The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

Two Yacht Losses, Many Lessons Learned

Earlier in the winter, I was saddened to learn of the loss of the junk rigged schooner Easy Go and today I was shocked to learn of the abandonment of the 42-foot catamaran Be Good Too; luckily there was no loss of life in either case. I think there is a lot we can all learn from both these cases and that’s what this post is about.

But first I need to say that this is a difficult post to write. Drawing lessons from the actions of people who have been through a harrowing experience at sea from the comfort of a warm condo in the Canadian Rockies has the potential to be the worst kind of sanctimonious second guessing.

I will try to avoid that and concentrate on what we can all learn from these two abandonments, but inevitably the very process of highlighting lessons learned carries with it some implied criticism. I can’t help that, but do know that I am only too aware of the mistakes that I have made in my offshore sailing career and that the fact that I have never lost a boat or had to call for assistance was on several occasions more the result of good luck than good judgement.

One other thing. I have based this post on two short accounts of what happened, posted by two of the participants. This is by no means a well researched technical analysis. I could easily be wrong about the details or the inference I have drawn from these accounts. However, I have also cranked in my own considerable experience in the area as well as my reading of the accounts of scores of other losses in the same area over some 40 years. What I’m trying to convey here is that I may have one or two details wrong about these particular casualties, but don’t let that influence you into missing the overall message.

Ok, enough covering my ass, on to my thoughts on the lessons learned.


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Travis C

Excellent analysis John. Aboard submarines we still critique navigation and ship-handling errors from many years ago, because doing so makes you a better ship driver. Applying the same systematic review of events aboard any vessel and taking the time to say”Where’s my next accident at?” will help everyone be that little bit safer when casting off the lines.

Dave Benjamin

John,
The loss of “Be Good Too” is reminiscent of the loss of a catamaran here on the west coast several years ago. Sadly that one ended with loss of all aboard. The boat was enroute to Seattle for the January boat show. The Northern California and Pacific Northwest coastline is no place to be in the winter, particularly with a storm forecast. However the delivery captain “had a schedule to keep” and pressed on. One of my dock neighbors, a circumnavigator with over 130,000 sea miles and knowledge of our coast strongly advised the captain to stay put. The boat was found on an Oregon beach after the storm.

Commercial pressures can cloud judgement.

RDE (Richard Elder)

Hi Dave,
I remember that boat washing ashore near Tillamook Oregon. A year or two later a French delivery skipper tried to deliver one of those Lagoons with the helm station about 20 feet in the air singlehanded from France to the winter Seattle boat show. Fortunately for him he got so far behind schedule that he was able to leave the boat in California and finally finish the delivery in the spring.

Hard way to make a living.

Dave Benjamin

Richard,

Before my divorce in 2007 I used to own a beach condo in Oregon about 30 miles south of Tillamook. Being out there during a winter storm was awe inspiring. The storm that claimed that cat was forecast well in advance and it was a pretty significant weather event. I would not have wanted to be driving up the highway in those conditions much less being at sea in anything less stable than an aircraft carrier.

Scott Kuhner

John, I agree 100% about staying away from the Gulf Stream in seasons when there could be rough and dangerous weather. In July on 1974, Kitty and I were sailing our 30 foot Allied Seawind Ketch, “Bebinka” back from the Caribbean to New York. We had been delayed due to medical reasons; but, left for NY thinking no problem, even though another sailor said not to go between Hatteras and Bermuda, instead go either to Bermuda or come in at Beaufort, NC. On July 14th 1974 (I will never forget the date) we got caught in hurricane force winds (70+kts) and huge seas. At first we hove-to then went to lying a-hull under bare poles. The motion was deceptively calm until in the middle of the night, we fell off a huge wave. I am not sure if we actually did a 360; but, Kitty and I were both lying on the overhead in what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a couple of seconds. As we hit the trough, the main hatch blew off and when we righted the water was up to the level of the bunks. (We were however, lucky enough to have the most efficient bilge pump in the world, a frightened woman with a bucket.) The grab rails on the deck were blown off as was our windvane self-steering and our spray dodger. Also the main boom was bent and the sail below the reef points was torn. Back in those days we did not have access to good weather forecasts. nor did we have a parachute or sea anchor on board. We had no radios capable of calling for help. By the next day the wind had moderated and we were able to limp slowly all the way up to New York Harbor. I WILL NEVER COME UP FROM OR GO DOWN TO THE CARIBBEAN DURING THE HURRICANE SEASON AGAIN.

