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Tragedy in the USA


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Pretty sad alright.

 

Interesting that only 3 of the 10 boats with issues where sailing in the event. It suggests racing yachties are better prepared for these situations than the general public?

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Pretty sad alright.

 

Interesting that only 3 of the 10 boats with issues where sailing in the event. It suggests racing yachties are better prepared for these situations than the general public?

 

That would depend on the total number of boats out that day??

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Noteworthy that most boats in trouble were not in the race - really unfortunate. 

 

Lacking a continental climate, I don't think Aotearoa gets squalls like that, do you ?  Their intensity can be awesome - the wind can go from 2 kts to 50 kts in seconds - and if conditions are hazy you really cannot see them coming without radar. 

 

I have noticed in racing that many skippers are reluctant to take sails down until it's too late, especially if they can see the finish line. 

 

Still looking at reports - not sure if the RC abandoned the race before the squall hit. For sure, our RC will be quicker to pull the plug from now on. 

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Yikes, that is impressive. 

 

I've only seen a few that intense - looks like force 11 ?  (spume everywhere - looks like the top of me mate's "flat whiite"!) 

 

11 56-63 Violent Storm Exceptionally high (37-52 ft) waves, foam patches cover sea, visibility more reduced

 

Those are conditions in which the crew of any small boat will be in the water - and better have a suit for the water temps, be wearing a PFD, and hoping they don't get tangled in underwater lines & wires. 

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There were boats in the harbor. It had been a nice day.There were a few issues, but nothing too serious. from a 10-15 Knot NE to over 70 in the harbor in a couple of mins.

One of the larger racing keelboats (I forget which one) could no make any progress into the marina under power, and had to be towed by a coastguard boat... Several vessels were assisted.

This is not hugely unusual in Wellington. most of the local sailors learn a healthy respect for a front like that from the South especially!!

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Here is a video of the squall hitting the race fleet. if you look closel you can see the T30 Nedax get flattened, thats when they say 'Nedax is over!'.

Andiamo was the boat that had to be towed in I think.

 

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So should the race committe abandon the race? (In either Welly or Mobile Bay) 

 

And if so, when? 

 

This is all that the RRS say . .

 

Rule 32.1 allows a race committee to abandon a race for several specific reasons: 

(B) foul weather; 

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Skipper's decision to race.

Skipper is responsible for the boat and crew.

Besides, even if they abandon the race mid race, all the boats are still on the water. Just because they stop racing doesn't make it any safer once you are caught out. it comes down to preparedness and competency then...

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Called a "Southerly Buster".

These days normally fairly well forecast,

I remember 5 or 6 of them in the 40 years I was in Wellington. The real threat to sailors who are not alert is the very rapid change in conditions, as you can see in the two videos above. They deserve your respect! 

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and "Southerly Busters" in Sydney.

 

I can remember one year when Windward Passage had her spinnaker wrapped around around the mast and spreaders by holding on to it a bit to long and Kialoa got big jump on her by changing to a #3 early.

 

Another year when delivering a boat we where got in one, but the 2 old hands told the newbies to drop the sails lash the tiller and come down below for a rum or two, they could not understand while we would do that, after sailing along in a nice northerly and then bang 40 knts ????? in the other direction.

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Skipper's decision to race.

Skipper is responsible for the boat and crew.

Besides, even if they abandon the race mid race, all the boats are still on the water. Just because they stop racing doesn't make it any safer once you are caught out. it comes down to preparedness and competency then...

Technically yes, nothing absolves the skipper of final responsibility - but that  wording seems to be more protection for the race organisers than anything else.

Not abandoning the race IMHO implicitly puts psychological pressure on skippers to do the exact opposite of what prudent seamanship would suggest.

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Agree Mr. Banaari, and one thing to think about here is the tendency of skippers to keep sails up too long while racing - especially when they are at or near the top of the fleet. 

 

In the interest of full disclosure I admit that I have done it myself. 

 

Abandoning the race by the RC takes away that incentive to keep sail up. 

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Any deaths sailing are generally a sad thing.

 

But this article doesn't make clear how many of the fatalities (if any) were from the yacht race. It's possible that none of the fatalities were from boats. Perhaps the people who drowned were washed off the shore while swimming?

 

Article states that not all of the missing were from the race boats. As at least one of the missing has been found at his home, it could be that now none of the missing or dead are from a race boat.

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