Yacht rescue nearish Brisbane, Aust.

[GILow]

Gawd, that’s a Swanson 38 I think. They are bullet proof.

Fore and Aft, any idea from your survey what might have gone wrong with the boat?

I mean clearly the sails must have been rubbish, but that boat would just be getting pleasant to sail around 30 knots.

[Fore and Aft]

Gilow I think inexperience played the biggest part in this whole drama. She's a tired Swanson 38 yacht like that needs an experienced delivery skipper like Boatman who can manage all the minor crises as they happen. The engine issues do not surprise me, it's an old British motor with a lot of hours on it. Plus, who knows how old the diesel is in the tanks. Overall, there is nothing seriously wrong with the yacht. Everything on her is just old.
Also, for fair weather sailors like me, 30 knots is getting out of our comfort zone and I would rather be anywhere except onboard a boat out at sea.
Simi has it right, run downwind to Southport then get towed in. There's two Furler's so surely one would have worked. The unfurled staysail would have been the perfect size to run down wind.
This event does not surprise me, a lot of people probably laugh when I mention Covidiots but a lot of rescues never make it into mainstream media and I usually hear about them when the new owner is already selling the boat. Lots of these new sailors realise they have missed the You Tube episode were the skipper sh*ts himself and finds in himself way in over his head and drowning or losing the yacht is a distinct possibility.
Cheers

[donradcliffe]

Its just episode 231 in the long running series "when you need to deliver a boat new to you its way cheaper to take someone along who knows what they are doing".

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Gilow I think inexperience played the biggest part in this whole drama. She's a tired Swanson 38 yacht like that needs an experienced delivery skipper like Boatman who can manage all the minor crises as they happen. The engine issues do not surprise me, it's an old British motor with a lot of hours on it. Plus, who knows how old the diesel is in the tanks. Overall, there is nothing seriously wrong with the yacht. Everything on her is just old.
Also, for fair weather sailors like me, 30 knots is getting out of our comfort zone and I would rather be anywhere except onboard a boat out at sea.
Simi has it right, run downwind to Southport then get towed in. There's two Furler's so surely one would have worked. The unfurled staysail would have been the perfect size to run down wind.
This event does not surprise me, a lot of people probably laugh when I mention Covidiots but a lot of rescues never make it into mainstream media and I usually hear about them when the new owner is already selling the boat. Lots of these new sailors realise they have missed the You Tube episode were the skipper sh*ts himself and finds in himself way in over his head and drowning or losing the yacht is a distinct possibility.
Cheers

Yes, it’s funny how the YouTube mob skip over the really bad stuff. Plenty of “dramatic moments”, but nothing that will scare the punters.

I’ll keep an eye open for the boat when she gets here, as I am sure she will. The skipper’s name rings a faint bell, but I’m not sure why. Might have been one of the people who approached me about buying my Swanson a while back.

I don’t sail in over 30 knots if I can avoid it, but a run up the east coast of Tassie last year in over 30 knots for 12 hours left me much more confident in the boat’s abilities. I certainly would trust the 38 to do it well, everything I’ve heard about them suggests they are better boat than my 42. (Except for their size, they are very squeezy inside.)

[clownfishsydney]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

ClownFishSydney thanks for the link, I almost spat my coffee on the computer screen when I read the article.
I will give you guys some background on the whole situation. That owner Darryl gave me a fair bit of grief and slagged me off to anyone who would listen back in February when he purchased the yacht. I did the pre-purchase survey and my report reflected Lester D was not ready to do a voyage to Adelaide (Maybe 2000 miles?). My issue with Darryl arose when he could not get insurance until the yacht was brought up to standard. Darryls argument was he would sail this project boat home and then do the repairs. Anyway, I copped a fair bit of flak and have a file of nasty emails Darryl sent me regarding my abilities as a surveyor. Darryl's only been sailing 3 years and 2 of them were in lockdown so I just had a quiet chuckle at what he was saying.
Darryl is just another one in a long line of Covidiots I have been dealing with and luckily none of them have drowned yet.
Cheers

Thanks, that was my thoughts considering where they were rescued and the stated wind conditions. Southerly changes just don't happen without notice!

