Catamaran abandoned on the way from Queensland to New Caledonia

[Leakie Marine]

I read it as the mast was broken, not dismasted.

[captmikem]

People get frightened at sea and want out. Something breaks in rough weather and instead of going on deck and fixing it they stay below and call mayday.

Imagine being “Stranded at sea for three days” on your own boat… and calm enough you can lay alongside a large ship.

More than once I have been in rough weather talking to people on another boat that I heard call on the radio, they were frightened and would pay anything to get off the boat. They had great intentions for an adventure but were not mentally ready for the realities of rough weather.

M

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Don C L

The cat’s disabled, they need to be rescued, they are abandoning the boat and they still put out fenders?

They might be the type of sailors who just leave them out all the time.

[Thomas1985]

Originally Posted by fxykty

https://karryon.com.au/industry-news...escue-pacific/

The story says they were dismasted but the photos show an intact rig with what looks to be a tattered furling headsail (furled) and a dropped mainsail. But they called Mayday and abandoned the boat. Weird

If you have to step down in to the life raft you are abandoning ship too early.

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by Searles

Interestingly enough on a recent voyage on the Queen Elizabeth we passed and circled a large dismantled catamaran on the second day on a voyage to New caledonia the vsl was missing part of the stbd fwd hull but floating well,it had been abandoned over a year ago ,crew rescued in tact ,good chance for salvage.

That was 888 - a big Crowther. She dragged her mooring in NZ over a year ago and recently washed up near Yamba, minus the centre pod.

N

[smacksman]

Looks like she broke her boom. To a journalist mast/boom all the same. I could sail a cat without a boom. There must be more to this story.

[gordonhinds]

Probably fatigue kicked in. It looks like they broke their boom. The mainsail is down but bunched up. The jib is tangled and in tatters so unusable. They have solar so not sure about power loss unless they ran out of fuel. A series of cascading errors?

[TAN98]

Hello everyone,

Allow me to intervene regarding the comments and judgments that have been made about our recent experience at sea. First of all, I would like to clarify that what we experienced is far beyond what anyone can imagine without having experienced it personally.

Our boat, a catamaran, suffered significant damage with a leak in each float, no engine and no electricity on board, the helm was very difficult to maneuver. We found ourselves in the open sea with extremely difficult conditions, including large breakers and very heavy seas and a boat set sail, heading towards Brisbane. After a tiring night, we crossed paths with a liner. We asked him for material help. After contacting the Coast Guard, the captain of this vessel advised us to leave the ship for our safety. At that point, we made the difficult and painful decision to abandon our ship.

These events were traumatic and we are still in shock. It's easy to judge from the outside, but none of these people were with us in the middle of the Pacific, facing life-threatening conditions.

I understand that everyone has the right to their opinion, but I ask for a little respect and compassion. We did our best under extreme circumstances and we are grateful to be alive today.

Before making hasty judgments and “insulting” us, I invite you to think about what you would do in a situation where your life is in danger. We did not make these decisions lightly, and we must now face the emotional and material consequences of this ordeal.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Knotical]

TAN98, thank you for joining CF and giving a first hand report of the circumstances that compelled you to abandon your boat, believe me, we often don’t get that.

The members who posted in this thread have decades of experience with significant amount of ocean miles between them, I would take their opinions as healthy critiques rather than “insults”, they are just trying to provide the “other side” of the discussion, which I am sure you agree a situation like yours can generate.

I am sure everyone is glad that the three of you are safe and sound, continued discussion (at your timeline of course) on this matter will be a teaching moment for a lot of people here.

[Blakhomer]

The criticism is typical of these forums. They are battle hardened and you are but a mere peasant. Details hardly matter as they’ll weave their own narrative.

Glad you’re ok. Your experience must’ve been harrowing.

[rossdv8]

Nice to see a couple of more balanced replies. I was on the 'Journalistic error' side of the fence, after seeing what appeared to be a probably broken boom, rather than a broken mast - and wondering just how many people in the middle of nowhere would have the knowledge about repairing it, even if they had access to decent tools.

A broken boom OR a broken mast suggests some pretty rough conditions. I've had masts come down twice in my life, and I was only coastal. I've had booms break in one way or another on more occasions, usually when racing solo. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had weird engine or prop breakages.

Having owned almost a dozen sailing craft of one sort or another over about 60 years of sailing, and raced aboard a lot of others, I've seen some odd situations, some of which we gout out of by the skin of our teeth.
judging others' actions in an emergency is something most of us do in hidsight.
I would have done this, or done that differently if it had been me - is easy for us to do if it is not our lives at risk.

Glad you are safe TAN98, and sorry you have lost your lovely boat/home.
I hope you can get back on your feet and continue sailing . .

[5BTM]

In my case, I would like to know what failed, steps taken to correct the situation, jury rig that work or did not work, etc.

Don't care about the emotional fluff.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by TAN98

Hello everyone,

Allow me to intervene regarding the comments and judgments that have been made about our recent experience at sea. First of all, I would like to clarify that what we experienced is far beyond what anyone can imagine without having experienced it personally.

