I’m a commercial yacht skipper and instructor. In the training, it’s quite clear, if you’re taking on a lot of water and you’re offshore, you activate all the distress electronics and issue a Mayday. Sending an email to the owner was not the correct course of action by the skipper.
That’s sounds logical to me. Especially if you’re onboard bilge pumps cannot provide any positive gains. The idea of taking on water from a damaged(disconnecting) keel likely never crossed their mind.
@@captaincrunch1707 100% If you're taking on water and it is getting worse you call for mayday. Unfortunately, they had an opportunity to be saved. everyone should have worn their life jackets with emergency beacons. Hindsight is 20/20.
I think age had something to do with it. Maybe because I was still a total idiot at 22, but experience makes us realize that sometimes we need help. Exploring that line between facing fear and knowing when to back down is the work of a lifetime if we are fortunate. No matter what we know or think we know, it is the deeper knowledge of the self that makes all the difference.
@@codyeynon8467 I agree, it's far too much responsibility for a 21 year old to shoulder, assuming he figured out the cause of the ingress he was probably doing everything to remain in favour with the owner of the yacht playing the hero, instead of insuring the safety of the crew and himself, an older person with more experience would know the impossible situation they were in and would have abandoned ship and taken to the life raft
Very sad indeed, we raced against them in Antigua Sailing Week just days before they left on CAIPIRINHA another Benetteau 40.7, they beat us by 1 point and won the class. We had a few beers with them on the Friday that the regatta ended. May their souls continue to rest in peace.
Wouldn't you say they lacked the maturity and experience for an Atlantic crossing? Why couldn't they see the danger they were in? I guess they all depended on the captain to make the right decisions for them. They were also dealing with an arrogant bloke across the ocean who never once discussed emergency preparations or expressed concerns for their lives. He treated them like a bunch of amateur kids, from reading the tone of his emails. The bottom line is the captain was not mature enough to be entrusted with the lives of all the other crew in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The owner should have known that when he hired him for that position. Wouldn't you agree? In a crisis, they were instead joking about how the stereo was finally working after being hit so severely by a wave. That lackadaisical attitude cost them their lives. Very tragic. The captain seemed more concerned for the boat than his life or the lives of his crew mates. I am sure he was a really nice guy. The boat survives and they all lose their lives. I am sure the young captain of thinking about his career and if he lost the boat, his chances of getting ahead in the industry might be jeopardized. And the arrogant bloke across the seas didn't have any compassion in his heart to care of the lives of these young sailors. I am glad he was charged even if he was never convicted. How do you not care?? Very tragic! It didn't need to happen.
@@Dan-xx5jq With all due respect, this was not a crew of raw youngsters as you suggest. Two are over 50 yrs old and have several thousand miles skippering, the skipper Andrew Bridge is young at 22, but had thousands of experienced miles under his belt as well (though I question that of the 4 he was skipper). At any rate, only one fellow, James, was both young and thin on experience
This is a pretty accurate recitation, but as a former owner of a Beneteau 40.7 (#676) there are a few details in this recitation that are not accurate. The boat weighs about 15,000 lbs. Not 15 tons. The keel was not bolted to the hull, but through the hull to the fiberglass frame. There are heavy duty steel backing plates inside the frame. The point of that construction is to spread the load through the frame to the whole hull. Part of the frame was the sump that actually sticks down into the keel. The picture of Cheeki Rafiki at 1:40 of the video is a beneteau 40.7. The picture at 16:51 that also has "Rafiki" sailing with four men on board is not. It has an open transom and two steering wheels and one long window instead of four on the cabin, so it's a nice picture but not a picture of the boat in question. People need to be concerned about a lot more than the bolts. Any cracking or tearing in the frame or at any of the joints between the frame and the hull, or especially in the sump could give evidence of damage which could then weaken, allow movement of the keel and then weaken the joint then allow breakage of the bolts. I think if the keel was moving it is likely the pre catastrophic leaking was coming from cracking around the sump. Everyone with a boat with a deep keel and short fore and aft connection to the boat should check for all of those kind of things every year, but especially after any groundings.
It's one of those "why" stories. Basically - why were they not in the liferaft?. All those guys seemed more than adequately experienced. The skipper was extremely young to be so well qualified that he must've all but lived on the water. However, even a grunt like me finding water in the bilge wouldn't need to be told to immediately check as to whether it was fresh or salt. And being salt meant that there was a hull integrity issue. Then it's a matter of elimination. Stern gland, sea-cocks, coolant leak or hull breach. Stern gland & sea cocks are usually straightforward checks. The biggest palavar is pulling up all the cabin sole (flooring). If the engine was sea-water cooled there might be a ruptured pipe - again it's a simple enough check. But they said the engine bay was dry. That leaves hull breach. Again, you pull up all the flooring you can - and LOOK. The vessel would have auto and manual bilge pumps so the influx must've been overpowering the automatic bilge pump in order to produce levels of flooding to raise concern. That would suggest a discernible flaw. Failing that, it wasn't a heavy sea, so a heave-to should've been straightforward, and if nobody was keen to go over the side, then a GoPro on a pole could be tried. By a process of elimination, that just leaves the keel, and on almost all yachts with bolted keels, the bolts are accessible from the bilges. If water was penetrating from there, it would be pretty evident. It was also amazing that despite so much evident concern, the crew had to be reminded to ensure the liferaft and EPIRB were ready for use - and also the emergency scram-bag (not mentioned). That should've been instinctive. And yet the recovery divers claim to have found the liferaft still tethered in its locker, meaning that no emergency prepping had been done. At the time of the crisis, at least 2 of the crew should've been off-watch down below. When the keel detached, the yacht would've inverted like a pendulum, so they'd have been tumbled out of their bunks into cold gushing water. However, it's unlikely that all below would've been knocked unconscious and drowned. One, perhaps, but not all. The fact that no corpse was found on board suggests that they all managed to exit the cabin. The helmsman should've been tethered, and fully clothed for the north Atlantic. Of all people, he should've been ready and able to act - unless his tether somehow became fouled, causing him to drown. How it is that not one of the 4 had the wit and wherewithal to unship and activate the liferaft and help one or more of the crew to escape into it is just a mystery...
