Multihull capsizes in RTIR

Mudisox

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Orion looks like a Firebird 26

Anyone knowing anything about cats know that these were one of the best designed micromultihulls built and were the tiny sister to the Freebird 50. Very light & reportedly capable of over 25 knots.

Contrary to many other cat/multi designs the bows are designed to lift when planing downwind which can assist enormously in preventing digging a hull in the water and pitchpoling.

As Flaming states the crew also probably knew exactly how to handle the situations presented on Saturday - I wonder how many other of the multihulls sailers who had serious problems had been in seas such as that before & probably in many cases they had little room to manoevre to prevent calamity?

Also the owner and helm, Harvey is an extremely talented guy, he performed at speed week a few years ago with the cat, and is well used to extreme conditions - an excellent and deserving result.
 

Pasarell

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Statement about Spirit of Scott Bader

Spirit of Scott Bader sailings cancelled till further notice



In a very exciting Round the Island race on Saturday while leading its class, first of 12 cruising yachts and travelling at 10 to 12 knots, Scott Bader appears to have hit a submerged object and capsized.



None of the crew were injured, but there were a few bruises.



It happened about 500 meters off of Seaview Yacht Club whose RIB was on the scene in a few moments and took the crew to the club house for dry clothes and a cup of tea.



Scott Bader had been sailing for for over 6 hours and was almost in sight of the finish line at Cowes.



After dealing with conditions that made many compeditors retire or seek shelter because of the rough conditions at the Needles and south of the Island, the incident took place in the relative calm of the Solent less than an hour before the end of the race.



Nick from 'Boatability' { http://www.boatability.co.uk/ } immediatly went out and secured Scott Bader whose mast was hitting the bottom stopping her from going right over. Nick called Ruben from RSDivers on the Isle of Wight { http://rsdivers.co.uk/ } who dived down and removed the mast and sails allowing Scott Bader float properly upside down and to be towed to a marker buoy to await recovery to Portsmouth.



Ruben and Baker Trayte ( www.btmarine.co.uk/ } towed the yacht into Clarence Yard where they righted her without any real problems and pumped the water out.... their crane driver is an artist.... .



She was then taken to Wicor Marine where we will thoroughly check her over and tidy her ready for sailing again as soon as possible



Although this was a potentially disasterous incident it is very comforting to know that the safety features and proceedures worked to the point where there were no injuries to the crew or dangers to the rescuers.



Thank you everyone who helped and for the messages of support - I will email again when Scott Bader is back in use.





Mike Wood MBE

Chairman RoRo Sailing Project
 

Giblets

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Thanks for the report.

Very impressed that the diver was able to remove the mast & sails underwater whilst the boat was semi-inverted. It's difficult enough trying to do it on dry land & upright!:eek:
 

Tintin

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The cat in the pic above was on a close reach, almost close hauled. It started flying a hull, then gradually started heeling further and further, before slowly going right over.

So is flying a hull considered dangerous? I ask because last summer I played with a friends Tri and we'd get one out of the water regularly, using uplift under the tramp to help it out.

We were constantly playing the sheet and helm though, so when it did start to go too high (and speed dropped off) we dumped the main a bit.

I got 19kn out of it, and my record has yet to be beaten by the owner or any of his other friends.
 

Talbot

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So is flying a hull considered dangerous? I ask because last summer I played with a friends Tri and we'd get one out of the water regularly, using uplift under the tramp to help it out.

Big difference between a cat and a tri. There is also a big difference between a racing cat withan experienced racing crew sailing with a hull kissing the water, and trying to do the samething with a cruising cat with inexperienced crew. If you do this in a racing cat, you will go fast, and occassionally capsize. On a cruising cat it is really bad seamanship as the maximum righting moment for a cat is when the boat is upright. The more you lift a hull, the less stability you have.

To do this if you have disabled people onboard means that the sanity of the skipper should be in question. :eek:
 

E39mad

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Conflicting reports so far then - one states it carried on healing before capsizing and the other states hit a submerged object.

Difficult to know which but I certainly would not fly a hull in a largish "cruising" cat and would have someone knowledgable playing that mainsheet as well as the wheel in those conditions to prevent any possibility - looks like a powerful mainsail from the pics.
 

r_h

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We were about 4-500m away, so too distant to see a submerged object - all we saw was the heeling, with the windward hull gradually flying ever higher.

So is flying a hull considered dangerous? I ask because last summer I played with a friends Tri and we'd get one out of the water regularly, using uplift under the tramp to help it out.

We were constantly playing the sheet and helm though, so when it did start to go too high (and speed dropped off) we dumped the main a bit.

I got 19kn out of it, and my record has yet to be beaten by the owner or any of his other friends.

It's a different matter on a modern tri, compared to a cruising cat. The tri's two amas are generally at a higher level than the centre hull, so one will (almost) always be flying. Your point about the mainsheet, though, is important for any multihull, especially in breezy or gusty conditions.
 

fergie_mac66

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Big difference between a cat and a tri. There is also a big difference between a racing cat withan experienced racing crew sailing with a hull kissing the water, and trying to do the samething with a cruising cat with inexperienced crew. If you do this in a racing cat, you will go fast, and occassionally capsize. On a cruising cat it is really bad seamanship as the maximum righting moment for a cat is when the boat is upright. The more you lift a hull, the less stability you have.

