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Rudder lost at sea and rescue

16K views 81 replies 27 participants last post by  deniseO30 
#1 ·
Stumbled on this story at the csbb forum: Viewfinder

Much less harrowing than Doug Sabbag's tale.
 
#2 ·
Pretty sad story. The first rudder hit a submerged object. It was "repaired" with poor workmanship and poor welding.:mad: It failed pretty quickly but like the first time they made it to shore for repairs.. They then had the rudder re-built a second time and again a sad case of sloppy workmanship clearly caused the rudder to fall off completely...

I doubt we'll ever know much about the rudder repairs as Jim seems like a pretty hands off guy and very trusting of the yard monkeys.. In this case the term MONKEY'S might be a compliment to the schmucks who screwed him over...... Very sad story, but at least they are safe...
 
#12 ·
I'm not really a big fan of arm chair quarterbacking other peoples misfortunes (schadenfreude) so I posted this more as a cautionary tale of what can happen.
I think that MS makes a good point that the owner was a "hands off guy" and relied entirely too much on various boat yards to fix this recurring problem.
This unfortunate event also highlights the need for having a backup plan for steering as others have noted.
I am almost surprised that no one has made the arm chair comment: "Why did they not scuttle the boat?" as was done on the csbb forum. I am now thinking that there is, or will be, a fairly nice boat missing only a rudder that will be available to salvage.
 
#3 ·
That's a great story Caleb. One of the main points of vulnerability on any boat seems to be the rudder.. They can get knocked out of commission by stuff in the water, by groundings, or just simply breaking. As posted before, I made up an emergency rudder set-up that stows away fairly easily and could be assembled/installed in a couple of hours if necessary. Some of the vane steering units also have emergency rudder capability. Having some kind of basic steering option when a rudder breaks would seem to me to be a priority for any boat going more than say 10 miles out of sight of land.
 
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#5 ·
. Having some kind of basic steering option when a rudder breaks would seem to me to be a priority for any boat going more than say 10 miles out of sight of land.
I agree with you completely. Even a large oar or a pair of "homer" paint buckets like they have at Home Depot would have worked as a kedge anchor.
 
#6 ·
Realistically this wouldn't be all that easy. And then who's to say the new rudder wouldn't also fail after a bit of use.

In the mean time a very expensive big ship has to stay around. It'd probably be more expensive for that large ship to stay where it was for a couple hours than the smaller ship was worth.
 
#7 ·
I could only get back a few days to see earler blogs of the Viewfunder.
Is there anymore information about the experience of the crew?
Who was the captain of this vessel?

Dave
 
#10 · (Edited)
That boat was well equipped too. Davits, rescue raft, solar..And from reading his blog. Just seems the "captain" was too willing to let her go. Wouldn't we use a reefed main and jib to try and balance the boat if we lost a rudder? I dunno.. just guessing, wondering what McGiver woulda done.
jus sayin..
 
#20 ·
Did the folks saying they should have stayed with the boat miss this part of the account?

The boat was heading in a north, north east direction, the opposite of where we wanted to go, we were over 600 nautical miles from Mindelo, our departure point and that would have been against wind and waves. The Canaries would have been our closest landfall, but it was nearly 1300 miles away and we were only doing 1.5 knots, a very long time to get there.

I have never been on a boat that lost a rudder. I hope I never will. But I've met people who have, including two guys who sailed 150 miles back to land using a drogue. It's pretty far from a cakewalk and doubtful they would have been able to keep a normal watch schedule.

Even if they were to better their boat speed and still hold a fairly stead course they would be adding, what, two weeks to a passage through an area with few options for rescue?

Whoever said the skipper made the correct call by putting life before property was absolutely right. I'm glad the weather was calm. Effecting a rescue in good conditions kept everyone safe.
 
#25 ·
I think I have to put myself in the don't leave the boat camp. If it were my wife and I, I would imagine we would make an effort to get somewhere and downwind would be the direction to go. I have to think you could manage two plus knots in a fairly controlled manner, at least close enough to get towed in. You mention that it would take two extra weeks -- so? When you leave on a passage you typically have lots of food onboard. As for water, this is a part of the ocean where afternoon showers happen pretty often. The comfort level might go down, but survival is not an issue.

Who said there were few options for rescue? This is a pretty busy piece of ocean compared to some. I think the couple came to feel overwhelmed and I certainly can understand how this can happen. But an overlooked part of passage-making is psychological preparedness, how resilient are you when it all hits the fan. I am not sure how you assess this and I am not sure how you improve it. Note, that I am not saying you can't improve in this regard, just not sure how.
 
