Amazing video of a yacht rescue, Brixham Harbour, today. (5/8/23)

[blush2]

That seems counterintuitive - does the breakwater not give shelter from essterlies?

Although the sea wall is on the east side of the harbour, Torbay itself is open to the east and a swell can build up down Channel and will go straight into the bay. As it has no way out it spreads in all directions including into Brixham harbour.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

That's what you call real love for your boat.

 

[westernman]

Why did the bowline break?

1) No snubber and bowline had no elasticity?

2) Too thin?
In which case doubling up won't help. First one will break, then the other.

 

[lustyd]

Although the sea wall is on the east side of the harbour, Torbay itself is open to the east and a swell can build up down Channel and will go straight into the bay. As it has no way out it spreads in all directions including into Brixham harbour.

Given the location of that pontoon the swell will diffract around the harbour wall in quite a lot of scenarios anyway. In a northerly there's a completely open 3.25NM fetch which isn't hindered by the harbour wall at all which is plenty to cause such mischief. With diffraction, there's well over 10 miles of fetch with any hint of east in the wind. So much so that looking on the chart I am amazed anyone decided to put a pontoon there for anything but the most brief visits. I suspect they knew this and it's the reason they don't connect the two pontoons to shore or to each other.

 

[Babylon]

I personally think Brixham Yacht Club are culpable for knowing full well what a mess that corner of the outer harbour becomes in exposed wind directions and not advising visiting yachts accordingly.

 

[lustyd]

I personally think Brixham Yacht Club are culpable for knowing full well what a mess that corner of the outer harbour becomes in exposed wind directions and not advising visiting yachts accordingly.

You're assuming that said yacht/skipper contacted them. Big assumption.

 

[Babylon]

No assumption about anything, I contacted them when I arrived late in the day having just crossed Lyme Bay in August 2010 before my own very similar experience the next day - I wouldn't have gone on a private pontoon without asking permission - no warning was given.

 

[lustyd]

In which case I'd agree. That said, there doesn't appear to be much actual damage to the boat in the video so unless and until something happens it's kind of moot. They will also have the fallback of skippers responsibility so I doubt it would lead anywhere useful.

 

[Just_sayin']

I personally think Brixham Yacht Club are culpable for knowing full well what a mess that corner of the outer harbour becomes in exposed wind directions and not advising visiting yachts accordingly.

Who knew?

 

[fisherman]

In which case I'd agree. That said, there doesn't appear to be much actual damage to the boat in the video

I think there is. The pontoon has raked up and down all the planks above the WL, and maybe some below since the pump is working quite a bit. I can see the frames. Although the damage is only the last foot or two it's a bigger job replacing a good length, not good replacing half planks. lots of butt joints.

 

[lustyd]

Ah yes I hadn't watched it full screen. That's a fair amount of damage!

I suspect they could argue the line snapping is what caused it but definitely that pontoon shouldn't be used in those conditions or arguably for anything more than a lunch stop

 

[Babylon]

Who knew?

That's exactly the point. Locals know just how ugly that particular setup in that corner of the harbour can get, unwitting visitors much less likely to have any inkling... unless advised.

 

[ylop]

Ah yes I hadn't watched it full screen. That's a fair amount of damage!

I suspect they could argue the line snapping is what caused it but definitely that pontoon shouldn't be used in those conditions or arguably for anything more than a lunch stop

Cynically, the skipper seemed to have put out a lot of fenders and doubled up his springs, almost as though he knew it wasn’t going to be gentle. Presumably he broke both bow and stern lines?

Out of interest what’s the advantage of a floating pontoon that isn’t connected to the shore compared to a mooring ball?

 

[Just_sayin']

Cynically, the skipper seemed to have put out a lot of fenders and doubled up his springs, almost as though he knew it wasn’t going to be gentle. Presumably he broke both bow and stern lines?

Out of interest what’s the advantage of a floating pontoon that isn’t connected to the shore compared to a mooring ball?

More boats, same space.

 

[MontyMariner]

Presumably he broke both bow and stern lines?

Interesting about doubled bow line breaking, I always double mine so it's easy to retrieve them from onboard when sailing solo.
In choppy conditions a doubled line can give a false sense of security if it's a single line that has just been OXOed at the cleat and led back onboard.
Note to self: Two separate lines with suitable anti chafe will be the order of the day.

 

[westernman]

Interesting about doubled bow line breaking, I always double mine so it's easy to retrieve them from onboard when sailing solo.
In choppy conditions a doubled line can give a false sense of security if it's a single line that has just been OXOed at the cleat and led back onboard.
Note to self: Two separate lines with suitable anti chafe will be the order of the day.

Doubling lines which have no give in them will not help.
First one line will have all the load and break. And then the other.
The first line has to give a little so that the second line starts taking some load.

Also, should also use more than one set of springs. Or at least double them up with another line which has different stretch characteristics.

Otherwise you could get unlucky and the stretch/pull of your springs coincides with the wave frequency. Having more than one set, will damp that.

This is from experience.
In a harbour with a small amount of consistent chop - no more than 5-10cms, I got woken up one night with the boat bucking violently and moving backwards and forwards about 20ft or so despite the springs having been resonably set. Normally no more than a couple of feet of movement should have been possible. This was resonance!

Changing the length of the springs a bit damped everything down.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Just wondering if a piled anchored pontoon would have faired better - or worse.

 

[Babylon]

I wondered that too. The pontoon motion might have been slightly different (as two chains at each corner would attach to the riser on each pile, and the chains would be considerably shorter than the actual ones anchored to the harbour bed), but the mechanics of the 'washing-machine' would be little different, and the interplay between boat and pontoon would I think remain quite unpleasant.

 

[Sybarite]

In bad weather I double up using sacrificial lines just slightly tighter than the main ones.

 

[B27]

Just not a suitable parking place for the conditions.
Being alongside anything in a named storm with a fetch of a few miles upwind of you is a basic error.
Pontoons are for good weather or sheltered lcoations.
There's a reason all the pontoons of Brixham Marina are protected by some sort of breakwater at its north side.
There's a reason no other boat was on that pontoon.

More elastic mooring lines would have chafed through. Doubled-up lines or stronger lines might just have taken a bit longer to chafe through.
It's bad enough lying head on to a nice simple swinging mooring.

The storm was not IMHO brilliantly forecast, although TBH I was not tracking the forecasts closely on Thursday and Friday.

Good work moving it before it sank and became an expensive sunken obstacle.
With hindsight, the HM should have moved it earlier if the owner was not around.
The owner should have stumped up to be in the marina if a suitable swinger was not available.
You can see it's pretty rough for the boats lying on permanent swingers.
It was not your average Summer day.

One of the few ocassions when Torquay might have been a better choice?