Yacht hits something and sinks 50 miles west of Niue

[fxykty]

Anybody know anymore about this incident?

From the article, the “Gwendoline called the Rescue Co-ordination Centre NZ and reported that the vessel had hit a semi-submerged object that had caused damage below the waterline.”

“The pair on board were forced to abandon ship and get into a life raft.”

“Two yachts responded and picked up the couple from the life raft and are on their way to Tonga.”

“The abandoned yacht was described by those who assisted with the rescue as being seen to be sinking quickly.”

http://nzh.tw/12256343

[briblack]

Yup. They were quickly rescued, boat lost. They were identified in the New Zealand press as a "Danish couple" which makes me pretty confident they're Kim and Lena. They were cruising the Tuamotus when we were, maybe late last year. Then later they were with us here on the Aloha Dock at Hawaii Yacht Club. Great folks, glad they're safe. Gwendoline was a steel boat, but I guess we're all vulnerable.

[DumnMad]

More on the rescue. Youtubers Rohan & Abbie from SailingAspire involved.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12257323

[knotstogo]

It's a scary story! I have been entertaining the idea of building a steel boat and circumnavigating when I retire. I have thought that if it's a steel boat, what can hurt me except an iceberg, reef, my own stupidity, or a bigger boat? If you check out their Facebook page they have a picture of Gwendoline Mary on the dry. She didn't have a skinny racing fin keel. No way, this boat was built like a battleship. I found this story on a Danish website and I ran it through Google's translator so it's definitely not perfect:


https://minbaad.dk/nyhed/archive/201...e-med-sejlads/


Lene and Kim Egtved saw the boat sink while they were in the liferaft - now they stop sailing

Watch the two long-distance sailors from Odsherred talk about the loss of their 50-foot steel boat in the Pacific. The sinking has now affected the Zealand couple so much that they stop sailing. - Maybe a charter trip in the future, says a touched Lene Egtved to TV2 East. See TV Features.

Af Troels lykke | 20-08-2019 09:16

The couple from West Zealand have been very open about their shipwreck, because Kim Egtved says after the shipwreck.

- If only a sailor wants to rethink his security level and save his life, then we have achieved what we want, he tells TV2 East. - see the incident and hear about the accident (https://www.tv2east.dk/nyheder/18-08...PixWd2c#player)

But now Lene and Kim Egtved stop sailing. The experience in the Pacific has left its mark and they have a trauma to be healed, according to the broadcast.

These are also violent experiences that the two sailors have been exposed to.

On facebook (https://www.facebook.com/gwendoline.mary.777), among other things, they wrote this about the crash, where they hit a heavy, hard object in the middle of the night, after which the boat sank at five kilometers depth, while waiting for two hours for help while sitting in the liferaft.

Kim Egtved explains: (minbaad.dk bringer med tilladelse)

There was no doubt here that we had been punched in the hull, because the water was pouring in at the dining table, which covers the helm.

I got off the two half countertops and looked down into what can best be described as a Jacuzzi with powerful bubble nozzles.

I immediately turned on our 3 powerful bilge pumps, then went up to Lene in the cockpit and told what had happened and that it was a really bad and bad situation we were in.


Asked her to take passports, papers, food

I asked her to collect our passports, papers, clothes, food, water and grab bags in case we had to go in the life raft.

A quick look at the chartplotter showed that there were no ships within a 24-mile radius, which is why I estimated that we should probably expect 2-3 days in the life raft before being rescued.

Then I spent the next hour trying to stop the hole with blankets, ropes, bags and Gaffa tape, but nothing worked as the water pressure was simply too great.

Meanwhile, Lene went around and collected as much as we could in the life raft.

Around. At 19.15 I gave up trying to limit the inflow of water. Even with the pumps running at high pressure, they could not keep up and the water level rose steadily.


Life raft in the water


I walked up to Lene in the cockpit and said that I would put the life raft in the water while she continued to gather and put it in waterproof bags.

I relaxed the liferaft in the water, of course the wrong way, but fortunately it turned itself.

The wind immediately grabbed it and pulled it 10 feet away from the boat. It was impossible to pull it close to the boat, so after slightly different attempts, we mounted a lap rope on the liferaft line, and with the large electric lapel we pulled the liferaft up mid-ship.

Then I went downstairs to assess the situation. The water level had risen significantly and it would not be long before it reached the batteries, after which all navigation and communication equipment would stop working.

When I assessed that there were no ships nearby, I started broadcasting mayday via our Iridium Go Satellite connection. Here I got in touch with the GEOS alarm center in Texas, USA.

They were informed of our position and situation (that we were sinking). Then I interrupted the communication as it eventually got pretty crazy with the life raft on the side and the big waves.

[knotstogo]

I have time for one more post before I have to do responsible things. Here is Gwendoline Mary from their Facebook page:





Honestly, with that kind of hull I just have to wonder how she could be holed from the side? Granted, in a tall sea maybe they hit an object that had more momentum because it was tossed by a wave? I read another article that said they had lost helm but now I can't find it.


Well, I just hope they can recover from it all. I know my respect for Neptune just got sharper!

[Miniyot]

Originally Posted by knotstogo

Honestly, with that kind of hull I just have to wonder how she could be holed from the side?

Sideswiped by a submarine?

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Miniyot

Sideswiped by a submarine?

Or something. I had a malfunction in Juneau this summer where my remote control hand held went rogue and into full throttle forward. Fortunately I was pointed at the breaker and not at another boat, but I tee boned the break water at maybe 6 knots. All rocks, of course, but all I could find was scraped bottom paint. Maybe their collision knocked off a transducer or something, but holing a steel boat takes some doing.

[barnakiel]

It does not matter if you are steel or plastic. It only takes one sharp and heavy blow. So it is all a stochastic process.


Some boats have watertight walls and these at times help, or at least buy you more time.


Too bad. Such a lovely craft. I am supper happy to read the sailors are fine!


barnakiel

[GILow]

Sad to lose the boat, but their description of their actions after the event sound like they did everything right.

I hope they find the courage to sail again, this sort of thing must really wreck the confidence.

[sdowney717]

Big steel ships and little steel boats can all easily go down when something happens. And none of their crew was expecting it.

[fivecapes]

Robert Redford demands an apology...

[jmh2002]

Scary story, and a reminder that steel boat or not positive buoyancy / watertight bulkheads and compartments / etc are a great feature to have on either a monohull or a multihull.

I guess the most likely scenario is that they hit a container (a lot were lost from a container ship of the east coast of Australia a while back), or given the described conditions being 'very rough' did they maybe even just fall off a big wave and stove in a section of hull plating? Steel boats can have hidden corrosion issues.

Either way it seems like they did all they could and did a good job to get safely off the boat and be rescued

[Budawang]

And here is a video made by the crew of the rescue yacht Filizi. Brave and heroic Greek couple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPF8SmUpkH4

[skydiver]

Reading about this incident and watching the above video has me wondering if they collided with a sperm whale.

[fxykty]

Sounds like their rudder was torn away and that was the hole that flooded them. Could be a whale. Humpbacks are most common in those waters. Or it could have been a materials failure. They don’t describe a collision. Who knows?