#21 ·
I hope I never know, what it's like but I don't think I will give up so easy as stated in the Captain's blog. There is plenty of stuff out there to help learn what to do without a rudder. again.. I just don't know. I'm not saying they should not of jumped ship without a try. They were even in touch with a wooden boat sailor but I'm sure would have some woodworking skills and tools and did offer to come to their aid. Minds are often lost in difficult situations.

L1 TECHNIQUES and MANEUVERS - Reefing, Sailing without a centerboard or rudder
Sailing without a rudder
The basic principle of sailing rudderless is to use the effects of sails and boat balance to steer. You'll find it much easier to do if you reduce the number of variables to a minimum.

1. Tell your crew to sit motionless on the boat's centerline and well forward, only moving if you decided.
2. Knot the jib sheets together to make them easier to handle and if you are sailing in light winds, reduce the number of purchases in the mainsheet for more positive control.
3. Raise the centerboard by a third to move the center of lateral resistance aft. This will reduce the sensitivity of the boat to your movements

Sail to a clear stretch of water then, with mainsheet in one hand and jib sheets in the other, you're ready to start. Begin on a reach and find out how changes in sail trim affect the course sailed.

Every type of boat responds differently, but you'll find that the mainsail has far more effect in causing the boat to luff than the jib has in helping to bear away, hence the centerboard position.

You will also find that sheeting in the mainsail alone will be enough to make you tack, but that bearing away will require the combined effect of the jib and windward heel. With practice, you will be able to handle the boat on any point of sailing.

To a distant observer, it should appear that the rudder is still in place, so positive is the boat handling. You should have no difficulty in either sailing to windward, tacking or gybing.

Youtube;


Rudderless Drill
Rudderless Drill
Reprinted from "Fundamentals of Sailing, Cruising, & Racing" by Steve Colgate; published by W.W. Norton & Co.
Another drill one hopes never to have to use is sailing without a rudder. Though you may sail 20 years without loosing your rudder at sea, it could happen your first time out. You can control the direction of the boat by changing the efficiency of the sails fore and aft. By luffing the jib and trimming the main, we create weather helm and the boat turns into the wind. By luffing the main and flattening the jib, the wind pushes the bow to leeward - in other words, lee helm. To practice this, trim your jib reasonably flat and ease your mainsail until the boat is balanced and sails straight ahead when the helm is released. Then change your course by trimming the main to head up and pushing the boom out to fall off. When the bow starts swinging in one direction, you must immediately begin the opposite procedures to counteract the swing.....
 
#22 ·
I believe any of those who seem to feel that they could have simply "balanced the sails", and continued on to their destination is grossly underestimating the challenge they faced... They had only just begun one of the most boisterous tradewinds passages in the world, one that routinely busts up gear on even some of the best-found and most well-prepared boats... That particular crew, on that particular boat, seemed to not be up to such a task, and in my estimation probably made the right call to abandon... Or, in other words, that crew and that boat should have probably not been there to begin with - for a more capable, prepared, and resourceful crew might have gotten that boat to the Caribbean...

Hell, with sufficient provisioning and water, simply lying ahull would fetch you up somewhere, eventually... But in my estimation, the way to have dealt with such a situation would be to configure a twin headsail or twistle rig - which was the tradewinds rig of sailors like the Hisocks and Smeetons due to its inherent downwind self-steering capability, long before the advent of efficient, powerful autopilots, or the servo-pendulum windvane... Coupled with a drogue, that boat could have made steady, if not slow, progress towards the islands, at least until some form of steering assist might have been fashioned... One of the reasons I think a Jordan Series Drogue should be aboard any passagemaking boat, it would serve perfectly as a steering drogue, easily adjustable to suit the conditions...

A simple sloop rig like that CS, however, they probably did not have the gear to effect a twin headsail rig... Even a cutter rig should carry 2 poles, IMHO, to better configure something close to a twin rig, and such a prospect in lighter air is a good argument in favor of having a Code 0, as well...

I think this incident is a decent argument in favor of windvane steering, as well... Some units - like Scanmar's Monitor or the Hydrovane, can easily be modified to serve as an emergency rudder...

With some sort of twin head rig - a sail configuration that tends to PULL a boat downwind, rather than PUSHING it - that boat likely would have been saved...

 
#28 ·
When you leave shore you accept all risk associated with the venture not just those of a voyage that goes well.

