Whale sinks Yacht

Danny_Labrador

Danny_Labrador

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Has this been posted before ?

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British couple's yacht sunk by whale in Caribbean
A British couple's two-year dream holiday ended in disaster when their £150,000 yacht sank after hitting a whale in the Caribbean.


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In the news today

I would be interested to hear what type of yacht it was ?
 
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I would be interested to hear what type of yacht it was ?

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"Helen Mary Gee is a Sovereign 470. We bought her in October 2004 when we found her in Lagos Portugal, in need of some tender loving care. We could see her potential as being a fast cruiser but she had been used for racing and was somewhat neglected.

She is a Spanish built boat and was commissioned in 1990. Her build is quite exotic and was one of we believe 8 boats built in her mould.

With lots of elbow grease and TLC and not to mention the bucket loads of money, we have improved her to her former glory and more and I am sure that she will be our friend and take care of us wherever we take her."

The wonders of Google /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
"Because of our ocean travelling the sole boards on HMG were screwed down. "

Odd! I would have thought it logical to do it the other way round. Day sailing in the 'med, ok to screw 'em down! Crossing an ocean with containers, logs, whales and other sundry items in the water, I'd want to be able to get to the hull in a hurry. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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Crossing an ocean with containers, logs, whales and other sundry items in the water, I'd want to be able to get to the hull in a hurry.

[/ QUOTE ] Hmmm. You haven't been thrown onto your beam ends by a seriously big wave, then. Floor boards fly all over the place, and everything tucked away under them hits the roof. Chaos. Add that to the mess that flew out of one locker when a tin hit the release catch at a funny angle, mix with the water that slushed past the wash boards (hold down not quite tight enough) and you'll never leave them unscrewed again! I've still never worked out how the honey painted itself over the roof lining . . .
 
>> ""Because of our ocean travelling the sole boards on HMG were screwed down. " <<

I agree, and we have a solution between yours and JimB's. None of our floorboards are screwed down as originally done. Instead, I made heavy brass turnbuckles (bolted not screwed in place) that very firmly hold them in place. Given what's stored below, we are confident as we can be that they would stay in place if the worst happens - fingers crossed!

We did this first for our first ocean passage because we wanted to be able to get to the hull in seconds if a problem occurred, but also because we store loads of gear and spares there as they're always bone dry.

From the blog, I seems that the skipper couldn't get to or assess the damage because 'black water tank ' was in the way. That is a real problem and unless a flexible tank, could not be readily removed. Fortunately on the Fulmar, the area outboard of the cooker is the only area of the hull not accessible.

A terribly sad story though, but I'm glad they were ok in the end.
 
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When is a yacht not a luxury yacht /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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when it is used for an essential purpose.

Arguably a charter vessel owned by someone who make their sole living from it like....
 
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When is a yacht not a luxury yacht /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Good question! When the writer of the article does not have one...
 
Anybody know how the whale got on? was it an attack or a collision with a sleeping whale? was it indeed a Whale and not some other dejected flotsam?
 
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