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Post by Trog on Feb 4, 2016 9:46:08 GMT
Victims of wrecked yacht identifiedTara, a traditional boat on the Hout Bay MarinaI can't understand how a yacht can run aground at 03:00 am en route from Langebaan to Capetown. It's 52 nautical miles. There was almost no wind at the time of the incident - I checked. So they would be motoring, not sailing. That is, they would've completed the distance in about 6 hours. They went aground about halfway - that is 3 hours after they had left. So why would they leave at 12 o' clock at night? Particularly if there was fog around? Maybe the fog came in very rapidly sometime after they had left. But still: If they had a GPS, that would be no problem. Without a GPS, it should still be no problem, but then you need the following: 1. A working compass. 2. A working log - measures distance travelled through the water, like the odometer of a car. 3. A depth sounder. 4. A chart of the area you're sailing in. 5. A dependable fix of your position, at sometime during your journey. 6. Reasonable navigation. A skipper putting out to sea in the middle of the night without the above must be very irresponsible indeed. Even if all you had was a working compass, you should still be alright - just head away from land. That he didn't have at least a compass would be beyond belief. There were 3 people on the boat. The woman was apparently sleeping at the time. That cannot be right - when sailing in zero visibility, a good skipper will post lookouts around the ship, to listen for surf and to smell for land as much as for trying to see anything. Anyway, if I left Langebaan for Capetown in the middle of the night I would've done very careful navigational planning. I would've ensured that all my electronics are working, and all backup procedures available. Fog would not have presented any problem. I would've deeply questioned the need to put out anyway. Basically, I suspect that they were all drunk. Except if the skipper had a heart attack and died, without his passengers knowing about it. It is inconceivable that he could've fallen asleep, under the circumstances. As they say: Maybe you just had to be there to understand the situation.
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Post by Trog on Feb 4, 2016 11:44:16 GMT
The owner and probable skipper: Go Georgie go.Maybe it explains somewhat. |
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Post by cjm on Feb 5, 2016 19:45:01 GMT
I would not venture onto the high seas with an outboard like this:  |
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Post by Trog on Feb 6, 2016 10:20:28 GMT
I would not venture onto the high seas with an outboard like this: A boat this size will have an inboard diesel engine of probably between 80 and 100 kW. The outboard will be for the boat's dinghy, or tender, which is normally used when at anchor for transport between the boat and a jetty or the beach. At sea that would usually be pretty useless - one could try to rig it in an emergency should the engine fail, but that would really be grasping at straws. Thinking about it, it could be that they developed engine trouble and drifted onto the rocks. But then surely they would've put out a mayday sometime prior to that, and none was reported. Unless their radio didn't work either, or maybe they didn't have one! All of this is inconceivable. Actually, a boat this size needs to be certified as seaworthy by SAMSA, otherwise no yacht club in South Africa will allow it to operate from their jurisdiction. So they MUST have had a working radio at some stage not too long ago. I just think that the skipper didn't have a clue of where he was. Which if he survived would've made him guilty of culpable homicide. |
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Post by cjm on Feb 7, 2016 8:07:01 GMT
A boat this size will have an inboard diesel engine of probably between 80 and 100 kW. ... I just think that the skipper didn't have a clue of where he was... Quite a big engine... Seems you have made a case for some fishy business!! Unless no radio they had no clue of impending disaster. |
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Post by Trog on Feb 9, 2016 10:06:50 GMT
Looks like they're getting ready to pin it on the auto-pilot. The Sad Story of SV TaraOf course, whether or not it was an auto-pilot error is immaterial. The boat shouldn't have been on auto-pilot in those conditions to begin with. |
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Post by cjm on Feb 10, 2016 4:38:27 GMT
Looks like they're getting ready to pin it on the auto-pilot. The Sad Story of SV TaraOf course, whether or not it was an auto-pilot error is immaterial. The boat shouldn't have been on auto-pilot in those conditions to begin with. What is the standard drill when encountering fog? I assume there is the possibility as well of a collision with other sea traffic? |
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Post by Trog on Feb 10, 2016 9:05:26 GMT
What is the standard drill when encountering fog? I assume there is the possibility as well of a collision with other sea traffic? At the very least you must be actively navigating at all times - you cannot just set your boat on a course, rely on electronics to keep it there, and go and relax in the lounge. Even if you are using electronics, you must confirm that your compass heading is in fact what it is supposed to be at that moment in time and that your actual position is what you think it should be. (This last is always true - in zero visibility it becomes critical. In practise it means that on a sunny day halfway between continents you'll probably check things every 2 hours. Sailing closely alongside one of the most dangerous coastlines in the world in thick fog in the middle of the night you'll probably do it every 2 minutes.) You must sail a predetermined course, so that you can do checks to see if you are doing okay. It's not good enough to just potter along in a general direction and do corrections later on, the way you would do on a fine day with perfect visibility on a calm sea in sight of land which you know well. The rule is that you should maintain a speed that will allow you to stop in half the distance of visibility, that is, if you can see ahead for 20 meters, you must be able to stop in 10 meters. You must make a noise so that others can hear you. Different vehicles make different noises - a sailing yacht should make one long followed by 2 short blasts on its horn at least every 2 minutes. Therefore it must also have a horn to begin with. On a sailing yacht you should be motoring rather than sailing, and probably take your sails down. You must switch on all your navigation lights. You should post lookouts at various points around the boat. You should stop the engine periodically so that the lookouts can listen for anything untowards - generally, if you hear anything at all it is bad news. (Fog creates isotherms which reflect sounds, so that sounds can bounce around in fog - the direction you hear it from is not necessarily from the direction of the source. It's scary.) (One of the international rules of vehicles at sea is that, although you are not obliged to have RADAR, if you DO have RADAR you MUST use it at all times.) In the end, sailing in zero visibility is probably just as safe as sailing in perfect visibility, IF you take it seriously and do the right things. NAVIGATING IN THE FOG |
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