_TOTALLY AGREE!_ Negligence and overconfidence. Bilge filling up; I'm in my survival suit, Iridium in a waterproof bag - grab-bag and EPIRB almost as near the exit as I am with life-raft and tender both ready.
@@dancarter482 It's interesting that you mention the tender. I don't recollect any reference to that in the original report. I assume they carried one, a small rib or Zodiak. Maybe they deployed that and all managed to clamber aboard, with a view to returning for the liferaft and more kit, then drifted too far from the yacht to get back. Even that's a bit of a Marie Celeste-u-like...
@redthesailor172, well aren’t you just the perfect little know it all. I’m sure the families of the lost men are deeply touched by your comforting words. NOT
I believe that they knew the keel bolts were loose but was trying to limp it in to safe harbor somewhere and got complex and it snapped off and it went up side down within seconds and they maybe were laxing ?? Maybe
thats why i bought a boat built in the early 80s with a solid fiberglass hull with internally encapsulated ballast in a full length keel. no way it can fall off unless i hit something so hard that losing the keel will be the least of my problems. miss me with that "catalina smile"
I sailed as crew on a Van de Stadt Pioneer with the classic keyhole door built in '66, I believe. It was called the Tensa. We motored out of Jersey harbour in 1970 with me at the helm, following the course given me by the skipper (my father, an idiot). I questioned the course he gave me since it didn't correspond to my reading of the chart and a couple of minutes later we hit a submerged rock. We were moving at about 5 knots at the time and I remember being startled at how hard I was thrown forward. The skipper (the idiot) never admitted any error (he never did) and simply told me to carry on. When the boat was taken out of the water that winter we saw a small dent in the glass-fibre on the forward base of the fin keel, but nothing more. There were no cracks - the glass-fibre was simply deformed. I remembered the description of the boat when new - that it had an ecncapsulated keel. There were also bolts which could been seen in the bilge. We sailed her for a few more seasons before she was replaced by a Contessa 32, another very popular boat at the time, with beautiful lines and a pleasure to sail. I'm highly suspicious of modern building methods and feel a clear distinction should be made between yachts built for racing and those built for cruising. Cruising yachts should be built more robustly and with regard for safety - if not a skeg rudder then there should be a watertight lazarette behind a bulkhead in case the spade is swept away etc.
I was on a boat preparing for a coastal passage off Australia. The skipper and crew were working out how to lash the life raft to the deck after it had been serviced. It needs to be done a certain way for the hydrostatic releaset to operate. One of them said "Just use some sail ties, we're not gonna need it" Needless to say it was the last time I ever sailed on that boat again.
When planning or undertaking a sail, it "The sea is selective; slow at recognition of effort and aptitude, but fast in sinking the unfit." - Felix Reisenberg (1879 - 1939).
That’s the kind of moronic attitude that’s all too common. It’s not like you pencil in the day you’re gonna need it. There’s a reason accidents are called that.
In this event a hydrostatic release would have been of no use. Most HRUs operate at between 1.5 and 4 meters of immersion and then require the sinking vessel to extend the painter to activate the raft. With the vessel inverted but still afloat, this would not have happened. Even if the HRU had activated, the raft would not have inflated and even if the raft had inflated it would have been pinned under the inverted vessel.
Great works as always. I hit a boulder doing 10-11kts in a 40' sailboat and the first thing I did (after I popped my shoulder back in place) was run down below and started ripping up floor boards to check the keel bolts. They were fine, but we replaced them when we hauled the boat out for the season later.
Stop telling tall stories! I know you are, you wouldn't know one end of a boat from the other 🤣 There are no such things as 'floorboards' on any kind of seagoing vessel 🤣
We will never forget this. About 3 weeks before them, we went down with our Beneteau Oceanis 50 about 244NM SSE bearing approximately 165degrees from where they went down. We were lucky and we all survived in our liferaft. We at least had about an hour to get our liferaft deployed and ready. They obviously had a sudden catastrophic loss of the keel. May their souls R.I.P.
@@Artr543 I don't know what you're asking here but I can tell you that a monohull with a keel attached and flooded will not have the keel sticking up above the water.
I sailed as crew on a Van de Stadt Pioneer with the classic keyhole door built in '66, I believe. It was called the Tensa. We motored out of Jersey harbour in 1970 with me at the helm, following the course given me by the skipper (my father, an idiot). I questioned the course he gave me since it didn't correspond to my reading of the chart and a couple of minutes later we hit a submerged rock. We were moving at about 5 knots at the time and I remember being startled at how hard I was thrown forward. The skipper (the idiot) never admitted any error (he never did) and simply told me to carry on. When the boat was taken out of the water that winter we saw a small dent in the glass-fibre on the forward base of the fin keel, but nothing more. There were no cracks - the glass-fibre was simply deformed. I remembered the description of the boat when new - that it had an ecncapsulated keel. There were also bolts which could been seen in the bilge. We sailed her for a few more seasons before she was replaced by a Contessa 32, another very popular boat at the time, with beautiful lines and a pleasure to sail. I'm highly suspicious of modern building methods and feel a clear distinction should be made between yachts built for racing and those built for cruising. Cruising yachts should be built more robustly and with regard for safety - if not a skeg rudder then there should be a watertight lazarette behind a bulkhead in case the spade is swept away etc.
