Missing yacht reward offered

[mainsail1]

Having read what this skipper says and having read the blogs from his wife I fear the best course of action is to forget about the boat and any idea of sailing the Oceans, certainly for a few years, and return to a comfortable life at home.

 

[{151760}]

The weld 2 mm thick SS plate each side and pressure test for leaks.

This rudder and skeg was also made the same way but in mild steel with SS shaft.

That looks a very good idea for blue water boats. With a spade rudder so built do you think there might be a problem following contact with a floating object, in that, if a strong stainless rudder were to be forced backwards, it would cause much more damage than a GRP one? Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

 

[bbg]

That looks a very good idea for blue water boats. With a spade rudder so built do you think there might be a problem following contact with a floating object, in that, if a strong stainless rudder were to be forced backwards, it would cause much more damage than a GRP one? Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

One could always build the top of the rudder in foam / GRP.

 

[Mad Pad]

I had the same problem with a Moody 39 in the late '70's off Cabo de Gato.All the fibreglass and foam peeled away and I was left with a skeleton like the one shown above.

We rigged a jury rudder with the spinnaker pole and a few floor boards and made it safely to port (Almerima).

Mad Pad

 

[siwhi]

Very sad to read, but glad they made it off fine. We hope to make the crossing with the children next year and there are a few lessons there we need to learn. Good point about leaving an AIS tracker on as long as possible, and a self powered AIS (like a yb3 tracker) seems like a good idea to me.

Other areas I am curious about are:

- Why they failed to get the boat to head downwind with the drogue deployed - more info needed but was it due to the drogue size or type, conditions, hull shape, or other factor?
- What else to consider if trying to transfer children to a ship, or whether asking for assistance from a smaller vessel first makes sense in this scenario.
- How to jury rig steering, and whether some spares, fixed bracket or plans would have helped here?
- Double check insurance, and have their number available to call in a similar situation!

We are in the process of buying a boat with a skeg hung rudder, plenty of renewable power, a hydrovane and we'll get a self-powered tracker and decent drogue too, so we hope to avoid some of the risks and issues they faced, but no doubt other bad case scenarios exist and this event has prompted me to have a think through some plans and protocols.

 

[rogerthebodger]

That looks a very good idea for blue water boats. With a spade rudder so built do you think there might be a problem following contact with a floating object, in that, if a strong stainless rudder were to be forced backwards, it would cause much more damage than a GRP one? Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

The main rudder on the boat does have a bottom bearing supported by the skeg.

The stainless steel spade rudder in the upper pic has a double hinge at the top end that allows it to be removed without removing the upper part of the rudder shaft and also allows a shear pin that would break if it hit a floating object hard enough to damage the rudder. It would then swing up to the surface out of the way like a kick up rudder on a sailing dingy.

All that would need to be done would be to replace the shear pin.

 

[BigJoe]

A sad tale, but thankfully they all got off OK.

I hope to do an ocean crossing one day, and have often thought about rudder failure.

Would it not be possible to fit a dingy type emergency rudder, with Pintles and Gudgeons fittings mounted low at the stern and carrying a dingy rudder to fit if needed.

Probably wouldn't work on all boats, but I have a sugar scoop, and looks like a possible option.

 

[bbg]

- How to jury rig steering, and whether some spares, fixed bracket or plans would have helped here?

One possibility is to prepare an emergency steering system in advance. It would need to be very beefy, but I think it would be possible to design a frame that could be fixed to the stern, and install the brackets on the boat in advance. Deploy the system if necessary.

 

[{151760}]

One could always build the top of the rudder in foam / GRP.

Good idea.

 

[rogerthebodger]

One possibility is to prepare an emergency steering system in advance. It would need to be very beefy, but I think it would be possible to design a frame that could be fixed to the stern, and install the brackets on the boat in advance. Deploy the system if necessary.

That was a question in my coastal skipper practical. The answer is lash a floor board to the spinnaker pole then lash the spinnaker to the stern of the boat to as as a sweep rudder.