Not a lot of shipping does not mean no shipping and the opposite of the vast majority is not zero sailboats. They made the decision to abandon within hours of the incident. It takes time to think about the situation and try various jury rigs. I also noted on the blog that they only considered going back and not carrying on, even though the winds and currents would suggest that going downwind would be much easier, even if further.

I seem to remember that there was another sailboat 2 1/2 days to windward that offered help. I can understand these people being totally fed up with their rudder problems and the criminally negligent work that had been done, but they owed the boat more. Just my opinion, but I think you would find that most experienced offshore cruisers would agree.
 
#29 ·
It just seems that more tenacity was in order before abandoning the boat but it's easy to armchair quarterback without really knowing all the details of their decision.
 
#30 ·
Totally agree, I don't know if I would be able to fix a problem like that at sea, and who knows what the situation was. Maybe they tried everything, there could have been a lot of things going wrong at once for all we know. With the boat moving seasickness makes it hard to fix anything too.

I have always been concerned about losing the rudder and have tried a few suggestions such as adjusting sail trim that I found here. I have no idea if I would be able to sail long distance without a rudder, but I hope that I could.

Here is a thread on this subject I started when I first joined Sailnet.

Making Passage w/o a Rudder

I'm sure it won't surprise anyone here to see who responded to that thread ... hellosailor, T34C, PBzeer, Faster, camaraderie, Giu, sway, Robert Gainer (Tartan34C), sailingdog, Zanshin, Boasun, and others.
 
#32 · (Edited)
The YBW video that Denise posted is very informative. The lashed spin-pole tiller was obviously very effective - and brilliant.

BUT, no way am I going to fault this guy for pulling the plug. I mean, c'mon you guys, 600nm or 1300nm to a destination and you're talking buckets, crew weight, wing-n-wing, drogues, and lashed tillers? No freakin' way.

The drogue would slow you to 1-2 knots (that's about a month to the closest destination)...the lashed tiller would mean you're hand-steering (nominally) 24 hours a day...and the wing-n-wing would only let you go where the wind is blowing. The buckets and body english are silly in this context.

That video makes it clear that these techniques are great for moving a boat over a realtively short distance in an emergency situation. It's not about making a freakin' passage without a rudder. Granted, if you want to go all Slocum you could do any of the above for 1300nm and 2-3 months (assuming you had the food/water/ability-to-get-it to survive). But if you (or your crew) are anything less than JSlo, you're calling AMVER. Let's be realistic here.

(Oh - and Chef...Knothead is the rigger.)
 
#33 · (Edited)
The YBW video that Denise posted is very informative. The lashed spin-pole tiller was obviously very effective - and brilliant.

BUT, no way am I going to fault this guy for pulling the plug. I mean, c'mon you guys, 600nm or 1300nm to a destination and you're talking buckets, crew weight, wing-n-wing, drogues, and lashed tillers? No freakin' way.

The drogue would slow you to 1-2 knots (that's about a month to the closest destination)...the lashed tiller would mean you're hand-steering (nominally) 24 hours a day...and the wing-n-wing would only let you go where the wind is blowing. The buckets and body english are silly in this context.
The wind, and current - as a quick glance at a Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic for February would indicate - will generally be taking them directly towards the Lesser Antilles, presumably their original destination... In winter trades, surely such a boat could make better than 1-2 knots DDW, towing a modest amount of drogue... Even the "passage" of the abandoned FIRST LIGHT, left to lie ahull for the final 1000 miles, only added 3 weeks to the overall passage time...

That video makes it clear that these techniques are great for moving a boat over a realtively short distance in an emergency situation. It's not about making a freakin' passage without a rudder. Granted, if you want to go all Slocum you could do any of the above for 1300nm and 2-3 months (assuming you had the food/water/ability-to-get-it to survive). But if you (or your crew) are anything less than JSlo, you're calling AMVER. Let's be realistic here.
You're right, that crew obviously incapable of toughing it out, as would be many other sailors today... But it would certainly be worth attempting, to some - and many, many sailors could have pulled it off...

These folks did... The couple sailing the Sweden 390 EGRET lost their rudder on the same passage a few years ago, and stuck with the boat... It appears the prospect of abandoning her never even crossed their minds... they lost steerage 1500 miles out of Martinique, and yet still managed to complete their 2200 NM passage in 26 days, a most impressive achievement...

Oh, well - perhaps only True Brits are capable of such resourcefulness, and resolve, eh? (grin)

cic.oceancruisingclub.org/publications/2736
 
#34 ·
I think it's true that some sort of emergency provisions should have been made for the 'loss of rudder' possibility, and that the abandonment, on the face of it, seemed premature if not unnecessary.

