Rule 62 followup (was 1500/Bahamas800 comments)



"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 19:36:45 -0500, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Rule 62 was salvaged 2 days ago from the Lynyard Key. The boat was Taken
to
Marsh Harbor and is at the port. There was extensive damage. I will get
some
pix to post.

I still can't figure out what led them to try and make a land fall
there, clearly some marginal decision making for whatever reason.

Hi, Wayne, and list,

All is speculation on what happened to cause them to wreck, but I now have
(and if I can figure out how to get 41M up somewhere, in mininum 2.5 to as
much as 4M pix, I'll give a link) pix of the boat as it was being prepared
for pulling across the beach to transport to Marsh Harbour and then to the
states.

There are large plywood hot patched sections in the turn of the bilge (about
the same area we experienced our damage in during our wreck, but on both
sides) above the steel (based on observable rust) keel, which has been
removed and is on the beach with nuts attached to the bolts but no hull
material present, with a small chunk taken out of the leading edge, but very
little other observable damage, other than some paint removal along the flat
bulb (not a wing, but not a true bulb). No sign of the rudder, which is
suggestive (note this purely speculative) of a loss (which would explain
their track veering from SSW to due west).

It appears not to have rolled on anything hard (wheels, davits, engine on
bracket on pushpit all intact, unbent) and all the scarring is either below
or near the waterline. However, there's a suggestion of a dismasting via a
starboard roll, due to the furler being bent severely to port, no
cable/sail, along with the pulpit which is pushed over, or perhaps a shroud
gave way - but the angle of the pulpit bends suggests the entire mast went
over. Further evidence includes the port jackline being up over the rail
midships, and the absence of a mast (but the boom is lashed to the cabin
top) or any rigging visible anywhere.

The lack of any mast debris suggests (speculation, again) that they
successfully cut it away. The hull appears in very good condition, patched
areas excepted, and the fact that it made it to the beach on that night
suggests it didn't sink, or it would have been rolled through the reefs in
the surf.

Of course, I have no real knowledge of what happened, but my SPECULATION is
that

1 diversion due to seasickness and tiredness (known)
2 dismasting somewhere along the way - causing loss of SSB comms, likely
also VHF - apparently successfully removed. Perhaps that exercise was when
the two crew were washed over (also known) and recovered (no doubt tethered,
or they'd have been gone for sure)
3 heading toward Lynyard/down the outside of the Abacos, at some point they
turned due west - rudder loss?
4 hitting the reef, being holed, they decide to get in the life raft after
epirbing (known) and perhaps maydaying (unknown)
5 boat didn't sink (lack of topsides damage) and was eventually washed up on
the beach - reminding me of my protocol of stepping UP into the liferaft -
if the water's not over the countertops, I don't even want to THINK of
leaving the boat

A real tragedy...

L8R

Skip, about to leave for GT tonight, after the squalls die off, so we have
some wind

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Thanks to Michael, on a forum, for hosting an FTP site for the pix.

Go to http://bbsc.com/FlyingPig/ and click on the image numbers to download
them, and have a look at Rule 62 before it was DRAGGED across the island
(very short distance) before being readied for transport for repair...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

On Mon, 6 Dec 2010 22:52:26 -0500, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Thanks to Michael, on a forum, for hosting an FTP site for the pix.

Go to http://bbsc.com/FlyingPig/ and click on the image numbers to download
them, and have a look at Rule 62 before it was DRAGGED across the island
(very short distance) before being readied for transport for repair...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

Thanks for posting. Seeing those clothes hung out to dry kind of
brings home the human tragedy and shattered dreams.

I wonder if they had any previous offshore experience?

We had dock neighbors at a marina in Baltimore inner harbor in the
fall of 1997 who were getting ready to do the Caribbean 1500. They
had a nice enough boat, a new looking Amel Super Maramu 53 footer, but
no offshore experience at all. They'd never sailed on anything bigger
than Lake Ontario, never made an overnight passage and never stood
watches. My suspicion is that this cruise format attracts
inexperienced passage makers who probably derive some comfort from
knowing that there are a lot of other boats out there on the same
route.