Vertue Simo Lost. Owner safe.

That's so sad such a lovely boat.I'm glad the skipper was rescued and is well.This may be a coincidence but there has been a lot of talk about wooden boat problems lately.Traditional built boats have been crossing oceans for hundreds of years so it's not the method of construction that is the problem could it be that beyond a certain age it becomes difficult to maintain the structural integrity on these hulls?
 
This is awful news, I feel for Mick; at least he's OK.

AS a boy some of my earliest intro's to sailing were reading about the exploits of Vertues, as I expect a lot of us here did.
 
What a shame!

Luckily he is safe, and we all look forward to learning what happened. My guess is "hit something" but we'll see.

Nothing to do with this event, as I'm sure Simo was well prepared, but a propos 30boat's post no 2, in his book "Atlantic Adventurers", Humphrey Barton is quite categorical, stating that for a boat built of the best materials to the highest standards, forty is the upper age limit for sailing off soundings, with maybe another ten years if sailed gently in coastal waters.

Hum Barton was of course the surveyor partner in Laurent Giles and Partners, and rather a regular Atlantic crosser in "Rose Rambler".

I have crossed oceans in much older boats; so have many other people, but it's a point to bear in mind.
 
Dave (BuckTurgidson) was Mick's crew on the first leg from Faro to Horta.

He has started two threads on PBO concerning the incident. He has also posted a dozen You Tube videos of the first leg.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?365919-Thanks-to-all-involved

We saw Mick several times in Portugal, the last being a few weeks before his departure. He had spend a lot of time, effort and money preparing Simo for the voyage and she was as seaworthy as may be expected. Having already covered many offshore miles on her he knew her well, had exposed shortcomings, and rectified them.

Unfortunately, when Mick arrived in Horta received news that his crew for the second leg was not available. One has to wonder if the incident may have been manageable with two on board. I guess we will know in the fullness of time.

Edit, for anybody interested in Rose Rambler she is presently ashore at Kings Yard, Pin Mill.
 
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From the OCC Facebook page, he took part in the OCC rally to the Azores.

[h=5]I'm sorry to inform you, that Simo the Vertue was hit by a whale last night en route from Horta to Falmouth. Michael is safe and sound and has been picked up by a Spanish Fishing Boat, but of course he is very upset that he has lost his beloved Simo. He is now headed to Vigo and should be back in the UK early next week.[/h]
So no problems with sea-cocks, build, age, lack of crew, whatever; just fate and it seems a great big whale!

Luckily there was a fishing boat (one of those nasty Spanish ones that deliberately shoots gear in front of yachts!) near-by and he was picked up and seems to be in good shape. A great story for the yacht club bar though "I got sunk by a whale, y'now!", there'll be a few drinks on that one......
 
Hitting a whale is pure bad luck.I'm glad,in a way,that it was not a build problem.All those owners of proprely maintined wooden boats can at least breathe a sigh of relief.Hitting something can happen to any boat and only the sturdiest of hulls would withstand such an impact.
 
One of the Transat Classique boats, Gimcrack, was also hit by a whale somewhere west of the Canaries. It took some paint off and scared the crew, but no other damage. Might be a case of size helps...
 
pyrojames said:
One of the Transat Classique boats, Gimcrack, was also hit by a whale somewhere west of the Canaries. It took some paint off and scared the crew, but no other damage. Might be a case of size helps...
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Years ago a Baltic 50 something hit a whale and went down,.The damage was if I remember well, under the engine and not accessible,But it was a big strong boat.
 
Probably little similarity, except for wooden construction, but I remember the wreck of the Maria Asumpta in 1995 very well. We were berthed with her at Penzance and went aboard. Seemed perfectly sound and had been restored not that many years previously. Yet on hitting a rock off Padstow a short time later she was matchwood in minutes. Hard to believe that she broke up so comprehensively and quickly.
 
vyv_cox said:
Probably little similarity, except for wooden construction, but I remember the wreck of the Maria Asumpta in 1995 very well. We were berthed with her at Penzance and went aboard. Seemed perfectly sound and had been restored not that many years previously. Yet on hitting a rock off Padstow a short time later she was matchwood in minutes. Hard to believe that she broke up so comprehensively and quickly.
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Fair do's she was in a bit of blow, and the rocky entrance around the Camel River along with the conditions would and have turned many a boat into matchsticks in minutes. I was on her a few weeks before in Swansea, sharing a few beers with the crew. Nice big boat - but rocks are stronger.
 
J120 on a trip down the Baha Peninsula hit a whale ..... JWorld ..... The spade rudder was hit and the hull was ruptured leading to uncontrollable flooding. It went down, but no lives lost.

I watched a J24 hit a reef off Honokohau, Big Island, Hawaii .... it didn't last five minutes.

A trimaran on passage to the islands from Opua, NZ hit a whale .... I think it killed the whale, but the trimaran had no significant damage.

I've had a 60' Blue? whale taking quite an interest in my other yacht about 4 days out of Horta. Luckily it was only playing. I wouldn't of had a chance if it thought I was a threat. Perhaps well made steel or alloy boat might survive. Incidentally I had green antifouling on the bottom. I wonder if blue and black antifoul provoke whales into territorial barging.

Anyone else want to slag off wooden boats? You can get some that are built like garden sheds for sure, but a well built and maintained one should be a match for a glassfibre one any day.
 
Her hull was sound and she was in great shape for the trip north. Very sad and I'm gutted for Mick who is in Vigo right now and will be back in the Uk soon. Simo and Mick took me on my first Ocean passage and both taught me so much.
 
TradewindSailor said:
Certainly these collisions are not rare ..... perhaps just better known through the use of EPIRBS and the internet.
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I hit one last year on passage from Azores to Spain. Luckily it wasn't a very big one but then they don't make small ones. Boat (Rival 32) completely undamaged, unlike my nerves. But actually not quite as scary as seeing 50-ton sperm whales broaching mid-Atlantic. At first you think "wow!"; then..."oh sh*t, what if..."
 
A 50 foot ish boat came in to Horta last summer with quite severe damage having hit a whale, we also met another boat in Bermuda that limped in after another close encounter of the whale kind.The boat in Horta was taking on water and had to be lifted out at a neighboring island, the one in Bermuda had a badly damaged rudder.

I must say that I find whales near the boat extremely unsettling. We just missed a 40 foot sperm whale off the coast of Roatan. It was asleep on the surface and we both had a it of a shock when we saw each other!

I have heard that playing heavy metal music scares them off or poring a quantity of diesel on the water, any other tips?
 
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