NJ Capsize

[camaraderie]

Wow!! This guy was at our marina a few days ago and I had a long chat with him. Glad he is OK.
He was indeed in a Corsair and was a very experienced sailor. He sailed from Mass to BVI last fall offshore and mad it in SIX days...racing sails and totally rigged to single hand. He told me that the boat was not built to weather storms at sea so he relied heavily on a good wind forcast that let him out run anything nasty. He seemed like a very confident but quiet guy who had his own well thought out way for going to sea. That survival suit says he knew the risks and was prepared.

The coast guard is calling for at least two other sail boats here for the last few hours in a full blown gale and tornado warnings up. Crazy weather to be out in.

[sailingdog]

Chances are likely he got caught overcanvassed and over she went. I'm a bit surprised he didn't have a drogue or something similar as a last-ditch storm survival measure.

[btrayfors]

Something strange about this capsize story. See this thread, last post:

Capsize off the New Jersey Coast - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Bill

[sailingdog]

hmm... that puts things in a very different light. I wonder what the real story is then?

[brak]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Something strange about this capsize story. See this thread, last post:

Capsize off the New Jersey Coast - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Bill

I also found it suspicious that just hours after such gale force winds a very leasurly looking couple would go fishing Glad I am not alone on that one. Weather on Sat. night was pretty nice down here (and appeared to be so all over the coast, I just glanced at the forecast then). Strange.

[Freesail99]

I live in southern New Jersey and while it did rain some and the wind blew a little, I didn't recall it being that terrible of a day.

[teshannon]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Something strange about this capsize story. See this thread, last post:

Capsize off the New Jersey Coast - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Bill

As I read this thread the capsize took place on Friday. The wind data you posted on CruisingWorld was for Saturday. Am I misreading one or the other?

[T34C]

Must be something about Tri's. He and SD- seem to measure wind and waves much the same way!

YouTube - Trimaran Downwind Leg on August 18, 2007

[btrayfors]

teshannon,

You may be right about the date mixup. Re-reading everything, it does seem that the incident took place on Friday evening, the 9th.

However, it really doesn't change things much. The highest winds recorded by the AVAN4 data tower in Avalon, NJ...near his reported location...were in the range of 15-22 knots.

(wind in m/sec -- double for kts; time is UTC)
Quote
Year Mo Da Hr Min Dir Wd Gust
2008 05 09 23 00 10 5.1 9.3
2008 05 09 21 59 20 6.2 9.8
2008 05 09 20 59 20 7.2 10.8
2008 05 09 19 59 20 6.2 10.8
Unquote

Whatever.

Anyway, no question that it's blowing now and looks just terrible on the wind charts. See PassageWeather - Wind, Wave and Weather Forecasts for Sailors and Adventurers

Bill

[teshannon]

I wonder what the seas were on Friday? I'm in Longport NJ with my boat and supposedly they are running 7 to 15 feet today.