Know these guys. Duluth MN YC beercans last night. Everyone OK. Will know more later.
Bad day in a J/24
- Thread starter Jackdaw
- Start date
Not the best way to start a sailing season. Looks like everyone survived without injuries, except perhaps for their pride.
Looking forward to hearing the whole story.
Looking forward to hearing the whole story.
I HATE to see stuff like this.
What were they "TINKIN,"
Knowing that they were getting close to the bridge.
DUH, didn't anyone think to start the motor as a backup well beforehand?
Obviously knot.
It's a tough lesson they learned that day. But hey, look on the Brightside. They learned
what NOT to do again & hopefully this should make them better sailors in the long run I hope.
What were they "TINKIN,"
Knowing that they were getting close to the bridge.
DUH, didn't anyone think to start the motor as a backup well beforehand?
Obviously knot.
It's a tough lesson they learned that day. But hey, look on the Brightside. They learned
what NOT to do again & hopefully this should make them better sailors in the long run I hope.
Woof.. sorry to see..
Years ago, I saw a J-24 go under a bascule bridge at Dog River/Mobile Bay. They'd been flying spinnaker and didn't have time to get squared away before current got 'em.. He turned broadside and mast tilted the boat and he came out the other side with mast still intact!.. He had a lot more clearance than this guy.. The bridge has since been replaced with a fixed bridge with 73 foot clearance, so it is no longer a problem.
Years ago, I saw a J-24 go under a bascule bridge at Dog River/Mobile Bay. They'd been flying spinnaker and didn't have time to get squared away before current got 'em.. He turned broadside and mast tilted the boat and he came out the other side with mast still intact!.. He had a lot more clearance than this guy.. The bridge has since been replaced with a fixed bridge with 73 foot clearance, so it is no longer a problem.
Man that is tough to watch. I wonder what the story behind this is.
Not that long ago there was a great thread about Lift Bridges and sailing or motoring under them. I wonder why they even got so close to the bridge in the channel to the lake without the bridge lifting or even starting to lift. Is the Duluth Aerial Bridge unmanned this time of year? Was the race in the main lake and this occurred while returning to the Harbor? Did the motor fail? Based on the fact that the Jib is down and they are trying desperately to gain forward momentum to tack I can only assume they had major issues leading up to this event and that all we see are the final moments of a lot of things going wrong.
Not that long ago there was a great thread about Lift Bridges and sailing or motoring under them. I wonder why they even got so close to the bridge in the channel to the lake without the bridge lifting or even starting to lift. Is the Duluth Aerial Bridge unmanned this time of year? Was the race in the main lake and this occurred while returning to the Harbor? Did the motor fail? Based on the fact that the Jib is down and they are trying desperately to gain forward momentum to tack I can only assume they had major issues leading up to this event and that all we see are the final moments of a lot of things going wrong.
It's not uncommon for J24s to not have a motor. That current looks pretty strong, possibly a small kicker (like a J24 would have) wouldn't be enough.
I look forward for more info from Jackdaw.
J/24's don't always have motors to start. Around here the 24's don't carry their engines for beercan evening races. Admittedly around here it's not quite as sporty as that bridge looks.
The write up on Sailing Anarchy says "Wind was 5-8 SW and instantly shifted to 35+ NE. These guys had the chute up going out into the lake and scraped it down in time to get pushed back into the bridge. Nobody was injured, except a mast-size dent in the rum budget." That's a tough one to critique without being there. It sounds like they were caught in a bad place at the wrong time and likely 100 other boats had done the same thing a 1000 times without consequence. No one got hurt so they can chalk it up to a lesson learned.
For those not from MN here are pictures of the bringe for reference. Based on the videos it appears they were on the channel side leading into Lake Superior.
Sad day.
Hard to tell if boat was stalled or pushed by current. Should they have left some headsail up for control power?
Hard to tell if boat was stalled or pushed by current. Should they have left some headsail up for control power?
that is a video of extremely flawed seamanship. yeah, i see the wind. that vessel is out of command. that captain made some seriously stupid choices. he is lucky only in that he did not kill his buddies. stupid, reckless, inept skipper. the crew looks totally lame as well. skipper is supposed to know what the wind is going to do. skipper is to know currents. skipper is to be in command of the vessel AT ALL TIMES. skipper is to have a backup plan. that skipper has very limited skills to be commanding that vessel.
yeah, i said it.
these toys are just like airplanes . there is no room ever for that lack of skill. EVER!
P.S. i've sailed under that bridge many times
yeah, i said it.
these toys are just like airplanes . there is no room ever for that lack of skill. EVER!
P.S. i've sailed under that bridge many times
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That video doesn't start recording until it was too late to do anything. It shows nothing but a collusion with a bridge. I personally like to think I would have had the anchor deployed before then, but it is impossible to know what happened, when and how fast, just before the video started.
I thought the title was being sarcastic, you can have a bad day on a J24? Yes you can.
- Will (Dragonfly)
OK. Talked several that were there. The boat is well crewed. The DYC Wednesday fleet was heading out to Lake Superior under the lift bridge. This is something they all do several times a week. The bridge only opens once ever 1/2 hour, and then the fleet has to sail down a narrow 1/3NM long channel to the NE before getting to the open lake. So in this pic, NE is 5 o'clock from the bridge.
The breeze was out of the SW at about 8, and so like some other boats the j24 was going DDW and had a kite up. There was a dark patch of water in front of them, but no one would gauge direction and speed. When it hit, it was 30+ knots out of the NE, a 180 degree turn. The j24 and others flipped around and pulled kites down. The lift bridge was down, and takes a full minute to clear traffic and start to raise. The breeze also pushed water SW into the channel at 3-4 knots, compounding the problem. You can see the boat sliding sideways in the video. They had well less than a minute from when the wind hit to when they hit the bridge. The motor on a j24 would not have made any headway into those conditions, as would not most boats of that size with an OB. Everyone was OK, and they tied up along the dock to survey the mess.
The breeze was out of the SW at about 8, and so like some other boats the j24 was going DDW and had a kite up. There was a dark patch of water in front of them, but no one would gauge direction and speed. When it hit, it was 30+ knots out of the NE, a 180 degree turn. The j24 and others flipped around and pulled kites down. The lift bridge was down, and takes a full minute to clear traffic and start to raise. The breeze also pushed water SW into the channel at 3-4 knots, compounding the problem. You can see the boat sliding sideways in the video. They had well less than a minute from when the wind hit to when they hit the bridge. The motor on a j24 would not have made any headway into those conditions, as would not most boats of that size with an OB. Everyone was OK, and they tied up along the dock to survey the mess.
That was my biggest fear when sailing on the Columbia River out of Clover Island - Kennewick, Wa
Sure looks like they were being blow down on the bridge the whole time. Seems prudent to not approach a closed bridge with a spinnaker flying.
The video only show the 10 seconds before they hit. A couple of minutes or so before that video started, they were sailing the other way with 10 knots BEHIND them.
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