On a boat with wheel steering it is a legal requirement to have an emergency tiller that attaches directly to the top of the rudder post where I sail

 

[Wandering Star]

So far I've never been placed in a situation where I'd have to abandon my boat but the siggestion to let out the chain and anchor before the act, is something I'd not thought about - seems a sensible idea.

 

[bbg]

That was a question in my coastal skipper practical. The answer is lash a floor board to the spinnaker pole then lash the spinnaker to the stern of the boat to as as a sweep rudder.

On a boat with wheel steering it is a legal requirement to have an emergency tiller that attaches directly to the top of the rudder post where I sail

That is not at all what I meant. I meant pre-designing and building a frame and brackets that would hold a vertical rudder post. And carrying the frame and spare rudder post on board. The brackets to mount the frame to would already be installed on the transom before you left port. Not putting together some Heath-Robinson lash-up. The spare rudder could also be carried on board, or the plan could be to fabricate the rudder post in such a way that it would be possible to bolt some things to it (maybe a bunk board or the door to the heads).

I think it would be important to make the emergency rudder quite a bit smaller than the original, due to the forces involved.

I have used an "emergency tiller" on the rudder post. It was a disaster. It works fine when the boat is not moving, or on the hard but as soon as the boat is moving, all you are doing is trying to pull the tiller off the rudder post. I can't remember how we resolved the steering problem, but once we did, we spent the next two days gingerly making our way to San Francisco.

As an aside, when I crossed the Atlantic I had two rudders on the boat, and took a (third) spare one "just in case". It would have been much easier for me to fit it than for most boats; my rudders were transom-hung on gudgeons and pintles.

 

[rogerthebodger]

The rudder frame in the top picture is in fact an auxiliary rudder for my self steering that can also be used with a tiller for hand steering is requires.

This is a trial fit before plating.

Tiller and wind vane operating mechanism

 

[siwhi]

That was a question in my coastal skipper practical. The answer is lash a floor board to the spinnaker pole then lash the spinnaker to the stern of the boat to as as a sweep rudder.

On a boat with wheel steering it is a legal requirement to have an emergency tiller that attaches directly to the top of the rudder post where I sail

They tried a couple of different jury rigs including the above, and another using the radar post which was a more successful attempt yet still couldn't control the boat, according to the blog.

One possibility is to prepare an emergency steering system in advance. It would need to be very beefy, but I think it would be possible to design a frame that could be fixed to the stern, and install the brackets on the boat in advance. Deploy the system if necessary.

Agreed, perhaps a bracket on the transom which the spinnaker pole could hook through as a start.

 

[Mad Pad]

They tried a couple of different jury rigs including the above, and another using the radar post which was a more successful attempt yet still couldn't control the boat, according to the blog.



Agreed, perhaps a bracket on the transom which the spinnaker pole could hook through as a start.

See my post No 24 above..worked for me?

 

[davidej]

What sort of boat is it?

I assumed from the name of the log that it was a Westerly

 

[pvb]

I assumed from the name of the log that it was a Westerly

No, believed to be a 53ft Hanse.

 

[Giblets]

Having read what this skipper says and having read the blogs from his wife I fear the best course of action is to forget about the boat and any idea of sailing the Oceans, certainly for a few years, and return to a comfortable life at home.

That bit might not be too easy if they have sunk all their money into the boat and voyage. What would the insurance issue be if the boat is abandoned and not found (assuming there is insurance in place)?

 

[lpdsn]

We rigged a jury rudder with the spinnaker pole and a few floor boards and made it safely to port (Almerima).

How did you get it to work?

I saw someone do exactly that. He needed to move his boat with the rudder jammed on the centreline. It was a complete failure. He came back several hours after setting out. Took him three attempts to line up for the entrance to the marina and once in managed to throw a few lines ashore that allowed a group of us to get him to a pontoon.

 

[mainsail1]

That bit might not be too easy if they have sunk all their money into the boat and voyage. What would the insurance issue be if the boat is abandoned and not found (assuming there is insurance in place)?

I think someone said there may be no insurance but if there is I guess they might say the boat was only abandoned because the crew decided to do that for their own reasons, not because the boat was sinking. It appears the lady wished to leave with her children as she had had enough of the situation. Anyway I would have thought that the boat is still out there to find.