They got back

[poter]

Just seen an interview on the BBC west TV with the crew of the 65' Swan, which arrived in Falmouth today.
Apparently the yacht was turned over and righted itself after getting hit by a 60' wave, it was dismasted and the pictures today showed a close up of the mast which was literally bent in two. This was the yacht that had the two injured crew dramatically taken off by helicopter earlier in the week. All the crew were well and in good spirits.
Very well done to them to get back unassisted.


poter.

 

[rogerroger]

that's great news that they're back safe and well.

One would understand if they never want to see another boat again so it'll be a good test of character to see when they go out sailing again...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[halcyon]

Skippers comment to that question on radio was

he would hate to waste what he had learnt over the last couple of days.


He reconned that the mast was pointing straight down, and he was 10 foot under water, brings back the stability quetion again.

Brian

 

[moondancer]

That stability question..

Having just read Fatal Storm about the Sydney Hobart race - which had similar sized waves, it does seem that stability curves go rather out the window in extreme conditions. If that big wave hits...
Interestingly, one of the yachts sunk in the Sydney Hobart was the Winston Churchill, a 1940's traditional long keel 'sound' yacht whilst some of the light racing yachts emerged relatively unscathed.

 

[halcyon]

Got a vidio of the local TV coverage of that race, out of interest I'll have a look at why she sank.


Brian

 

[Guest]

Great advert for yotties sticking it out ! (NM)

NM

 

[webcraft]

Stability Curve . . .

The implication of the previous post is that in extreme conditions stability curves are meaningless. In fact the opposite is true.

If you are ten ft under water with the mast pointing straight down - which can happen to ANY monohull unfortunate enough to be caught out in extreme conditions* - then you want to be doing it in a boat with a high angle of vanishing stability and a small area of curve under the neutral stability axis.

Then you have a very good chance of coming up again . . . although quite possibly mastless.

A light design with a low AVS could conceivably remain upside down permanently - and will certainly take longer to be rolled upright again.

*[remember, a breaking wave of more than 34%LWL catching you abeam will probably knock you down]

These are facts - and anyone who kids themselves that they are just as likely to survive a knockdown beyond 90deg in a lightweight boat with a low AVS and a large area of negative stability as they are in a real bluewater cruiser are just kidding themselves.

If you are always within six hours of a port of refuge and have access to always accurate weather, then this should never be a problem. For the rest of us, it should be a factor in choosing what we go to sea in.

- Nick

BlueMoment.Com
http://www.bluemoment.com

 

[martinparsons]

Wasn't the answer simply that the lighter boats were ahead of the worst of the storm? I seem to remember that the faster boats missed most of the really bad stuff and they would have been the modern lightweights.