I think the biggest thing that we MMQBs simply cannot fully appreciate is the stress, discomfort and resulting state of mind of the skipper and crew aboard at the time of the crisis. As with the incident in the Bahamas a couple of years back that had more dire consequences, that skipper made decisions that in hindsight seemed irredeemingly bad, but without having been there at that time and seen the 'scene' we can never truly know what we'd do in the same circumstance. We all know what we think would be right, and hope we'd be able to do 'right', but none of us were 'there'...

I do agree with Jon that the modern era has made it much (too much?) easier for less prepared sailors to tackle more arduous passages, and probably creates a false sense of 'can do', along with the high expectation of a bail out if things don't go as well as hoped.

Wondering, Killarney, what you and June have for a concrete 'backup' plan for this eventuality?
 
#41 ·
Wondering, Killarney, what you and June have for a concrete 'backup' plan for this eventuality?
Not sure how concrete the plan is since we have not really experimented with it, but Ainia can be balanced very well, especially with the help of the centreboard. I would certainly be thinking of going downwind rather than trying to go back- you have 25+ miles of current as a starter. We have a Monitor but not the extra bit to use it as a rudder. There is not always the extra $1500 to buy everything. I think I could rig something to use the wheel to steer the vane's rudder, it is not very big, but it is far back. We always seem to have vast quantities of food onboard. June hates canned food and uses fresh as much as possible on a passage, but the canned stuff is there. I would imagine we could manage an extra two months and might take fishing a lot more seriously.

We had a steering cable break in the South Pacific, just a couple of weeks after I inspected the cables including unscrewing several inspection panels. The break of course was in the one place I could not get at to. We had spare cable with us and just had to figure out how best to effect the repair. Conditions were average with 15 knots of wind and 8 to 10 foot seas. First step was to get the boat in a stable situation with rudder quadrant jammed so it could not move. Then sit and think it all through, realizing that there was no rush. The repair took 10 hours as I remember. It really, really helps to know the boat intimately.

We cannot sit at our computers and pass judgement about what happened on this particular boat. I suspect the dynamic of an inexperienced captain and panicky crew were major contributors. What we can do is discuss in general is whether losing a rudder in this part of the ocean during this time of year is sufficient reason to abandon.
 
#35 ·
I would like to again recommend this thread for anyone who hasn't read it, if for no other reason than to read Robert Gainer's thoughts on boat balance (Page 3). There were a few people in this thread who actually lost steering and wrote about what they did in response to it, interesting and informative.

Making Passage w/o a Rudder
 
#36 ·
I agree with Jons acessment

So I have to ask for a show of hands which among you would have taken on a voyage on a 36 ft CS from Portuagal to the Carribean Captain of this vessel knowing what you do about the previous rudder problem and also knowing that the other 2 crew memebrs were novices?

Which among you would have taken a position of first mate ( crew) with this Captain knowing the other two crew were novices?

The issue here is not should they abandon ship, but should they ever have left the dock.
 
#40 · (Edited)
My sentiments are with what Jon is saying but it is possible that there were medical issues that made them decide to abandon ship. It's hard to believe that one of them was not capable of staying aboard. Fresh water and food to suffice for a LONG time could have been supplied from the ship that rescued them.

Another point to be made here is that if you're going on any kind of passage, there should be at least a month's supply of food and water aboard. It is not difficult to store a great quantity of canned food and IMO, it's foolish go offshore without having at least a small hand powered reverse osmosis water-maker. One of these in a ditch bag should be considered essential equipment.

On boats that have a transom with a reasonable angle to the water, it is relatively easy to have some sort of pintle/gudgeon or similar hardware that can carry a small emergency rudder with a tiller that is reasonably functional. Being located so far from the c/e, a small rudder has a relatively large effect. Keeping it in the water would be a problem in any kind of sea but at least some upwind ability would be possible.
 
#43 ·
No we can't sit and pass judgement but the story is on the web and the links are there to read..and comment on.

Sadly, the little bit of writing on the Captain's blog seems like it was only started for the trip.

The few photos and lack of discussion about preparations for the trip just don't provide for much more then speculation. The "crew" was older and It seems from day one they all regretted being on the boat and wanted off.

Maine Sail apparently knows the owner of the abandoned boat and mentioned he's was a hands off type.

Message I've gleaned from the captain's blog?. "Eh.. it's broke bad now. me friends, they be whining and hating on me since they came aboard! Me go home on first ride me find" I quit! Me wanna go home!" (But I really don't know anything about the event)

Do salvage seekers chase boats left at sea? It would seem to quite a catch! that boat was loaded! (near as I could see) Also, the insurance already paid? Allot is missing from this story imho. Good thing no one was hurt or worse.
 
