mild S or SW wind and motor sail against the wind and currents. Don’t give into temptation and make a risky decision due to a schedule including crew‘s limited vacation schedule etc. You should plan on making 2-3 knots less than your typical motoring speed, but you might catch some eddies and counter currents.
Edit: Don‘t go when the wind forecast has a N component. Use the gust forecast, not the average wind speed forecast. PredictWind has a gust forecast I like to use. The Windy app also has one, and allows a view where you can see how well the different weather prediction models correlate. If they are closely aligned you have a lower risk forecast. If you see a lot of deviation you know the weather is unstable and the reliability of the forecasts is lower. (IMHO the ECMWF and GFS models are generally more reliable than others. I look for those to agree.)
Second edit: You can cross the Gulf Stream after leaving Norfolk and go far offshore, or you can stay near shore and try to stay out of the main flow of The Stream but around Diamond Shoals. Some people cut between the shoals, but that doesn’t give you much margin for error if you have a steering, engine or rig failure.
Third edit: You also could go in an E or W wind so long as there isn’t a N component. W would be smaller seas due to shorter fetch, and good sailing. However, a strong W wind would make it more difficult to turn west into Beaufort and it would be more conducive to continue to Masonboro (Carolina Beach is a great stop to wait for weather to round Cape Fear), or Winyah Bay Inlet (Georgetown) or Charleston, or further if conditions are good. Keep in mind a W wind usually clocks around to the N. An E wind would also give you a nice sail but with bigger waves due to longer fetch. An E wind usually clocks around to the SE and can often bring rain and build to stronger winds. It would be conducive to rounding Hatteras then ducking into Beaufort (one of my favorite stops) and rest the crew for the next hop south.