Riding The Wave

[Theis]

Mike:

Perhaps I missed something, but why would the 10-15 feet of water break a mast that extends 30 feet above the water's surface? I see the mast breaking when the boat is upright (See image 8). I have been in water shallower than 10-15 feet many times, and done a jibe, unfortunately, but never been concerned with my mast breaking because of the water depth. I do understand your concept once the boat rolled.

[commanderpete]

Here's that pic. Hard to tell what's going on, but its not good.

I can imagine what the surfers were saying to the sailors when they picked them up.

"Yo.....Doooood......Gnarly ride!!!"

[Mike Goodwin]

I believe the mast breaks around photo 9 when he pitch poles and broaches . In photo 10 the boat is inverted . Mast is still standing in photo 8.

[Bill]

The nautical chart for SF Bay indicates that water depths around the South Tower of the Golden Gate bridge range from a shallow 27 feet to a more robust 333 feet.

The chart also notes "tide rips" in the near vicinity. I believe this identifies the location of the famous South Tower "devil" that combines tide rips with wind variations to cause unsuspecting yachts to broach or experience other uncomfortable sailing adventures. Usually, it’s only the skipper’s pride that gets damaged.

[Theis]

I had looked at photo 8 a couple times and thought the top broke there, but now, after several replays, it is clear that didn't happen. Sorry. This may be a definitial issue, or talking semantics, but it doesn't look to me like he pitch poled, but rather he rolled. Those waves were coming off the stern quarter, and (and I apologize if my screen definition is goofing this up), but it looks like he was shifted broadside to the wave (couldn't or didn't hold his course), and then rolled, in contast to having his bow getting hooked, and the stern rising (stern going faster than the bow) which is what I call pitch poling. In either case, the mast goes.

[frank durant]

Theis I think you are right..he rolled..one hella va broach !!! That was not a PITCH POLE.

[French]

Raises some interesting questions.

Why did everyone, including the surfers jump on the stern of the boat. It seems to me that the added weight in the stern would fill up the cabin and help the boat go down..

.

Looks like the boat would have stayed up if they had not gotten on it

[eric (deceased)]

that boat would have stayed afloat if they never got in it at all that day

[Mike Goodwin]

I think the guy in the yellow foulies was glad they came over and got him out after riding the it out in the cabin!!

[Bill]

(The photos of a Santana 22 being rolled under the Golden Gate were flashed
around the world. Here's the story behind the crash and the rescue. The
skipper's had a breather, and he's ready to talk. Here's an excerpt from
Kimball Livingston's story on the Sail magazine website.)

When Joe Schmidt took his Santana 22 out for yet another Saturday sail, he
had no idea he was on the way to his 15 minutes as one of the most famous
sailors in the world. Then, after his YachtSea had been rolled and
dismasted by a breaking wave under the Golden Gate Bridge, he "knew we had
made a splash, what with the Coast Guard boats and the helicopters and the
fire trucks and police." But that was just the beginning. Only later would
he learn that photographer Wayne Lambright had been at Fort Point, at the
San Francisco Bay entrance, with a Nikon D2h (with a 70-300mm lens) that
shoots 8 frames per second. Lambright came away with one of the most
startling photo sequences ever of a sailing disaster, and when the photos
hit the Net, they made a sensation.

YachtSea capsized and sank on April 2. In the two weeks following, Wayne
Lambright's web site had 17,000,000 page views. He started posting pictures
in the first place to call attention to his online restaurant review
business, www.sfsurvey.com. "The YachtSea thing created a gargantuan
problem," Lambright says. "I run three mission-critical web sites, and the
response nearly crashed my server."

Kimball Livingston's full Sail magazine story:
http://sailmag.com/SAILBOATCRASH/

[Bill]

The April issue of Latitude 38 includes a brief story about YACHTSEA titled "White Boats Can't Surf."

From the article, it's clear that only one person got onto the boat (pictures to the contrary) after it was nearly sunk. The crewman briefly boarded to see if he could bail her, but all he managed was to grab his duffel of personal itmes before the companionway went under. He then boarded a waiting surfer's board and they paddled to shore.

The boat never sunk. The bow stayed out of the water long enough for salvors to take her in tow and pump her out. By that evening, she was tied up in Aquatic Park. When the owner finally visited the boat, he was surprised to find that nearly everything in the cabin was still there. Only the mast, some lines and some stuff in the lazarette, were gone.

One very interesting side note. When the owner pulled the ripcord on his SoSpenders inflatable life jacket -- nothing happened! When he got home he found that the inflating canister had come loose and the "firing pin" could not reach it. In all the excitement, he also forgot that he could manually inflate the jacket by blowing into the mouthpiece provided for that purpose. Luckily, there were enough surfer taxies to get everyone to shore.

Tomorrow, I will be attending a luncheon at the St Francis Yacht Club were the featured speaker will be the captain/owner of the Santana 22 YACHTSEA.

[Bill]

More than just the owner and the photographer were at the Tuesday Yachtsmens' Luncheon. The surfer who rescued the skipper also spoke. Seems he was not on a surf board, but rather a boogie board and he managed to get the skipper out of the area and close to shore before another boarder saw him and came out to help. Most of the other boarders were just *****ing that the boat had either nearly hit them or messed up their wave

The boogie boarder was a really good samaritan. He heard the skipper say "I need help," and the boogie boarder did. When it was all over, the kid went back out to catching waves.

I must admint that I did not know there were people out there in those turbulent seas surfing on three foot boards. I guess when you're from a low income family, you do what you need to do to enjoy your sport.

At the luncheon, we saw all the photos and got explanations of what was happening to the boat and crew at each stage. The crewperson was tangled in the rigging and held under with the boat for one of the rolls. When asked how long he felt he was under, the crewman replied, "four seconds to four days!"

They also noted that if the hatch boards had been in place, the boat would likely not have filled with water. On the inflatable PFD - the skipper confessed to owning it for 15 years but never testing it or servicing it The inflating charge did work after all this time, but the skipper said he would now check it more frequently. He also said that from now on, he would NEVER sail south of the Golden Gate Bridge's south tower - ever, ever.

The Web page in post #1 has added photos of the boat back at the dock. To view, you need to take a short survey (age, zip code) before you can get into the site.

[Theis]

A note on testing the inflatable pfd. Every year I get in the water and manuallhy inflate the pfd (using the tube and the lungs) - to be certain it still holds air and so that the folds are changed and not cracking. The problem, perhaps, with testing the automated part of the device, other than the cost, is that it is a destructive test. The issue then becomes whether the new inflater and CO2 cartridge are reliable or properly installed rather than whether the old one was properly installed and worked.

I heard on Click and Clack that auto airbags are now set to be checked every fifteen years. I wonder what the life of an inflatable is.