Not an incredibly experienced sailor here, but I had a similar experience with my first sailboat years ago. It was a swing keel 22 Hunter which had (4) 1/4" through hull bolts which held the pivot of the keel against the bottom of the hull. I beached it often and noticed more and more water in the bilge as time went on. Finally figured out the source of the leak and replaced all bolts 1 at a time with snorkeling gear while afloat. Wasn't easy, but it was bone dry from then on. My next boat leaked from the prop shaft seal...
What a tragedy, especially for the loved ones that have to live with all those questions. I read comments about the life raft, why it was still strapped on. You can’t release the straps while sailing. It will fly all over the place and be a danger by itself. It’s quite heavy. Preparing for worst case would probably be checking if it can be released easily and if all the crew knows the procedure. You release it when you’re sinking, abandon ship. When you lose the keel the boat will flip upside down instantly, making it probably impossible to deploy. A conclusion that the keel bolds have failed seems a bit too fast to me. I have some knowledge of these types of boats and I think the laminate of the hull was probably damaged by the groundings. In these type off boats the keel is only hanging on the hull laminate. When the keel starts flexing on that damaged laminate, water can go into the bilge. You don’t really see the water flowing in. In my case it was there every time we did some heavy sailing. I guess we were lucky. Didn’t trust the keel situation and had her hauled out. Visual inspection didn’t really show any damage. Still didn’t trust it and dropped the keel. The hull laminate was compromised around the bold holes and we had to have it repaired by a professional shipyard. They also changed the whole internal construction so it isn’t hanging only from the hull laminate. The keel bolds were in perfect condition, renewed them anyway.
Not being an expert on boats... but being a mechanic and understanding constructions and forces I have always disliked these fin keels... the strain put on that tiny 4/5” wide surface where boat and keel join is IMMENSE!!!!! A grounding can cause damage that is very hard to find, if at all.... leading to trouble at some time in the future.. I do understand that a fin keel design is very fast..... But I am not in a hurry.... I like the peace and quiet when sailing.... my yacht is a Laurin Koster 28... fully integrated in the hull longkeel....
@@nexaentertainment2764The type of boats where the keel is bolted only to the hull laminate. There is no inner grit or construction to divide the forces to ribs or stringers, only a backing plate. In design this is probably ample strong. But groundings are something completely different. What is a hard grounding and how many can it withstand? What if the damage isn’t visible without dropping the keel and sanding off the gelcoat…. There are thousands of these types of boats sailing the world and accidents do happen, but (in my opinion) a whole chain of events has to occur to lead to disaster. And bare in mind that with these numbers of boats something is bound to happen. Another thing is that many of these boats are used for charter. You can never know what happened to it. If damage isn’t obvious most renters won’t bother to inform about their mishaps.
@@henktulp4400 agree 100%, these long and slim bolted fin keels are asking for problems. This keel broke of and in seconds the boat turned upside down. The crew did not stand a chance.
@@subocajw Totally agreed..... Rental boaters will ‘hush’...... So to my mind a ‘rental’ boat should be ‘foolproof’..... Either it is ‘bulletproof’.... Or it is a specialist sportive racing machine... with the checks, costs, and responsibilities that come along... I would very much like the careful, caring, patient ‘yachties’.... (like me) to be insured seperate from these racing people..... You wouldn’t like your car’s insurance bill to be affected with people driving rallies, bangerraces, Dakar- rallies and the like, would you????
I've been sailing for over 40 years and as far as I know the cause of this tragedy was the failure to check and inspect the keel bolts. In a close hauled situation there is huge pressure on the keel and in this very sad situation, the keel fell off and the yacht turned turtle within seconds. These poor souls didn't stand a chance. My heart goes out to their families 😢
The main cause of keel bolts failure was the detachment of the internal fiberglass matrix (which sustained the keel's weight) from the hull. This fiberglass matrix was bonded to the inner side of the hull bottom, and the bond failed (because of repeated groundings), making the matrix move uncontrollably under the keel's efforts.. So the keel moved much more than allowed, until the keel bolts failed. The keel was lost and the boat capsized, leading to the dark ending. All the story can be found on a technical paper which documents this tragedy. I remember finding it on the web some years ago.
@@davebutterfield9195 Agree (I didn't want to question your statement) . What I tried to say is the keel bolts were fine until the catastrophic failure of the entire hull structure. It was a major design failure prone to more future disasters, especially because it was almost impossible to detect by normal survey techniques. The poor people didn't stand any survival chance.
not sure how attentive I was watching this video, but the crew knew there is come problem, could change the course to go to the USA but instead continued across the ocean. could they survive is they did another choice?
@@LesiavanderWoman There was an instant unexpected collapse of the entire hull structure, which led to the loss of the keel and the capsize of the boat. Being in the middle of the ocean, no course choice could save them from the inevitable.
I used to work with Steve Pentingil in St Augustine FL testing hunter sailboats (keels) by doing intentional hard groundings on every boat line that came out of the factory. I would be at the helm full fwd to the beach and he would be down below with his hands on the keel bolts and we would do this several times in a row. If everything passed , then it would go on to production.
I think in the case of the 40.7 it is the steady degradation f the hull matrix; the fiberglass grid waffle (for want of a better word) that the keel bolts go through which spreads the load. It slowly separates after a grounding, leaving the hull to take the full load of the keel. Which of course it doesn't.
