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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Boat lost...friend survived

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5937 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/06/2002 : 10:08:45

I received this today in an e-mail from a very skilled and
experienced sailing friend of over 20 years, and thought
it would be of value to the contributors to this forum.
I added the parenthetical comments to make it more
understandable to people who aren’t acquainted with Bob.

My dear sailing friends:

I am most happy to be able to send you this story so you may
learn from my mistakes. On Tuesday September 3 at approximately
4:00 pm Millimeter #251 [a 12 foot long replica of a 12 meter
racing sailboat] went down in Grand Traverse Bay. The boat was
lost, but luckily [I] got out and was able to swim the 150 yards
to ashore using a BOAT FENDER!.

It was foolish to try to sail from the cottage to Northport Marina
to take out the boat. The wind was 20-22 kts and the waves 2-3 feet
at departure. It would be a beat until I got close to the marina.
In a big boat no big deal, but in a small 12 foot 12 meter replica
it was stupidity. After rounding Paradisa Point the wind started to
shift in relationship to the waves. It was dead into the waves or
parallel with them. After making several tacks considering the
rollers, I decided to go back to the cottage. The jib was rolled
and the boat headed downwind.

The little boat screamed downwind well in excess of 'rated hull
speed'. It was an out of control downwind screaming run.

As the waves picked up, the bow plowed into the waves with
increasing force. Finally as the bow dove, another wave caught
the stern and caused the boat to broach. While broached another
wave almost rolled the boat. The bow turned around, pointed to
the sky and the stern sank like a rock followed by the bow.

My feet were tangled in lines from the foot steering and sail
control lines. It drug me down 3-4 feet below the surface before
I could get free. Underwater with the boat pulling me down I thought
I was going to drown before getting free. I will never forget
looking around as the water got darker and darker.

Finally I was able to get to the surface only to see the last 4
inches of mast go under. Scanning the surface the only things
floating were a bottle of water and a 6"x15" fender that had
been used for a temporary bouy. The fender was approximately 30
feet away and moving quickly with the wind and waves. It took two
hard swims to finally get to the fender. I am thankful my cardiac
excercise program had me in some sort of shape. [Bob had open-heart
surgery a couple years ago.]

Why was this fender so important? BECAUSE I HAD BEEN SITTING ON MY
LIFE JACKET AND IT NEVER CAME TO THE SURFACE! The boat went down so
fast I could not even grab it before it went under.

Luckily, I was able to swim the 150 yards to shore holding to the
fender. Why am I taking the time to tell you all this? Because - I
care about all of you and hope you will learn from my stupidity!!

Points to consider:

(1) A life jacket will not save you ass when you are sitting on it!

(2) Althought the day before I had purposely swamped the boat to
determine how well it will handle the water, the 15 minutes it
stayed up then turned to 15 seconds the very next day! Air chambers
are worthless as a means of floatation to keep a boat afloat!

(3) Although Peg and family members had been watching out for me,
when they saw me turn back they got in the car to meet me back at
the cottage. They did not know where or when I had gone down.
Unless people are very close by, it will take time for them to
arrange help!

(4) The challenge of making a difficult sail overcame good judgement.
An old quote I found somewhere comes to mind "The sea did not invite
you here so therefore expect no sympathy nor compassion!" Leave some
challenge for the next day!

I thank God to be alive and am very lucky to be able to write you.
Hope you can learn something from my errors. I lost a fine little
boat for which I am very sorry, but did not lose my life. It was not
the boats fault, it was the idiot sailing it!

Fair sailing - Bob

Steve Milby "Captiva Wind" C-25 T/FK #2554

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 09/06/2002 : 14:39:16

WHEW!! <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> My thanks to Bob and to you, Steve, for passing this on. Our boats bigger, but conditions can be bigger, too--certainly around here. And our boats don't have ANY air chambers--they can go down in a hurry. They can also sail away from us--even without an autopilot (especially going downwind). I don't wear my PFD nearly as much as I should, and I haven't yet "challenged" myself on the C-25.

Dave Bristle - 1985 C-25 #5032 SR-FK-Dinette-Honda "Passage" in SW CT

Edited by - on

pwhallon
Admiral

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USA
694 Posts

Response Posted - 09/07/2002 : 13:28:41

Thank goodness he's okay.

When I had my C-25, I almost always sailed solo, using a throwable cushion to sit on. The rest of the life jackets were in the port locker with the lid unlocked for fast access.

