Lots of questions in death of experienced sailor

[tyztoy]

I hadn't been to my boat in two weeks due to a shoulder injury. After an injection Monday morning I drove the 2+ hours to check on it after a weekend of storms. Needless to say I was shocked to learn that a man I had met two weeks ago just a few slips down from mine was recoverd from Lake Erie that morning from a Saturday afternoon accident. He was 64 and had 30+ years sailing experience. He had two boats at the marina and had just sold this one and took two of the family members out for a sale. It appears to me that neither on board were the new owner.

Passing boater finds missing man's body (full story) | Sandusky Register

I purchased my first sailboat late last fall (Catalina 25), and went out with the prior owner. Of course this is a tragic event, and it was upsetting. I guess even experienced sailors make mistakes. But what I can't help but wonder about the insurance claim. If the purchase was final and not contigent on this trip, who is the responsible party here. I assume the new owner is? I couldn't imagine not taking out my new boat yet and had a claim like this. And would you even want to keep the boat?

It's just a bad, bad situation. I feel for everyone. Maybe someone has more information about this tragedy.

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by tyztoy

I guess even experienced sailors make mistakes.

We must not let our guard down. Always take two, two sec, two min or two hrs to think about what we are about to do.

RIP

[svHyLyte]

As he lowered the jib — the large, colorful front sail — a line attached to the sail slipped under the boat and tangled in the propellor, stalling the motor

Shaw slipped into the water with a knife to cut the line, but was swept away. He was not wearing a life jacket.

Kelly called 911 at 1:43 p.m. and urgently asked for help as the boat — about a mile from shore — drifted away from the lost captain.

From the foregoing, the fellow went into the water without being connected to the yacht. A lifejacket would have been nothing but a problem for someone trying to cut a line free from the prop but not having a line secured to the yacht was, obviously, deadly. One does not want to become disconnected from the yacht under any circumstances.

As for the ownership of the boat, the story indicates that the sale had happened sometime earlier so the ownership of the yacht is not in question and irrelevant.

FWIW...

[nolatom]

Aw, Man, that's sad. He was trying to teach the new owners about the boat, and this happens.

Can't tell if there were lifelines on the boat. First thing is to stay on board, so please consider a harness--or even just a piece of line through your belt loops with a snap hook on the end.

And leave the stopper knots in the jib sheets--better yet, two knots.

Or maybe just sail in--then you can handle sails in calmer water.

Second thing is if you're going to cut the line off the prop, trail a couple of lifejackets aft on a long tag line. And have a line between you and the boat, too.

This isn't meant as criticism of this well-meaning and unfortunate guy. Just as a cautionary tale for the rest of us to live by.

[smackdaddy]

It can happen to anyone, any time. One bad decision is all it takes.

Stay on the boat or make sure you float.

I will say that checking lines in the water before I fire up the motor has become far more important to me after I read through that CG accident report that JRP put up a while back.

Even so, I forget to do it sometimes. And I forgo a pfd sometimes when going forward, etc. So, it's never at easy as it sounds I guess.

[Kiltmadoc]

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

It can happen to anyone, any time. One bad decision is all it takes.

+1 to that statement. I had a client who was simply dropping his fenders off the side as he was bringing his powerboat into the harbor. He fell off, and spent the next 1.5 hours in 55 degree water trying desperately to hold onto the fender line until someone finally spotted that he was in trouble and came to the rescue. He had been boating for 50+ years at that point.

As a recently minted pilot, I read a lot of airplane accident stories and "I'll never make that mistake again" stories. In the general aviation world, for better or worse, there is a formal and well-established way of reporting events (the NASA form) to help all pilots learn from others' mistakes. The NTSB has records of accidents, and the outcome analysis, going back to 1960.

It's too bad that the boating world doesnt have something similar. Perhaps this website would be well-served to have yet-another discussion sub-forum that people can contribute to and read over so that they can learn and avoid the mistakes of others.

Any moderators out there that would care to create a new sub-forum to consolidate all the accident and near-miss stories out there?

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by tyztoy

... But what I can't help but wonder about the insurance claim. If the purchase was final and not contigent on this trip, who is the responsible party here. ...

Seems pretty straight forward that the responsible party is unfortunately dead, and the only insurance that may be involved would be life insurance.

[puddinlegs]

People try, but there's such a painful amount of armchair quarterbacking and "I would'a/ I'd never be so" that it really isn't worth the pain for most to share their story. The Skip Allen Wildflower saga which was shared by Skip himself ran into a lot of the same crap on other sailing websites. Over here, his story would quickly devolve into "single handing is insane".

Farewell to Skip Allan’s S/V Wildflower

[primerate84]

I happened to be sailing out of Sandusky Harbor that week-end, and my son and I did not go out on Saturday because of the increasing wind. We did go out on Sunday and, as anybody who has sailed on Lake Erie knows, thunderstorms can come up quickly. We were heading back from Put-In-Bay (about a 3 1/2 hour sail) and heard the Coast Guard bulletin about a rapidly closing storm for the western basin. Once I saw the storm approach from the west, we dropped the sails and motored, trying to take the most direct route back to Sandusky Bay. Unfortunately, we got caught just east of Marblehead and endured the scariest 15 minutes of intense rain and lightning you could imagine. The whole week-end was just fluky weather.

Unless the water was fairly calm and the boat was anchored, I would never go in without having a line tied to me, especially if I was diving around the prop. Keeping a life jacket in the water on a line is another good idea. This is sad. RIP.

[glmark]

I give my adult passengers the option; life vest or not. BUT I always tell them what I know from experience to be true: You won't need a life jacket......until you do.