I worked for Luhrs shortly after they moved to St. Augustine and again for Luhrs-Mainship just before they went out of business. I know almost nothing about Hunter but if they were built with the same quality control as Luhrs-Mainship I wouldn't go out on one farther than I could swim back.
@@joemannix7471 I worked with a man named Miles Wood who was the president of the Hobie Class Association and Hobie Cat sales, who then went, to work for Luhrs Boats, but that was waaay back in the ‘80’s. I can’t remember ever seeing a Luhrs, but definitely Mainships, and I agree. I would have jumped overboard before those things got out of the sling straps.
Speaking as a very experienced sailing instructor I can tell you that you will NOT be asked to "lightly ground" a yacht on a sailing course. That is nonsense.
Many thanks for uploading this.. the first detailed presentation I've seen of this tragic event. Inexperience of the crew, including the skipper, did in my opinion play a definite part in this tragedy..There's more to being 'experienced' than simply adding miles under the keel to one's log-book. I had a 17 year career as a professional yacht skipper, 10 years of which was as a yacht-delivery skipper moving a huge variety of yachts, both power and sail, over most of the world..this experience included having to abandon a vessel in the middle of the night a long way offshore.. Anyone discovering a large quantity of water in the bilges should instinctively taste it for salt, (not always a pleasant task, on two occasions it turned out to be shower water), why this skipper had to be told that is beyond me. Secondly, it's obvious that the crew were becoming very concerned about the influx of water yet the life-raft was not unshipped ready for instant deployment, If emails were going unanswered it's likely that the situation was becoming serious, sending a crew member on deck to ready the raft should again have been an instinctive action. Let others read and learn from the experience of others and especially from presentations such as this.. Well Done and Thanks again..
@@brba The weird thing though is they reported they "think" the leak is from the water tank and drained it. If the water in the bilge is salty it absolutely isn't from the water tanks.
Yes, I had a cousin & her partner take me out on their little sailing boat - he'd done racing on the harbour, she'd grown up sailing with her father in a tricky spot - but it was me with my basic 1 Saturday morning for 12 weeks sailing course who got us back to shore when they were unbelievably bad. Their next time they took a family member out (who also supposedly grew up with the sailing boat), they nearly died, so thankfully then sold the boat. They are highly intelligent people I don't know why they didn't just go and take some sailing training and get certifications. They couldn't even check a tide or knew how it was running after sailing on that harbour for years. Maybe a course wouldn't have helped!
we were part of the search heading to the Azores on a slightly higher north route, i have a short video and radio call to the American warship as they found the capsized hull.
I absolutely love your channel!! Thank you so much for making this great content and explaining things so well for us non-divers. Cheers from Las Vegas!
In a deteriorating situation it's essential to have all emergency gear activated ahead ...the final situation can worsen so quickly you run out of time to put all your gear, ocean life jackets, inflate emergency life raft, get all the transmitters, sat phone plus extra torches, food and clothes.
Really sad incident. Always taste any water in the bilge. If it is salty you need to figure out where it is coming from immediately. When that boat dropped her keel she would have inverted almost immediately and the life-raft strapped onto the coach roof would have been impossible to get to if the crew were wearing auto inflating life jackets
Ok..thanks for your breakdown. I was wondering why an experienced crew as this one couldn't get their life-raft into the water (upright!), & your explanation makes the most sense. Yes, when the keel finally separated from the boat, it would make sense there's an immediate imbalance & the boat just topples over, thus throwing everyone in the ocean. I hope no one was inside the boat when it toppled over, as I cannot imagine a worst way to die than to be trapped inside a boat from tremendous pressure of incoming water! Ugh..I'd rather die @ sea floating in the ocean (upright!) being able to see the pretty sky @ least.
@@Corinne-v9c I suspect your image is wrong. Doubt any pressured surge of incoming water. They failed to make life saving effort to release lifeboat after catastrophic event and died of exposure in less than 24hrs.
I understood from the reports at the time that the liferaft was actually found in locker by a recovery diver, indicating that it was not a valise type with a fixed cradle. All they had to do was get into the cockpit...
As a previous owner of a 40.7 I can tell you that the place for the life raft is underneath the seat behind the helm, I guess the idea was to keep the boat looking tidy but it never seemed like a great place to me.
There is no way I'd ever cross an ocean in a Beneteau or Jeanneau. I'm not down with those bolted on keels or spade rudders. Too easy for them to fail. They're fine for coastal cruising, but IMHO not crossing oceans. I know many have done it but you'll never see me do it. I want an integral keel and at least a skeg hung rudder, but for the most safety I want a full keel vessel with the rudder hung from and fully protected by the keel. Just my $0.02.
As a sail and power dealer for over 27 years, Lisc Capt, and so much offshore and inshore racing, Instruction just so much, …. We were never that impressed with those ‘Makes’ when it comes to trust out there… just too many issues with them.
Thank you for making this. This was very well made, thorough, and respectful to the men's families. I found it interesting. Even though, I have never owned nor even sailed on a yacht myself. RIP to the four lost souls.
If the counter weight broke off then the boat would capsize instantly, the best advice was in the email "prepare everything for the worst possible event"
Excellent video! A couple of notes: 1) Beneteau closed the Marion South Carolina plant in 2020 and no longer manufactures in the USA; and 2) The section showing Groupe Beneteau brands: In April 2021, Groupe Beneteau sold CNB Yacht Builders to Solaris, an Italian firm.
