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Sailor Dies at Commodore Perry Race

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Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/04/2007 : 22:12:09

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070604/NEWS01/706040412

From what I've hear from people at the post race activities this was not hypothermia and now a drowning. Major head trauma.

D. Wolff
DPO C25 Hull 401
Currently Sailing "Champagne and Ripple" 1982 O'day 30

Chief Measurer 2002-2006
Vice-commodore 2007

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/04/2007 : 23:33:02

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">His death, she said, came when he was doing what he loved.

"If he was going to go, that's exactly what he would have wanted," she said.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The ending quote that would be expected.

Most of us have felt boom bruises, it must have been one heck of a bang.

His family gets a little consolation.

Sad to hear all the same.

Paul

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Turk
Admiral

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USA
736 Posts

Response Posted - 06/05/2007 : 06:38:14

We were preparing for our race day here in NE Ohio when that same front moved in. Very strong high winds (50mph) and sheets of rain. Very unpredictable fronts were coming in all day.

We got our race off at 6:00 pm only to be turned back by another front with lightening. All boats motored in quickly and got caught in quite a bit of rain and wind as we struggled to get our dinghies back to shore.

I could only imagine what Lake Erie looked like yesterday.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/05/2007 : 07:48:03

Just about the same thing happened on a Race Sunday in the town where I used to live--a 70-something guy, with some of his family as crew on his Sonar, drowned after an apparent boom impact in a huge storm front that (1) had been forecast for several days, (2) was being announced on VHF by NOAA, and (3) was incredibly visible for at least 90 minutes before it hit. I was in another town, saw the front, and drove home and down to our boat club to check and secure our daysailer at the dock just before all hell broke loose. (I had to shield my eyes from blowing sand as I returned to my car, which was rocking on its suspension.)

Realizing later that while I was doing that, the local yacht club (a different organization) was still running races out in Long Island Sound made me and many others believe the R/C was partially responsible for the death. But of course, each skipper is ultimately responsible for the decision, and this skipper paid the ultimate price. (Actually, his family paid a worse one.)

There's just no point...

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 06/05/2007 07:48:37

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 06/05/2007 : 08:39:37

I was down at the marina tinkering on the boat when this front came through and it turned out to be unbelievably fierce. Initially, it just looked like one of those days when it would be best to stay in port, but soon the winds gradually increased and the skies over Lake Erie started turning from just overcast to an eerie, endless, blackened mass. Things started to deteriorate very rapidly soon thereafter as the winds picked up and the water turned to a sea of whitecaps and huge breaking waves. The winds had to have been easily 50mph as I had a time just standing up and when I walked down to the shore to look out over the lake, waves were crashing against the rocks and the horizontal spray from them was stinging. As I looked out onto the water, I could see powerboats, most of whom were participating in the marina's annual walleye tournament, were struggling to get to safety. As they entered the channel buoys to the marina, the wind and waves were on their port quarter and pushing them towards a rocky, lee shore. Most boats had a extremely difficult time coming into the marina and were forced to come in very hot in an area that would normally be a no wake zone because going any slower, would have resulted in them ending up on the rocks or into the shallows. As these boats came into the marina proper, people on the docks ran to assist them as the winds pushed them around like beach balls. The wind was howling so much, the sky was filled with leaves that had been ripped from the trees and one could hear trees in the woods next to the marina snapping and crashing to the ground.

I have seen something like this only one other time, unfortunately at the time, the family and I were a few miles off the coast of Canada...Not fun.

Edited by - dlucier on 06/05/2007 08:41:53

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/05/2007 : 10:32:48

Another story, closer to home... On our maiden cruise in Passage--100 miles on L.I. Sound from where we bought her to our home--I was looking at the same kind of sky Don described. I switched to the NOAA weather channel, and they were talking about 70+ winds in a squall line ahead. We turned, furled the sails (it was near-calm anyway), and motored as fast as we could to the closest refuge--the CT River, where we ducked into a cove and picked up a mooring just as the leaves and branches began blowing out of the trees around us. We closed the companionway just as the full force hit--Passage was thrashing and jerking around on the mooring with a cacaphony of screaming from the shrouds. Passage probably would have survived it on the Sound, but I would have been a single-handed sailor for the rest of my dear wife's life.

When you pay attention, attention pays you back.

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