Sailboat Capsizes In San Diego

[Rick D]

Two fatalities reported. I have no idea from the description how this would happen in San Diego Bay unless it was a cat that flipped or a boat that lost her keel. It's early to get a real story. http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local...-2-Dead-7/CKyA1CZD3060Hq4hd7KDTA.cspx?rss=800

 

[Brian D]

Here is another report but still no details. It appears that one can see the boat to the left of the police boat. But there is no keel unless it was a full keel boat.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/27/two-dead-boating-accident/

This AP report states it was a 25 foot boat that sank. The above report states it was a 35 foot boat.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110328/ap_on_re_us/us_sailboat_capsizes

 

[MrBee]

Just seen this on the news. Video looks like no keel is present but hate to get any rumors started. Waiting to hear more info on the type / model boat, sailing , motoring, keel or not.

And last but certainly not least , a few prayers for the survivors .

Brian

 

[Witzend]

another sailboat accident

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20110328/US.Sailboat.Capsizes/
Ya got to wonder what 10 people in a 25' boat were up to on this one.

 

[FourPoints]

possible it's a swing keel if it was a 25 footer, and being turtle in the picture the keel could be sitting inside the hull. I don't think I've heard of a 35 footer with a swing keel though.

I thought most swing keels at least protruded a little even when fully retracted....

 

[peptobysmol]

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20110328/US.Sailboat.Capsizes/
Ya got to wonder what 10 people in a 25' boat were up to on this one.

My thoughts exactly. Prayers to the affected.

 

[dlewis812]

certainly not a 35' from the photos.. and don't see any sort of keel (yes a swing keel would still show).

10 people on a 25'?

 

[zeehag]

25 ft rental daysailor. no keel no rudder. looks like mebbe either ran aground to lose it or the rental was majorly defective.. did i say that out loud?? i was on other end of bay at this time so i didnt see or hear this mayhem...

 

[kloudie1]

Re: another sailboat accident

The Associated Press first reported the boat to be 35 feet .. ?? Now i see that has been revised to 25 feet.. The video does not show a keel attached. but it is difficult to see if there should have been one.
Sad

 

[Ed Schenck]

Clear from this video that the boat was not 35 feet: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...d-by-boat-that-killed-2-in-san-diego-bay.html . What rental company allows ten people on a 25 foot sailboat?! Very sad.

 

[FourPoints]

certainly not a 35' from the photos.. and don't see any sort of keel (yes a swing keel would still show).

10 people on a 25'?

Don't some of the macgregors have a fully retractable keel and rudder, so they can be beached / run at 20kts under power? To me this hull looks like it is meant to plane, and possibly pull a water skiier also.

 

[IanJ]

Incredible lack of info from the media. The LA Times said that divers went down to determine the cause, and yet they were not even sure if it was under sail or motoring. Surely those big white things would be some indication to a diver whether the boat was under sail or power? I agree it looks more like a ski boat upside down. Besides, it wasn't that windy yesterday in the bay.

 

[LuzSD]

We were on our boat around the corner from this and have NEVER heard so many sirens ever. We estimated 20 rescue trucks, police etc so we knew something terrible had happened. So far it sounds like there is alot of confusion on the size of the boat ... 25,32, 35.......and there were 9 or 10 aboard. At the time it happened there were very few boats out on the water, we had just gone by the area...so if it was 2 boats colliding it would have been gross negligence on someone’s part.

When we heard that a boat had capsized we could not imagine it to be a sailboat but from every description it was a sailboat... This is really sad and obviously something catastrophic happened.

A couple years ago I met a woman in West Marine who had just left the hospital after she and 5 or so others capsized in Mission Bay during a fishing tournament. They misjudged the current and waves and they were all trapped inside the cabin when it capsized. Most got out to struggle with waves and rocks, but the captain's PFD opened while he was trapped inside the upside down cabin and only by popping his vest could he get free. I mention this because it impressed so much to me that a capsized boat is not a matter of swim out from under it...... so 2 dead today is just terrible and I imagine they were likely trapped or trying to help others or both. What a tragedy.

 

[LuzSD]

Incredible lack of info from the media. The LA Times said that divers went down to determine the cause, and yet they were not even sure if it was under sail or motoring. Surely those big white things would be some indication to a diver whether the boat was under sail or power? I agree it looks more like a ski boat upside down. Besides, it wasn't that windy yesterday in the bay.

I agree that the lack of information about this is amazing .. based on these pictures it looks really small and as mentioned, more like a ski boat bottom!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/28/california.capsized.boat/?hpt=T2
I disagree though about the wind yesterday.....it was breezy earlier and still was at about 5.

 

[Rick D]

I don't see any indication of a keel or centerboard. However, in some shots, it looks like a pinched stern. I don't see any outdrive which is what the rental boats use except for the few outboards. So, it's a puzzle until we get more information. I'm inclined to think it was an outboard if it was in fact a rental at all, and that was only one media mentioning a rental anyway, so it's very murky.

 

[LuzSD]

The boat was righted last night about 10 and towed in to one of the 2 boatyards across from us in Shelter Cove. Our friends tell us it definitely was a sailboat with the mast laying across the deck as it went by them, and he also said he did not see a keel at all before they righted it.

 

[MSN-Travelers]

It's possible that it was one of those water ballasted trailerables that use a daggerboard. If the skipper didn't flood the ballast tank and had all those people on deck, the boat will turtle. When it does, the daggerboard will fall back into the compression post/daggerboard trunk and the kick-up rudders will flop back out of sight.

I used to have a MacGregor 26M and the hull shape looks about right for any of their 26D or 26M models (actually 25 foot + inches). They are packed with internal flotation materials and will not sink.

 

[FourPoints]

It's possible that it was one of those water ballasted trailerables that use a daggerboard. If the skipper didn't flood the ballast tank and had all those people on deck, the boat will turtle. When it does, the daggerboard will fall back into the compression post/daggerboard trunk and the kick-up rudders will flop back out of sight.

I used to have a MacGregor 26M and the hull shape looks about right for any of their 26D or 26M models (actually 25 foot + inches). They are packed with internal flotation materials and will not sink.

Fits perfectly with my theory... Also in one of the shots I saw what looked like it may be the black lower unit and propeller of an outboard sticking up in the air, but I couldn't tell for sure.

@LuzSD, could your friends tell what type of boat this was?

 

[LuzSD]

The boat is at Shelter Island boatyard and it is a trailerable sailboat about 25' with retractable keel. Said the keel was up and looked like it never was deployed!!?? I know nothing of retractable keels but can't imagine how one would launch a sailboat without a keel ......and add 10 people....... maybe that is what happened, it did not get far off the launch area and just flipped there. It does appear that it did not get far from the area in the pictures that I saw.

 

[Paladin27]

According to the guys over on sailnet, this is the boat, a MacGregor 26.