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Queens birthday storm documentary


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I recall it was NZ on air or one of those websites some time ago, but can't find it with google. I was going to share it with some cruising friends who haven't seen it. 

I actually have a copy and could upload it to youtube, but then I mite get my account banned for copy write violation! 

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Biggest lesson reading the book was the deep fatigue everyone experienced. We are fortunate now to have much better weather information but even that does not make us bullet proof.

The Monowai rolled beyond it's official limit of stability, good job the Naval Architects left a bit of fudge factor in the design.

Ramtha, the Aussie cat, drifted around for a couple of weeks and was then spotted and towed in relatively unscathed. Makes you think that the best strategy in a cat in this weather state is to get the sail off early and go into "raft" mode either on a drogue/para anchor or just drifting.

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Yep, shorthanded I’d be on a chute or drouge in that for sure. No one can steer effectively for hours and hours, let alone days. Set up the boat properly, with the drouge or chute, try to rest. Sleep if you can!

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The story as told from the Cpt of Monawai is a spectacular read as well. http://www.bluesuit.co.nz/1994.htm
Yes we have better weather prediction these days, but i think more importantly, we have a lot more heavy weather gear available as well. Especially the drogue department.
The account from the owners of one particular Boat we looked at was the reason why we went FC. They sailed right through this along with a group of other FC boats and arrived in Fiji with no knowledge of what was going on out there behind them.
The Queen's Birthday Storm - Rutgerson Marinhttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/FddHsVTLbqE/hqdefault.jpgWhere Can I Learn About Marine Weather? - Just Marine

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3 hours ago, wheels said:

The story as told from the Cpt of Monawai is a spectacular read as well. http://www.bluesuit.co.nz/1994.htm
Yes we have better weather prediction these days, but i think more importantly, we have a lot more heavy weather gear available as well. Especially the drogue department.
The account from the owners of one particular Boat we looked at was the reason why we went FC. They sailed right through this along with a group of other FC boats and arrived in Fiji with no knowledge of what was going on out there behind them.
The Queen's Birthday Storm - Rutgerson Marinhttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/FddHsVTLbqE/hqdefault.jpgWhere Can I Learn About Marine Weather? - Just Marine

This storm was very concentrated and boats outside approx 100NM circle did not see more than gale conditions. A mate of mine was on a Cav 45, they were just in front of the storm and had a tremendous sail to Tonga under poled out genoa. I would be a bit doubtful about the "sailed right through this" sounds more like they were in front of the storm.

Steve Dashew has made all his books available for free download here

https://setsail.com/free-books/

in the "Mariner's Weather guide" there is a very comprehensive review of this storm. There is a discussion about rescue of the crews in "Surviving the Storm"

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One of the big hazards in these conditions is the crew getting injured in knock downs and roll overs. Something I've always thought was really obvious and easy to reduce that risk, but that is never done, is to fit airline style seat belts to the bunks. Having a lee cloth is one thing, but they don't keep you in your bunk when the boat accelerates faster than gravity. They'd be very easy to fit, could lie under the swab when not in use, and fairly cheap. 50 mm web and a buckle. One around the waist and one around the chest area. Would prevent being thrown across the boat and reduce risk of the sort of head injuries, rib and back injuries reported in this storm. Basically strap yourself into the bunk, try and chill out and conserve your energy - its phenomenal the amount of energy you spend holding on in rough conditions.

I've never come close to experiencing anything like that, my biggest achievement was was managing to stay in my bunk (not get thrown out) in the  2007 Fastnet, but that was a short steep sea in the English Channel, nothing like an open ocean storm.

For those with experience, are bunk seat belts a ridiculous idea, or something with some merit? It seems so obvious to me, but I feel I'm missing some other big factor as to why people don't use them.

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14 minutes ago, Fish said:

One of the big hazards in these conditions is the crew getting injured in knock downs and roll overs. Something I've always thought was really obvious and easy to reduce that risk, but that is never done, is to fit airline style seat belts to the bunks. Having a lee cloth is one thing, but they don't keep you in your bunk when the boat accelerates faster than gravity. They'd be very easy to fit, could lie under the swab when not in use, and fairly cheap. 50 mm web and a buckle. One around the waist and one around the chest area. Would prevent being thrown across the boat and reduce risk of the sort of head injuries, rib and back injuries reported in this storm. Basically strap yourself into the bunk, try and chill out and conserve your energy - its phenomenal the amount of energy you spend holding on in rough conditions.

I've never come close to experiencing anything like that, my biggest achievement was was managing to stay in my bunk (not get thrown out) in the  2007 Fastnet, but that was a short steep sea in the English Channel, nothing like an open ocean storm.

For those with experience, are bunk seat belts are ridiculous idea, or something with some merit? It seems so obvious to me, but I feel I'm missing some other big factor as to why people don't use them.

Getting chucked across the cabin is a major risk and the current breed of wide European boats are a problem in this respect.

Re the query about seat belts, never seen them on yachts but interestingly Dashew fitted both sitting and bunk harnesses to his FPB series powerboats

 

EnRoute-Fiji_Waves-Speed-06.jpg

fpb64-1-mar-15-2010-103.jpg

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That is interesting. Those bunk seatbelts are exactly what I'm talking about. The sitting harness is the exact same logic but slightly more complicated to make / install. Has more benefits in that you can sit up / look around / work at the nav station / radios etc. It amazes me how much energy you use just hanging on when it is rough. There must be clear benefits in just being able to strap yourself down and rest, once you've got the boat sorted (sea anchor out / hove to kind of thing)

Any downsides or reason you wouldn't do that on a yacht?

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2 minutes ago, Fish said:

That is interesting. Those bunk seatbelts are exactly what I'm talking about. The sitting harness is the exact same logic but slightly more complicated to make / install. Has more benefits in that you can sit up / look around / work at the nav station / radios etc. It amazes me how much energy you use just hanging on when it is rough. There must be clear benefits in just being able to strap yourself down and rest, once you've got the boat sorted (sea anchor out / hove to kind of thing)

Dashew is/was a glider pilot and not short of a $$ so the sitting harness probably came from the aviation world

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You'd still want to get out of your bunk easily, so I wouldn't go with lacing the leecloth, unless its a last minute kind of thing. That and you don't have to fall far to get injured, like with falls from height (construction) falls of around a meter can do plenty of damage, above 2m has more surety of outcome of course (higher certainty of a nasty injury)

Part of the benefit with the bunk straps, other than not to get thrown across the boat, is to conserve energy not sliding around in the bunk itself.

Doesn't sound like there are any major downsides?

I think the only big difference between now and the Q birthday storm is the improvements in forecasting and comms. But with a rapidly developing storm, a lot of boats are going to struggle to get out of its way. Its human nature to think we have advanced and these old disasters wont happen to us again...

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