The SS Varvassi claims yet another victim

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I did RTIR 15 years ago and they used to have a graphic in the notes that showed a safe passage past the wreck.

I think..if memory is right..it was to always keep the top of the light house below the top of the searchlight house on the needled battery. If you do this then there is no way you will hit anything.

But does taking a ten metre shortcut really make that much of a difference when in a 6 hour race..?

I would think there were better ways of going faster than that.

Seems like lazy skippering to me..no excuse for it ever.
 
Some years ago some friends tried the inside route and stuck fast on a falling tide. They were lucky there wasn't a lot of wind and even more fortunate that a rescue boat managed to get them off.
Knowing them (or at least the skipper) I'd say the driving force was testosterone, 'I've got bigger balls than you have' stuff. They were ultra competitive about racing. Not really for me.
 
Sailorsam101 said:
I did RTIR 15 years ago and they used to have a graphic in the notes that showed a safe passage past the wreck.

I think..if memory is right..it was to always keep the top of the light house below the top of the searchlight house on the needled battery. If you do this then there is no way you will hit anything.

But does taking a ten metre shortcut really make that much of a difference when in a 6 hour race..?

I would think there were better ways of going faster than that.

Seems like lazy skippering to me..no excuse for it ever.
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IT's still there.

and as for the 10 metre short cut - it's a lot more than that. IIRC - the graphic puts you about 100 yards past the boilers. So you are therefore 200 yards back by the time you have turned and got back to where you would have been if you'd taken the short cut.

I know that one option would be to mark it ( or to insist that people leave say the Bridge Cardinal to port but that would just add additional dangers with hundreds of boats converging on a very small spot only 2 hours in ( for most boats) so there is more bunching. How many collisions would result from that?
 
RichardS said:
This has been shown in Varvassi threads in previous years but it's quite surprising to see so many boats in such close proximity to the hazard.

Varvassi.jpg


Richard
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I recon a camera up top of the mast looking forward should help spot where it is next time.
 
Sailorsam101 said:
I did RTIR 15 years ago and they used to have a graphic in the notes that showed a safe passage past the wreck.

I think..if memory is right..it was to always keep the top of the light house below the top of the searchlight house on the needled battery. If you do this then there is no way you will hit anything.

But does taking a ten metre shortcut really make that much of a difference when in a 6 hour race..?

I would think there were better ways of going faster than that.

Seems like lazy skippering to me..no excuse for it ever.
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No need to show off :p
 
Wandering Star said:
Nice looking boat, must be quite a shock to see her disappear under the water, presume she'll be raised?
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Would like to think so but I've seen no mention of raising her and it doesn't look like she was buoyed. Could well have broken up bouncing off the bottom there or washed away by the tide. Not a good place to go down. A real shame...
 
Having dived the spot she sank the tricky bit will be finding her. The bottom is about 15m with deep gullies filled with sand in between rock which stands 4 to 5m in height. So the hull isn't going to readily stand out when viewed with an echo sounder or side scan sonar.
 
dom said:
Personally, I'd give someone water and then protest instead of wrecking their boat ....always.
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Not my call and if we had known that was the issue then the outcome could have been different. I realise my post said they wanted us to bear away and set but at the time we did not know why as it was blowing 20-25 knots so communication was difficult and they had lots of water to tack away if they thought they were going to hit it. We were in the top 10 monohulls to the Needles so plenty of room.

I was mast man so not near the nutters at the back of the boat who make the calls!

There was no blame attached to our boat from them afterwards.
 
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claymore said:
Glad I never sailed with you!

Just popped in to have a look round
See you're all still talking the same old bollocks.
Bye
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Me too. Wouldn't want you on my crew.

Shame my 'bollocks' comes from over 32 years of a successful sea going career around the world with out loss, injury or accident.

PW
 
I watched the footage from the life boat. Quite concerned about the life boat chap let in the water. Most fortunate he did not get hung up in a loose line. Scary moment.
 
Uricanejack said:
I watched the footage from the life boat. Quite concerned about the life boat chap let in the water. Most fortunate he did not get hung up in a loose line. Scary moment.
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Not criticising another service, but we did wonder that at the time. There wasn't a life risk reason to go in, and there was a lot of lines, debris, etc floating around at the time - not to mention a few other boats trying to avoid the incident at the last minute.

The RNLI are getting quite keen on people going in, and to me the needs are often questionable versus the potential risks.
 
Having watched the video a few times I don't think he went in the water on purpose. I do wonder if he was actually dumped there owing to the speed the yacht sank. He was originally on the yacht and then helped the two crew members into the lifeboat and ran out of time to get off himself.
 
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