Free yacht

[Refueler]

I believe that's SOP with the USCGS. They rescue people but never salvage vessels, so if you don't or can't engage a commercial towing service they'll take you off and then sink your boat with gunfire.

I can pass on one item that may answer the question.

A ship owner is always wary of claims against his ship or crew. Imagine a ship rescues a crew of a yacht. Then the ship takes action to sink the yacht. Later shjp owner receives a lawyers letter laying claim to yachts value. You may think its absurd, but I can say in truth - it is a possibility.

To illustrate how twisted this sort of thing can be : My yacht stood on the hard and I asked for her to be launched before I arrived in UK. I go to the marina to find yacht very low in water and not on her usual berth. Yard manager comes over and says - we think there's something wrong with your boat ... I asked - you had a key - why didn't you have a look ?

His answer was one of liability. If he had opened the boat and seen it flooded out by rainwater - some unscrupulous owner could in fact make claim against yard for launching in known condition.

Sounds daft but true.

US Cg and other Govt agencies can of course take action citing safety of navigation ... but a ship owner they avoid every thing they can !! You should see the Indemnity Letters my guys have to sign before they can go on board ...

 

[Concerto]

I believe that's SOP with the USCGS. They rescue people but never salvage vessels, so if you don't or can't engage a commercial towing service they'll take you off and then sink your boat with gunfire.

The skipper was Mervyn Wheatley of Royal Western Yacht Club who was sailing Tamarind in the 2017 OSTAR and was rescued by the Queen Mary 2. The storm was far deeper than the one that hit the Fastnet in 1979.
British sailor made 'traumatic' decision to sink his boat as he was rescued by Cunard liner from Atlantic storm

He has now bought a Rustler 36 and plans to compete in the next OSTAR. For Tamarind he had full insurance cover and received a quick payout, but no insurer will now offer anything but third party. So if a similar event happened he would loose his yacht with no compensation.

 

[BobnLesley]

Is having your inflatable on deck a good idea 1600 miles off?

We too think so and we've crossed without a problem, the Med, Atlantic, Caribbean and most of the Pacific with our rib secured on the foredeck. Not only is it the handiest spot to stow it, but I also 'know' that it floats; the nice lady who sold us a liferaft assured us that it'll inflate if we ever pull the bit of white rope, but until the day we do, we won't actually 'know' if that's true.

 

[BobnLesley]

There must surely be more to this than reported?
The rig and headsails at least shown in those photos appear OK/undamaged and you don't need the main/mizzen to cross the Atlantic heading west so they're not stoppers anyway, they made contact via VHF, so must have some electrical power, watermaker or not, you don't set out across an ocean without sufficient water to at least 'get by' for the whole passage and maintain such the whole way. An engine failure's a minor inconvenience until the very end of an ocean crossing - you've got days/weeks to fix it anyway - it's the self-steering that's much more important and assuming that all of the crew were capable of taking their turn at the helm, with four aboard, even that's not too onerous.

 

[newtothis]

I think we'v

There must surely be more to this than reported?

I think we've ascertained that there's more to it than the initial report, which was about the rescue rather than what was wrong with the yacht.
Given than Sunda is still at anchor at a fairly remote river port in Brasil, it will probably take a day or two for the yacht crew to get their side of the story out, if they care to talk about it at all.

 

[jordanbasset]

It does seem strange, speculation I know but perhaps a leak that was getting worse and unable to stop or any multitude of possible scenarios. Find it hard to believe it was just an engine problem

 

[Stemar]

you don't set out across an ocean without sufficient water to at least 'get by' for the whole passage and maintain such the whole way

You wouldn't. I wouldn't, but I'm sure some people would. Lack of an engine could also mean the freezer stops working, so the food goes rotten...

Having said that, only slightly tongue in cheek, that boat doesn't look like the sort where they'd rely on a freezer. We can only guess from a position of total ignorance - apart, of course, from the omniscience of armchair heroes.

