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  #1  
Old 01-17-2014, 01:48 PM
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We had to abandon ship

Did they? Not sure myself. Would it have been possible to drop the worst rudder out of the boat and attempt sailing with the remaining rudder? Could a jury rigged rudder be made for a boat that large? Must have been a tough decision to abandon a new boat.

HELICOPTER EVACUATION: Abandoning Be Good Too | Sailfeed

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  #2  
Old 01-17-2014, 02:15 PM
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From the link:


BB says:

January 17, 2014 at 1:31 PM

It is just so terrible that the captain had to abandon his $400,000 brand-new catamaran in the Atlantic in January after chipping it out of the ice to sail it south.

A lot of people risked their lives to pluck you out of the ocean. Running a navy helicopter out to you, hovering, and back is not free. The captain should be billed for the rescue.

Really the worst part of the experience was having to sit through the three-hour long helo ride to shore in soaking wet clothes.”

That quote says it all.

x1000
No sympathy from this quarter....
I wonder if the author consulted his attorney before posting this for all the world, including the insurance company, to read.
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  #3  
Old 01-17-2014, 02:25 PM
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At least there's a good salvage opportunity for somebody. I don't know the currents in that area. I wonder where the boat will end up.

http://www.aeroyacht.com/sailing-catamarans/aeroyacht-alpha-42-catamaran/
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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
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1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
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1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13
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  #4  
Old 01-17-2014, 02:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry View Post
At least there's a good salvage opportunity for somebody. I don't know the currents in that area. I wonder where the boat will end up.

AEROYACHT Alpha 42 catamaran - Aeroyacht
From the pic taken from the chopper, she appeared to be ridin' low in the water. I guess they must have stopped hand pumping when they knew the CG was going to come for them. If the hulls fill with water, is there enough/any floatation to stay afloat?
If a tow had arrived, it would have been a slow, tedious ride home. Wouldn't the bent rudder have to be removed to tow even a slow speed?
Was this the owner's shakedown cruise on her? He picked the wrong week to attempt that run. I am reminded of the guy who tried to stay aboard his boat during the perfect storm in 1991. That rescue ended up costing one of the rescuer's lives when they ran out of fuel & ditched.
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  #5  
Old 01-18-2014, 01:36 AM
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Total failure of rudder system. Somehow or other a total inadequate design. I am not certain even with some tools on board an adequate jury rigged rudder could have been managed.

On any rudder not at least skeg supported and strengthened it should be very tough. When they found the tiller bars where not even pegged they should have realized it was a bad thing. A pin at that location can be sheared as well. I like the top of the rudder post squared and a matching square tiller bar type fitting.

Compound this with bending of the rudder post on one side and disentigration of the actual rudder on the other side. Cats are not new anymore and the loadings are well known. This is just poor engineering in my opinion.

I do not think you can balance sails or any approach to even make windward to a small degree on a cat with no rudder and the prevailing wind should have been mostly from the west there.

A good size freighter may be able to grab it for salvage as its suspected location will be a shipping warning put out.
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  #6  
Old 01-18-2014, 06:44 AM
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I was wondering about the construction of the boat when they kept taking water around the glass.
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  #7  
Old 01-18-2014, 07:49 AM
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What is typical fitting for tools and supplies to be able to repair a sail boat intended to sail open water?

The failures sound like multiple design and materials related issues. I don’t understand how a “shakedown cruise” would subject the boat to conditions that would duplicate the major problems it experienced.

From the account, a law suit will probably be heading to the boat builder in the near future for their incompetence.
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  #8  
Old 01-18-2014, 09:35 AM
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The boat builder has a story about the event and says it plans to attempt to salvage the boat. If the crew left an operating SPOT on board it should be easy to track.

Rogue Wave - Aeroyacht

I agree with Barry that there was a basic flaw in the boat if the both rudders failed in these conditions. Perhaps it is the case that the failure was the lack of the pin on the one rudder post, causing the rudders to be out of sync with each other. I can imagine that might produce unusual forces as compared to both rudders doing the same thing at the same time.
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1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
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1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
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  #9  
Old 01-18-2014, 09:48 AM
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spade rudders are more delicate than more traditional(slower) designs with a supporting skeg underneath. having 2 of them complicates things even more.

the engine failure(s) hint at a lack of preparedness, as was the delay in properly heaving-to.

from here it looks like a case of having more money than sense
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  #10  
Old 01-18-2014, 10:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry View Post
The boat builder has a story about the event and says it plans to attempt to salvage the boat. If the crew left an operating SPOT on board it should be easy to track.

Rogue Wave - Aeroyacht

I agree with Barry that there was a basic flaw in the boat if the both rudders failed in these conditions. Perhaps it is the case that the failure was the lack of the pin on the one rudder post, causing the rudders to be out of sync with each other. I can imagine that might produce unusual forces as compared to both rudders doing the same thing at the same time.
from the article linked above:

Quote:
Capt. Hank Schmitt is a professional delivery captain with over 200,000 ocean miles and over 50 passages along the same route. Hank was carefully chosen by the owner as he is a very experienced catamaran sailor.
Quote:
It should be noted that the rudders of the boat were built of 1.5 inch solid stainless round tube welded to a closed framework of 2″ wide by 1/4″ thick stainless bars with (2) vertical and (3) horizontal members. Unfortunately no rudder is designed to suddenly lurch into reverse and have 10 Tons of torque applied to them.
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  #11  
Old 01-18-2014, 11:48 AM
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I'm not convinced by the builder's explanation. Any boat advertised as being 'round-the-world' capable should be capable of surviving an abrupt stop from a big wave. I'm not completely sure of this, but I suspect a big catamaran is much less likely to pierce a wave than a monohull and therefore more subject to being thrown backwards than a monohull. If it couldn't survive the Gulf Stream how would if fare in the Roaring Forties. The fact that one rudder had no pin securing the tiller to the shaft suggest some kind of failure in quality control, if not in design.
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  #12  
Old 01-18-2014, 11:56 AM
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^The builder was stating the design. I wrote (above) that the builder will likely be the recipient of a law suit. I'm sure they are talking with legal council at this point. There appears a number of problems with the boat in both QC and suitability for a particular task as they say in the industry in which i toil.
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  #13  
Old 01-18-2014, 01:30 PM
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Sounds like it was operator error more than design flaw. A shakedown cruise is SOP and that appears to have been inadequately addressed. Open ocean passages are not to be undertaken prior to a shakedown no matter what the experience level of the master and crew. Coming onboard and understanding the condition of the vessel is paramount before attempting any voyage, that appears to be the issue here.
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  #14  
Old 01-18-2014, 01:43 PM
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Good point. Same problem happened in a multihull with Donald Crowhurst back in the 60's.
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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
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1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13
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  #15  
Old 01-18-2014, 01:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry View Post
At least there's a good salvage opportunity for somebody. I don't know the currents in that area. I wonder where the boat will end up.

AEROYACHT Alpha 42 catamaran - Aeroyacht
With the level of ability here on PP, we could mount an operation...
I probably have some W126 parts that we could fashion a rudder out of...

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