The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site
Lessons From Losses at Sea
It is tempting, when faced with the news of the total loss of a yacht, to metaphorically cover our ears and close our eyes until the news fades away—it is also a huge mistake.
In this series John looks at the loss of several yachts and what we can learn from each.
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Articles in this topic:
- Six Things We Can Learn From A Night Approach That Ended on a Lee Shore
- “Cheeki Rafiki” Tragedy, Time For Changes
- “Cheeki Rafiki” Report Misses An Opportunity to Make Boats Safer
- “Cheeki Rafiki” Loss Update
- The Loss of “Team Vestas Wind”
- Loss of Yacht “Tao”
- Two Yacht Losses, Many Lessons Learned
- Amidships “Preventers”—A Bad Idea That Can Kill
- Lessons From a Tragedy at Sea
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Six Things We Can Learn From A Night Approach That Ended on a Lee Shore
20 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: Six Things We Can Learn From A Night Approach That Ended on a Lee ShoreThere are always lessons to be learned from a disaster, and this one can teach us many things, as well as remind us all of some fundamentals of good seamanship.
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“Cheeki Rafiki” Tragedy, Time For Changes
121 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesFree
Read more: “Cheeki Rafiki” Tragedy, Time For ChangesThoughts on the tragic loss of Cheeki Rafiki. One of the most difficult posts I (John) have ever written.
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“Cheeki Rafiki” Report Misses An Opportunity to Make Boats Safer
63 CommentsReading Time: 9 minutesFree
Read more: “Cheeki Rafiki” Report Misses An Opportunity to Make Boats SaferI would be the first to commend the authors of the report on their diligence in analyzing the capsize of the Beneteau First 40.7 Cheeki Rafiki and the tragic loss of four lives. Having said that I believe said report failed the offshore sailing community in its recommendations. Here are my thoughts on what we need to do to prevent another tragedy in the future.
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“Cheeki Rafiki” Loss Update
32 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: “Cheeki Rafiki” Loss UpdateMore developments on the tragedy, but John still thinks that the most important point is being missed.
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The Loss of “Team Vestas Wind”
45 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: The Loss of “Team Vestas Wind”The loss of a yacht is both sobering and sad, but what we can do to gain something positive from the news is try to learn from what happened.
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Loss of Yacht “Tao”
79 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: Loss of Yacht “Tao”Analysis of the abandonment of the French yacht Tao. The disaster started with a capsize, as yacht losses so often do. And while researching the weather at the time, I discovered something interesting…
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Two Yacht Losses, Many Lessons Learned
83 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: Two Yacht Losses, Many Lessons LearnedAnalysis of the loss of two very different yachts in the North Atlantic. One fully crewed and one single handed.
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Amidships “Preventers”—A Bad Idea That Can Kill
85 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: Amidships “Preventers”—A Bad Idea That Can KillJohn has long advocated for preventers rigged from the boom well outboard to the bow as the only right way. We now have solid engineering, and a tragedy, to show how important this is.
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Lessons From a Tragedy at Sea
55 CommentsReading Time: 12 minutesFree
Read more: Lessons From a Tragedy at SeaJohn’s take on the causes of the two fatalities on the yacht Escape south of Nova Scotia in June 2022, and some thoughts on how similar tragedies can be avoided.
