Things can go wrong very quickly.

lisilou said:
:eek: How? Why? did that hull snap like that??
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Not really scary either -All its about --that it's " designed" down to the minimum wieght ,to the last calculated kilo Vs forces applied by the sails / mast .
It's close - the calculations and sometimes they err too much on the side of performance = exactly that hull catastrophic fracture .
Perfectly safe - chase boat+ correct gear worn etc.
Happens all the time at this this level with lightweight carbon fibre hulls / gear .
Probably not a great choise ( if one hull survives a season or two ) as a second hand blue water liveabord .
Then again try and get a warranty on an ex LeMans or F1 engine ? - they blow up all the time -same principle - pushing back the performance boundaries .
 
Whitelighter said:
I don't understand why they jumped off. Surely the rib could have got along side to take most off. Easier than getting them out if the water I would have thought
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Just a thought, but were they worried about being caught in the rigging? The mast stayed straight up but presumably might have toppled... You wouldn't want to engulfed in the sails and/or rigging...
 
Prhperio said:
Just a thought, but were they worried about being caught in the rigging? The mast stayed straight up but presumably might have toppled... You wouldn't want to engulfed in the sails and/or rigging...
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Good point.

I just thought since the rib (and camera boat) were so close they could have got most off without the added danger if a dunking.

I guess many go on instinct and that may well gave been to get off.
 
Whitelighter said:
I don't understand why they jumped off. Surely the rib could have got along side to take most off. Easier than getting them out if the water I would have thought
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Once the hull snapped, they were scared that it would fold up. With so many lines on the deck and slack stays and halyards, they could have been snared/trapped in a heap of spaghetti. It would have been obvious to them from the rapid water ingress that it was going to sink and quickly, much better to get well away as she went down.:eek:
 
RogerRat said:
Once the hull snapped, they were scared that it would fold up. With so many lines on the deck and slack stays and halyards, they could have been snared/trapped in a heap of spaghetti. It would have been obvious to them from the rapid water ingress that it was going to sink and quickly, much better to get well away as she went down.:eek:
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Personally I'd also be worried about beartrap-like wounds to the lower legs from the deck breaking up around me. Doesn't look like it actually did that kind of thing, but you wouldn't know that at the time.

Pete
 
Whitelighter said:
Good point.

I just thought since the rib (and camera boat) were so close they could have got most off without the added danger if a dunking.

I guess many go on instinct and that may well gave been to get off.
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Good point.... Whichever is the best course of action requires a particularly cool head under pressure to choose it under those circumstances!
 
Groot T said:
one word: terrifying
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I would reckon that the only persons terrified here were the Designer and the Builder. Over designed or Under built! imho

The crew would have been a little peeved at retiring but they all seemed to get off unhurt. I'm sure they will be having a few beers over this for years to come!

For Sale:
One slightly used Ocean racer, with a few signs of stress cracks due to high performance. Lying south pacific. Viewing by appointment only through Jacques Cousteau! :cool:
 
Odd, this is a 20 year old clip, and it has now surfaced twice this week on these forums.

This was an America's cup boat, not an ocean racer, and the conditions you see are right at the top end of what they used to allow racing in. IIRC the issue was that they'd broken the Port Genoa winch, so were leading the sheet to a runner winch further back, which put a new and unexpected twisting load on the boat, with the consequences you see.

It's only slightly under built though - it's very easy to argue that those French cup boats that did years of service in the Solent were way over built, as they didn't fall apart at the end of the series. Too strong = too heavy...
 
RogerRat said:
I would reckon that the only persons terrified here were the Designer and the Builder. Over designed or Under built! imho

The crew would have been a little peeved at retiring but they all seemed to get off unhurt. I'm sure they will be having a few beers over this for years to come!

For Sale:
One slightly used Ocean racer, with a few signs of stress cracks due to high performance. Lying south pacific. Viewing by appointment only through Jacques Cousteau! :cool:
Click to expand...

"Most will buff out"...

But I more mean how quickly it took from "slight hole in the hull" to being a different kind of water feature. A start reminding how quickly things can go south on a boat.
 
flaming said:
Odd, this is a 20 year old clip,
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I used to race dinghies in the Humber which can get a bit rough, we weren't allowed to complete without adequate buoyancy bags (blow up bags stuffed in the hull under seats etc,) these were checked by the race committee .

Do you think this rule was enforced because of sinking such as above and is there now a requirement for adequate buoyancy in all race boats or can this still happen ?
 
DAKA said:
I used to race dinghies in the Humber which can get a bit rough, we weren't allowed to complete without adequate buoyancy bags (blow up bags stuffed in the hull under seats etc,) these were checked by the race committee .

Do you think this rule was enforced because of sinking such as above and is there now a requirement for adequate buoyancy in all race boats or can this still happen ?
Click to expand...

Dinghys and yachts are two totally different animals. The reason that video is so dramatic is that it is also very rare.

To sink a yacht you need to have a massive structural failure, as here, or a hell of a lot of flooding. You won't get the flooding without either a hole, or a knockdown and flooding through the open hatches. Design rules in most offshore classes will specify a minimum height that hatches have to be above the water when the boat is on its side.

Dinghies have different issues, namely that you can get the flooding quite easily, by capsizing or simply taking water over the side. So without the built in buoyancy (or bags in older designs) some would just go straight down after a capsize. Hardly ideal. Some classes also insist on additional buoyancy not because it is actually needed to stop the thing sinking completely, but because it makes the boat ride higher when capsized, so will be less full of water and therefore both easier to right, and less unstable when you have righted it.

So yes, a boat folding in half and sinking could still happen, but this simply isn't going to happen outside of very lightly built america's cup type boats.
 
flaming said:
Dinghys and yachts are two totally different animals. The reason that video is so dramatic is that it is also very rare.

To sink a yacht you need to have a massive structural failure, as here, or a hell of a lot of flooding. You won't get the flooding without either a hole, or a knockdown and flooding through the open hatches. Design rules in most offshore classes will specify a minimum height that hatches have to be above the water when the boat is on its side.

Dinghies have different issues, namely that you can get the flooding quite easily, by capsizing or simply taking water over the side. So without the built in buoyancy (or bags in older designs) some would just go straight down after a capsize. Hardly ideal. Some classes also insist on additional buoyancy not because it is actually needed to stop the thing sinking completely, but because it makes the boat ride higher when capsized, so will be less full of water and therefore both easier to right, and less unstable when you have righted it.

So yes, a boat folding in half and sinking could still happen, but this simply isn't going to happen outside of very lightly built america's cup type boats.
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The dinghies had their own designed buoyancy built in, the bags were in addition, the race committee were relatively young guys, it does seem to me that a popular sport / pastime could be made a hell of a lot safer with minimal cost and effort if race committees across the globe got rid of the daft odd sods (we've always raced in shipping channels in dangerous boats) and moved into 21st century Health and safety risk assessment .

Not intended as an argument, this is just my personal observation which I don't expect you to agree with .
 
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