Crash Test Boat

Will Gilmore · Dec 24, 2017

I notice that it seemed important to get the sail hauled in or off to facilitate handling the mast and rigging. Otherwise, its one huge sea anchor pulling against your efforts.
Here's a review of bolt cutters for 2017: https://www.sharpen-up.com/best-bolt-cutters-2017-top-5-toughest-can-buy/

I particularly liked these folding handle cutters by Olympia.
- Will (Dragonfly)

capta · Dec 24, 2017

Boy, these have to be the unluckiest guys on the water! I've seen their boat sink, blown to kingdom come by propane as well as several other catastrophes. Now they get dismasted. Do you think they ever have a nice, easy day on the water?

capta · Dec 24, 2017

As far as cutting away our rig, we have an 5" angle grinder that can cut through 3/8" chain in a minute or so. I'm not sure we have anyone aboard who is strong enough to cut our ½" 1x19 ss wire with a hand tool, especially with a big sea running.

Will Gilmore · Dec 24, 2017

capta said:
not sure we have anyone aboard who is strong enough to cut our ½" 1x19 ss wire with a hand tool, especially with a big sea running.

Your angle grinder works when flooded with big seas?

Hydraulic rigging cutters.
- Will (Dragonfly)

Sandy Stone · Dec 24, 2017

What amazed me was how far the mast flexed before it finally kinked and came down.

capta · Dec 24, 2017

Will Gilmore said:
Your angle grinder works when flooded with big seas?
- Will (Dragonfly)

It would if the motor part was in a plastic bag, along with the extension cord to grinder connection. It's not like I care if it gets ruined, as long as it gets the job done first. Duct tape and a plastic bag have worked innumerable times over the years, when an electrical tool was needed in wet conditions.
One other little thing; my grinder is a one handed tool, unlike most wire cutters that are big enough to cut ½" 1x19 ss wire. That still leaves me one hand and two feet to keep myself in place to do the job.

Will Gilmore · Dec 24, 2017

capta said:
That still leaves me one hand and two feet to keep myself in place to do the job.

I like that. That's why I like Dioplex.

- Will (Dragonfly)

jssailem · Dec 24, 2017

capta said:
Do you think they ever have a nice, easy day on the water?

They are British. They would not know what to do on a “nice easy day.”

jmce1587 · Dec 25, 2017

This a great video and information and I can attest first hand the steps in this video are very accurate should you have a rig failure. Having experienced this exact situation 3 months ago in an offshore Gulf of Mexico regatta the steps we went thru were the same steps in the crash boat video except ours was completely unexpected. The video from the crash test Boat is exactly what to expect should you lose a mast and what to do. We were 26 miles offshore Freeport Tx in 20 knot winds and gusting. Seas were 5 to 6 foot and it was 1:30 in the morning with a full moon. Sailing upwind under a 139 Genoa and reeled main, the Mast port side rod broke lose from the chain plate breaking thru the deck and the mast fell to starboard hitting the lifeline with such force the 42' mast snappd about 5' from the bottom when it hit the lifeline with such force it bent the stainless steel stanchion. Mast was hanging overboard with sails holding it up. First thing was to be sure all crew were safe. Thankfully no one was on the starboard side when it fell and all crew on deck were tethered in wearing inflatable life jackets. Had anyone fallen overboard it would have been tough to retrieve them because we could not have gotten to them timely with a mast dragging and the potential for lines wrapping around the prop. Calling on VHF was not possible with antenna on top of mast. We had a hand held onboard but it has a limited range. If we had to we would have tripped the "resQ link,if life was in peril. Also we were fortunate that a spreader did not put a hole in the boat. From there we were able to salvage what we could from the mast and boom. We were able to retrieve the sails with 3 persons pulling in the wet Genoa. Then we were able to pull in the main by cutting the slugs lose from the track when hauling it in. After that we went about pulling cotter pins to remove rigging instead of cutting them. We had a hacksaw onboard for the final cut on the forestry and release the rig overboard. It took us 3 hours to clear the deck. For future races we will carry a battery operated cutter/wheel or the cutting tool in the video link above if ever needed. I will post on the forum in the near future the chain plate repairs to my mid eighties H31 and the insurance issues i encountered in repairing the boat and replacing the mast/rigging.

shemandr · Dec 25, 2017

I didn't detect much of a technique in recovering from the dismasting. It seemed to me that they were basically making it up as they went along. Finally, they had to punt to the auxiliary boat. The lesson I got from it is that you can't recover a decent sized mast even with crew. And I guess they got to test some rig cutting tools.

DayDreamer41 · Dec 25, 2017

shemandr said:
The lesson I got from it is that you can't recover a decent sized mast even with crew. And I guess they got to test some rig cutting tools.

Exactly what I was thinking given that 98% of the time its just my wife and I on the Sapphire there would be no other course of action other than cutting it loose and letting it go. Thanks @ifmdalvey for posting the link to the video's I believe I watched them all, some real interesting tests

shemandr · Dec 25, 2017

Oh yeah and to echo Capta it took 3 tries to blow the boat up with propane and 3 tries to drop the rig. How many times did they have to try to sink it?

DayDreamer41 · Dec 25, 2017

The attempts to put a hole in the hull was interesting in itself, certainly a stoutly built vessel.