Rescue at mouth of Chesapeake Bay

[Sailor Sailor]

Several news sources and the U.S.C.G. are reporting the rescue of the sailboat "Irish Tango" near Thimble Shoals just outside the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. There were 4 onboard suffering from exhaustion after the autopilot failed. The sailboat was a hazard to shipping traffic. Everyone is O.K. and the boat was saved.

It appears it may be a Salty Dawg Rally participant - a 1974 Hinckley 49 cc Ketch.

The weather has been problematic lately in the Mid-Atlantic, and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is a challenging area with shoals, strong tidal currents, and lots of obstructions, including a low highway bridge, with a few tunnel gaps.

I suspect many of the snowbirds have been frustrated in their annual runs South to the Bahamas and Caribbean.

[ItDepends]

Thimble Shoal is actually quite far INSIDE the Chesapeake, just east of Hampton.

It IS near mutiple busy shipping channels however, and a boat not under control there would be a hazard to itself and others.

[Bill O]

Yes they were part of this years SD rally and dropped out. They are in Newport News now.

[thomm225]

The Thimble Shoal Tunnel and surrounding area is a lot more crowded at this time with the 2nd tunnel construction going on at the CBBT and dredging that has been going on.

There are multiple crane barges in the area plus numerous tugs. There's even this huge barge/tug mooring float just inside the tunnel. Barges are sometime loaded with new dirt/rock or removed bay bottom

Tugs are moving them constantly it seems.

On top of that, there is the normal shipping traffic and the heavy boats that take the construction work crews in and out in most all weathers.

During heavy Nor'Easters they bring all crane barges in to Little Creek and anchor them. When the weather clears up the tugs move them back out quickly and it's best not to be in the way trying to sail in light winds

For all practical purposes you are about in the Atlantic once you clear the Thimble Shoal Tunnel, and it can get very crowded there.

Also as you are just clearing land there is the split for the Thimble Shoal Channel and the Northern or Chesapeake Channel.

I've seen ships come out over the Chesapeake Channel Tunnel then pull a U turn and go back in the Thimble Shoal Channel cutting across which is a bit nerve racking if you are heaved too in there waiting for a certain sailboat to come in

See ships/tugs and barges coming and going over Thimble Shoal Tunnel in photo below plus new tunnel construction

https://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/12221.shtml

https://www.easternshorepost.com/202...ve-years-late/

[Bill O]

A news report of the incident.

Doesn't make sense of the timing if they left from Hampton (start point of the rally) and were out 48hrs to only get 2mi. east of the tunnel bridge (~14nm from Hampton).

[Sailor Sailor]

Both the Chesapeake Channel and the Thimble Shoals Channel also have a lot of small fishing boat traffic. The boats seem to enjoy running along the bridge pilings, somewhat oblivious to all the traffic in and out.

The interesting issue here is boat size and crew exhaustion. So many new boaters want to buy the 40-50 foot sailboat. Here, they had four crew suffering from exhaustion after trying to hand steer for two days in difficult conditions. Maybe some of the new boaters should rethink their preferred boat size in light of these kinds of incidents...

[thomm225]

It's a wonder they didn't heave too for a while (or lay a hull) and rest a bit having just one crew member keep watch while the others try and get some rest

At 2 am near the bridge though there are lots of lights so the crewman steering probably just got disoriented.

And sometimes your sails can block ships.

I was about to cross Thimble Shoal Channel at 10:30 pm one night when I heard a pilot call to a South Bound sailing vessel.........and I soon figure out it was me, glanced around the jib and there was this silhouette of a huge container ship with it's tiny red bow light on so I turn up and waited.

I didn't have an AIS Receiver or chart plotter back then. (just charts and gps/compass)

I was single handing

[boatman61]

I don't get how a crew of four can be exhausted from having to steer by hand for a coupla hundred miles..

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I don't get how a crew of four can be exhausted from having to steer by hand for a coupla hundred miles..

Sea sickness helps.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Sea sickness helps.

I thought there were miracle cures for that, from my reading of CF..

[ItDepends]

Originally Posted by Bill O

A news report of the incident.

Doesn't make sense of the timing if they left from Hampton (start point of the rally) and were out 48hrs to only get 2mi. east of the tunnel bridge (~14nm from Hampton).

Not all boats start out of Norfolk or Hampton. It's hard to be sure, but it looks like the rally tracking page has them starting from Newport, which would be about right...

Good thing they were in the rally with all those buddy boats looking out for them...

[Sailor Sailor]

I will go out on a limb here and speculate it was two older couples (especially with a Hinckley). Wives are not happy with the situation and the trip. It is cold. No one wants to hand steer all the way south so the rally is off the table. NW winds prevent them from easily entering the Bay. They sail back and forth near the entrance waiting for better conditions. Commercial shipping gets tired of avoiding them. Coast Guard to the rescue.