Big Kings cup storm, 5 boats wrecked on the beach

[B00B00 310]

So we went down to the beach this morning to catch the long tail out to the boat and couldnt believe what we saw, there were 12 boats on the beach, capsized fizz boats on moorings, dingys capsized with people swiming around. No one could get off the beach to get to their boats, it was total mayhem. we watched some of the attemped rescues and helped to drag all the multihulls up above the high tide line. witnessed a beneteau 44.7 punch the rudder right through the bottom and sink in a matter on minutes, followed by a elan 35 then a hanse 35. The MRX seemed to hold together and maybe the broken rudder actually saved it. there are still about 4 boats that are holding on just with anchors out but i doubt they will last the day as they are banging on the beach pretty bad.

I just came up to the hotel to change my camera battery, will head down and get some more photos and lend a hand where i can. its not every day that you see stuff like this!

Great regatta so far, we ended up 3rd in the racing division which was good. Have had some LARGE nights with Boatslut......

 

More videos here-

[B00B00 310]

some photos

[Guest]

yo booboo see you at 530 room 1101 Kata beach resort, I will bring the mount gay..... Chur!

[Guest]

http://www.kingscup.com/

[smithy09 50]

Bloody Hell! What a disaster!!

[ballystick 72]

My son was sailing on Walawala, a Beneteau 44.7 from Singapore for the regatta, having a great time. By the time they heard it was on the beach it was too late. They tried everything they could but the rudder broke and punctured a hole in hull as Booboo said, they are very upset but I think they have insurance. It went from upright to half sunk as pictures show.

[wheels 543]

Awweee blimey, that's terrible??

Booboo, do you think you can salvage four winches. Shane and I want a pair each I'm happy and I am sure Shane would be happy also to pay for excess weight on the plane

[Guest]

The beach is still a messs, Ichiban the winner of IRC1 division is still sitting upright on its keeel. They are planning on removing the keel and trucking it out some how. Such a shame to see the boats just getting ruined. The Elan lost its rig over night too and wholed it, its just a complete mess.

 

Crazy night at the prize giving last night though.

[ballystick 72]

some more Kata Beach photos

[ballystick 72]

one more photo, a sad end to a great week

[Fogg 427]

So what caused this? Was the severity of the storm a surprise or forecast or what?

[ScottiE 174]

Why AC - the land caused it of course! If the land wasn't it wouldn't have happened!

[Guest]

The normal wind condition in Kata is offshore, and quite strong offshore at night, often 20-30 knot gusts sweeping down the hills....so it isn't uncommon for boats to drag out to sea - has happened 2 years I think that I have gone there.

 

However, it normally isn't onshore at all at this time of year; this is weather we get in May - Oct, and no one would bring a boat to Kata or the west coast of Phuket anchoring overnight for the most part in that period.

 

The severity of wind and sea state I think was not predicted, and it came during the late afternoon, then a lot of the damage occurred during the night, so people woke up with boats already dragged back and in a mess, while the tide was starting to drop already at a guess.

 

Imagine Takapuna in a strong north easter, that's about the state of the beach and waves, with probably worse holding, and being that it fronts out to the ocean, probably a more random wave pattern, with some waves breaking quite far out to sea. Having helped a tracker I think it was that went onto Takapuna beach when I was surfing there in roughly similar conditions at a guess, it is amazingly hard to get a boat back out to sea once it is in the shore break and especially once it touches the bottom.

 

At the southern end of the beach (which is where all the boats that went ashore seem to be) people anchor in close proximity, the water is shallower and it is IMHO less protected and softer sand than the northern end which is further away from the bar and hotel where the regatta runs from. So one boat dragging might impact various other boats as well on the way in.

 

Many of the multis dragged AFAIK, but were able to just come ashore then get carried up the beach; keelboats not so lucky ;-(

[wheels 543]

often 20-30 knot gusts sweeping down the hills....so it isn't uncommon for boats to drag out to sea -

Isn't uncommon

50kts, I would think, hmmm poor anchoring techniques. 60kts yeah that's getting a little fresh and chances are one or two poorly kept are going to give. 70kts and up, well yeah thats a real storm, but even then, it is something we all expect at least once a year here and those with these kind of boats should be able to handle it. Above 70kts I would say yeah now they have an excuse.

So what am I missing???? Is it poor holding, or is it because they are racing and carrying small tackle? or??? I mean lets face it, they are in an area that at this time of the year is frequanted by some very big storms is it not? and not carrying decent ground tackle is really taking a risk.

[Murky 1]

Might be a difference between South Island and North Island expectations!

 

From my perspective, 20-30 from an unexpected direction would normally cause a few issues with the Christmas cruising fleet; 70 will even see the odd breakage on boats on swing moorings and in marinas.

 

Kip's explanation makes sense to me.

[wheels 543]

But Murky, don't you get an afternoon seabreeze of 20+ knts up there every day???

Don't you get at least one good 50-60kt blow per year??

[Murky 1]

Nup. I am by no means a weather expert but: certainly a sea breeze would be the norm in settled anticyclonic conditions but not an everyday occurrence all year round. Even then, 20+ would be the top end for a sea breeze and I would expect it to die down in the late afternoon/early evening and switch to a very gentle land breeze overnight.

 

Under those circumstances, if the breeze came in overnight from a new direction more strongly than expected and caught boats that had no-one on board on a lee shore with possibly-dodgy holding, I would expect to see some of them on the move.

 

Waiake in the East Coast Bays of Auckland is probably a similar sight to the photos above, probably every second or third year. Waiake has moored rather than anchored boats but same sort of principle.

[tuffyluffy 76]

Im no expert, but the obvious reasons would seem to be,

 

1. Unexpected, strongish onshore breese.

2. Small anchors and tackle.

3. Not enough scope.

[Guest]

the issue was not helped by a spring tide and an un expected on shore, was meant to blow offshore over night. Some of these boats had already dragged on previous nights and even one boat had been found by air 12 miles offshore, that boat apparently was carrying an anchor off a platu.... The swell had started to build from the west by the end of the racing that day but this was just a traversty, even the royal navy mrx ended up on the beach.

[wheels 543]

Sorry but i don't think any of that is an excuse. You have to carry an anchor capable of holding your boat, full stop. You have to deploy it properly, so that means enough scope to cope with any normal possible situation. And everyone should know you can not trust a weather report. You have to be prepared for anything.