I've done a fair amount of ocean racing and crossings, but I've never heard of practicing running aground, and I don't know another skipper who has ever run aground. This is crazier than practicing driving your car into a wall. Once the crew knew the keel/hull connection was the problem, they should have put the life raft in the water and activated the EPIRB,
Wow... the captain was very young....when I was 22 and in grad-school I taught sailing at the venerable Annapolis Sailing School but it was a beginner's class, not an ocean crossing. Like most private plane crashes.... it's always a cacophony of errors... very sad.
😂😂😂 the beneteau bashers 😂😂😂 we have a beneteau, did several ocean crossings, had winds over 50 knots and the boat just was perfectly handling everything. Nothing broke down, beneteau’s are well built boats. What this video fails to mention is the information which is in the accident report: the boat had damage from the 2 previous SEVERE groundings, which where NOT repaired up to minimal standards. For those who think that a boat should survive SEVERE groundings, sorry to disappoint you ! Even well built boats will be damaged !
Beneteaus and Jeanneaus are both large volume production boats that can best be described as Ikea boats. They are typically marketed to charter companies and do offer some a decent value for island hopping / Mediterranean cruising. Of course, people do blue water cruise these boats, but they are not at all the ideal boats for this. Some are happy to take that risk and live the cruiser lifestyle, so I cant fault them for that. Buying a big blue water cruiser is quite a bit pricier and oft comes with compromises of comfort at anchor like a (comparatively) cramped center cockpit vs the big open decks of a Benny or Jenny style boats.
@@francisverhelst9375seriously, the comments are hilarious. Bulb keel + hard grounding will almost always compromise the hull indefinitely. It’s like everybody forgot about what happened to Mike Plant back in the day. Gotta learn from the past.
@@TiffMcGiff _TOTAL NEGLIGENCE_ too! I thought they must have been way out in the deep blue with no comm's. The fact that they were tooled-up with Iridium and within reach of US Coastguard but didn't put any decent plan into action smacks of arrogant overconfidence - _nightmare_ crew to be stuck at sea with!
The skipper and mate were 21 yrs old, and the two crew in there 50's were " milebuilding" to gain experience before applying for a Yachtmaster exam. That, to me, isn't experienced enough. AFAIK, the vessel wasn't in its commercial capacity for the return to the uK, as the two mile builders were not paying Stormforce for the trip, That technicality, i believe, affected the outcome at Innes' trial.
I sail a 40.7. Amd we know the details of this story and ship. A thing that is missed in both this video, and the investigation, is the inner scale desigm of the 40.7. Ingress water leaks in between the 'outer and inner' hull. Which makes it impossible to locate the source. A bit of rust on keelbolts is common. And not a solid indicator of a keel problem. It is more a design problaem then a lack of care and maintenance. And believe me, I know every inch of this type of boat.
This was one of several keel failure events that occurred on several boats in the early 2000’s yrs. All of the boats were eventually found and extensive investigations found all had keel damage history. All of the boats were fin keels that were bolted to the hull skins between the grid structures. The only boats I have sailed that had this type of keel attachment have been low quality mass production boats. Many quality boats are built with keel bolts that pass through key hull structures not just the hull skin between structural grids. Having said that Cheeky Monkey was delayed in leaving on this trip due to water leaking into the bildge while at the dock. It was reported the leaking got worse when under way. This is Beneteau hull primarily designed for Mediterranean charter use. With known heavy grounding history. Basically every red flag there could have been possible besides the keel falling off at dock was there. Basically the boat was a POS!!! Owner I recall faced serious criminal charges.
Your analyses are always so detailed and well communicated. This stuff, while tragic is fascinating and shows how accidents like this are caused by a cascading series of events. My question is why didn't they launch the emergency raft. Perhaps the Rafiki went under, or rolled so quickly they didn't have an opportunity? Thanks for a great video. Well done.
When the keel dropped away the boat would have instantly flipped. No time to go on deck and access the raft. Unfortunately this sort of capsize is extremely violent as well, so likely for crew members to be thrown overboard or knocked unconscious. While it is possible to survive, the issue is that most of the air inside will collect in the bilge, not in the cabin, meaning that anyone who survives the capsize now has to leave the boat to get air to breathe, and getting out is not easy in the first place. Water is going to be pouring in through every open hatch, meaning that you have to wait until it fills up completely before you can even go for the exit. Terrifying. Now you are outside the boat, with nothing to grab onto, the rails and everything else are under water, and the bottom is smooth. While possible to grab the rudder and hold on, even that would be hard to do, given waves crashing over the boat and you are fully clothed and probably wearing a life jacket with a limited ability to swim. Even if you haven't been washed away from the boat or crashed against the hull, at this point your only chance would be to somehow swim under to the deck to access the life raft, but with the boat moving up and down in the rough seas, this is near impossible as well. Short of the boat breaking in half and sinking instantly, this is just pretty much a worst case scenario. Life rafts are on deck so that when your boat is taking on water over time you can go up on deck as a last resort and pull the life raft just before the boat sinks. Unfortunately, when the first part of the disaster is the boat flipping over, everything is now working against you.
Indeed, odds are the boat capsized very suddenly when the bolt-on ballast keel failed. No time to respond. I know some will argue properly designed high aspect ratio racing keels are safe but they are obviously a point of concern. These aren't the only lives which have been lost offshore due to failure of such keels.
One of the most underrated channels on RU-vid! Keep up the fantastic work bro :) every uploaad is an instant watch for me. Recommended you to all my mates to watch.
@@waterlinestoriesExcellent editing. Exceptional presentation and explanations for those of us without sailing/diving knowledge. Perfect pacing throughout. I wish I could offer some constructive criticism but you've aced it 👍 you're gonna go far with this channel.
