[JonEisberg]

Details still sketchy on this one, but a 55-foot sailboat sank Friday evening off the Big Sur coastline of California. The 2 crew were pulled off by a CG helo crew out of San Francisco...

SAILING ANARCHY has posted a report that it was a new Beneteau 55, and the OP of a thread started there says it was an Oceanis being delivered north for the Strictly Sail Show in Oakland in April...

Somewhat strange how little info seems to be flowing on this one, LATITUDE 38 has yet to pick up the story, for instance. But it might be plausible that it was headed for Strictly Sail, as a press release from Beneteau shows a 55 will be among the boats exhibited:

Oakland Boat Show / Boatshows & Events - BENETEAU AMERICA

...and yet the 55 is absent from Strictly Sail's website listing the boats to be exhibited... So, who knows?

sunk | Sailing Anarchy

Coast Guard Rescues 2 People From Sinking Sailboat Near Monterey | kron4.com

More to follow eventually, I can only presume...

 

[smackdaddy]

The on-scene weather was reported as six-to-eight-foot high sea swells and 20-to-25- mph winds.

Maybe one of those in-hull portlights stove in from the 20 mph wind and 6' swells? Or maybe the liner separated from the hull and the bulkheads gave way due to severe oil-canning? Maybe the rudder(s) fell out.

I'm thinking this was not "survival-storm" related (the "limits" we typically discuss).

And the crew didn't seem to be injured by the sharp IKEA furniture after slipping on the beer cans rolling around the sole after they spilled from those new-fangled fridges and not having any hand-holds to stabilize themselves.

Hmm.

Carry on.

 

[JonEisberg]

Maybe one of those in-hull portlights stove in from the 20 mph wind and 6' swells? Or maybe the liner separated from the hull and the bulkheads gave way due to severe oil-canning? Maybe the rudder(s) fell out.

I'm thinking this was not "survival-storm" related (the "limits" we typically discuss).

And the crew didn't seem to be injured by the sharp IKEA furniture after slipping on the beer cans rolling around the sole after they spilled from those new-fangled fridges and not having any hand-holds to stabilize themselves.

Hmm.

Carry on.

Yeah, you're probably right, I suppose this is hardly even worthy of mention...

Brand new 55-footers sink all the time, for no apparent reason, after all...

 

[eherlihy]

... attacked by a gang of angry sea otters?

 

[MedSailor]

I bet those open transoms make for really easy helo rescues...

MedSailor

 

[smackdaddy]

Yeah, you're probably right, I suppose this is hardly even worthy of mention...

Brand new 55-footers sink all the time, for no apparent reason, after all...

If we get more than one I'll get excited. It will mean that maybe some "limits" are actually involved. Otherwise...meh.

The theory on the water tank and bow thruster tube is very interesting. I'll be watching that one.

 

[smackdaddy]

I can't tell from the info on SA whether this boat was going from SF to LA or the inverse. I would assume that some pretty heavy beating would have to be involved for the water tank to become a wrecking ball.

My Hunter carries 100 gallons in a tank in the v-berth. So I'm interested.

 

[MedSailor]

I love how all SA posts are one line only.

(this statement is only here to make this a 2 line post)

 

[gamayun]

I love how all SA posts are one line only.

SA'ers pride themselves on pithy.

 

[smackdaddy]

Sounds like some of these are doing just fine in "the limits" (from SA):

awayocean, on 01 Apr 2015 - 11:40 AM, said:

Delivery Captain here [h34r:]

I deliver one from Vancouver Canada to MDR,new boat,00000 problems for 1100 nm.We hit 45-50 knots winds South of Mendocino,30% main and no genoa,surfing 14-15 knots,max speed 19.9 / I know but I have pictures and video [] /.

Like the boat,fast and stable out there,no problems beating against 30 knots, did this North of Newport OR for 40 hours.

Leaving tomorrow on 57,my brother leaving on 469 today,new boats for the Show.

Strange they sail 17 nm offshore,lots of crab traps but you better stay close to the shore,3 nm max.

 

[Erindipity]

Latitude 38 is on it:
Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude

The Beneteau is still afloat. Passage Yachts in Richmond, California, is working on a Rescue.

¬Erindipity

 

[Don L]

another sinking boat that didn't sink

 

[smackdaddy]

Is this going to be another one of those - "the limits" had nothing to do with the Production Boat but actually everything to do with her professional captain and crew?

Jon?

 

[JonEisberg]

Is this going to be another one of those - "the limits" had nothing to do with the Production Boat but actually everything to do with her professional captain and crew?

Jon?

Only time will tell, I suppose... Though I have my doubts we'll ever know exactly what went on out there...

However, you're probably right, there were quite likely no problems whatsoever with the boat that compelled a presumably professional crew to call for a rescue... In fact, they probably just imagined they were taking on water out there, no wonder they couldn't locate the point of ingress...

