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Bad Day at the Beach (Long read from Jon Eisberg)

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Charlie Vick
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USA
423 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/02/2004 : 12:22:01

http://www.surfkdh.com/sailboat.htm

Apparently the poor soul got his anchor line caught in his prop.

CVick

CVick
PanaceaII '81 C25 #2439 SRSK

Edited by - Charlie Vick on 11/04/2004 10:12:04

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 12:36:19

Oh man.......

Oscar
C42 # 76 "Lady Kay" (Ex. C250 WB #618)

Edited by - on

Waterboy
Navigator

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USA
204 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 12:57:16

Ouch ... ouch ... it reminds me of my first trip as an adult on a sailboat. US Sailing Basic Keelboat class day 1 - we were leaving the Berkeley Marina to windward in 20+ knots with an experienced instructor on a J24 (those familiar with the marina understand it can interesting to get out of - between the sea walls and the derelict pier you've got 270 degrees of lee shore). A similar sized boat was bashing itself to death against the huge concrete blocks used to protect the marina - apparently the guy's outboard died just as he'd come about for the critical second tack to get to safe open water. We watched the boat bash itself to pieces and sink lower in the water everyday of the week long class. It was a humbling and intimidating reminder of the potential cost of a simple mistake.

PS - hey I'm a Skipper now!

Edited by - Waterboy on 11/02/2004 12:57:49

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 13:10:13

MAIN FURLED ON THE BOOM!!!

Let that be a reminder - always have a knife or way to cut the anchor line and always be ready to sail!

Edited by - on

Charlie Vick
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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 13:21:40

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JimB517
 MAIN FURLED ON THE BOOM!!!

Let that be a reminder - always have a knife or way to cut the anchor line and always be ready to sail!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Thats a great idea Jim and one I try to keep in mind... if there's wind. Doesn't look like there's any that day or at least not enough to do him any good. I'm wondering why he's so close to the beach with waves that size in the first place.
Hindsights always 20-20 though.

CVick

Edited by - on

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 13:24:35

Untill we know the whole story, it's going to be a guessing game with a lot of inaccurate speculation. Then again, looking at the pictures, it looked like a calm day, outside the surf...something must have happened that made him/her run out of options....sail, second anchor, whatever.

Oscar
C42 # 76 "Lady Kay" (Ex. C250 WB #618)

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Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 13:34:16

Unfortunately the story on the home page doesn't give any more details other than his anchor line getting caught in his prop. It did say the coast guard was waiting for the two passengers when they hit the beach so apparently no one was hurt. Can't say the same for the boat though. Is that an Island Packet?

CVick

Edited by - on

Jeff McK
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USA
389 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 14:14:44

Jeez,

What a terrible thing to happen! I hope whoever was onboard was not too badly beat up during the landing.

Edited by - on

Waterboy
Navigator

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USA
204 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 15:28:27

not only is the main furled on the boom and covered, but the boom is hanging low ... not attached to the topping lift? hrmmm.

Edited by - on

Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 15:55:17

Looks like he may have had the boom tied down in the cockpit somehow, maybe with the mainsheet because its not moving much from side to side. Maybe a better idea than having it attached to the topping lift pulled tight with the mainsheet, swinging around wildly with the possibility of the topping lift breaking loose and crashing to the cabin top and/or hitting someone. Someone on this forum who regularly deals with large waves would undoubtedly know more about this than I do since I rarely deal with waves of more than 2-3 feet.

CVick

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 16:38:31

It looks like he tried to roll out the jib and sail it out of there, but the breakers wouldn't let him get up enough speed to punch through them. He was on a lee shore, in light air against big breakers, and he didn't have his mainsail out, which is what you really need to claw off a lee shore.

In the first photo, it looks like he might have had a slight chance to get out if he had enough way to tack and get his sail driving, but it looks like he tried that, and he was pinching into the wind, so he probably didn't have much headway. He really needed his mainsail to drive the boat to windward, but he probably didn't have time to raise it.

If he had another anchor with plenty of heavy chain, he might have been able to get the hook down securely enough to hold the boat for awhile, if he dropped it when he was farthest from the beach.

It doesn't look like he has a topping lift. It might be a new boat.

Once the prop was fouled, there probably wasn't much he could do to keep the boat off the beach.