Smackdaddy

Scott – I remember this story in the BFS thread on SN. If I recall, you even put some pics up of the boat after that roll. That convinced me. John – great write up. This and your SDR analysis were spot on in my opinion.

Scott Kuhner

Smackdaddy, To see the pictures of Bebinka after the knockdown go to:
http://www.pbase.com/akuhner/image/101757909
And then scroll down to read the text and then click “next” at the bottom right of the page. Just to bring back the memories for you.

Marc Dacey

An impressive blast from the past. I noticed a few things: you carried spares like plywood, you set hank-on twins on the forestay and were able to hand-crank the diesel.

Where you were short in reliable forecasting, you seemed to have a lot of old-school seamanship to fall back on. I’m glad to hear you got through it.

RDE (Richard Elder)

I’d be remiss to second guess the decision process of highly experienced delivery skippers like Hank and Charlie whom I respect . However I leaned some time ago that I don’t have the right mentality to be a delivery skipper—Time is money—throw your sea bag on board, fill up the diesel tanks, flip the switches to see what works and what doesn’t, and hit the road.

However as a yacht builder there are several things about this episode that immediately come to mind.
1- Lack of an emergency steering system. With the near vertical transom shape of the it Alpha 42 cat it would be relatively easy to have a bolt- on bracket and complete spare rudder system available. Should be standard equipment on any boat bound for an offshore passage. (Another good argument for an externally hung rudder for the A-40)
2- Lack of a sea anchor. If the boat had a proper sea anchor and bridle, which catamaran experts including the designer view as the best storm survival tactic, they would have been much more secure and able to ride out heavier weather rather than wandering around with no directional control.
3- Window size: Catamaran designers cater to their clients desire for floating condos and thus invariably want to incorporate picture windows. If you look at the panel sizes of the windows on the Alpha 42 they are huge. No matter how thick the polycarbonate, they invariably flex under full wave impact and thus break their seals. I was guilty of wanting a glass palace when I designed the Lightspeed 58 fifteen years ago, but at least I kept the panel sizes reasonable. Also I went to the expense of making a mold for every window and having them blown by a manufacturer of kit aircraft canopies. The 2 axis curvature results in a much greater panel stiffness. Catamaran designers seem to think that waves never can hit their cabin structures because they are so high off the water. I remember having a Dark & Stormy in the Dingy Club bar in Bermuda and listening to a delivery skipper telling a story about a common production catamaran he was delivering being hit by a wave just like the one that hit the Alpa 42. At first they couldn’t understand why halyard tails were sticking into the salon along with all the water—–.
4- Daggerboards: Having the ability to retract the underwater appendages substantially increases the ability of the boat to slide off from wave impact rather than trip over the keels. As an added bonus, a daggerboard is an ideal basis for a jury rigged emergency rudder. Think a pre-designed gudgeon bracket and a set of pittles that clamp over the daggerboard at an appropriate location, and and an emergency tiller attached the same way.
5- Length: For a catamaran that is going to weigh at least 22,000# fully laden, 42′ hulls are on the short side. Better to pay more for dockage and stretch the hull length to 47′ while keeping everything else the same.

RDE (Richard Elder)

As a footnote, while one month is certainly too short a time frame for testing and development of a new vessel before undertaking a difficult offshore passage, as it turns out the designer and builder did subject it to a heavy weather extended sea trial before turning it over to the purchaser. I have no doubt that there are many boats that have circumnavigated while experiencing less heavy going than the Alpha 42 did during its sea trials.

