Attached is the web site for a report on two sailors who were lost outside SF Bay. They were sailing a 31' Cheoy Lee in a charity race. From the fact that a few scraps of their boat were found (I think the rudder and a refer. door), it sounds like either they were hit by a ship or else maybe they hit some rocks and the boat was smashed quite quickly. I think the second might be possible since they were in very big swells. Maybe they got off course and didn't realize how shallow the water was going to be in the troughs between the swells.
2 sailors lost outside SF Bay
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I couldn't use your link, but found this on lat 38.
March 17, 2008 – San Francisco The local sailing community is in a state of shock over the news that two sailors were lost during Saturday's Doublehanded Lightship Race. Kirby Gale, 67, and Anthony Harrow, 72, were on the way home from the Lightbucket aboard Gale's ketch-rigged Cheoy Lee Offshore 31 Daisy when they simply disappeared. As noted in the race report above, conditions were rough for this year's DHL — high winds and big seas. According to other racers, Daisy made it out to and around the Lightbucket in company with the last few boats. But they never made it back. Possibly the last sighting of the boat was from competitors aboard a similarly-rated boat who recall glimpsing back now and then to check if a sail behind them was getting any closer. "Then, about six or seven miles out, we looked and the sail was gone," says Rob Tryon, skipper of Aaron Dunlap's Valiant 32 Feolena. "We thought it was because we were sailing faster." Feolena finished about 2:45, leaving only Daisy still unaccounted for. When she had not finished by the race deadline of 5 p.m., nor responded to repeated calls on VHF, the Coast Guard was contacted. They began a search Saturday night that continued through Sunday. About midmorning, they found "debris that fit the description of Daisy" near her last estimated position. About an hour later, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reported they had discovered the body of Harrow, still wearing his lifejacket, in a tidepool near Half Moon Bay. At this writing, Gale's body had not been found. The search was suspended at 6 p.m. Sunday. What happened to Daisy and her crew remains a mystery. No distress beacon was activated, there was no 911 cellphone call, no mayday was made by radio. (It's unknown whether Daisy had an EPIRB aboard, but she did have a working VHF when she checked in with the race committee before the start). Authorities also say that, based on inspection of the debris, they do not believe Daisy collided with another vessel, although that couldn't be ruled out. Tom s/v GAIA
March 17, 2008 – San Francisco The local sailing community is in a state of shock over the news that two sailors were lost during Saturday's Doublehanded Lightship Race. Kirby Gale, 67, and Anthony Harrow, 72, were on the way home from the Lightbucket aboard Gale's ketch-rigged Cheoy Lee Offshore 31 Daisy when they simply disappeared. As noted in the race report above, conditions were rough for this year's DHL — high winds and big seas. According to other racers, Daisy made it out to and around the Lightbucket in company with the last few boats. But they never made it back. Possibly the last sighting of the boat was from competitors aboard a similarly-rated boat who recall glimpsing back now and then to check if a sail behind them was getting any closer. "Then, about six or seven miles out, we looked and the sail was gone," says Rob Tryon, skipper of Aaron Dunlap's Valiant 32 Feolena. "We thought it was because we were sailing faster." Feolena finished about 2:45, leaving only Daisy still unaccounted for. When she had not finished by the race deadline of 5 p.m., nor responded to repeated calls on VHF, the Coast Guard was contacted. They began a search Saturday night that continued through Sunday. About midmorning, they found "debris that fit the description of Daisy" near her last estimated position. About an hour later, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reported they had discovered the body of Harrow, still wearing his lifejacket, in a tidepool near Half Moon Bay. At this writing, Gale's body had not been found. The search was suspended at 6 p.m. Sunday. What happened to Daisy and her crew remains a mystery. No distress beacon was activated, there was no 911 cellphone call, no mayday was made by radio. (It's unknown whether Daisy had an EPIRB aboard, but she did have a working VHF when she checked in with the race committee before the start). Authorities also say that, based on inspection of the debris, they do not believe Daisy collided with another vessel, although that couldn't be ruled out. Tom s/v GAIA
web site
If you go to SFgate.com - this is the web site for the SF Chronicle, and you will find the article there. The mystery seems to deepen: From the article posted above, it sounds like they disappeared fairly far out from shore. If that is the case, then the theory that they smashed on some rocks doesn't sound likely. Nor does it sound like the boat after maybe capsizing later ran aground and broke up as the wreckage was found near its last estimated position. Also, from the article, it sounds like a collision is unlikely. What I can't figure out is if both of these are ruled out, how would the boat have apparently broken up? Is it possible that there was an explosion and/or a fire - maybe from one of them trying to heat up some tea or coffee? I should also point out that this is the second such mystery in about a year or so out here. Maybe others will remember the case of a sailor who was sailing single handed out to the Farallon Islands, and he and his boat simply disappeared without a trace - no debris, nothing. As in this case, he was known to have been a fairly experienced sailor in a very sea-worthy boat.
If you go to SFgate.com - this is the web site for the SF Chronicle, and you will find the article there. The mystery seems to deepen: From the article posted above, it sounds like they disappeared fairly far out from shore. If that is the case, then the theory that they smashed on some rocks doesn't sound likely. Nor does it sound like the boat after maybe capsizing later ran aground and broke up as the wreckage was found near its last estimated position. Also, from the article, it sounds like a collision is unlikely. What I can't figure out is if both of these are ruled out, how would the boat have apparently broken up? Is it possible that there was an explosion and/or a fire - maybe from one of them trying to heat up some tea or coffee? I should also point out that this is the second such mystery in about a year or so out here. Maybe others will remember the case of a sailor who was sailing single handed out to the Farallon Islands, and he and his boat simply disappeared without a trace - no debris, nothing. As in this case, he was known to have been a fairly experienced sailor in a very sea-worthy boat.
I don't sail in SF but from what I gather...
the stretch of water on both sides of the channel outside the gate shoals to 35 feet or less rapidly causing breakers when the weather comes up. Apparently, they didn't get back in before the winds really came up. Folks on SA state that the conditions can get real bad out there and breakers large enough to roll the both can exist in the conditions that occurred late in the day. Getting rolled into a shoal and slamming the mast into the bottom could've caused the wreck.
the stretch of water on both sides of the channel outside the gate shoals to 35 feet or less rapidly causing breakers when the weather comes up. Apparently, they didn't get back in before the winds really came up. Folks on SA state that the conditions can get real bad out there and breakers large enough to roll the both can exist in the conditions that occurred late in the day. Getting rolled into a shoal and slamming the mast into the bottom could've caused the wreck.
The Debris
What I can't understand from the article is how they even found debris 'in the vicinity of the boat's last estimated location' when it took only ~20hrs for the body of the one sailor to wash ashore clear down in Half Moon! It was blowing absolute stink all Saturday night and into Sunday (I was racing in the bay both days). I remember that singlehander you are talking about John, strange. . .
What I can't understand from the article is how they even found debris 'in the vicinity of the boat's last estimated location' when it took only ~20hrs for the body of the one sailor to wash ashore clear down in Half Moon! It was blowing absolute stink all Saturday night and into Sunday (I was racing in the bay both days). I remember that singlehander you are talking about John, strange. . .
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