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Amazing Photo Sequence...

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/03/2005 : 12:04:39

Go here and watch the slideshow...

http://sfsurvey.com/photos/sail/

What was the skipper thinking?

WOTAM - '77 Catalina 25 SK/SR Sail Number 158

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 12:29:59

boat for sale, needs bottom paint

Edited by - on

Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 12:31:43

Surf's up?

Edited by - on

atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 13:04:29

I have made up my mind about water ballast!

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 13:08:27

Needed to make an insurance claim. Had not made one lately.

Edited by - on

andy
Navigator

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USA
228 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 14:29:06

Somebody flunked "Sailing 101"
If the tide had been running out they would have ended up out by the Faralons where the white sharks hang out....yikes!
It doesn't appear he had tried to take any horsepower outta the thing.
Sure looks like a great day for sailin' on the bay. I think I would have had one reef and the 80 up.
Maybe he wanted to collect the insurance and step up to a C25. He's sure got it well documented!
What's that helicopetr gonna do? Airlift the thing back to the marina?

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 15:48:11

Man... that looks like fun!

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 17:23:56

Probably was fun...for the guy that did not own the boat!

Edited by - on

Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 17:29:20

It will be my luck that when I get in a situation like that a professional photographer will be there to capture the whole thing. Had the guy pulled off a miracle manuever and saved his boat, probably no one would have seen it.

Steve

Edited by - on

mmac
Navigator

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USA
168 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 18:47:35

He should have hauled out instead of careening to paint the bottom.

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 20:01:18

I wonder if the crew on that boat had trailered in from somewhere else that day and were not familiar with SF Bay, and especially not familiar with the hazards on the south side of the Golden Gate. No one with local knowledge would intentionally take a keelboat into the gap between the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point. The water is shallow there, strewn with rocks, and as the photos make obvious, it gets pounded by breaking surf when the wind and swell are from the northwest (the prevailing condition except during winter storms when the wind is from the southeast). If this accident happened on Saturday April 2, I was actually listening to it in real time on VHF! I was out in my own boat on Folsom Lake, and heard Coast Guard Group San Francisco relaying "pan-pan" messages on Channels 16 and 22 about a sailboat that had done "an end-over" near the bridge, "with two or three people in the water". Folsom Lake is almost a hundred miles from San Francisco Bay, but the Coast Guard stations there have enough transmitter power to be heard if conditions are right.

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 20:23:22

I was thinking that he may have put himself in a bad spot and been sucked into the danger zone by the flood tide. At any rate, before the wave broke, the skipper certainly didn't appear too 'excited' about his situation or even aware of the danger he was in... he hadn't bothered to close the hatchboards or secure his cockpit lockers. If he did, he'd probably still have his boat. (or most of it)

The fact that the bottom didn't have paint but was clean indicates to me the boat was probably trailered in from somewhere. He was very lucky the surfers were there and gave him a hand.

Another interesting point, it looks like he has an inflatable vest on... that's not inflated.

Pointer: If you see people surfing, don't take your boat anywhere close.

Edited by - on

willy
Captain

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USA
422 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 21:27:12

I've gotta agree with Andy, this guy flunls the 100 level course. Interesting how much more time he spent on his brightwork than his bottom. Could be he was one of those marina sailors who decided to go out for a change.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5885 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 21:46:18

I sailed into about an 18-20 breaker once.

I'd never seen anything like that before, didn't know I was in a hazardous area, and didn't see it coming. The first sign I saw that something bad was about to happen was when I looked over my shoulder and saw a mountain of water rolling up on my port quarter. I suspect the reason why I didn't see it as I approached was because I was approaching from the same direction as the waves, and, when they broke ahead of me, all I saw was the backside of the wave, which blocked my view of most of the foamy whitewater. Fortunately, my stern didn't slew sideways, and she just raced down the face of the wave like a surfboard. I can see how they could have unwittingly sailed into that situation, but what I don't understand is why three of them climbed over the transom into the cockpit of the boat, when the boat was half full of water and the transom was barely above the waterline. Their weight put the transom under water, and that's when the stern sank.

Edited by - on

Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 04/03/2005 : 22:55:27

A sad sight seeing a bow sticking out of the water like that.
Don't know the situation well enough to comment on "why the hell was he there in the first place!"
Makes me appreciate sailing on an inland lake that much more.
Shows how quick a nice daysail can go to hell in a handbasket.
An expensive lesson learned, and lucky to try it again another day.

Edited by - on

tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2005 : 01:50:02

Yikes! We were on the bay at the time this happened and heard it on the radio. There was a flood tide running and it was blowing at least 20 knots. We were making 9 knots over the bottom at the time and my daughter was swearing off sailing for life. I can't imagine taking that boat out the gate in those conditions. We had our hands full and we were over on the Berkley Circle and behind Treasure Island. We had a reef in the main and a the jib was a tiny fraction of its self.