I've seen some pretty big boats anchor close to a lee shore, and have always thought it was a bad idea. If anything goes wrong, you run out of options fast.

Edited by - Steve Milby on 11/02/2004 16:42:48

oldsalt
Admiral

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USA
578 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 16:45:54

That Island Packet seems to have held up pretty well considering. I myself was caught in some breakers once when I (am embarrassed to say) fell asleep while sailing with my leg up on the tiller and listening to classical music. I was lucky and was able to motor sail through but it was terrifying. There are some really bad breakers that form off of Romer Shoal on the incomimg tide. They weren't there when I took my "nap" and I was sure my course was clear of them but they sure were there when I "woke up". I should have known better.

Edited by - on

oldsalt
Admiral

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USA
578 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 16:45:57

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 17:57:42

It is hard to believe his rudder was functioning after the second frame, wheel-stands on a rudder can't be good. Since there was obviously a peanut gallery one has to wonder how much damage was done to his ability to control the boat before the pictures were taken.

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MattL
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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 18:05:29

I don't know, maybe I'm a little more blind than I thought. I only see the one guy in back stearing.

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Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2004 : 19:47:55

Looks to me like virtually no wind--and almost certainly not enough to overcome those breakers. I believe all Packets have keel-hung rudders, so that's a plus, but not if there's no way to get some way on. Cutting the rode at the bow wouldn't unjam the prop, and if you dove on it in those circumstances, you might be squashed like a bug. Sometimes, no matter how well you're prepared, you're just toast. But that Packet might withstand a little pounding on a soft sand beach... They're some of the most overbuilt boats around.

Edited by - on

John Mason
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USA
687 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2004 : 19:02:51

So right, Jim. I learned that on a crossing of Rosario Strait nea the San Juans. Got out there under motor with the main sail cover still on. Waves and wind were such that I couldn't turn it around and the motor was barely enough to keep headway. A Cat 30 motorsailed by with main up. Now I don't go anywhere without the sail cover off and the halyard attached to the headboard. You never know when you're going to need it, fast.

Edited by - on

Ben - FL
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880 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2004 : 19:55:15

"Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here!"

I think I would have kedged the boat or something before I let a lee shore get me.

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ronrryan
Admiral

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USA
561 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2004 : 20:48:00

(1) I think that is NOT an Island Packet (I sail with a friend on a IP 31 quite a bit) (2) It looks like a Hunter 30 to me (3) I once read a salty writer who said anyone who motors with mainsail cover on, relying on roller jib alone, is making a fearful mistake. Never saw a better illustration of WHY. At least the poor guy had a PFD on, thank heaven, ron Orion srsk 1981 #2343 SW FL

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Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2004 : 22:22:49

I don't think it's a Hunter--the older 30 has a high, sloping coaming. But I'm suspicious the main would have done nothing--it looks like NO WIND. It might be that only another anchor would have saved him--IF he had time/room to deploy it and get some scope out. If his keel was already hitting bottom in the troughs, he might have been better off to let her go up on the beach. We can all be smug, but then we all carry insurance... (I hope).

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 11/03/2004 22:24:48

Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2004 : 10:08:16

Don't mean to beat a dead horse just thought maybe you would like this read. Its long but it might be of some interest to those of you who sail in that area and offshore in general.
I e-mailed Jon Eisberg and got his permission to post this thread here which was originally posted on the Cruising World Bulletin Board.
I know, a treasonist act but there's some good info there.

Hi Paul, (Person he was responding to)

In a remarkable coincidence, I passed this guy Thursday afternoon just off Cape Henry on the Eastbay 43 I'm presently running down to Key West. Several things struck me as strange about this boat, and I was almost tempted to hail him on the VHF, and inquire whether he knew what he was doing... Unfortunately, it wasn't until the following morning - when CG Group Cape Hatteras put out a Marine Assistance Request for this vessel "disabled and adrift off Kill Devil Hills" - that it occurred to me that this guy's inspiration to head down towards Oregon Inlet might have come from my recent article in CW...

To me eye, this certainly did not appear to be the sort of boat one would think about taking down there outside, or potentially around Hatteras. It appeared to not be fitted out at all for heading offshore - no dodger, or ANY of the gear we're accustomed to seeing on deck aboard distance cruising boats... It appeared to be a boat that had been just purchased, minimally equipped, and was simply being delivered to a new location...