They did not use the life raft? Granted, they probably presumed their danger came from water intrusion which meant time with some accommodation. A keel separation would have been a dramatic turn of events.
When the keel dropped away the boat would have instantly flipped. No time to go on deck and access the raft. Unfortunately this sort of capsize is extremely violent as well, so likely for crew members to be thrown overboard or knocked unconscious. While it is possible to survive, the issue is that most of the air inside will collect in the bilge, not in the cabin, meaning that anyone who survives the capsize now has to leave the boat to get air to breathe, and getting out is not easy in the first place. Water is going to be pouring in through every open hatch, meaning that you have to wait until it fills up completely before you can even go for the exit. Terrifying. Now you are outside the boat, with nothing to grab onto, the rails and everything else are under water, and the bottom is smooth. While possible to grab the rudder and hold on, even that would be hard to do, given waves crashing over the boat and you are fully clothed and probably wearing a life jacket with a limited ability to swim. Even if you haven't been washed away from the boat or crashed against the hull, at this point your only chance would be to somehow swim under to the deck to access the life raft, but with the boat moving up and down in the rough seas, this is near impossible as well.
So the lesson is .. never trust a benetau after grounding . The grid frame that holds the keel to the hull inside of a benetau can come loose and start leaking. This will not always show at a pre buy inspection. Al though most benetau’s are ocean class rated they are not the strongest. It’s the design/ paperwork that makes them certified but the boat is basically too thin or better said build to high end just to meet the spec. I owned a benetau 50. As an aircraft engineer always wondered how it all would hold after 10 years of use. My fears became reality as some similar boats got massive problems after being ground stricken . This is why we when’d for a an incapsulated keel / long keel boat.
I wonder if they were sleep-deprived from the stress and just completely forgot about the life raft. They knew they were taking on water and they couldn't find the source, the first thing I'd do is start getting grab bags ready
it would have been a violent flip. The boat probably had not taken on enough water for them to be truly worried about the boat imminently sinking. Obviously they didn't consider that the keel might just drop off the boat, and when it happened... well. Good luck surviving that. Anyone outside is going overboard. Anyone inside is now pinned against the bulkheads and water is rushing in every open hatch. You won't even be able to get out until the boat is full up, and the air will collect in the bilge. Once you go out, there's nothing to grab onto, and in rough seas, its not an easy job swimming below the boat to try to pull the life raft, especially if you aren't used to swimming underwater without goggles.
@@insertphrasehere15That has got to be what happened. It had been failing, without them figuring out how serious the issue was, and probably one last wave was all it took for a catastrophic failure. So sad and unnecessary.
Ive got a RYA yachtmaster with offshore endorsement plus a Boatmaster Licence, so on paper fairly competent, but to be honest, i consider that is box ticking, many more miles needed to be a good sailor.
captain may not have known the history of the boat. some water coming in the boat does not make you immediately think the keel may fall off. it would be interesting to hear what someone with real training would say to do if you think your keel is damaged and may come off. I would think get the life raft unstrapped and have it in the rear cockpit even though it may move around. I would want a line tied to it also if possible. every should have a lifeline with some significant slack in it also tied to the boat. when the boat flips you are coming off. you need to get back to the life raft in order to survive longer than the 10-12 hours whatever they said. if i thought the keel was damaged and may come off I would have the life raft deployed and dragging behind the boat filled with provisions. they must not have entertained that possibility. I have done a fair bit of sailing and there are so many captains that I would call reckless if not outright idiots. the problem is you can usually get away with quite a bit and survive but things can spiral out of control quickly and, although rarely, become deadly. Especially in cold water. Cold water scares me.
We have all heard of unexpected rig failures at sea or (even rarer) hitting something like a floating container but i cant recall another incident quite like this. Skipper and crew must have believed that they had time to hunt down and fix the source of the leak, clueless as the seriousness of their situation.
Beneteau's are premium sailboats. Solid, high quality and safe (not cheap) sailboats I've trusted Beneteau with my life sailing them for over 30 years. This particular model is "First" these are designed more for speed/comfort not truly Transocean, but definitely capable and done quite often by owners. I've done cross Atlantic trips, but I only had Benetreus "Oceanis" models which are more for high endurance, slower but more comfort.
For a licensed and qualified captain and the other qualified crew they sure came up short knowing their vessel was taking on uncontrollable water and not knowing how. Life boat still secured to the boat and looks like no preparation for possible sinking. Sailboats capsize for various reasons and could always be a possibility.
That's what I thought too, as soon as the sailor said he suspected their water tank was leaking, I was like "well, can't you just taste it to tell if its salty or not...?". Very odd, maybe there was already too much seawater ingress to tell? Strange situation - and entirely preventable if the company wasn't just cutting costs. I wonder how their last days played out, poor souls.
Seriously... I remember when I was getting CPR certified a fair number of people in the class seemed to barely understand the lesson and displayed just enough competence, once, to get the card. However I seriously doubt they'd be able to do it in a weeks time. Sometimes a certification isn't worth the paper it was written on. It often depends on the individual person and how seriously they take it, and these guys seemed really blase.
Covering your keelbolts in resin makes it much harder to change them when change is due. Treat keelbolts like your rig - don't leave them in place forever.
Another interesting video. My parents used to sail when they were younger, they had a 26 foot sail boat that they bought when my old man retired, although it was only on lake Windermere, which was great for me and my other siblings, as we had the house to ourselves every week-end lol.
