Nicholson 38 sunk on Baja Ha-Ha

[JPA Cate]

Good thing there was no loss of life....

[h20man]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Good thing there was no loss of life....

absolutely shear luck there was no loss of life...

[requiem]

Based on the first few pages of the SA thread, my thinking leaned toward gross negligence on the part of this "captain". I see another poster there added their personal experience with a him on delivery, which only reinforces that assessment.

The track alone is damning, autopilot or no.

[Don C L]

Even in broad daylight, following a contour line on a coast with rock outcrops (which may be right under the surface with no wave break) is a bad idea. I know from experience. I was lucky but i sure learned my lesson.

[h20man]

Originally Posted by requiem

Based on the first few pages of the SA thread, my thinking leaned toward gross negligence on the part of this "captain". I see another poster there added their personal experience with a him on delivery, which only reinforces that assessment.

The track alone is damning, autopilot or no.

As the day goes on.. the story gets worse on the other forum.


Appears many people have had issues.. now everyone is starting to talk and compare notes..


Amazing..

[JPA Cate]

Unfortunately, for me, it is not amazing.

There seems to be a sub-culture of lying for one's business(es). People like me are not good sleuths to find out. Internet users have varying capabilities.

I cannot blame the lady skipper for not being able to research the crew called Ray. It was her responsibility, but perhaps she didn't think to google on vetting crew, or whatever it is.

Imo, serah's experience with Ray beggars description. (Female crew wanting sea miles, not paying attention to her gut's rejection of the situation.) For me, it takes some time to process feelings, and come to understand what's going on. I can understand that she figured out too late that she should not have gone. I'll add that good on her for owning up to what had been driving her. That speaks to really good character.



Ann

[Kettlewell]

I've talked to many boat owners who took on crew and lived to regret it, and I have spoken to crew who regretted joining someone's boat. Sailing together on a small boat that requires skills and a certain stamina will bring out the best and worst in people, and will make abundantly clear whatever differences in personality exist. Look at how many couples break up over sailing, or never sail together. When I was young and wanted to learn sailing I volunteered at the local yacht club and quickly hooked up with a captain who needed someone to crew and was able to endure his constant screaming as we went around the course. Nothing was ever good enough or done to his satisfaction. I learned a lot, but quit after one season. After that experience I have never had a desire to crew for anyone else.

[boatman61]

It's kinda hard to post about other delivery skippers on forums as it can often be perceived as personal attacks, attempts to smear perceived competition etc..
All I can do is when getting negative feedback from a client who approaches me for a job which I cannot do because the timing conflicts with an existing commitment and I recommend someone that goes sour on the trip is give them a second chance, personality clashes can happen on long trips away from shore.. however if the same issues/complaints come back after the next recommendation I just don't recommend them again.
Thankfully so far that's only happened a couple of times.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Unfortunately, for me, it is not amazing.



Imo, serah's experience with Ray beggars description. (Female crew wanting sea miles, not paying attention to her gut's rejection of the situation.) For me, it takes some time to process feelings, and come to understand what's going on. I can understand that she figured out too late that she should not have gone. I'll add that good on her for owning up to what had been driving her. That speaks to really good character.



Ann

Yeah, that was a difficult read. Just luck that it didn't end much worse.

[5BTM]

Ray should have gone into acting:

https://www.google.com/search?sca_es...vujknrBuE,st:0

[Don C L]

Yeah the big take-away for me after reading it is not so much about navigation, although that's a BIG one, but be sure you know who you are sailing with and know you are compatible. Probably better just to sail your own boat and if you aren't ready to do that, don't go on the big trip.

[h20man]

as posted on the other sailing site: https://forums.sailinganarchy.com/th...9/post-8514251


Ray just posted his version of the events on his FB page:

