I was caught once in a sinking boat when I was in the Coast Guard years ago. I literally had to wait a few seconds for the area to flood before I could get out through the door the water was coming in through. It's difficult to imagine how strong that current can be. In my case the boat sank in about 14 ft. of water.
When I heard the news of the sinking of the Bayesian, I knew parallels would be drawn surrounding the 1984 sinking of the 120’ barque Marques.
I was crew on the S/Y Luna Quest, and after a long passage from Norfolk, VA to English Harbor, Antigua, we tied up next the Marques and the 123’ brig Cuidad de Inca.
On the docks in front of us was a huge bacchanal with all the boat crews - our timing was spot on.
I spent many happy days with the crews and they asked me to join the Marques. I met the Captain aboard Marques to seek a berth but they had none; I ended up as crew of the W. Fife vessel “Eilean.” This was in March 1984.
I was stunned to hear of the Marques sinking; but was grateful there were survivors.
The elephant in the room here is with the mast on this boat, not the height so much as the weight. Masts of this size are nearly always Carbon fiber. Im not a naval architect but I believe The weight saving could be as much as 15tons between the Aluminium and Carbon. Again an architect needs to check the numbers but I believe that equates to significant weight in the keel.
This boat fell on its side and stayed there because the mast weight kept it there.
I hope the builders are properly investigated as to whether they stuck to the naval architect plans where rig weight and therefore Centre of Gravity would have been very specific.
Let’s hope no corners were cut to save money by using alum for such a big rig.
I was caught once in a sinking boat when I was in the Coast Guard years ago. I literally had to wait a few seconds for the area to flood before I could get out through the door the water was coming in through. It's difficult to imagine how strong that current can be. In my case the boat sank in about 14 ft. of water.
When I heard the news of the sinking of the Bayesian, I knew parallels would be drawn surrounding the 1984 sinking of the 120’ barque Marques.
I was crew on the S/Y Luna Quest, and after a long passage from Norfolk, VA to English Harbor, Antigua, we tied up next the Marques and the 123’ brig Cuidad de Inca.
On the docks in front of us was a huge bacchanal with all the boat crews - our timing was spot on.
I spent many happy days with the crews and they asked me to join the Marques. I met the Captain aboard Marques to seek a berth but they had none; I ended up as crew of the W. Fife vessel “Eilean.” This was in March 1984.
I was stunned to hear of the Marques sinking; but was grateful there were survivors.
The elephant in the room here is with the mast on this boat, not the height so much as the weight. Masts of this size are nearly always Carbon fiber. Im not a naval architect but I believe The weight saving could be as much as 15tons between the Aluminium and Carbon. Again an architect needs to check the numbers but I believe that equates to significant weight in the keel.
This boat fell on its side and stayed there because the mast weight kept it there.
I hope the builders are properly investigated as to whether they stuck to the naval architect plans where rig weight and therefore Centre of Gravity would have been very specific.
Let’s hope no corners were cut to save money by using alum for such a big rig.