Would I be able to grab the cushion if I were sinking AND tangled in lines? Probably not. Getting in the port locker that quickly would be impossible, especially if I were busy offloading kids,(who always were lifevests when out with me), or guests.

Maybe this story makes a good case for wearing, at least, a manually inflatable coast guard approved lifevest. Less bulky than a type 1.

I've not tried one.

Do any of you wear them?

And always, keep a weather eye and an eye on the weather.

Paul

Edited by - on

Ray Seitz
Captain

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USA
416 Posts

Response Posted - 09/07/2002 : 18:05:27

Great story thanks Steve for sharring it with us. It is good to be reminded of how complaicant we can become. Hope to see you at Hana Creek one of these days!

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Do any of you wear them?

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

I always wear my Ski vest, or Commanders auto inflatable when alone or when weather gets ugly. I also always have at least one throwable in the cockpit. I try and have multiple backups for any emergency situation.

Ray Seitz C 250WB #628

Edited by - on

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3324 Posts

Response Posted - 09/07/2002 : 18:52:01

I ALWAYS wear an inflatable waist pack when I single-hand - too many idiot stinkpotters can throw you a wake when least needed...
Derek

Edited by - on

mroettersr
Navigator

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USA
148 Posts

Response Posted - 09/09/2002 : 00:10:40

My grown up kids bought me a Stearns manual inflatable PFD from Sailnet for Father's Day this year. The vest is light and comfortable to wear and I tend to have it on at all times when sailing. Sailnet price was just under $60. I'm a swimmer and feel confident I could pull the rip cord if I go overboard. Unfortunately, if unconscious, the manual inflatable will be of no value. I feel the comfort of keeping the vest on and thus wearing it outweighs the disadvantage of the manual inflatable. Automatic inflatables are considerably more money. Incidently, non-swimmers should not wear inflatables but vests with permanantly buoyant material. That's my 2 cents.

Mike Roetter
'83 C25 #3568 SK/SR

Edited by - on

n/a
deleted

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62 Posts

Response Posted - 09/09/2002 : 13:06:10

Statistically most boating deaths occur from drowning. "Soundings" had the numbers recently. I bought some Type II's that zip up the front and have tried them in the water. They are fairly comfortable in the water and very comfortable on the boat. In the water they prevent you from tiring even if you are a great swimmer though they wont keep you face out of the water if you're unconscious. The USCG's reg. on life vests just passed this year requires kids up to 13 to wear life preservers. It's a very handy thing to be able to tell children that they MUST wear their vests. We sail in "protected waters" (Barnegat Bay) where you are more likely to be run over than drown if you fall overboard but I have started to wear my vest anyway as a example to all my under 13 guests. We might start to think of vests as we do seat belts and cycle helmets. Better safe than sorry...

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 09/09/2002 : 16:21:11

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
We sail in "protected waters" (Barnegat Bay) where you are more likely to be run over than drown if you fall overboard...
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>
Kathleen: If getting run down is the bigger risk, a vest has the advantages of being a bright, visible color (hopefully you didn't buy blue or green <img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle>), and it keeps you a little higher above the surface--except when you're in walking depth... <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

Dave Bristle - 1985 C-25 #5032 SR-FK-Dinette-Honda "Passage" in SW CT

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 09/09/2002 : 19:30:20

"The USCG's reg. on life vests just passed this year requires kids up to 13 to wear life preservers." - Kathleen on "Jolie"

Kathleen,

First, let me say that I'm an advocate of PFD use(especially with children), but the interim regulation passed this year by the USCG, requiring all children under 13 to wear PFD's when not in an enclosed cabin or below decks, only applies in "those states that currently have no rule requiring children to wear a life jacket." I believe that this rule would only apply in a small number of states since most states have some sort of PFD reqiuirement. If a state already has a PFD requirement, then the USGC rule states that "in those States that possess any requirement, the rule recognizes and adopts that State's requirement.

For more information concerning this rule go to the USCG Boating Safety Article at the below link.
http://www.uscgboating.org/news/boatingview.aspx?id=26

Don Lucier, North Star
C25 SR/FK

Edited by - on

ssteakley
Captain

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USA
467 Posts

Response Posted - 09/10/2002 : 00:04:30

Steve,
You make the perfect case to wear PFD's, I always have one handy, now I will always wear one when single handing!
Steve Steakley

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