The Wreck of Astrid (H37C)

[Jim Legere]

I am sorry to report the total loss of one of our little ships. Astrid, a 1982 Hunter 37 Cutter (Hull # 294, formerly All Hands, Sybaritic ) was lost off the west coast of Mexico last October. Fortunately her owner survived and I am posting this
with his permission.

I first encountered Wayne Merritt of Melbourne, Australia via this website in October 2014, when he registered Astrid in the database that I maintain. Wayne, aka "Daedalus" on SBO, had purchased Astrid in Long Beach, CA with plans to sail her back to Australia single-handed. This was not a neophyte dream. He had previously completed a successful solo trans-Pacific voyage in a Catalina 38 (details at http://www.projectsinbad.blogspot.ca).

Wayne attempted to leave California for Oz in December 2014, but was driven back by bad weather that damaged his sails. June of 2015 finds Wayne in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico, waiting for the hurricane season to end before departing for Australia. By October he was on his way home...I will let Wayne describe how the events unfolded:

"Despite bad weather to the south, I departed La Cruz de Huanacaxtle heading for Ensenada, planning to make to two stops on the way, the first some 500NM to the north. At about 01:00, believing I was some 20NM east-south-east of the '3 Marias' (islands) I allowed myself a doze in the cabin. Some time around 04:00 I was woken by an alarm on the chartplotter. Rushing into the cockpit I couldn't see anything (bad weather had caught up with me and visibility was very poor) so I returned to the cabin to cancel the alarm and investigate. By the time I realised exactly where I was (just offshore Islas Magdalena) and started thinking about my options to change course it was too late. The boat lurched as a breaking wave struck abeam, and seconds later came the first impact on a rock. By the time I was back at the wheel there was another impact and the boat was heeling heavily and lurching around in the surf. With no steerage way being made, and lots more impacts on the rocks as successive waves pushed Astrid over the shallow water I realised that I was just a passenger. Eventually Astrid came to rest on her side at the high-tide line, lying on several large rocks. The subsequent waves washing the boat against the rocks broke a large hole in the hull below the water line. After several hours of no response to radio calls on the VHF I activated the EPIRB. Some 30 hours after being washed ashore I was picked up by a passing local fishing boat."

 

[Jim Legere]

Wayne was good enough to post some "Lessons Learned" as well:

In long distance cruising:
1. Avoid sailing to deadlines. It may influence your decisions in ways not in the best interest of safety. (I set off knowing there was foul weather blowing around to the south, but thought I would be clear of it in time. I wasn't.)
2. If doing a long leg, set several way-points closer together rather than few further apart. (So deviations from desired course are more obvious.)
3. Check that all your instrument and alarm settings are appropriate. (After a long spell in a marina and only short distance sailing, I had gradually changed many of mine to less than optimal settings for passage-making. If my chartplotter alarm had gone off 10 minutes earlier, Astrid may well have been saved.)
4. When reaching (especially at more than 90 degrees off the wind) in big seas and strong wind over several hours, keep an eye on down-wind 'drift'. (When the alarm went off I was several miles downwind from where I thought I was. By the time I figured that out the boat was amongst the breakers and out of control.)

"Like most accidents, mine was a 'cascade' of errors that in combination resulted in the loss of my vessel. Had I not felt pressured to meet a deadline I would probably have waited another 24 hours, and in the calmer sailing (and frame of mind) perhaps made better decisions/checks on the other issues."

"And don't count on the Mexican Navy to respond to your EPIRB. When I was finally taken back to the mainland by the local fishing boat that found me, the Navy had reported that they had been to the co-ordinates given and hadn't found me, so they stopped looking!"

 

[Stu Jackson]

So sorry to hear about the loss, glad he's OK.

I'd revise the suggestions somewhat>>>>

...set several way-points closer together rather than few further apart...

Not necessarily more, but better location of only one might have helped. Set (a) DANGER waypoint(s) significantly "upstream" of where the actual danger is located. This is considered similar to both DANGER bearings and situational awareness in basic navigation training.

...If my chartplotter alarm had gone off 10 minutes earlier...

Similarly, if the danger waypoint had been set far enough away from the actual danger, there would have been more than adequate time.

I am trying hard not be a Monday morning quarterback, but rather noting that basic navigational and safety practices are just as applicable to GPS navigation as they are/were to pre-GPS techniques.

2. If doing a long leg, set several way-points closer together rather than few further apart. (So deviations from desired course are more obvious.)
3. Check that all your instrument and alarm settings are appropriate. (After a long spell in a marina and only short distance sailing, I had gradually changed many of mine to less than optimal settings for passage-making. If my chartplotter alarm had gone off 10 minutes earlier, Astrid may well have been saved.)

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Shipwrecked on an uninhabited tropical island in the Pacific? Isla Maria Magdalena ... sounds like the beginnings of a good story to me. How badly would you want to leave if you had the passenger of your fantasy on board at the time?

 

[Ed Schenck]

Very sad. Sometimes we lose track of the boats in our file and then they turn up again. But hull #294 will not, gone forever. I imagine he just left her, maybe was able to go back and retrieve some things.

 

[Johnb]

Sad news. Thanks to him for sharing.