And there was a third boat (also in the ARC) that lost its rudder, and the crew were taken off by the JST barque Tenacious, after first opening the seacocks to help said rudderless yacht to sink.
They claimed that leaving the boat to drift would have been a 'hazard to navigation'. What bollox! The thousands of drifting containers in the oceans are much more of a hazard. They should have let this third yacht make her own way across as well.
Remember the Nicholson 32 Compromise who was also in the ARC? She didnt lose her rudder, but her crew were taken off by Mirabella V after her skipper had a bit of a mental breakdown. I haven't heard any news of her, hence am assuming that she is still drifting across - I hope that she reaches this side of the Atlantic safely, and that someone finds her.
I think many people do have a plan for when the rudder fails but the plan fails to survive engagement with the elements. One of the boat magazines this month has a piece on the difficulties in rigging an emergency rudder.
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I think many people do have a plan for when the rudder fails but the plan fails to survive engagement with the elements.
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Frequently the case - how many people have already rigged a storm jib, deployed a drogue/sea anchor or tried to 'heave to'?
If you practice these things in more benign conditions it will be a lot easier when the time comes.
At first the family thought my DC and heavy weather drills were a bit OTT, now they are confident in bad weather coz a) they know what to do, and b) they've done it before.
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>It is often saild the weakest link with any yacht is the crew - here are two examples! <
Quite agree - they'd have starved to death, if they didn't die of thirst first.
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Seems unlikely to me. Many people have survived drifting for MONTHS in liferafts, sailing in a disabled boat is much safer & more comfortable.
And, Exsqueeze me, but hasn't anybody here played around steering with the sails? Or by hanging a small drogue over one side or the other of the stern.
How accurate does your steering need to be to manage to hit land when crossing the Altantic? It doesn't really matter how much Easting (or Westing) you make as long as it is SOME - you HAVE to hit America N or S, Or Europe/ Africa at some point. Just the currents are enough to do the work in a month of two (rafts, rowers & inflatables have demonstarted this over & again) VHF will work once close inshore, as do anchors & dinghies. So where's the problem? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Maybe the crews were wimps and wussies who panicked?
Maybe they were crews who didnt have one iota about drogues, or about experimenting with different ways of getting the boat to self steer.
Maybe they were folk who were well insured, who didnt really give a damn about the boat, and who had a schedule to keep - they didnt have time to waste drifting across the Atlantic at 1 or 2 knots.
I guess that they never heard about First Light last year - perhaps info like this should be compulsory bedtime stories read out to the ARC participants before they set off on their jolly jaunts across the pond next winter.
First Light was abandoned 600 miles east of Barbados in January last year after losing her rudder. And this was after claims by the crew that they could not get her to self steer.
Exactly 28 days later, she washed ashore on the east coast here. She bounced over a reef coming in and rapidly started to break up. Very sad.
I observed some of the salvage effort that took place. 50 m+ of chain and an anchor were taken out of the chain locker up forward. Why hadnt they transferred this aft, in their efforts to get the boat to self steer? They were racing types, who would know about the effect of weight up forward when sailing downwind.
There was vast quantities of food on board (I salvaged some packets that washed up on the beach). And this was what was left after the fridge / freezer had been emptied, and contents taken on board the vessel that rescued the First Light crew. They would have had plenty of food to keep them going for another 28 days, I am sure.
Most of the plans for steering with no rudder are great at the bar but often not so good in practice.
Val Howells had a rudder failure in mid-Atlantic and tried all the usual things. In the end all he could do to get the boat going in the right direction was heave to - and he completed the second half of his crossing very slowly as a result.
(As narrated in his book 'Up That Particular Creek')
What enabled me to sail 800 miles without functioning steering was a dagger board at the aft end of the cockpit which was fitted to adjust the trim when sailing normally but which came into its own when the rudder died. To sail close-hauled I pulled in the sheets and lifted the board, to broad reach I eased sheets and lowered the board.
The point I'm making is that a jury rudder doesn't have to turn, it just has to provide lateral resistance. Once you throw out all the Heath-Robinson pivoting arrangements that are always the weak point you can fix up something much more effective. Also it's not necessary to steer a direct course to the destination. Anything within 45° of the destination will do.