[HeinSdL]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

ClownFishSydney thanks for the link, I almost spat my coffee on the computer screen when I read the article.
I will give you guys some background on the whole situation. That owner Darryl gave me a fair bit of grief and slagged me off to anyone who would listen back in February when he purchased the yacht. I did the pre-purchase survey and my report reflected Lester D was not ready to do a voyage to Adelaide (Maybe 2000 miles?). My issue with Darryl arose when he could not get insurance until the yacht was brought up to standard. Darryls argument was he would sail this project boat home and then do the repairs. Anyway, I copped a fair bit of flak and have a file of nasty emails Darryl sent me regarding my abilities as a surveyor. Darryl's only been sailing 3 years and 2 of them were in lockdown so I just had a quiet chuckle at what he was saying.
Darryl is just another one in a long line of Covidiots I have been dealing with and luckily none of them have drowned yet.
Cheers

An account of a job well done therefore, with the shine taken off by the mention of covid. What's that got to do with this chaps behaviour?

[El Pinguino]

I'm surprised the police are in the salvage business.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by HeinSdL

An account of a job well done therefore, with the shine taken off by the mention of covid. What's that got to do with this chaps behaviour?

Probably because due to covid, there has been a vaste increase of clueless dolts take to the water as they could no longer have cheap holidays in Bali.

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I'm surprised the police are in the salvage business.

Pretty common in Australia where the Water Police and the two volunteer organisations (Volunteer Marine Rescue and Coast Guard) work together to recover boats in trouble.

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

...
Also, for fair weather sailors like me, 30 knots is getting out of our comfort zone and I would rather be anywhere except onboard a boat out at sea.
...

I am likewise more of a fair weather sailor, but there are plenty of places I would not want to be other than onboard a boat at sea. Like onboard a boat close to shore...

[Davo1404]

Reminds me of a post on a sailing fb page around 4 months ago. A lady who had just bought a 50 ft production yacht was asking "what weather do we need to sail from Sydney to the Whitsunday Islands".

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Sorry, but, I feel the abc reporting maximizes drama, to the extent it is difficult to tell what happened in reality. It was only 30 knots! I guess the guys did not have a clue what to do when the wind vane broke. We've hand steered, watch on, watch off, in that situation. It read to me like the sailors were not very experienced. It was just a southerly change. Unexpected "storm", my foot! Storm force is 52 knots. The boat should have been able to sail safely.

Ann

Yes indeed, shredded sails?
At least no one got seriously injured.

[oceanshoretiga]

One thing about conspiracy theories is you never know what a lack of seriously good evidence will bring up. The posts so far are based on no verifiable evidence, but then arm-chairs never did need evidence as neither do conspiracy theory promoters.

Let us also assume that this yacht was insured and that this yacht passed survey. Makes you wonder about the quality of survey that was done, probably a pre-purchase survey that gave the boat a ‘pass’ for insurance purposes, too.

To top it off, the surveyor seems to have broken professional confidence by speaking about the survey that the owner paid for. The report is not a public document and is, when paid for, owned by the owner of the yacht, is his property.

Sail safely, jim

[GILow]

Originally Posted by oceanshoretiga

One thing about conspiracy theories is you never know what a lack of seriously good evidence will bring up. The posts so far are based on no verifiable evidence, but then arm-chairs never did need evidence as neither do conspiracy theory promoters.



Let us also assume that this yacht was insured and that this yacht passed survey. Makes you wonder about the quality of survey that was done, probably a pre-purchase survey that gave the boat a ‘pass’ for insurance purposes, too.



To top it off, the surveyor seems to have broken professional confidence by speaking about the survey that the owner paid for. The report is not a public document and is, when paid for, owned by the owner of the yacht, is his property.



Sail safely, jim

Umm… are you sure you posted this response to the correct thread?

[JPA Cate]

Actually, I would be interested to see whatever it is that makes oceanshoretiga, post as he or she did, above.

What is it about a generic southerly change at these latitudes that makes you question the thoughts of the experienced sailors hereabouts?

[All the southerly changes are less powerful above 25 deg. S.]

Ann