Catamaran capsize, off Newcastle, Australia

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Neeves

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3 dead, bodies recovered, 2 rescued, lifted by helicopter, suffering hypothermia. 12m LOA.

A cold front came through today, strong winds, rough seas. All five were wearing LJs

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-11/three-dead-after-yacht-capsizes-off-newcastle-coast/11299410

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I checked the weather actuals, it been gusting 35 knots all day, waves have 'only' been 8'. I assume they were reaching across both seas and wind, no-one would, surely, beat into the very well forecast weather.

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I have been where the accident happened with a front coming through. The seas build extraordinarily quickly and can be steep, very close together and scary. It is the only time I have seen 3 dolphins surfing down a wave and they were above me.

There will be an enquiry

Sorry, further edit

The cat is still adrift, too dangerous to attempt a recovery.

We have another front forecast in about 12/24 hour time (not heard the upto date timing)

Jonathan
 
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surprising as the report says 30knt winds and 2M seas with a confused sea state. Unpleasant but not extreme conditions.
 
Very sad. Thoughts with the families.

One thing I did note was the dagger boards apparently down. Dagger boards aid upwind speed massively, but have heard can be best lifted in heavy conditions to allow boat to slip sideways rather than trip on bigger waves? But I dont know the specific boat or conditions.
 
I don’t know the waters but in open sea I have beaten upwind in 40 knot gusts in a 12m cat for a couple of days (peak gust 48 knots) and been very thankful it I wasn’t in a monohull - we could cook, eat and sleep far more comfortably with only a tiny heel.

So I’m wondering what sort of cat this was - doesn’t look at all like some extreme racer, and how much they had reefed.
 
I got that wrong, never assume.

They were sailing to windward, though might not have been hard on the wind. But, or and, the waves would have been steep.

Our is a totally different design - we would not have left shelter with the forecast.

Jonathan
 
Beating to windward but cracked off to make it a bit easier.
If the waves were simple ones perpendicular to the wind direction, the cat would be going up the face of the waves at 50' to the wave direction..

Add a very sharp wave and possible leaving the reef a bit late or a cresting wave...
 
Looking at the picture in the BBC news, the hulls look to have very little displacement compared to a typical cruising cat of that length. Does anyone know what model it is?
 
snowleopard said:
Looking at the picture in the BBC news, the hulls look to have very little displacement compared to a typical cruising cat of that length. Does anyone know what model it is?
Click to expand...

It also does not seem to have an escape hatch in the bridge deck as is required in out regulations.

This could mean people could be trapped underneath waring an inflated life jacket.
 
Re: Catamaran capsizes of New South Wales coast

Maybe I'm too timid but I'd be very careful about sailing off the coast of Southern Australia at this time of the year: only a week ago we had gale to 35+ knots.

Catamarans are very popular in the US of A but I wonder whether that is because their waters are relatively sheltered around Florida, The Carribean and the Bahamas?
 
Tomahawk said:
Beating to windward but cracked off to make it a bit easier.
If the waves were simple ones perpendicular to the wind direction, the cat would be going up the face of the waves at 50' to the wave direction..

Add a very sharp wave and possible leaving the reef a bit late or a cresting wave...
Click to expand...

Its difficult to interpret but it was a long way offshore (I think that's what is being said) - you maybe right cracked off on starboard tack and heading offshore (and catch the East Australian Current, which runs south), hoping to tack back in later (when the winds were forecast to ease).

Jonathan
 
snowleopard said:
Looking at the picture in the BBC news, the hulls look to have very little displacement compared to a typical cruising cat of that length. Does anyone know what model it is?
Click to expand...

It looks old and before my time, 20 years in Oz. I don't have the knowledge to recognise inverted. But the hulls do look narrow with no forward buoyancy as would be common now. I thought it had mini keels and dagger boards - its just dagger boards.

I wonder how the dinghy got where it is - surely they were not towing it - but if it was on davits or tied on the foredeck - it would be a devil to release (but a good place to shelter).

Jonathan
 
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snowleopard said:
Looking at the picture in the BBC news, the hulls look to have very little displacement compared to a typical cruising cat of that length. Does anyone know what model it is?
Click to expand...

It looks quite light displacement, and quite wide with lots of solid bridge deck area.
My limited experience of cats is that they are vulnerable if you let a wave stop them.
The boards and rudders don't look very deep?

It seems sad and unnecessary that people died from a simple capsize quite close to shore.
 
It does look similar. This one recently sold near Newcastle: https://www.dbyboatsales.com.au/listing/spirited-380-cruising-catamaran

Perhaps new owners, inexperienced, didn't reef in time, way too much canvas. Just a total guess but could have been monohull sailors who were in the habit of reefing in response to heeling and were not watching the wind speed gauge, didn't have a formal reefing plan? On a lightweight cat like that it feels 100% safe right up until it isn't so you need to have a clearly defined windspeed where you put each reef in, which should be about half the wind speed at which the hull starts to lift. Somewhere not far above that windspeed is another defined wind speed where you dump the mainsheet if the reef hasn't been put in yet. It takes a while to adjust to that mindset after moving over to catamarans.

An ultra lightweight cat like that needs early reefing and someone ready to dump the mainsheet. It's too small and too light to be really an offshore cruising cat IMHO, more like an inshore racing cat with cabins.

46ft is about the minimum for low risk offshore passage making catamarans, you can get away with much less but only if you keep a good weather watch and monitor the windspeed 24/7.

A very sad situation but also an opportunity for learning and prevention of future such accidents. The above is speculation but might still be of benefit to inexperienced cat sailors.
 
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