Death at sea from the Yacht Pastime

BlueChip

BlueChip

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Did anyone else read the report issued today by the MAIB of the loss overboard of the skipper of the yacht Pastime

An owner crews for the passage and hires a professional qualified sailor to skipper his newly launched boat from the Solent to West Country. He has a well found boat and seems to have done everything possible to make his vessel safe and ready for the passage. A series of events lead to the death of the skipper.

The report makes sobering reading for anyone sailing offshore and relying on yard professionals to prepare their vessel for sea.
 
Thank you for the link.

Very sobering. I would not like to think how often I have told my family to clip on, and not done so myself.
 
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The report makes sobering reading for anyone sailing offshore and relying on yard professionals to prepare their vessel for sea.

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Having read the report, the above comment seems a little harsh - there is no mention in the report of the yard doing any work on the yacht other than launching it - do you have additional information?
 
I would have been equally guilty of missing the state of the batteries.

On our own boats, we are soon made aware that a battery has sulphated, because the lights go out of an evening! But where a boat comes into a yard's hands, it seems reasonable for them to assume that, if it starts the engine, its OK
 
If I were going on strange boats as a delivery skipper I would carry a little hand held GPS round with me as a backup. Apart from anything else there are a number of GPS brands and models that are different in user interface to a greater or lesser extent. Nothing handier than pulling your trusty Garmin out complete with waypoints ready to go.
 
mmm, quite a few fundamental errors, but easy to say when sitting in the comfort of home.

One thing the report doesn't mention is the notion of a 'shake down' before starting a passage on a new boat.

It says they were under time pressures to get back to Dartmouth, but I feel should recommend that any new boat will be 'strange' to the owner.

A day or weekend about the Solent, allowing time to familiarise and identify any problems, prior to the delivery passage may have averted the whole disaster.
 
The owner certainly had every reason to think he's done what he could, and was properly equipped. It seems that this is a good example of how it usually takes several things going wrong to cause an accident, but IMHO and with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, the main cause was time pressure to get the boat home.

The weather was marginal, certainly more than I'd want for a first trip on a boat that's only just gone back in the water, but the Skipper couldn't afford to wait.

Passage planning kit testing time was limited by the need to catch the tide.

We all know we shouldn't, but which of can put hand on heart and say they've never pushed things a bit to get back on Sunday afternoon, or had every intention of clipping on, but got busy and forgotten? I did both last weekend!
 
Well I've read it and I know this will appear a bit harsh but I feel it points out that these qualifications don't prove a skippers abilities as a seaman, they just allow one to tick the right boxes and 'fit the bill'.

It was fool hardy, by both parties, to set off in a boat that was unknown and untested in those conditions without a passage plan, proven safety gear and plan for at least a port of refuge. I also think the use of the term 'professional skipper' is a bit misleading.

It was tragic, and yes with 20:20 hindsight it's easy to be critical and a fellow yachtsman lost his life but surely a truly professional skipper would have insisted the yacht was properly prepared for the voyage and taken responsibility for his crew before they left port.
 
If the poor man was less than a 'truly professional skipper' he paid an incredibly high price for it, so it might be a good idea for none of us to be 'harsh' in his memory. It may be ticking boxes to get those exams and endorsements but what else does anyone propose? So many accidents happen on unfamiliar boats the best lesson we can learn from it and the best memorial to the chap who lost his life is that we mustn't set out on long journeys in unfamiliar boats without a day or two on board. Really the things that went wrong on this yacht were relatively minor and recoverable. If any of them had happened (except perhaps the MOB) on a shakedown there would have been no irrecoverable problem.
 
Re: Death at sea from the Yacht Pastime

That's my thought's really, an unfortunate accident really caused by not being clipped on. How many of are always clipped on when we should be. I know I'm not.
 
I think you are being a bit harsh. There is no realistic way of checking the state of the batteries - they clearly worked well enough to start the engine.
After all this was only a trip down the coast - there is no saying that the had the batteries worked there is no saying the outcome would have been any different.

Clearly not clipping on was a mistake - and you might question whether they should not have changed their plans when the engine and battery packed up and headed for Poole say.
 
I realise that what I said may have been a touch insensitive but the facts are there, the weather, the late launch, the difficulty in starting the engine, the pressing time, the engine overheat.
An engine failiure should have immediatley caused concern for battery durability and why wasn't the coast guard advised earlier?
 
what a thorougher and interesting report...

My feeling is that I would not have gone with that forecast in those conditions in such a small boat and with only two crew. Never go out in bad weather. If it comes along that's fine - it can be coped with but never ever take the risk. There is no point in getting beaten up if you can avoid it by waiting.

There were lots of reasons why it all went so wrong but had the conditions been more benign they could have been coped with - I think...

One of the difference between cruising boat people and 'weekenders' is that time is elastic for cruisers... You just wait for the right conditions. Weekenders like that poor couple were strapped for time so behaved 'too bravely'.

Very sad - I would have missed the batteries but I would have done one short trip to 'shake down' before going off shore and maybe........ but who knows?

Michael
 
How often , when reviewing these incidents, does the answer come down to pressures of time, life is a compromise but the old joke about the shake down cruise is still true, it's only when you are out there that sod's law operates properly.
 
As soon as power failed such that nav lights were inoperative CG should have been at least informed of their predicament considering yacht was some 16 mile off shore .
Why was n't an up to date log/ position kept . Is this a classic case of relying too much on eletronics and not enough on "old fashion" chart work ? I feel a good skipper should have imediately ,on knowing that the GPS was failing ,kept an accurate plot on paper charts . Maybe he did we dont know but it certainly brings home the necessity not to rely on the "Toys" too much .
 
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I feel a good skipper should have imediately ,on knowing that the GPS was failing ,kept an accurate plot on paper charts .

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Would have been "hard" in this case:

1. Charts were kept below - both felt seasick when going below
2. Skipper tried to steer compass course - owner relative to the wind - in an F6+. EP would have been worthless. As it happened, in this case tri-angelation worked. Top marks for CG.
 
Re: Death at sea from the Yacht Pastime

I sort of thought that, then thought if my lights were inpoerative I'd just avoid things .. so still no emergency.

Its easy with degrees in hindsight to apportion blame but I suspect a rather large wave in the dark taking them by surprise and a tired chap goes overboard. I reckon that this is the mirror of many cases a year .. and is really just unfortunate. If the engine fails so what we are sailng boats. My thoughts are with the deceased .. there but for the grace of god go I.
 
Feeling sea sick is no excuse for poor seamanship . Spew on the floor if needs must . How do you think sailors managed to navigate in "bumpy" conditions before the advent of GPS .
F6 isn't exactly survival conditions for a boat like Pastime . The "experienced " professional skipper should have known his limitations regarding seasickness in a F6 and cancelled the departure .
 
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Feeling sea sick is no excuse for poor seamanship

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Don't much suffer from it myself; but from what I have seen, feeling seasick is a "cure" for almost amything: love, selfrespect,...

I have seen outstanding, professional sailors transformed into miserable heaps of selfpity because of it.
 
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