.... IMHO part of why the Churchill
sank was repeated stressing & flexing of the hull, and partial failure
of her fastenings.


Chris Lasdauskas wrote:
The boat had recently been refastened etc. Which makes one wonder
whether it was done right...


Agreed. Or if some small pocket of rot went undiscovered. Or one a dozen
other things that could go wrong, which would have little or no effect
on everyday sailing...



Considering that Navy cruisers have been sunk in typhoons, and
battleships taken severe damage, it's a little much IMHO to expect a
small sailboat to withstand anything the ocean can throw. *No* tactics
or special gear or design type is going to help. It's a case of simply
don't be there when it happens.


Except that a reasonable proportion of the fleet did manage to sail
through the same conditions and make it to the other end (not counting
all tose who prudently retired from the race), so obviously some
things did help.


No, they didn't. Not all yachts experienced the exact same conditions.
Consider 'Sayonara' which was out in front and experienced a good
bashing, but nothing like the horrific conditions that did in the
Churchill, or tore off part of the deck of that other boat.

Others were further behind (or sensibly waited it out in shelter) and
did get into the worst of it. Plus, there's always the random factor
that some waves are bigger than others.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King