Tough Night in Redondo Beach
- Thread starter Jumpstart
- Start date
Wow
That made me sick to watch. Glad everyone was okay. Looks like the roller furler drum got jammed up....? And the jib sheet parted... The guy on the bow got his hands on what remained of the jib sheet about 5 minutes too late. For a moment it looked like they might get enough draft from that sail to claw away from shore before that wave broke...
Another indictment on roller furled head sails. I have one on my current boat but I am seriously considering going back to hanks and a down haul when my current sail needs to be replaced.
Was the auxiliary also not working.
That made me sick to watch. Glad everyone was okay. Looks like the roller furler drum got jammed up....? And the jib sheet parted... The guy on the bow got his hands on what remained of the jib sheet about 5 minutes too late. For a moment it looked like they might get enough draft from that sail to claw away from shore before that wave broke...
Another indictment on roller furled head sails. I have one on my current boat but I am seriously considering going back to hanks and a down haul when my current sail needs to be replaced.
Was the auxiliary also not working.
A. Boat does not appear to have outboard on stern. Mistake #1
B. Boat was reportedly going out to race. Sailing on main alone and halyard broke. Mistake #2
C. They unfurled headsail into wind (speculation. Luffing tangled the jib sheets not allowing sheet to be trimmed.
D. They didn't try to run lazy sheet around and sheet in.
The guy diving off the boat just prior to impact is very lucky he didn't hit the pier head first.
B. Boat was reportedly going out to race. Sailing on main alone and halyard broke. Mistake #2
C. They unfurled headsail into wind (speculation. Luffing tangled the jib sheets not allowing sheet to be trimmed.
D. They didn't try to run lazy sheet around and sheet in.
The guy diving off the boat just prior to impact is very lucky he didn't hit the pier head first.
whoof.... yeah I saw that. He was also lucky he did not get crushed between the rolling boat and a pylon
I feel bad for them. Went out for some fun and almost died, lost the boat and all in front of an audience. Hard for a day to suck more than that....
I wouldn't say the dude dove off the boat. His position on the lee rail became untenable. It's terrifying to watch. To be on the lee side of a boat that is overwhelmed by a wave is just not a good place to be. You just have to get as far away as possible and hope for the best. It was impossible for him to get to the weather side. Maybe he should have done that earlier when it was possible. They had to know they had a pier problem. But having a boat pushed by a wave land on your a** is not a formula for survival. I shutter to think how he evaded the rig. He should buy a lotto ticket go to church Sunday.
No plan. No backup plan. He just kept gybing into shore. Pretty sad and lucky at the same time. Fools. God protects fools because they are not evil, and they know no better. He managed to hit the only solid object. Nevermind. He would have found one sooner or later.
Locals say he had many many years of sailing. It was blowing like stink last night around here. Too much wind and too much bad luck. I still don't have any information on life vests etc. He needed a bit more rudder and a bit less head sail. It's easy to arm chair quarterback this one. Thank God no one died. Boats can be replaced.
Im going to call you on that. So many people on forums like to put down the intelligence of those who have had some bad luck. If you sail long enough, you will have a line part. He lost his main sail! Tried to deploy his head sail and got into a jam.. Not the result of a stupid or careless captain! And he was gybing because he was being pushed by the wind and had no real stearage.
With the jib nearly full, (near the end) no main, the helm hard over and no forward speed, it's not possible to change tacks. They should have tried to get some speed and water flowing over the rudder before attempting to turn the boat. Glad to hear that no one was seriously injured. (except for that poor boat)
I had no intention of putting down his intelligence. He had terrible luck and no one died. He was between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I'm sure if he had it all to do over again he would have made some different decisions. As I said, it's easy for us to be arm chair quarterbacks. All accidents result from a chain of events that in most cases, if you break a link in the chain it doesn't happen. We can all learn from each others miscalculations, mistakes and misfortunes. It was unfortunate that this happened. Even pilots with thousands of hours of flight time have made mistakes that have ended up with disasters, that doesn't make them stupid.
I have looked at this video closely and see no furler, while yes this video is very scary I believe the root of the issue was a fouled jib sheet and the inability to recover the line, he should have run a separate sheet to regain control. This is one instance where it was real good that none were tethered!
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I'd think if the anchor was out, and it reached the end of its rode, it would hold the bow down and the waves on the bow would swamp the boat. A Chesapeake Bay skipjack got sunk this way. Might have sunk it, but would not have smash on the pier.
Possibly might have sunk. But they had a bunch of guys on board. Put the weight in the stern, bow up. It looked like help came along shortly after, might have had a chance to hold in time for a tow. Could have, should have, would have, too late now. Live & learn..
If enough anchor rode was laid the bow will ride over the waves, again the scope would have to suit the conditions.
Unless you had set up the anchor in advance, I doubt anyone could have gotten an anchor deployed in time under those conditions without falling off the front of the boat. It might simply be the difference in the mindset of a cruiser vs. racer in how you set up the boat. No anchor at the ready maybe makes sense for a racer who has no plans to overnight on the hook.
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