2010 Southern Straits Carnage

[Stillraining]

I hope your just kidding about the first part Nauti..

[JStorm]

In my opinion, with limited knowledge, the race should have been abandoned earlier. No point in placing blame now. Although sailboat racing requires dealing w/ the wx you're given, these boats are not setup for storm/hurricane force wind/seas. They aren't equiped for conditions the S Strts can dish out in a full storm. Although each skipper has a responsibility for the safety of their crew/vessel, it seems they depend on the RC, CG, etc when to quit.
I hope NW sailors can make sure this never happens again, w/out government mandates. Thankfully nobody died!?

[Faster]

Originally Posted by JStorm

In my opinion, with limited knowledge, the race should have been abandoned earlier. No point in placing blame now. Although sailboat racing requires dealing w/ the wx you're given, these boats are not setup for storm/hurricane force wind/seas. They aren't equiped for conditions the S Strts can dish out in a full storm. Although each skipper has a responsibility for the safety of their crew/vessel, it seems they depend on the RC, CG, etc when to quit.
I hope NW sailors can make sure this never happens again, w/out government mandates. Thankfully nobody died!?

It is extremely rare for such races(eg Straits, Swiftsure) to be abandoned by the RCs... they are considered Ocean or near-Ocean races with the appropriate Category ratings and so it's supposed to be a given that the boats are appropriate for the possible conditions.. beyond that it is the skipper's/crews' call whether to start or continue.

That the race was in fact abandoned a few hours into it is a historical first for this event. By that time at least 75% of the fleet had already withdrawn. Only a handful of boats actually reached any of the first marks (all downwind) before the call was made. I'm not sure if the incident with Incisor had occurred by that time or not. A BC Ferry was also involved in the rescue, likely at least providing a bit of lee for the pickup. [EDIT: It appears that the abandonment and loss of Incisor occurred around the same time... at least the announcements were. So likely that incident prompted the RC to call things off.]

At least one crewmember was reportedly very hypothermic but expected to be OK.

[smackdaddy]

How did Incisor sink?

[Faster]

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

How did Incisor sink?

Reportedly (unconfirmed) a severe knock-down/partial roll and she downflooded through a hatch... it's also possible she's still awash out there nose-up (although it blew hard for another 10-12 hours so who knows? She may also be aground somewhere by now.

[AdamLein]

Originally Posted by JStorm

In my opinion, with limited knowledge, the race should have been abandoned earlier.

In addition to Faster's comments, strong winds are quite common this time of year around here; this particular storm was an outlier. I'm sure they were considering their options and watching the weather the whole time, and made their decision once they knew that this weekend would be different.

Also it looks like skippers were withdrawing long before the race was canceled, so kudos to them for making the right call without any help from the various authorities.

[blt2ski]

Naughti,

Just read your other thread, I'll say the same as others, get back on the horse, ie BOAT! All of us have done something, somewhere, that in hindsight was dumb, something happened, something broke, we learned, went on about life and are doing fine. Many of us are in the what I call "really old" decade of life, ie 40's because many of us have teenagers in the house, ie me! Scott ie stilly.......... just starting, restarting in my case.

BUT, I think you had a blessing in disguise not being on that boat yesterday. There are also MANY more than 60 boats that race up there. It might be 60 major player, always out there etc. BUT, there are many more than 60 boats. If you read the local for me any how, 48degreesnorth, there appear to be about 60'ish majors here in the seattle area too, but reality, I would hazzard there are a few hundred, if not 1000+ boats that race here in the Washington part of the Salish Sea.

Anyway, back on topic, faster, let us know how the crew on Inciser is doing since you made a comment about knowing some of them. WInds around here can get interesting with the mtns, valleys, and other items that can influence how the wind blows. I would not want to say it can be as bad as a hurricane or equal from back east, but it can be bad around here none the less.

marty

[smackdaddy]

Great write up by Mistaken over at SA. It blows my mind that these guys can actually sail in these conditions (50-60). Incredible.

Seems like everyone made it okay. And now will come the debate on whether the RC should have called the race. I bet the CG is going to have a nice heart-to-heart with some people.