The guy certainly picked a poor day to be heading outside the Outer Banks. Small Craft Warnings were posted, not for winds, but for seas - a large low out near Bermuda was producing large swells out of the East, precisely the condition that can make Oregon Inlet so dangerous... The sailing conditions were actually beautiful - the breeze was out of the ENE at 12-15 knots, a perfect beam reach.... Yet, strangely, this guy was simply motoring (one can still see his mainsail cover on in the pix), and rolling very deeply, from rail to rail, in the swell... He appeared to be hand steering, a rather erratic course which leads me to believe he did not have a functioning autopilot, and was running VERY close to shore off Cape Henry... As I went by, the woman aboard appeared out of companionway, not looking at all very pleased, and neither returned my wave... I suppose one of the things that factored into my declining to hail them was that I just assumed they would soon decide "enough of this ***", and turn around and head back into Hampton Roads...

I really have to wonder whether this skipper actually listened to the forecast. My primary reason for pushing onto Oregon Inlet that night, and sneaking in there just before dark, was to get as far south as possible before a forecast blow out of the SW the following night... As it turned out, it never really materialized, but it was still a piss-poor forecast to be heading down that way in a slow boat... And, by running under power, this guy appeared to be committing himself to going into Oregon Inlet - for with no sign of jerry jugs stored on deck, I doubt he was carrying enough fuel to make it al the way around Hatteras and Lookout Shoals under power...

When I arrived at Oregon Inlet, the tide was starting to ebb, and it was rolling BIGTIME... occasional breakers completely across the bar, and I was very happy to be aboard a fast powerboat... it was about as hairy as I've seen it in many years, and I'm really not sure what I would have done had I been on a sailboat... I must admit, I was a bit surprised by how much the conditions had deteriorated by the time I'd arrived there, and the prudent thing to have done with a displacement hull would have been to heave-to offshore overnight, and wait until a flood tide began late the following morning... I was fortunate not to have to make that decision, but that would have been the price one would pay for making the mistake of heading down there to begin with on that particular day...

When I arrived at the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center that night, I learned that only a handful of the local charter captains had gone out the inlet the previous couple of days... In fact, Highway 12 down near Avon had been washed over the previous day by the extremely high surf that was running, and in a unanimous display of caution that was VERY unusual for these guys, they were all going to wait until after daybreak the next morning before transiting the inlet... One of those situations where not until after I was back in at the dock, where I began to appreciate that "damn, I guess it really WAS rolling out there, today..." (grin)

I was very surprised at the casual nature of Group Hatteras' Marine Assistance Request the following morning - it sounded as if they were not even dispatching a boat from Oregon Inlet to help this guy... I can only assume the skipper of the MARINER'S II understated his situation, or didn't realize the potential danger until it was too late... Depending upon the assistance of another vessel out there that morning was highly unlikely, however - there are very few vessels transiting that shoreline even on the finest of days, and I seriously doubt whether anyone else behind me would have happened along that coast that morning...

Based on what I saw, I would be very surprised if this boat would have had ground tackle capable of keeping him off a lee shore with a large swell running - it definitely appeared to be the sort of boat simply outfitted for Bay cruising, with a single rope rode with perhaps a short length of chain... again, to my eye, this boat appeared to be VERY minimally equipped, and precisely the sort of boat that should have been motoring down the Ditch inside.... if he wasn't under sail in those ideal sailing conditions that afternoon and night (the breeze died the following morning, apparently sealing his fate), I can't imagine why he was out there to start with...

I leaned a lot from this experience as well, and you can be damn sure the next time if I have any doubts as I did that afternoon, I'll definitely key that mike, and make that call...Needless to say, I'm feeling more than just a touch of guilt about my possible role, however peripheral, in this whole sad affair...

best regards,

Jon

CVick

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2004 : 15:55:55

VERY interesting... especially the comments about it not being a blue-water boat (by design or equipment). Those who have not been "out there" cannot imagine the potential situations; although this guy would probably have been better off if he were further out there. The comment about the breeze dying the following morning would explain what I thought I saw in the pictures--glassy swells.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2004 : 19:31:33

fools and their money are soon parted. I hope no one was hurt. A few lessons would have helped this skipper. My guess is that they'll never sail again. It didn't have to be that way!

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2004 : 20:05:36

The crew appears to have forgotten the rule of 6 P's...

Prior
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Perfomance

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