 

[smackdaddy]

Actually, I'll cut them a bit of slack. I mean the CG called it hopeless didn't they?

Still - if you're a pro you really should know these things. A "sinking" boat really needs to sink if you're going to retain any credibility as a pro. When a salvage crew has to actually deliver the boat you were supposed to deliver...ouch.

I mean, don't you yourself have TONS of posts about how much you hate this kind of thing in the greenhorn snowbirds of the cruising world?

 

[JonEisberg]

Actually, I'll cut them a bit of slack. I mean the CG called it hopeless didn't they?

Still - if you're a pro you really should know these things. A "sinking" boat really needs to sink if you're going to retain any credibility as a pro. When a salvage crew has to actually deliver the boat you were supposed to deliver...ouch.

I mean, don't you yourself have TONS of posts about how much you hate this kind of thing in the greenhorn snowbirds of the cruising world?

Nah, I agree completely, this certainly doesn't look good, any way you figure it...

One possible explanation why she might have 'stopped sinking'... Suppose the leak was situated on the starboard side, and they were sailing on port tack when they became aware they were making water... Couldn't locate the source, just keeps getting worse and worse, they presume they're sinking, and decide to abandon...

The boat is left adrift to it's own devices, lying ahull, or perhaps in a sort of hove-to position with a scrap of main still out. Anyway, at some point, the boat basically flops over onto starboard tack, the 'water ballast' shifts to port, and that combined with the windage on the rig heels the boat sufficiently on the new 'tack' to elevate the source of the leak above the water... Hence, no more leak, or at least one now greatly reduced...

Far-fetched, perhaps, but stranger things have happened, no?

 

[smackdaddy]

Nah, I agree completely, this certainly doesn't look good, any way you figure it...

One possible explanation why she might have 'stopped sinking'... Suppose the leak was situated on the starboard side, and they were sailing on port tack when they became aware they were making water... Couldn't locate the source, just keeps getting worse and worse, they presume they're sinking, and decide to abandon...

The boat is left adrift to it's own devices, lying ahull, or perhaps in a sort of hove-to position with a scrap of main still out. Anyway, at some point, the boat basically flops over onto starboard tack, the 'water ballast' shifts to port, and that combined with the windage on the rig heels the boat sufficiently on the new 'tack' to elevate the source of the leak above the water... Hence, no more leak, or at least one now greatly reduced...

Far-fetched, perhaps, but stranger things have happened, no?

Yeah. But not to pros.

If it turns out thus, it just goes to show that the greenhorn snowbirds might deserve a bit of slack if even professional delivery skippers are abandoning perfectly good production boats in F5 conditions.

 

[Minnewaska]

Hoisted off a boat, 17 miles from shore with 8 inches of water in the bilge? That can make it tough to determine the source, but close every thru hull on the boat and what could be left? The rudder post? Easily checked. If they breached the hull itself, it would have gone down.

Something doesn't add up. Maybe those crappy plastic ball valves didn't close?

I wonder if they had a raft? Not having one, would elevate concern over a backup plan, if the primary problem wasn't quickly identified. Bet the water is pretty cold there.

 

[JonEisberg]

Yeah. But not to pros.

If it turns out thus, it just goes to show that the greenhorn snowbirds might deserve a bit of slack if even professional delivery skippers are abandoning perfectly good production boats in F5 conditions.

Well, I'd say it's yet to be established whether that was "a perfectly good boat" at the time they decided to abandon her, 8" of water above the floorboards doesn't sound "perfectly good" to me, but perhaps you know something the rest of us don't... But I would say if indeed this boat was abandoned too 'casually', the better approach would be to be critical of this crew as well, rather than cut more slack to others who might do so in the future...

Also, you appear to be making the mistaken assumption so often made that the on-scene conditions are necessarily a determining factor in every decision to abandon a vessel... If one truly believes they are sinking, does it really matter whether a gale is blowing, or if it's flat calm?

Another unknown element to this one, might possibly have been some urgency added to the mix on the part of the CG. This rescue took place in the evening, just before dark. Once the initial distress call was put out, the pace of everything might have been accelerated in an effort to conduct the mission before nightime, whereas the crew might have had a bit more time to try to sort things out had the timing been a bit different. Again, we just don't know, but I think we saw a similar situation with the abandonment of RAINMAKER, where once the call was made and things were put into motion by the CG, everything started to happen very quickly in the effort to get the crew off before darkness fell, or the boat drifted any further out of range...

 

[TakeFive]

The timeline certainly seems like they chose to make a hasty decision because of oncoming darkness, and might have taken more time to diagnose if there was more daylight.

Is it possible that the water in the bilge could have come from a leak in the potable water system? Enough water to quickly raise the level in the bilge, but once that tank(s) is/are empty, no leaky no more. Seems like the kind of thing that might happen on a brand new boat whose tanks were topped off for the first time.