Ocean Survial Ability

[gjordan]

Just something to remember! MORE CRUISING BOATS ARE LOST TO POOR ANCHORING SKILLS THAN POOR SAILING SKILLS. All systems need consideration, but ground tackle should be way up on the importance list. Another 2 cents worth.____Grant.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by gjordan

Just something to remember! MORE CRUISING BOATS ARE LOST TO POOR ANCHORING SKILLS THAN POOR SAILING SKILLS. All systems need consideration, but ground tackle should be way up on the importance list. Another 2 cents worth.____Grant.

Absolutely agree +2

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by downunder

Absolutely agree +2

+3

It's much safer out at sea far from land. It's not the ocean which is so dangerous; it's the bloody hard bits around the edges.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by tedsherrin

. With one of them it was a race, and from news reports they didn't hit anything, but had to abandon ship and the vessel sank just after they did.

If pushing the boat beyond it's limits then the boat could simply have started to break up! - not neccessarily a sudden catastrophic failure (boat breaking up into 2 or a 1000 bits!) but bulkheads start moving as hull flexes causing either a hull crack, a keel joint to open up or rudder / prop shaft to fail (don't need to fall off to cause a leak). Or even a hatch or window fail. More likely simply a hull fitting failure.....or prop shaft dissapeared out of back of the boat.........in many cases the problem could either have been prevented (mostly from slowing down) or not turned into a sinking if a bit of forethought / knowledge was applied.

Could also have been torpedoed by a Nazi Submarine.

Also have to remember that where an insurance claim is involved (or even if not) that the response of the Skipper is usually along the lines of "I didn't do anything wrong - it just happened"....rather than "I was an idiot".....or...."I didn't know what I was doing".

Another one (from last night) the three men abondoned their yacht due to rigging damage, but the boat continued to float, and still is, well after they have been rescued by helicopter.

If the mast came down then a tricky decision on whether to call in help - IMO really depends on circumstances whether that survivable (to the point of getting back ashore - not simply bobbing around forever!). Could have failed due to vessel being overpressed or simply lack of maintanence / old age.....or both. Possibly also piss poor design, especially of chainplates.

Although I may roll my eyes at the circumstances that some others find themselves in, I never make any criticism of someone for the decision to call for assistance even where that ends up in abandoning a perfectly good boat - it's the Skippers job to make that call, for benefit of both himself, the boat and more importantly the crew - so a conservative judgement call is often needed. Having said that I have no problem giving folk a kicking over dumbassed decisions to get there!........and am not saying that I too am not without sin on the dumbassed decisions / pushing my luck front - but I usually know when I am doing that........

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I don't think anyone has answered the OP's question.

Cruising boats rarely sink at sea, and almost never just from bad weather, no matter how horrendous. Water has to get into the hull in order for a cruising boat to sink, and fiberglass hulls are quite tough. So what sinkings there are usually happen at the dock, and usually result from bad hoses or through hulls or something connected to them. Another hole through which water can come into the boat to sink it is stern tube -- if the stuffing box disintegrates or the drive shaft falls out, this can cause a sinking.

and it then takes a while. Yachting Monthlys series of videos are worth watching if the OP hasn't already seen them.

Yachting Monthly's Crash Test Boat is holed Part 1 - YouTube

Pete

[John A]

Only the few surviviors of boats that are sunk on the open ocean can tell us of their experiences. The rest we can only speculate as to the cause.