I wonder if he was not used to what current can do to your course. It sure does seem like he had way too much sail up, but while we were reefed down dealing with a crew mutiny the racing set were flying spinakers.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5885 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2005 : 10:47:10

I've been comparing the photos with what happened to me, because the general situations are very similar, but there are some interesting differences. If you'll look closely at the photo sequence, you'll see that, in this case the wave rose up and broke right over the stern of the boat. The breaking wave knocked the stern of the boat to starboard and the wave rolled her over. In my situation, the wave held together, lifted my boat, and she slid down its face at incredible speed, and then the wave broke behind her, just like a guy on a surfboard who races down the face of a wave, and stays just ahead of it all the way. If the wave breaks just behind the surfer, he's ok. If it breaks on top of him, he wipes out. So, the reason why these guys wiped out and my boat didn't is because of pure dumb luck. My wave held together just long enough to let me stay ahead of it, and their wave broke over their transom. Once I got into the situation, there really wasn't much I could do to affect the outcome. All I could do was to hang on and wait to see how it turned out.

The truth is, even though that was the first cruise I had ever taken in tidal waters, I should have known better than to be there. Because I had a C22 swing keel, I cranked up the keel and took a shortcut through a shallow area. That's my biggest objection to the swing keel boat. You wouldn't dare go into an area like that with a fixed keel boat. The swinger allows you to go places where you really shouldn't be. In fact, I actually thought I was lucky to have a swing keel boat, that would let me take a shallow water shortcut. Duh!

Edited by - on

ilnadi
Captain

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452 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2005 : 11:27:01

Sure looks like he did not see it coming, first two pictures look like he was going full speed ahead.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Steve Milby
 I'd never seen anything like that before, didn't know I was in a hazardous area, and didn't see it coming.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

My motto in looking at such stuff usually is "there but for the grace of God go I". hopefully the pictures will pop up in my head if I get anywhere near such a situation.

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Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

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844 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2005 : 13:10:53

Larry's right.

Stupid skipper.

No one goes there [anymore], and it's not because it's too crowded.

Glad they're OK.

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TRogers
1st Mate

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USA
90 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2005 : 16:18:33

Note that the companionway appears to be wide open as well (at least after the roll). Either they didn't know better or things happened so fast they couldn't do anything about it in time.

Might have kept the boat afloat long enough to put a hole in the hull?

Edited by - on

andy
Navigator

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USA
228 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2005 : 22:30:59

Damn Stu, I wish I would have thought of your boat's name for my boat! Outstanding.
Being half Norsk it would have been fitting, since our sailing club is mainly a drinking club with a sailing problem.... BUT have you ever tasted Aquivit? (sp?) Holy mackerel, double yikes, whoa howdy... no wonder those Vikings were so surly. I prefer a nice Pussers and coke with a twist or plain old Red Dog.

Edited by - on

jwilliams
Captain

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USA
357 Posts

Response Posted - 04/05/2005 : 10:53:54

I sure agree with Larry Charlot on this. The guy must not have been familiar with the "gate" because in those conditions that spot between Ft. Point and the south tower is a big surf area. Even on light days I would not think of traversing inside like that.

What I don't get either is you can see where the surfers are and the whitewash to get an idea of how the breakers are.

The only thing I can think of is that he got too close to the gap and decided he lacked the searoom to gybe north and thought he could just ride it out. But then, not to have the hatch closed up tight was plain stupid.

I have been outside a few times when the conditions were right, but always in the middle of the channel between the towers. The currents at the sides are really treacherous. One time I was making way against a slight ebb, just under the span, while off to my port a 30 footer was going backwards near the tower!

One learning from this fellows tragedy is that even capsized twice and with the hatch open she still floated. It even looks like she would have survived the first capsize. She was upright and although must have had lots of water aboard, you could probably jury rig something to get ashore. A rogue wave might have done the same. The second capsize did her in.

Wow! I'll stick to getting beat up regularly in Hurricane Gultch between Alcatraz and Angel Islands.

Jim Williams
Hey Jude C25fk 2958
SF Bay

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Esteban
Navigator

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139 Posts

Response Posted - 04/05/2005 : 13:36:52

He was probably mesmerized with the view of the Golden Gate Bridge and lost all situational awareness... looking up instead of around.

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Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 04/05/2005 : 21:59:44

Does anyone think a drogue should have been used. I keep one in my lazarette. However I have never deployed it. Next time I'm out I think I'll do a drogue drill instead of a MOB. Also having an open transom makes me feel good.

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Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 04/06/2005 : 00:30:52

I've tried for several days to acesss whether having no outboard means anything. It could mean that these guys are better sailors than some have given them credit... and that perhaps they were seeking some fun and got a bit more than they bargained for.

I did the high res routine once and noted a look on one of the guys in the water... as if he is thinking... wow, that was fun. He certainly doesn't seem shook up so I'm thinking these guys are either familiar with surfing or perhaps wind surfing or maybe beach cats. Beach cat sailors don't even think of needing a motor and beach cats are basically unsinkable so they may have collected a little too much bravado from that fraternity. Also, beach cat sailors are very used to going over and even pitch poling and come up with a grin on their face... not too much different from what I think I see in one of the pics.

Edited by - on

Mark Loyacano
Navigator

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USA
247 Posts

Response Posted - 04/06/2005 : 10:17:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ClamBeach
 Go here and watch the slideshow...

http://sfsurvey.com/photos/sail/

What was the skipper thinking?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Maybe he was trying to do this....http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/BillofWhitsunday69/Belleonthebar.jpg

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