Sad Story ... Sailor lost at sea ...

[Scott T-Bird]

A voyage from Martha's Vinyard to Bermuda went horribly wrong. A storm battered the sailboat for several days with a father and daughter on board, along with a third shipmate. It appears the father was swept overboard and injured severely by the rig coming down while he was on deck. The daughter and the other shipmate survived and jury-rigged a sail plan with spare parts.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40449730

 

[RAD]

Sad....and that could of been any one of us out in the ocean heading to a vacation port and a storm shows up

 

[Ross]

nother link: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101125/NEWS/11250322

 

[Ross]

It is truly sad and a total waste, when will people learn that when you are on deck alone for what ever reason, A overboard line and harness are a must. I have lost to many friends alone on deck or single handing because of that stupid mistake. Mother Ocean can be fickle and tempt her to often she will take you, bet on it.

A careful reading of the Cape Cod link tells of a life line and harness.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Having a daughter about the same age as the girl who survived, I am very touched by this story. These 2 articles seem to put together enough pertinent information to get some understanding of what happened and the emotions that the girl must have felt.

It sounds like her father was essentially trapped in his lifeline and harness by the rigging as the water repeatedly washed over the entire boat. Mercifully, one could hope that he was already gone by the time they could cut him from the trap. It sounds like the rigging could have been killing him or holding him under water until he drowned. It also sounds like they realized as they were cutting him loose that they had no chance of rescuing him, and that the only hope was that he could somehow rescue himself if he was still alive.

What was really compelling to me is the way she described how she lacked the desire to survive at first and then somehow found the strength - attributing it to her father. This is a heartbreaking story and I feel for the survivors.

 

[sinnettc]

A sad story indeed.

I presume the comment about cutting the lifeline refers to a tether. That suggests that they didn't have any bolt/wire cutters that might have allowed them to cut him free of the rigging. I don't have any myself, so I'm curious how many folks keep a set aboard when making a long, open water cruise like that?

 

[Roger Long]

It sounds to me like he very well would have been alive today if they had a good drogue like the Series Drogue on board. The boat did well until the roll over which few rigs will survive.

The business about the weather forecast mystified me a bit. For a trip of that length and route you don't need a weather report to know what you are in for. You just need a calendar.

 

[ronbo]

Terribly tragic.

At this same time, the start of the Carib 1500 was delayed a week because of bad weather in the N.Atlantic, the slower boats were beat up until they got farther south.

The survivors were lucky to be rescued after 12 days adrift because their EPIRB was apparently of the older type not the current 406 MHZ.

 

[Ross]

From all that I read the gulf stream and a north wind are a nasty mix.. I hate to get caught in an ebb tide with a south wind here on the Chesapeake bay and this is relatively sheltered.

 

[wflowe2]

I was one of a crew of 5 that made the same trip at the same time. Before the handheld GPS washed overboard we measured waves up to 38' and we had 6 days of constant winds from 25 to 55 kts. Although several things on our boat broke, we were obviously lucky and made it to Bermuda.

 

[Roger Long]

we measured waves up to 38'

Just curious: How did you do that?

 

[Tim R.]

Just curious: How did you do that?

Probably with the altitude function of the GPS.

 

[wflowe2]

That's correct, we measured an altitude on one wave from +30' msl at the crest to -8' msl in the trough. This didn't seem to be the largest wave we encountered, it was the only one we measured.

 

[Ross]

I don't think that you can depend on GPS for that degree of accuracy. My handheld was displaying 371.3 feet and as I watched the display we went to 408.9 +/-39.1 feet this is in my officein a brick house. We are about 370 feet above sea level here but GPS never gets it to agree with the USGS topo maps.

 

[jibes138]

I happened to be home waiting for a dentist appointment and they had the lady who lost her father on the Today show my wife was watching. The lady actually got to tell her father she loved him just before he was washed away by a wave. Very sad. When the interview was over my wife informed me she will never do an open sea voyage with me under any circumstances ever again. I guess I'll have to do them without her. :>)

 

[shemandr]

Five sailors is better than three. Three seems a bit under-crewed for nearly a week of rough water sailing. I can't imagine getting enough rest.
So, how was it? We you all experienced in that condition? What kind of boat? What did you learn?

 

[Roger Long]

I don't think that you can depend on GPS for that degree of accuracy.

I agree. I've watched GPS altitude underway and it is not as accurate as the lat long. Even if it was, the lat long accuracy wouldn't be accurate or fast enough to take a reliable wave height reading from. Large waves are almost always just about half the height they appear. If the GPS readings seemed right, I would consider this a report of 19 foot waves which is still pretty serious conditions.

 

[Ross]

Even lat and lon is plus or minus ten feet. Trimble survey equipment can give you centimetre accuracy for a price.

 

[JVB]

.... That suggests that they didn't have any bolt/wire cutters that might have allowed them to cut him free of the rigging.....

What kind of cutters do people recommend ?

 

[Ross]

They should be shears and the action should be compound leverage. I have Felco brand shears rated for 3/8 cable and I need to put pipe on the handles to cut 1/4 inch 1-19 shroud cable. I would not want to depend on them for cutting rigging in an emergency. The smallest member of the crew should be able to cut the largest cable without assistance.. I am in reasonably good shape and weigh 170 pounds.