US Sailing Report on Loss of Aegean

[Rick D]

The US Sailing site is unresponsive, but you can get the PDF download from this news report:

http://redondobeach.patch.com/artic...nal-report-on-aegean-yacht-crash#pdf-11980745

 

[Phil Herring]

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the skipper set a bad waypoint -- one that put N Coronado Island in his path -- and the autopilot ran him aground at cruising speed. The impact either injured the crew or put them in the water where they were injured by surf and rocks. Sounds like just a little bit of luck or a better watch could have saved the day.

Some important lessons in that report.

 

[Jackdaw]

A terrible tragedy. Condolences to everyone effected....

I hope they look into stopping what I think is a very dangerous practice in that race.... Allowing the cruising class to MOTOR (under AP no less). It creates in my opinion dangerous mix of potential curmcumstances... A regularly non-racing crew trying to go as fast as it can, and night passagemaking with sails down. It's much harder to fall asleep on watch when tending sails and driving. Listening to the diesel drone while the AP drives, pretty easy.

They added this rule to the SIs a few years back when attendance started to drop. The cruisers flooded back in. Now this.