Bajansailor
Well-known member
\'First Light\' ashore at Barbados
I would like to tell you a little story about what can happen to a sailing yacht when she loses her rudder, and does not have provision made for jury-rigging some other means of steering the vessel.
This is what happened to the J 44 'First Light' last January, on her passage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Her rudder stock broke when they were approx. 1000 miles east of Barbados.
The crew tried very hard to jury rig a means of steering but eventually admitted defeat, and requested a tow from the MFV 'Ros Ailither' who was following along 2 days behind them.
Once 'Ros Ailither' caught up with them, they tried towing her, but found that she was yawing excessively, and chafing tow ropes constantly. There is a good account of this on Ros Ailithers B Log at
http://trawlertravels.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_trawlertravels_archive.html
Finally a decision was made to abandon ship, and the First Light crew were taken to Barbados on board Ros Ailither. The general opinion at the time was that First Light would soon sink (she was not scuttled) as she was apparently taking on water via the rudder stock aperture.
I didnt hear any more about this, until 4 weeks later, when I saw a story in the local newspaper about a yacht that had washed ashore the day before at Morgan Lewis beach on the east coast of Barbados, so I wandered down to see what was happening.
Arrived at Morgan Lewis to find a gang of enthusiastic salvors busily stripping the wreck...... they did a good job, getting the 3 speed winches off, and even salving the rig in one piece!
She had bounced over a reef on the way in, and then rapidly broke up once she washed up on the beach. Her hull construction is foam sandwich fibreglass topsides and deck, with single skin bottom - sections of hull are still scattered along the beach - the furthest away we have found wreckage is 3 miles south of where she came ashore.
Have a look at the photos below, and consider carefully the consequences of running onto a lee shore in 25 knots wind..... I am of the opinion that if she had been built like a GRP outhouse she might possibly have not broken up so quickly, and might have been salvageable. And if she had been steel or aluminium, I am sure that she would have just sustained a few dents.
A sad end to a very fine vessel.
I would like to tell you a little story about what can happen to a sailing yacht when she loses her rudder, and does not have provision made for jury-rigging some other means of steering the vessel.
This is what happened to the J 44 'First Light' last January, on her passage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Her rudder stock broke when they were approx. 1000 miles east of Barbados.
The crew tried very hard to jury rig a means of steering but eventually admitted defeat, and requested a tow from the MFV 'Ros Ailither' who was following along 2 days behind them.
Once 'Ros Ailither' caught up with them, they tried towing her, but found that she was yawing excessively, and chafing tow ropes constantly. There is a good account of this on Ros Ailithers B Log at
http://trawlertravels.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_trawlertravels_archive.html
Finally a decision was made to abandon ship, and the First Light crew were taken to Barbados on board Ros Ailither. The general opinion at the time was that First Light would soon sink (she was not scuttled) as she was apparently taking on water via the rudder stock aperture.
I didnt hear any more about this, until 4 weeks later, when I saw a story in the local newspaper about a yacht that had washed ashore the day before at Morgan Lewis beach on the east coast of Barbados, so I wandered down to see what was happening.
Arrived at Morgan Lewis to find a gang of enthusiastic salvors busily stripping the wreck...... they did a good job, getting the 3 speed winches off, and even salving the rig in one piece!
She had bounced over a reef on the way in, and then rapidly broke up once she washed up on the beach. Her hull construction is foam sandwich fibreglass topsides and deck, with single skin bottom - sections of hull are still scattered along the beach - the furthest away we have found wreckage is 3 miles south of where she came ashore.
Have a look at the photos below, and consider carefully the consequences of running onto a lee shore in 25 knots wind..... I am of the opinion that if she had been built like a GRP outhouse she might possibly have not broken up so quickly, and might have been salvageable. And if she had been steel or aluminium, I am sure that she would have just sustained a few dents.
A sad end to a very fine vessel.