I saw a report on keel failures on these "light weight" keels and almost all had a history of groundings , they are not like the heavy built full keels , very sad , most bilge pumps can only handle a 1/4 inch hole at most
Puh, it puts a weight in my stomach to think about the panic of the sailors on board, thousands of miles off shore and slowly losing your vessel. I bought a older vessel for open ocean crossing with a fully laminated fin keel an skeg rudder and I am pretty sure this was the better decision, considering how many lost boats of the bolted types I've heard of. This is simply to much force on a laminated epoxy bond with this little surface area at a 90° angle. It may be fast and cheaper to build, but it is proven again and again that these vessels don't belong on open oceans.
Even though it was obviously to save his skin eventually, impressed by the spot on attentiveness of the management - lots of attempted and real communication with legit suggestions. So sad though to see so many young and old experienced sailors lost.
Bolted keels for ocean crossing: NO! When you substitute performance for safety, this is what happens. There's nothing quite like an internally ballasted full keel hull.
Is it not better to use a whole metal plate on both ends? So one plate inside the keel, 8 holes trough the hull into a 8 holed plate ant then bolted. This way there is more strength in the whole conection.
That's not clear from this video. They were told to check for salt or fresh water by email but they might already have checked it. Any sailor worth their salt would immediately do a taste test if there is water ingress. I'd be astounded if they didn't think to do this.
Two disturbing things about this tragedy stand out to me: 1. Obliviousness to the keel situation - a bolt-on, deep fin that had multiple hard groundings in it's history. But even so, arguably not an optimal design for trans-oceanic passage making. That is, a design skewed more toward speed and maneuverability (racing) than strength and endurance. 2. An exceptionally-highly trained and experienced crew that, mysteriously, failed to appropriately prepare for the worst, when all the signs were apparent.
In the marina where i bought my nicholson 32ft there was an oyster 37 on the hard which was repaired after a grounding. The owner had it lifted to get it back in the water and heard cracking noises when lifting it. They put it back down and never moved again in over a decade now. I was in the boat and found rain water in the bilge where the keelbolts were but outside she's completely dry. My guess is that the weight of the keel was stretching the new extra layers of fiberglass during lifting. The repair and reïnforcement looked well done. The rainwater came through the masthole from which the cover had blown away over the years. Made an offer on it but never heard anything back.
So many comments but nobody says what would you do??? If the keel breaks off you have no chance to leave the boat, or launch the liferaft, no matter how experienced. So the most important here is to maintain whatever last strength that keel connection has. I think first thing…instantly!!! stop sailing to get the ripping moment off the keel!!! Assess the bolts, maybe tighten assuming there is wrench like that. Start plugging the bolt holes and cracks that leak, must have material and underwater epoxy, and btw lots of good charged head lights. And another crazy idea - If the wind is bad and you still get load on your rigging and so some heeling which loads the keel flange…maybe lose the mast all together, undo/cut the rigging and drop the mast in the ocean. Yes, make it a powerboat that has no load on the keel flange. And continue fighting the water in the bilge. Maybe this will give you that day to be rescued. Thought?
It's sad that they knew the situation could get worse, but didn't take action in case it deteriorated rapidly, which resulted in their deaths. Being a great sailor is important, but surviving the ocean is more important. The only thing good to come out of this is other lives were saved because other vessels were inspected and repaired. I also hope that other lives will be saved by the lessons learned about getting the raft and other survival equipment ready. I was curious did they ever recover the crews remains? Thanks for sharing, I'll take those lessons to heart. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
This is quite shocking, it’s sometimes amazing at the verdict’s of the courts. It just shows, before going on a long voyage lift out and get everything fully inspected. The company owed a duty of care and FAILED in its obligations. Sadly, let this be a warning to all of us who skipped, just make sure it’s been fully inspected out of the water before a major crossing.a few thousand pounds, is nothing to the potential risk and loss
Well not really. The only reason the owner was prosecuted was that the vessel had been chartered and was therefore considered a commercial vessel and therefore subject to inspection. A legal technicality at best. That would not have been available for the overwhelming vast majority of these vessels in private ownership. The real question is why and how such a dangerously structurally deficient boat ever came to be designed, built and sold in its hundreds. It should have been the designer and builder in the dock. Opportunity lost
@@PaulBKal hi Paul, Hundreds of these boats have sailed around the worlds. However, once you make you vessel a commercial vessel you have a significant increase in your duty of care. This is partially due to you NOT KNOWING what the vessel had actually been put through. If you were the owner and you had several groundings whilst helming the vessel and set of cross an ocean you would be MAD, plus even then you have a legal duty as master of the vessel to ensure it’s seaworthy and safe. Would you really want to know you put your crews lives at RISK. Sorry safety is not negotiable and must always come first
@@stevebrunning3432 I think you’re missing the point in going after the owner. My point is that had this boat had more conventional ownership (ie not commercial) and it lost its keel in similar circumstances, there wouldn’t have been the same opportunity for the authorities (not to mention the keyboard warriors) to go after the owner. The outcome would have been the same, ie 4 dead crewmen and an upturned hull floating in the ocean as a hazard, but no legal proceedings against the owner. My further point is that boats need to be able to cope with occasional groundings like occurred to Cheeky Rafiki, without needing to be hauled and rebuilt every time, on pain of keel separation and total loss of both vessel and crew. In my view the owner’s failings, manifest as they were, are greatly lesser than those of the designers, builders, surveyors and rule writers that allow such flagrantly unsafe boats to be built and sold. I. strongly urge you to read the Maritime Accident Investigation Bureau report which can be found here: www.gov.uk/maib-reports/keel-detatchment-and-capsize-of-sailing-yacht-cheeki-rafiki-with-loss-of-4-lives
@@stevebrunning3432 Well firstly, hundreds of these boats have NOT sailed around the world; maybe a handful at best. Most of them are club racers with the odd overnight ocean race here and there and weekend cruises with the family. They are not your typical ocean crossers. As to your point about being mad to not haul a boat after grounding, I knew of no owner prior to this event who held that view. We were almost all universally of the view that boats were designed to cope with minor groundings. As the MAIB reports makes very clear, Beneteau First 40.7’s (amongst many others) were not. That changed the attitudes of many owners to the types of boats they would buy. Unfortunately it hasn’t changed the attitudes of many designers or boat builders. Why? Well maybe it’s because there were no consequences to them because the authorities focussed only the easy scapegoat, in this case the small business owner, which bankrupted him but caused no effective change in the industry. I have very little sympathy for the owner but it was a completely wasted opportunity to clean the industry up.