“Extreme winter testing of the Alpha 42 continues as the boat has completed half of its circumnavigation of Long Island. The crew of 3 consisting of Gregor Tarjan, his partner Marc Anassis and Kenny have faced arctic gales in the North Atlantic with winds up to 35 knots and walls of 8′ seas. The boat has proven to be extremely strong and stiff. In spite of the rough conditions, the very high bridgedeck clearance of the boat assured that not one single time did a wave pound the main deck. Conditions are harsh and the crew only ventures outside the heated interior if absolutely necessary. The Alpha’s decks have been covered with ice and walking on them has become extremely hazardous. The Alpha 42 might be the only cruising catamaran which has been tested under such harsh conditions.”

Horatio Marteleira

Hi Richard,
Tested in severe conditions of 35 kt winds and 8-foot seas?
That’s rough weather, but doesn’t sound very severe to me.

Erik de Jong

I think that the story that Richard is telling here about testing and de-bugging actually shows the difference between shipbuilding and yacht building.

Where a sea going commercial vessel will be on sea trials for usually not longer than two weeks before being taken into service, a yacht is being tested and de-bugged for several years before it can be considered reliable and sea worthy.

The yacht building industry has to work with tight budgets, every second ship owner wants to reinvent the wheel and worst of all (or good, depends on how you look at it), most yachts will never be put to the test with severe conditions. So even if hundreds of boats are built of one type, that is still no proof that the boat is structurally sound and the systems are sized correctly.

If a yacht was designed, built, maintained and operated like a commercial sea going ship, I’m convinced that we will not hear many stories of failure and abandonment any more.

Just looking at manufacturer’s specs for equipment on yachts, like winches, pumps, chargers etc. says enough. While building our own expedition vessel, I barely ever looked at the manufacturer’s recommendation for sizing, but always asked for the spec sheets to verify with my own calculations if the piece would work for the vessel
1 Often, there are no standards of how performance needs to be measured. Take a diesel engine for example. If you look at industrial engines, you can choose the same engines with an A, B, C or D rating. These ratings stand for continues full duty, maximum 6 hours at the time, never full power and so on. The horsepower that the engine can put out is adjusted to which rating the vessels profile requires. This is all regulated and put in codes. When looking at an engine for a yacht, you never read anything about the different power profiles. Luckily we as “yachties” are never running continuously on 100% power, otherwise we would have major problems.
2 Equipment for yachts is, just like the boats itself, barely ever put to the test and manufacturers do therefore not get the required feedback via their warranty system to improve the product.
3 Because nobody uses it in heavy conditions, the census seems to be that these pieces of equipment can be sized smaller and therefore cheaper. Hey, it worked on 200 boats, so it is also good for number 201!
In my experience, this has led to a specification system that works for most boats, but not for vessels that you will take offshore on serious passages. A good way to ensure that your boat is up to the task is to check it against regulations and specifications that are used for commercial vessels.
It will cost more money, but I think it is safer (and smarter) to reduce the amount of gear that you put on your boat, and spec the gear that you do need properly and up to the task. (John’s wonderful and so true “needs” and “wants” list is very applicable)

When building a yacht with these principles, as if it were a commercial vessel, and do some serious testing in port, changes are that there will be no dangerous bugs left after the first 2 weeks of testing and it will result in good and reliable offshore yachts that do what they are meant for: carry you safe and sound from A to B. When a vessel does not fail, you won’t have to abandon it either.

Horatio Marteleira

Hi Erik,
Thanks for your “insider” insight. It makes perfect sense to me, especially the part about lots of fancy gear while sacrificing robustness.
I sail a Corbin 39 (known as an overbuilt boat). I call it the naked boat for its lack of gear, but it never let me down, even in 8 m waves (as opposed to 8 feet) in the Gulf Stream and a wave crashing over the deck.
On the other hand, I believe that most production boats are up to the job for coastal sailing since they never get sailed in “severe” conditions and are designed for comfortable life aboard. And that’s what most people do and want.