Our boat, a catamaran, suffered significant damage with a leak in each float, no engine and no electricity on board, the helm was very difficult to maneuver. We found ourselves in the open sea with extremely difficult conditions, including large breakers and very heavy seas and a boat set sail, heading towards Brisbane. After a tiring night, we crossed paths with a liner. We asked him for material help. After contacting the Coast Guard, the captain of this vessel advised us to leave the ship for our safety. At that point, we made the difficult and painful decision to abandon our ship.

These events were traumatic and we are still in shock. It's easy to judge from the outside, but none of these people were with us in the middle of the Pacific, facing life-threatening conditions.

I understand that everyone has the right to their opinion, but I ask for a little respect and compassion. We did our best under extreme circumstances and we are grateful to be alive today.

Before making hasty judgments and “insulting” us, I invite you to think about what you would do in a situation where your life is in danger. We did not make these decisions lightly, and we must now face the emotional and material consequences of this ordeal.

Thank you for your understanding.

Hi, TAN 98,

Thank you for joining CF to help us understand what happened to you out there. Fwiw, on the "ordeal" side of things, I think what happened to you guys, is just about the worst that a skipper will ever have to endure (short of loss of life of loved ones). But it is hard to write in a way that shows compassion, especially when the focus is sort of "OMG, what was the cascade of events?" And, only you know how much emotional pressure the skipper of the ship put on you to get off, too; I bet it was pretty heavy. You asked for material aid, you said, would you tell us what it was for which you asked?

Here are a few more questions, that might help us understand:

What happened to get holes in both hulls?

What did happen to the mast and/or boom?

Why was the helm so heavy?

Was it a single engine cat?

Why there was no power (solar array was present in photo)?

Why the headsail could not be furled?

Did you carry materials to make emergency hull repairs?

Did you carry or need a de-watering pump?


*****

First, I'd like to say I'm sorry it's so awful now, it is a major loss, and it deserves to be mourned. And I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time and having the patience to answer the questions above. It took courage to come join here, now.

Ann

[fxykty]

Thanks to TAN98 for providing some information and certainly my heartfelt sorrow for the loss of your boat.

If you’re able to provide more detail that would be really appreciated, as we can all learn from others experiences. In the absence of information there is speculation, which is not helpful for anyone.

1) Leaks in both hulls? What causes - escape hatches failed, port lights failed, deck hatches failed, fittings pulled out of deck, salon windows failed? Where were the leaks and were they handled by automatic bilge pumps, later manual pumps, or were they overwhelming?
2) Both engines failed? How? Fuel problem due to rough weather, flooding, ropes around the propellors?
3) No electrics. Was it flooding or something else? You had at least three independent batteries - they all failed?
4) Difficult helms? Why?

Due to having two hulls and generally redundant systems for engines and steering, it is hard to imagine the circumstances that would have both independent sides fail. The only scenario I can think of is running over a whale or container that holed the hulls and catastrophically damaged the shafts/sail drives/propellors and rudders. Is that what happened?

[captmikem]

Originally Posted by TAN98

Hello everyone,

Allow me to intervene regarding the comments and judgments that have been made about our recent experience at sea. First of all, I would like to clarify that what we experienced is far beyond what anyone can imagine without having experienced it personally.

Our boat, a catamaran, suffered significant damage with a leak in each float, no engine and no electricity on board, the helm was very difficult to maneuver. We found ourselves in the open sea with extremely difficult conditions, including large breakers and very heavy seas and a boat set sail, heading towards Brisbane. After a tiring night, we crossed paths with a liner. We asked him for material help. After contacting the Coast Guard, the captain of this vessel advised us to leave the ship for our safety. At that point, we made the difficult and painful decision to abandon our ship.

These events were traumatic and we are still in shock. It's easy to judge from the outside, but none of these people were with us in the middle of the Pacific, facing life-threatening conditions.

I understand that everyone has the right to their opinion, but I ask for a little respect and compassion. We did our best under extreme circumstances and we are grateful to be alive today.

Before making hasty judgments and “insulting” us, I invite you to think about what you would do in a situation where your life is in danger. We did not make these decisions lightly, and we must now face the emotional and material consequences of this ordeal.

Thank you for your understanding.

I am not “insulting” you I am just stating facts from experience, which is not beyond my imagination.

I have been in that sort of situation more than once. Thru-hull cracked on Alden 54 at two in the morning, my one crew woke me as there was a foot of water in the boat and the bow was actually only a foot out of the water. Dealt with the situation fixed the boat and sailed on. Had a spinnaker knockdown in the middle of the Atlantic, busted the boom and a few other things, made repairs and continued on. Crossing the Tasman in a rough cross sea water filled up both the gen set and the main engine while hove to in a nasty gale. took the injectors out of the gen set and got it going. Main engine bent the connecting rods, so no motor, sailed on when the weather got better. Beating across the Indian ocean blew out the jib and staysail in a bit of a gale, hove to for three days repairing them and sailed on. (was having a bad reaction to mefloquine at the time, not fun time).Could go on and on. The simple fact is you go to sea you plan for leaky hulls, broken rigs, engine malfunctions, electrical failures, damaged steering, blown sails, and when they happen you deal with them. Or, you rely on others to come and get you. Simple as that.

Your choice to give up the ship, but do not condemn others who would make different choices.
M