To do this if you have disabled people onboard means that the sanity of the skipper should be in question. :eek:

+1
 

bairdag

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These pictures explain the trimaran capsize http://www.cowesonline.com/d/Round the Island Race Lge.mov

For anyone who sails a multihull, it was a racing incident. The pictures clearly demonstrate the reasons it happened. Probably wouldn't have happened in cruising mode.

"To finish first, first you must finish" has always helped me when racing multihulls. In a J-boat, this would have been a broach, with people overboard - and a real risk of injury from a gybe. Be objective when you assess the risks; multihulls are perfectly safe compared to monohulls,matched boat for boat. For speed and comfort they do not even bear comparison.
 

fireball

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Well in a monohull dinghy I would be shouting "ease ease Ease!" to the crew whilst bearing away and dumping main - oh and hiking hard! But that's somewhat different as the bow is designed to lift and ride over the waves.
 

Seajet

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I take it there were no people in wheelchairs on the cat' at the time ?

Some major questions to be asked here, and I do NOT mean blame on anyone's part ( though I can't help thinking a few things ); the whole idea of taking wheelchair users in this or any other type of sailing yacht would seem pretty well torpedoed to me, at least for the moment - insurers will probably run & hide for a start...
 

snowleopard

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Easy to say from the comfort of my office, but it seems they didn't dump the main... would that have made a difference:confused:

No, for two reasons: firstly the kite was far bigger so the main would make very little difference. Secondly easing at that point of sailing would bring it up against the shrouds, still full of wind. Notice that the first sign of trouble was burying the bow of the lee float. The safe solution would have been to reduce sail by about 50% but if you're racing....

The trouble with over-pressing a multi is that everything seems fine until you cross that fine line then it all goes very wrong very quickly. You just don't get the warning that you do in a mono.
 

Adonnante

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I take it there were no people in wheelchairs on the cat' at the time ?

Some major questions to be asked here, and I do NOT mean blame on anyone's part ( though I can't help thinking a few things ); the whole idea of taking wheelchair users in this or any other type of sailing yacht would seem pretty well torpedoed to me, at least for the moment - insurers will probably run & hide for a start...


I assume you are refering to the series of photo's above and think its worth pointing out that the 'cat' in question is a tri, 3 hulls not two. Its 28' long and not 35' of the cat Spirit of Scott Bader which is modified to enable disabled sailors, not always in wheelchairs to enjoy the thrill of sailing. According to all accounts I've seen all the crews involved were rescued safely. Are accidents in adventure sports that unusual?
 

Adonnante

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No, for two reasons: firstly the kite was far bigger so the main would make very little difference. Secondly easing at that point of sailing would bring it up against the shrouds, still full of wind. Notice that the first sign of trouble was burying the bow of the lee float. The safe solution would have been to reduce sail by about 50% but if you're racing....

The trouble with over-pressing a multi is that everything seems fine until you cross that fine line then it all goes very wrong very quickly. You just don't get the warning that you do in a mono.

I agree with the general details Chris but on Adonnante in those conditions (assuming for the moment we are ever to fly a spinnaker in 28kn of wind) the spinnaker would be handled by someone who was capable of dumping it immediately they saw the lee bow dipping. I can see no evidence of that occuring here. But there again I wasn't there!

Peter.
 

Seajet

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I'm referring to photo's of a catamaran nearly inverted with the mast on the seabed preventing complete inversion.

In answer to your question, I would think this rather more of an 'adventure' than envisaged, and potential horrors like this are not only rare, it's the first time I've ever seen such a thing.

I have owned a cat', albeit a Dart 18, so am aware of the different way of doing things compared to a monohull.

My club specialises in providing dinghy sailing in various types for people with all sorts of disabilities, either solo or skippered as suits.

I have also sailed aboard square riggers which cater for wheelchair users; 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I'd suggest something was rather wrong with the plan here, wheelchair users or not, and it is likely to have far reaching effects.
 
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Adonnante

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but I'd suggest something was rather wrong with the plan here, wheelchair users or not, and it is likely to have far reaching effects.[/QUOTE]

That is clearly the case, however assuming that the crew were adult and understood the risks they were taking I see no reason why they shouldn't explore their limits the same as the able bodied crew on the tri. I have taught the disabled and wherever possible they want to be treated the same as the rest of us. However I also worry about the consequences of this incident.

Peter.
 

dslittle

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That's correct, fortunately I understand they got everyone off safely and put ashore in Seaview - there were a lot of spectator RIBs in the area at the time and it was relatively flat water.

Depending on your definition of 'relatively calm' I think that I missed it !!! It as carnage out there as evidenced by the number of Maydays going out. Unfortunately we were one of the retirees (charter boat sails...) and I take my hat off to all of those who finished.
 
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