A sad tale of a beached sailboat swallowed by the sea. Video.

[AllThumbs]

Sad sad sad.

YouTube - Shipwrecked ! ~ Part I ~

YouTube - Shipwrecked ! ~ Part II ~

[Bene505]

Isn't there anything that can be done to rescue that sailboat?

It looks like there were weeks of good weather with smallinsh waves. Why couldn't she be refloated? It seems unreal that something of such value could go to waste.

I'm thinking a couple HUGE anchors place 45 degrees apart, out in deeper water, with 15 to 1 scope. Add a very powerful windlass. Add water pumps like they drive piles with, to loosen the sand in front and around the keel. Then the anchors could be used to wiggle the sailboat back out to sea again. I figure a few guys could do it in a day that way.

Why the waste??????

[smackdaddy]

And I'll ask what is probably the most stooopid question of all - but, of course, I'm cool with that.

I've seen like photos of half-submerged boats to just rigging sticking up out of the sand. So my question is - can the sand really swallow a boat over time? Or does the sea just break it up at some point?

I'm also interested by Bene's question above. Sounds like insurance (or lack thereof) always has a lot to do with it. In any case I've always wondered about inflatable "jacks" (i.e. - a crazy strong "raft") that could lift the boat a few feet to clear the keel, float it with the tide, be towed out, then deflated for the re-float. I know they use something like this in emergency situations to lift heavy crap. Would it work here?

[N0NJY]

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

And I'll ask what is probably the most stooopid question of all - but, of course, I'm cool with that.

I've seen like photos of half-submerged boats to just rigging sticking up out of the sand. So my question is - can the sand really swallow a boat over time? Or does the sea just break it up at some point?

I'm also interested by Bene's question above. Sounds like insurance (or lack thereof) always has a lot to do with it. In any case I've always wondered about inflatable "jacks" (i.e. - a crazy strong "raft") that could lift the boat a few feet to clear the keel, float it with the tide, be towed out, then deflated for the re-float. I know they use something like this in emergency situations to lift heavy crap. Would it work here?

I think I have seen several sunken ships that are partially buried in the mud and muck, depending on where they went down, but these are archaeological sites, rather than a more modern vessel being sunk recently.

I've never scuba dived, but I do dive with mask and fins and could see you'd probably need some good divers to get floats of any sort in place, but why not? If you can get enough flotation around the boat to bring it up I can't see why your idea wouldn't work.

On the other hand..... not being a scuba diver I can postulate anything and make it sound easy

(I do have about a dozen diving friends though, and they tell me that a lot of things are a lot easier than *I* personally would try.....)

[camaraderie]

Try this story for how it can be done.
Soundings Online– Real Boats, Real Boaters | Story Archives | Articles | A vessel aground and a long battle won

Yacht marooned in '05 to move - Life- msnbc.com

[Bene505]

I picture all hand held equipment water pumping equipment, a couple very large anchors and the help of a big boat to set the anchors. Also, a ton of sandbags to make a jetty immediately up-current of the sailboat. Then it's move sand and wiggle, move sand and wiggle. You create the jetty with the sand you remove from around the hull and keel. The jetty keeps the sand from coming back in. And yes, it would be a race against the next storm.

I see a situation like this one as a sand problem. The waves are small for weeks after the incident. The boat would float if it weren't for all the sand (big assumption maybe).

There was a beautiful, like-new, 40+ foot Beneteau for sale on eBay a year ago that had a big hole in the side (and broken rudder) from where the bulldozer pushed it back out to sea. That seems like way to much brute force, if you ask me. I'd use the bulldozer to move sand near the boat, or as the first "rock" in the jetty, and do the rest with hand tools.

I'd like try to free a boat like that, should the opportunity appear, and should the boat be worth the trouble. There's something good or decent or __________ about it. What's the word I'm looking for?

[scottyt]

i had to beach my boat when i lost my genny in 40 knot winds ( my furler foil broke ) at low tide i had 1 foot of water on the shore side, and i mean 1 foot till the beach not one foot deep. i was able to get my self off, using my anchor and my sails along with high tide. first i got the boat to lean out by sail and anchor off a halyard, then used the waves to bounce the boat 45 degrees to the beach with the anchor off the stern to a winch and lots of tension. then when tide came in ( i was still at 15 degrees of heel ) i kept lots of tension to the anchor and ran the engine in reverse blowing lots of water under the keel loosening it more till it came free. it took me 4 hours to get off but i did it.

[sailingdog]

one word of warning—if you're running your engine when the boat in grounded, you run the very serious risk of running sand and other sediment through your cooling system and that can tear up the impeller pretty badly, so you'll probably want to inspect the impeller at your earliest convenience.

[sailortjk1]

I don't know about beached boats, but using floatation bags is a common practice in my area to raise sunken boats in open water.

[Bene505]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

one word of warning—if you're running your engine when the boat in grounded, you run the very serious risk of running sand and other sediment through your cooling system and that can tear up the impeller pretty badly, so you'll probably want to inspect the impeller at your earliest convenience.

Add to that potentially putting more sand around your keel.

That said, I wasn't there.