#44 ·
Wow, this has generated plenty of chatter about what shouda, coulda happened, skills, experience . . .

Bottom line is none of us were there, a good boat was lost:(, a full crew was saved:D, and hopefully everyone with any interest in going to sea has learned that there is not enough preplanning that can be done to be prepared for the worst.
 
#45 ·
Rugosa, Yes and because the crew and captain are safe we can go on with this at length. Things like this thread tend to drive the motors on internet forums. If there were death and injury involved, it would be very disrespectful imho
 
#49 ·
I find it interesting that of all the reasons that yachts are abandoned, the loss of a rudder, alone, with the yacht otherwise intact, ranks right up there near, if not at, the top of the list. I also find it noteworthy that while most spend thousands of dollars on safety and emergency gear, a relatively low cost pre-prepared emergency rudder/steering system is rarely, if ever, on the list unless required by regulations, such as those imposed on participants in events such as the TransPac.

Absent the loss of a rudder that also involves major damage to the hull, the loss of a rudder alone need not warrant the abandonment of a yacht. While one might make do with a jury rig for a few hundred mile passage, for any major passage a better alternative is to carry an emergency steering system that, with not too much effort, can be ready to go in an hour or two. A good example of such gear is the SOS Rudder by Scanmar. This system breaks down into components that can be stowed in a relatively small locker but when needed, quickly assembled and installed on pre-positioned/installed brackets. Moreover, the gear for even a very large yacht (50'+) costs less than $2,600 USD.

Not many years ago some friends of ours, on a return trip from Isla Mujeres following their participation in the annual running of the Regatta del Sol al Sol, lost the rudder on their Hunter 37, Midnight Sun, as the result of a night time collision with a UFO. While it took a little doing, they fashioned a rudder from a spinnaker pole and locker door and managed the yacht for 200+ miles back to Ft. Myers and from their up the ICW to Bradenton where a replacement rudder was installed. It was an exhibit of good seamanship and determination (by "old guys" incidently!). It can be done, but it was somewhat difficult and required an exhausting effort to employ. Much better to be able to assemble an SOS Rudder, drop it into its brackets, and be on ones way.

FWIW...
 
#50 · (Edited)
Not many years ago some friends of ours, on a return trip from Isla Mujeres following their participation in the annual running of the Regatta del Sol al Sol, lost the rudder on their Hunter 37, Midnight Sun, as the result of a night time collision with a UFO. While it took a little doing, they fashioned a rudder from a spinnaker pole and locker door and managed the yacht for 200+ miles back to Ft. Myers and from their up the ICW to Bradenton where a replacement rudder was installed. It was an exhibit of good seamanship and determination (by "old guys" incidently!). It can be done, but it was somewhat difficult and required an exhausting effort to employ. Much better to be able to assemble an SOS Rudder, drop it into its brackets, and be on ones way.

FWIW...
Comparing your friends 200 mile, can-call-and-get-rescued at any time situation to a 1300 miles from land in the mid Atlantic, you're on your own no hope for help for days if not weeks is not really the same thing is it? :rolleyes::confused:

Add to that Viewfinder had two crew who wanted to be rescued. How do you think that situation would play out if the skipper refused the offer of help and insisted that the crew stick it out.
 
#53 ·
For discussion:

This was the setup that passed a race committee requirement for an emergency steering setup. The plan was to ubolt a pre drilled lift-out board from the V berth to the end of the spinn pole, lash it to the backstay with some kind of chafe protection and either use it as a tiller, or lash the other end to the top of the wheel (if still serviceable). This was built, assembled, installed for trial but never actually put to the test... what'd'ya think?

 
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#55 · (Edited)
I think it would break off in short order in the first following sea. Too much leverage from blade to pivot.

One thought about rudder construction: In replacing the bronze rods that hold my rudder together and disassembling the pcs. of mahogany that comprise the rudder, I realized that the design of this construction allows that if the rudder (keel hung) were grabbed by something, the first planks can detach, leaving the first, longest plank intact. The two smaller pieces would simply pull off the bronze pins (which are set at a slight angle to the force of water). There is no nut/bolt connection to exert rip-out forces back to the rudder shaft. The first wood member of this rudder assy. is quite large and would certainly permit some significant control. When considering whether to build a one-pc., glass/s.s. frame rudder, I decided that it would be better to leave the design to Alberg who knew a lot more about designing boat structures than me.
 
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