[Faster]

Also from SA

By Nigel Barron on April 2nd, 2010
Injuries, damage and sinking boats as storm slams into Northwest racing fleet
Nigel Barron | Three Sheets Northwest
A crowd gathers to watch the 42nd Annual Southern Straits Race out of West Vancouver, B.C., today.

A popular Northwest sailboat race turned into chaos this afternoon as a major windstorm tore into a fleet of boats off West Vancouver, B.C., injuring crews, sinking at least one vessel and damaging many more.

Heavy seas and winds gusting above 63 miles per hour (55 knots) quickly took their toll and the race was called off this afternoon. Boats were instructed to seek shelter after reports began flooding in about boats in distress. About a dozen Seattle area boats were scheduled to take part in today’s Southern Straits Race, a long-distance test of endurance that is notorious for bad weather.

“There’s a lot of people who have foolishly gone out sailing today,” said Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Greg Clarke.

A 30-foot custom racing boat, Incisor, skippered by North Vancouver sailor Clint Curry, sunk in the afternoon. All six crew members were rescued by the Coast Guard. By around 2:30 p.m., the distress calls and maydays, many from the racing fleet, filled the emergency radio frequencies.

At least two boats reported losing their masts and one crew said their boat was taking on water and sinking. There were reports of close to a dozen boaters in the water at one point, all of whom were rescued by the Coast Guard and other boats.

More than 60 boats were registered for the race, organized by the West Vancouver Yacht Club. But many sailors decided to sit it out after weather forecasts called for heavy winds and seas on the Strait of Georgia, a relatively large and open body of water between the B.C. mainland and Vancouver Island.

Seattle-area racer Paul LaMarche, the owner of the Santa Cruz 70 Neptune’s Car, opted to stay at the dock today.

“There just wasn’t anything in the plus column and everything in the negative column when we started to look at it. I have nothing to prove.

Coast Guard officials questioned why organizers didn’t cancel the race, a qualifier for the Vic-Maui race in July, before it started.

“I’m concerned that the race went on anyway,” Clarke said. “I don’t think anyone should have gone out. I think it was a foolish decision. It puts the rescuers at peril too. It’s not fun for anyone. To put a race on a day like this was, I think, very irresponsible.”

A spokesperson for the Yacht Club said they were still sorting through details and would release information later in the evening.

A 40-foot sailboat, Mad Max,was forced back to port after a crew member suffered a dislocated shoulder. Crew member Jay Markow said the race got off to an epic start.

“We had a great start, surfing for almost half an hour. We wiped out (and injured a crew member). We were knocked down for two to three minutes. We doused the kite (spinnaker), and took off surfing again until we could find a lull (in the wind) and try to turn around.”

Throughout the afternoon, battered boats and crews limped back to port. In several cases, ambulances took injured crew members to the hospital.

The windstorm created a hectic day for the Canadian Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Victoria. The center began dispatching rescue teams early in the morning, responding to reports of boats sinking, going adrift and smashing up against rocks on Vancouver Island.

Coast Guard officers rescued a liveaboard in Mill Bay, about 18 miles north of Victoria, who was afraid his boat would break free of its mooring. A 25-foot powerboat with no one aboard reportedly sank near Bamfield Park, on the south shore of Barkley Sound, and a 20-foot boat sank in Tsehum Harbour in North Saanich. Unattended boats broke free of their anchors and smashed onto rocks in several areas, including Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island.

The storm had less of an impact in the Seattle area. Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Chandler said at 6 p.m. that there had not been any calls of boaters in distress. “It’s pretty calm,” he said. “So far we’ve been lucky.”

[blt2ski]

Something to also think about, for us generally speaking, wed night/weekend beer can warriors, many of these boats were/HAVING to use this as a requirement to do the "Vic-Maui" race in July, ie a full bore ocean race. This race as I recall also require some of the open water safety requirements too.

So to a degree, the ones that dropped out, started in some cases knowing they would drop out after the downwind sleigh ride. Others like Paul LaMarch owner of the SC70 Neptunes Carr, had nothing to prove or gain by going out, so he staying in port.

In the end, be it you agree with the RC or not to hold the race, These folks that race knew it would be windy. And many times in a close environment like the St of Georgia, it can be worst there than in the open ocean due to smaller choppier waves with currents etc. Reality is, this was probably worst weather than most would get in the Vic-Maui race.

Faster, is there some specs/pics on Insicer some where?

Marty