Rescued today in the Solent

[lenseman]

Fourteen crew members have just been rescued from the hull of their upturned yacht, Bounder by the Coastguard rescue helicopter Whiskey Bravo.

At 1.30 pm, Solent Coastguard received a 999 mobile phone call from the skipper of the 45ft yacht Bounder in a position 2.5 miles-south east of St Catherines Point Lighthouse. The informant reported that all fourteen crew were on the upturned vessel. All were wearing lifejackets and the vessel was slowly sinking. It appears that the yacht had broken its keel, lost stability and overturned.

 

[dom]

That is great news that all were rescued. I wonder what type of boat it was and if they hit something. Quite nasty overfalls there and with winds touching F7 they might have gone inshore but who knows? Anyhow good news regarding the rescue and I guess we will all be interested to know what happened. One of the fourteen might even look at this forum and be so kind as to tell the story.

 

[lenseman]

I don't know what type of yatch but there is one mentioned in the Round The Island race:

http://www.sailingnetworks.com/news/read/6918

 

[Chris_Robb]

It was a Farr 45 we think

 

[dom]

Wow an Open 60! The idea with the this design - as we all know! - is to keep the wetted surface and weight out of the strut supporting the keel bulb's weight. This in essence means it has to be as light and small as possible. If this is another of "those" failues they were very luck being so close to rescue. Also self regulation might be deemded as not working for this class which means some external rules as previously threatened. All this is speculation, however, and it will be interesting to find out the facts.

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

Quite restrained referring to the yacht as 'bounder'...... I think if my yacht got me into that predicament I would be calling it far more colourful names! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[CliveSmith]

Who turned the Isle of Wight through 180 degrees then?

 

[AIDY]

Rolf Harris !

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
Who turned the Isle of Wight through 180 degrees then?

[/ QUOTE ] SWMBO turned the bl**dy map upside down again.

 

[starboard]

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-newsro...;m=6&y=2007

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

Bit more detail on the yacht itself here... and it seems to have grown to 55 foot!
http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070530202622supersailworld.html

 

[bc1107]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

As one of the crew members onboard, please find below details of the event. As with most marine stories, the truth is often something which is overlooked, which is why I am writing this, here. The main thing is that apart from some bruises and cuts, nobody was seriously hurt and everyone is ok.
We were sailing in 18 knots of wind, heading east in the Solent. Boat speed was around 9+ knots at a TWA of 44 - 46 degrees. There was a medium size chop (2 - 3 feet) with occasional waves.
We had a full main and 3+A headsail up (slightly larger than a conventional number 3). The boat was not overpowered and was being steered conservatively. The boat Captain had asked 2 of the crew to go down below to check for any signs of distress as the boat had recently undergone some (designer approved) modifications. As we were now roughly 2 - 3 miles East of St. Catherines point, the (good) call to don lifejackets was made by the boat Captain, and literally within minutes of that call being made, there was a loud bang and the boat slowly capsized. It remained on it's side for a minute or 2, before finally turning 'turtle'. Luckily no-one was down below at this time, and all the crew managed to get back onto the upturned hull. Due to the fact that this all happened very quickly, there was no chance to get a distress call out, or activate the EPIRB. By Sheer luck, one of the crew had a cell phone which had been wrapped in a ziplock - we were very fortunate to momentarily get reception and get through to the EMS.
After about 30 - 40 minutes, we saw the helicopter searching for us, and I'm sure that I speak for all of us when I say that we were well and truly relieved to see it! The rescue crew were fantastic in getting all of us onto the chopper quickly and back to Lee-On-Solent.
I think that it really important to stress that the keel failing had nothing to do with any of the crew, or their handling of the boat. As a professional yacht Captain of much larger yachts than this, I have to say that I was very impressed with the way the boat was being sailed, and also how the situation was dealt with.
We all realize just how incredibly lucky we were that the cell phone worked and we were able to get through to the services.
It is a great shame that this has happened, as the yacht had great potential.

Thanks.

The yacht is a JK 55, not an open 60 as speculated above

 

[tom52]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

Thanks for the first hand account. Glad to hear everyone safe .

 

[Searush]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

Sounds like a different incident to me /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Seriously, tho' glad to hear every one was safe & bloomin' good thinking to have the phone in a ziplock. Turning turtle would be a tad unexpected!

 

[Vara]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

Thanks for the account, must have been a bit harrowing at the time!!

Glad all are well.

 

[jimboaw]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

Welcome to the forum and glad you are safe. I hope this won't be your only contribution!

 

[tcm]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

excellent stuff, much appreciated

 

[oughtoc]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

Thanks for the real story. Sorry to hear of the loss, but delighted to hear all are well.

Stories like this do serve to remind me to go through our safety drills & think about what to do. We now have a rule that skipper has hand held VHF clipped to small of his back when in lifejacket after recent tragedies.

 

[photodog]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

Very sad to hear about this, and very pleased that everyone was okay!

These recent incidents are really hammering home the need to be prepared for a sudden and catastrophic accident, We have a PLB on board, and I always have the handheld at the helm, but I have decided to add a water activated Epird and move the liferaft to the coachroof with a hydrostatic release...

(the Handhelds batteries are usually crapped out 2 minutes after turning it on.)

I am surprised to hear that on a commercial (I am assuming here of course) boat with a full racey set up, that the only way to call for help was through a fortuitous mobile phone, The water activated Eprid cost me £650. How much is that in reality?

Or am I being too paranoid?

 

[BlueSkyNick]

Re: Rescued today in the Solent - from a crew member

don't assume that a water activated Epirb will actually operate, if the boat is updside down - hopefully it would, but no guarantee if its caught in an air bubble.

secondly, I would put the raft on the pushpit rather than the coach roof if at all possible. Much easier to access in any situation, and also for the weakest member of the crew to launch it on their own.