Kennedy schooner survives beaching

[Clyde]

Possible Accident Scenario

Most likely the skipper and his first mate were only going to motor the schooner into the harbor and not use the sails. That would account for both of them not wearing PFDs or harnesses in 7-foot seas with 30 knots winds, since they didn’t plan on leaving the cockpit area. Most likely what happen was lost of engine while entering the harbor channel. It appears that they tried to use the inner staysail to get enough speed to regain helm control when they lost the engine. If you look at the photo in the news story, only the inner staysail seems to have been used. With only two of them, it would have been difficult if not impossible to raise the mainsails when they lost the engine under those conditions. Sailing in 7-foot seas with 30 knots of wind on a 50-foot schooner is possible short handed, but is very risky in a narrow channel short handed without maneuvering room if you had to use your sails. If the skipper had brought along a larger crew, he might have been able to raised his sails and headed for deeper water and called for a tow. I don’t think that he had any contingency plans for the lost of the engine, since he was motoring a short distance. I think he took a big risk and lost trying to motor the 50-foot schooner with just the two of them in 7-foot seas with 30 knots winds. I wouldn’t say that he was arrogant or dumb, maybe too reckless and a little foolish.Fair Winds.Clyde

 

[Tom]

Clyde, Makes sense....but why didn't they use the

quickest and easiest solution to a lost engine.......The anchor.Unless of course in doing so they would likely still be near rocks or land after deploying the anchor.

 

[john]

I am very surprised with the crew from

Karl' boat shop. They have the reputation of being one of the finest and fairest in the area. I should also note that I have moor in the same spot as the MYA. It is an beautiful vessel. I was also surprised that they left in in this long. All the other boats in the bay were long gone! What a day to pick to motor the boat over. They area is loaded with shallows.

 

[Clyde]

Tom, they might have used their anchor

Looking at the photo, I couldn't see an anchor line from either the bow or stern of the schooner. Deploying an anchor when you are not into the wind or heading into a current has some danger. I assume that the wind was to their stern and they had a following sea. I also assume that they didn't have a stern anchor ready to be deployed. If under no helm control they deployed their bow anchor, there was the possibility that they would drift over their anchor line and have it wrap around their keel and jamming their rudder. The anchor line could have also fouled on their prop shaft, keeping them from using the engine if they managed to restart their engine. If they had managed to use their staysail to get enough speed to have helm control, they might have been able to safely deploy their bow anchor without it getting fouled. Or like you suggested, the anchor wouldn't have help if using the anchor would have swung them around into the shallows anyway. It's just my assumption on what might have occurred reading the news story and looking at the photo. If they had a stern anchor ready to be deployed it might have help. He took a big risk and lost.Fair Winds.Clyde

 

[Peter J. Brennan]

Don't be too hard

on these guys. Even the best of us make awful mistakes at the worst of times. You there who has never gone aground, raise your hand. I see no hands.Sometimes what seems like a great idea at the time turns out not to be so. Not criticism but "There but for the grace of God..."BTW, Sen. Kennedy has been a teetotaller for some time. Wisdom or death catches up with most of us.Our boat remains at the ready for cold weather sailing, but the way things are going, we may have picked the wrong year.