Chris White 57'er Flips

[tdw]

Would have to have been seriously extreme conditions for this to happen.

The White cats are certainly my idea of near perfection in a multi.


Two men rescued from heavy seas off Niue | Stuff.co.nz

I was reading elsewhere that this is the boat.

Alwoplast S.A.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by tdw

The White cats are certainly my idea of near perfection in a multi.

Ill second that.

[chrisncate]

....

[Omatako]

The position is about 300nm from where we sailed in a mother of a storm (squash zone) in 2007.

Seems like it's not a friendly area.

[pedcab]

Originally Posted by chrisncate

Yikes.

Multi Hulls scare me..

They do? Well, they should, but only when they fly past monohulls at twice their speed...otherwise and provided they're properly built, rigged and equiped, well designed multihulls are obviously safer than similar sized monohulls, or so the statistics say.

Funny you mention that since this is the first serious multihull incident I've read about in a very long time...

Unfortunately news about monohulls losing rudders, keels, flipping over and loosing crew are are a lot more common though...

I wonder, If the boat in the article wasn't a multihull would it have remained afloat?

[SlowButSteady]

Here we go.....................(will someone please wake me when the mono vs multi debate is settled?)......................................... ..

[pedcab]

Originally Posted by SlowButSteady

Here we go.....................(will someone please wake me when the mono vs multi debate is settled?)......................................... ..

[PCP]

That's a big cat and also a beautiful one: Not a fat one with a small rig. This is a fast one

Cerulean - ChrisWhiteDesigns' Photos | SmugMug

I don't think cruising cats are dangerous but certainly you have to know more to sail one with the kind of safety a good monohull provides. I don't think a cat this syze could be capsized only by the sea. They probably where sailing and had some sails up....I would love to know the story.

Regards

Paulo

[PCP]

That's what happened:

"I am in Niue, where the crew was taken after rescue. I spoke with the owner this afternoon.

Cause was wind. Seas were 3 meters, no other problems. They were sailing upwind under single reefed main and full jib in 16-18kts with squalls in the area for the previous 24 hrs. The squall that hit didn't look any different visually or by radar (they were checking each squall they approached). Wind built to 62kts almost immediately (62 was highest owner saw, but not sure if that was highest the boat saw). He tried to get to the mainsheet, but fell to leeward and by the time he climbed back, boat was going over. I did not ask if he was inside or outside, but he was either at pilothouse or in fwd cockpit and was alert. by the time it went over he was outside, so I believe he was outside for the whole thing. His dingy came up to the surface upright and he climb in that on a long painter. His crew got out through an escape hatch and joined him in the dingy. Epirb was deployed (not sure if auto or manual) but no other coms were taken outside the boat. NZ S&R sent a plane, then diverted a nearby ship to rescue crew. crew was able to swim to ship and then climbed a net ladder to get aboard. He will be here in Niue until the next flight on Friday. "

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...pped-off-niue-
44538-3.html

And this is the owner's boat site:

Home

[sailingdog]

Hmm... hit by a squall with winds over 60 knots while under a single reef in the main and a full jib... not exactly surprising that they got flipped. I'd really like to see more information... but we may never know what the exact circumstances were.

I'd point out that the Chris White Atlantic series of catamarans are one of my favorite and they have a very impressive safety record.