Vic Smith wrote:

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 01:44:16 GMT, "NE Sailboat"
wrote:
I wish I had an auto pilot!

There may some instances where they will capsize your catamaran.
Here's an interesting article by Cliff Biddick in the Cruisers &
Sailing forum about a 42' Atlantic.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ntic-5486.html
The post containing the article is down a bit, but doing a find on
Biddick will get you right to it. snip

Fascinating story. Good work by Cliff and his
salvage team on the recovery.

Don W.

Catamaran Capsizes on Little Traverse Bay
by Cliff Biddick

Tuesday, October 19th was much like a lot of
others in the fall in Northern Michigan. The East
wind blew up Lake Charlevoix creating a sea that
gently, but relentlessly, rocked the tug “Heather
B” when my cell phone rang.
Jeff Pulaski, the Service Manager of our Harbor
Springs yard was on the other end. “Are you in the
middle of anything?” he asked. After 35 years in
the boatyard business, I have come to expect the
unexpected on a regular basis. “We have a customer
who has capsized his 42’ Atlantic catamaran in the
middle of Little Traverse Bay,” he said. The Coast
Guard has taken him and his two friends to shore
and they are fine, but the boat is drifting,
pushed by the East wind out of the bay. Can you
help him?

That’s the way another adventure in the towing and
salvage business started. Andy Hellstrom and I
began the preparations for finding the boat and
recovering it. Our instructions were fairly
straightforward; the owner was attempting to
locate divers. Andy and I, with the “Heather B”,
were to proceed to Bay Harbor where we would take
the owner and the divers aboard. The Coast Guard
was monitoring the vessels drift by using the
EPIRB that was still signaling its location from
within the cabin of the inverted boat.

Our trip to Bay Harbor was uneventful as the heavy
tug plowed through the head sea from the East.
When we arrived at the dock, the owner and two
divers, with their gear were awaiting us. We
loaded quickly and immediately headed Northwest to
the position the Coast Guard had provided to us.
We found the “Starry Night” easily in the late
afternoon light and went right to work. Our first
concern was debris and lines trailing from the
boat but this did not prove to be a problem. All
lines just hung downward and the boat was
'aground' on its’ masthead in 68’ of water.

One diver went into the water and attempted to get
the sails under control. After a couple of hours,
the diver had not been able to get the mainsail
'up' and under control and had only one line on
the headsail, the boom still hung straight down,
and many cut lines added to his challenge. The
dinghy, still in davits, was righted and tied
alongside the tug. In diminishing light we made
our first attempt at righting her. Unfortunately,
the sails were still hampering the 'tow ability',
causing the big cat to pull hard off our starboard
side. With the daylight now totally gone, we
elected to tow the inverted boat bow first, eight
miles into Harbor Springs, while still upside
down. This meant staying in about 100 feet of
water. We did not wish to cause additional damage
to the boat and although plenty of horsepower was
available, we towed at 1.7 to 1.9 knots for 8
miles and arrived in the harbor about 1:00 am. We
anchored it in 100’ of water with a strobe light
marking it as a navigation hazard.

The next morning we returned to the boat. In a
matter of a few hours, the diver had the sails
'up' and the mainsail furled, the two 200 foot
anchor lines wrapped around the dagger boards and
the towing bridle re-rigged. The boat was ready
for the righting.

The process involved rigging a bridle from the
forward cross arm brought to an apex aft of the
boat on center where it was tied to our 1-1/2” x
600’ Dacron towline. The knot consisted of a
bowline together with two half hitches to secure
the bitter end. I mention this because we actually
pulled it right out of the line, twice, in the
righting process. Neither line broke but the knot
was non-existent after letting go. On the third
attempt the boat tracked straight aft, 'tripped'
over its’ own sterns, the bows rose and over it
came, slowly and gently until it floated once
again, albeit low in the water.

We immediately put two 1” electric pumps and a 4”
gas pump into her. While the owner, the diver and
Andy started the re-organization process, the tug
took her gently in tow into the dock at Irish Boat
Shop. With the help of the boat shop crew, the
“Starry Night” is being dried out and preserved
awaiting a surveyor’s inspection and determination
of her future.

Why the catamaran capsized remains a mystery. The
owner and his two companions had been sailing
several hours in 15 to 18 knots of wind. They were
inside the cabin with the boat on autopilot. In
what can only be considered a 'microburst', it
went over in less time than it took the owner to
shut off the autopilot. He and the crew simply
'walked' up the wall and onto the ceiling where
they remained dry for an hour and a half until the
rescue divers from the Emmet County dive team
arrived. The owner actually called the Coast Guard
using his cell phone as his masthead antenna was
70’ under water.