 

[JumbleDuck]

No, they do it by cutting the hose below your galley sink or heads, but as close as possible to the through hull fitting. Gunfire can cause explosions eg if it hits your outboard fuel jerry can. Can't remember where I read this, sorry.
EDIT: It takes time to sink, but sink it will.

Perhaos it's the already half-sunk ones they speed on their way. I saw a video of one on YouTube.

 

[Concerto]

When Mervyn Wheatley was rescued, he was prepared with a sea cock closed and hose cut. His last action as he left his boat was to open the cock. It takes a while to sink, but sink it will. I know when I remove my log to clean the impellor, the water comes in pretty fast and would take less than an hour to sink. On a larger boat you might open 2 or 3 seacocks. You certainly do not want the boat to sink before you are rescued.

 

[Kukri]

Strange story. Weather looks OK, boat looks OK.

 

[Stemar]

Strange story. Weather looks OK, boat looks OK.

Indeed. Perhaps they set off and, after a couple of weeks, found they hated it and the engine failure was the last straw. ISTR Libby Purves telling a story of a husband and wife setting off and she loved it, but he hated it, so they arranged for him to be picked up by a passing ship while she continued alone.

 

[newtothis]

Wasn't hat

Indeed. Perhaps they set off and, after a couple of weeks, found they hated it and the engine failure was the last straw. ISTR Libby Purves telling a story of a husband and wife setting off and she loved it, but he hated it, so they arranged for him to be picked up by a passing ship while she continued alone.

Wasn't that Debra Searle? Husband lost his mojo halfway across the ditch but she carried on solo. But that was in a rowing boat.

Debra Searle - Wikipedia

 

[Roberto]

This is the boat, it was supporting the action of this supposedly ecologically oriented association, their plan was to pick up plastic bottles from the sea, get to French Caribbean and continue their beach cleaning there.

https://m.facebook.com/Eco-Marine-Team-Grand-Large-411250063018075/

EcoMarine - TGL (@TeamGrandLarge) on Twitter

I would not learn French to read such things, tweets are against this "whole rotten world" where no foundations nor organizations nor anyone have jumped to give them financial help, and f..k French authorities because they have not sent a "delegation/welcome committee" at their arrival in Macapà Brazil.
No precise indication of the reasons for the abandon ship.

 

[Boathook]

This is the boat, it was supporting the action of this supposedly ecologically oriented association, their plan was to pick up plastic bottles from the sea, get to French Caribbean and continue their beach cleaning there.

https://m.facebook.com/Eco-Marine-Team-Grand-Large-411250063018075/

EcoMarine - TGL (@TeamGrandLarge) on Twitter

I would not learn French to read such things, tweets are against this "whole rotten world" where no foundations nor organizations nor anyone have jumped to give them financial help, and f..k French authorities because they have not sent a "delegation/welcome committee" at their arrival in Macapà Brazil.
No precise indication of the reasons for the abandon ship.

So they have just dumped even more waste in the sea.

 

[Stemar]

Wasn't hat


Wasn't that Debra Searle? Husband lost his mojo halfway across the ditch but she carried on solo. But that was in a rowing boat.

Debra Searle - Wikipedia

That would be the lady, it was a long time ago.

Roberto's post puts the present people in an entirely different category. Exactly how they expect to make any significant difference to the amount of plastic in the oceans with a boat that size is something I'm struggling with.

The complaint about the French authorities seems to be about the failure to extend assistance to shipwrecked mariners. I do have some sympathies for both sides in that debate. It isn't hard to imagine them as do-gooder pains in the pin feathers (Bambi quote ) who've managed to alienate a lot of people.

 

[XDC]

Their biggest upset at the moment is that Air France won't fly their 3kg bulldog back to France!

They've tweeted Brigitte Bardot for help

 

[Stemar]

Save the bulldog and leave the snowflakes

 

[Kukri]

I read through the Facebook posts and tweets and I can’t say I am much the wiser.

They had ten days of grotty weather and they had a steering gear issue. ( I think that is what the emergency tiller is for...)

There also seems to be a suggestion that they triggered the EPIRB but then changed their minds but did not know how to cancel it.