Ray McCormack is
feeling sad in Vancouver, WA.​

8m ·


https://www.facebook.com/#
Sinking of BoatBumGal
On October 29 2023 I was contacted by the owner of BoatBumGal to help sail her boat from San Diego to Le paz while joining the baja ha ha fleet. We mutually agreed that I would not be paid, but that she would pay for my expenses. We also discussed about the condition of the boat, and my position on the boat as being the most experienced individual on board out of the three of us.
Flew down to the boat on Monday morning October 30, after arriving to the boat I could see that this late 1970’s boat had marginal maintenance. Just as an example the tricolor light was wired into the running lights, the led deck lights where wired into the steaming light, and the AC charger on board had a 110 male plug that was plugged into a 110 plug box and was not on any breaker. I figured that with traveling the baja ha ha fleet there is safety in numbers. So we departed later that day around dusk, about 9 pm we saw the house bank run down to 10.5 volts, so turned the boat around and we went back into port. Next morning, we investigated batteries, regulator, and alternator. Found the charging post on the alternator was severely corroded and the main feed line terminal had basically fallen apart. After re-crimping the cable, cleaning all terminals and post on the alternator, we reassembled and finally got over 14 volt charging at the batteries while engine was running. We tried departing again around 5 pm on October 31.
As we headed down the coast we saw that the auto pilot would make 30 degree turns with out notification, this was a sign that the battery voltage was compromised. We proceeded to get out the portable generator and hook it up to shore power for charging batteries. Also, we found that when putting the auto pilot in standby mode the hydraulic pump would not release the helm for 20 seconds.
Around 10 pm on November 2nd I awoke to the boat healing over from wind. Got up and found that we had an offshore breeze blowing about 22 knots. Eased the sails and made the decision to turn inland a bit to mitigate the wind conditions the boat was seeing. The sails and rigging on this boat were quite aged. The boom vang had already broke off the mast. Our route had us going into the center of the entrance of turtle bay as noted by cruising guides, and this is what I have done over my last 4 times into turtle bay. The new plan was to run the 10 meter depth or 30 feet to get close to land allowing us to take the sails down. Usually when I deviate from my planned route I will drag my weigh points over to the new intended route, I did not do this which means I had no reference to the boat changing direction. Also, my coastal explorer stopped showing tracks for reference of the direction of the boat. I had a ticket out with rose point to try and address this, but this laptop is now in 40 feet of salt water.
At around 1 am we noted the battery voltage was dropping off again, so we started the generator but then the 110 breakers at the panel were tripping. We dragged out the extension cords to make it so the generator would be directly connected to the AC charger via that 110 male plug mentioned earlier. There was quite a bit of activity in the cockpit while this was going on and I suspect this is when the auto pilot made a turn, and I did not know about it. Suddenly the crew up on the rail says he sees rocks, and just then I sea the breaking water on rocks. Immediately I tried putting auto pilot in standby, but it would not disengage. So I reached for the gear shifter to slam it in reverse, but just as I touched it we slammed into a rock. She popped over the rock and laid over on her port side. Each swell that came by flipped her over to the other side as she moved farther up onto the rocks. Eventually we ended up on the port side again, and that is when I saw cabinetry moving down below and large amounts of water coming in. Bryan got on the radio and started making may day calls. It was high tide and the water was just starting to ebb, which dragged us off the rocks. We all put on our life jackets, Bryan went for the dinghy motor and gas, while I went to set the anchor. Eventually we all met at the back of the boat, the rail was just a few inches from the water. Got my leatherman and cut all the lines holding the dinghy and we worked our way forward to the bow. She slipped under and we fired up the dinghy motor and started heading toward the turtle bay pier. A fishing panga found us and gave us a ride to the pier, where were able to get a hotel for the night.
Next few days the turtle bay folks, and in particular Maria’s helped us out so that we can make our way home. This was a terrible tragedy, with the owner losing everything she has. I am thankful that we are all safe.
Many questions can be asked:
Should this boat have even made the trip?
Should we not have been close to that shore?
Should I have dragged my route over so that I had reference of direction?
I hope others will learn from this mishap; I know that I learn something every time I go on the water.

[wholybee]

I read that on Ray's FB page, and left him a (meant to be constructive) comment. I think the trip could have been made successfully and safely. The sails worked, the engine worked, and the boat could be steered. He was having some issues with his navigation laptop but it provided their location and required navigation info. Nothing that was broken or not working played into the incident. I've made longer trips with no autopilot at all, they did have enough crew for that. The sole cause of the accident was being too close to shore/rocks, which I explain in my comment:

When i am sailing a coastline, i measure the distance to the shore by the amount of time until i hit it, not by distance. For example, at 5kts speed, 5nm from shore is 1 hour. I singlehand a lot, and 1 hour is the minimum time i want if i am by myself. **** its the fan, the boat makes an unexpected turn to shore, and i have one hour to notice it and fix it. Fully crewed i might consider needing less time because fully crewed someone is always on watch. The first few long coastal sails i made, me as crew, the skipper followed the 3 mile contour marked on the chart, which gives just over half an hour.
Anyway, If you are following the 30ft line (and aren't there breaking rocks on the 30 ft depth contour?) you cut that time dramatically. To only 3 or 4 minutes i might think. If i knew my autopilot had a tendency to turn off course, if there were other problems as well, i would err on the side of having a lot more time.
It is what it is at this point, the boat is gone and everyone is safe.

[BlueH2Obound]

We were in Turtle Bay, having arrived 1 November. We delayed our previous departure in order to arrive in Turtle Bay shortly after Daylight. The rocks that BumBoatGal hit are clearly marked on Navionics. We're not going to get into the weeds second guessing the crew of BumBoatGal, as we were not there, but when we came into the harbor, even in Daylight, we gave Kelp Point a wide berth, entering in the middle of the opening and clear water. The weather was pretty mild that night, and swells from the land breeze were pretty small for what it matters. We'll probably never know the full story . . . . So sad it happened, but fortunately there were no injuries or loss of life.

[Iron E]

Imagine telling the world:
"I'm the most experienced person on board and have found multiple and major issues with the boat and her electrical system... Let's go!"