people who crew things on the ocean know the risk. people who know the risk and still do things deserve whatever happens. people families dont deserve a dime. money doesnt bring back family members and never has. just because a family lost members doesnt mean the surviving ones deserve money after doing shit they knew had risks. @@PaulBKal
My stance on spade rudders, and fin keels, Everything which sticks out, can break off - so my boat isn't going to have neither a spade rudder nor a fin keel.
That's what l was talking about all the time, if you want save ocean crossing boat then buy a boat, that have a long keel. No screwed with bolts or some sketchy stuff.
it would be easier to follow for me if you have some sort of visual calendar appearing on the screen from time to time. you did show a map a few times, but I would understand it better if say you show a map, the boat's location when they first discovered water and how far away what was from the USA. probably the boat was relatively close to the USA but they continued across the ocean. its very sad. I want to sail but such stories scary me a lot. especially this is scary because all the crew were such experience guys.
He had had only one year of beer drinking. I wonder if they carried more beer than water on that boat. It would have given them that false sense of security. It would be interesting to know their drinking habits and see if it had any roll in this tragedy. Since no bodies were found, no autopsies. Very sad either way you cut it. Why couldn't they sense the danger they were in to do more to prepare for it?
Are there any examples of people tieing the keel in place , It seems they were quite baffiled with were water was coming from. More focassed on through holes and water tank.
Although some of the originators of this sail had impressive credentials and documentation, I believe the on deck experience may not have been as pertinent as needed. Sailing Instruction services experience or not. They recognized things going wrong early on which is impressive, but either they weren’t experienced enough, OR they were indeed experienced enough and the sea spirit of nature threw in a weird hidden screw ball of the sort that it took all by surprise…. It definitely happens, and doesn’t need to even be underway in foul conditions for the sea to grab you. I’ve seen it too many times… no experience enough, but getting taken can be hard to survive from.
already ran it aground at least six times... before the incident... im going with poor seamanship in general causing stress damage which weakened over time until failure... i dont give a damn what your on paper qualifications are... most people with competency certificates, are still incompetent... they just paid the money for the piece of paper... i argue thaat 75-90% of licensed drivers shouldnt really have drivers licenses and really dont understand how to drive a car and cant handle emergency maneuvering at speed... these guys beat the crap out of the boat and didnt maintain the seaworthiness till it finally fell apart and sank... keel bolts/attachments are a regular maintenance check... definitely before an open water crossing!
The people on the boat weren't the ones who ran it aground 6 times, the boat was owned by a company. Multiple people over that boat's lifetime skippered it.
I'm a Master Mariner and I can assure you I never just paid the money. This vessel should not have been put to sea in an unseaworthy condition. The skipper should have been aware of the vessel's history, The ingress of water equates to loose keel bolts and prepared for the worst-case scenario, imminent capsize. No hydrostatic release on the life raft? was it lashed?.
seriously working there - with the video :-) On my old English Westerly GK24 (GK=Giant Killer) i have fiberglassed the keelbolts. Next year i have to repair the keel and hull connection. I would never take my Westerly GK24 out on the blue waters: Wrong design/wrong boat. Im keeping an eye on the keelbolts which is stainless/rust free..
Once the inner hull shell became detached the keel would have torn out . Every time the boat is grounded the inner hull shell which incorporates stringers both transverse and longitudinal suffers de bonding. The big wave hit probably gave the inner hull shell it’s last load bearing strength loss, hence water ingress after. This is the reason visually they could not determine the issue at hand. I’m sure the four individuals sailing were pushing the boat to its maximum hull speed at all times and never bothered to “hove too “ and call pan pan . The sailing yacht had 4 known hard groundings and perhaps many many others unknown . Without private ownership each party gets on board with one thing in mind “max hull speed”. To say that Beneteau is not ocean safe or a bad build product is 100% a false statement. The build quality is that good that the boat was continuously used even though it’s inspection date was over due including the knowledge of grounding many times.
Have you ever delivered a boat long distance? Because if you had, you’d know fastest is not always the most comfortable, and for a long trip comfort is key. The four guys on board got unlucky - plain and simple.
While my (US Navy) ship was on deployment, we were the ones who confirmed this. I saw the hull with my own eyes... In the Wiki page about this, I'm standing about 40ft to the right of the camera that took the photos. Super sad...
Bolt on keel, fall off & kill. This happens way more often that people realise. Especially here in Australia. No fatalities (here so far) means this gets little or no media coverage to warn Australians the yachts they purchase may be a death trap. Only integral keels are safe for ocean cross. No exceptions.
I agree 100%. That's why I bought the Island Packet that I now live on and cruise. There's enough to worry about on bluewater passages without the ridiculous thought that basic integrity of the boat may be compromised by a few bolts failing.
I disagree, many, many bolt on keel boats make ocean crossings every year. Beneteau has had a history of keels dropping off their boats. And, this vessel was obviously severely compromised. compromosPrivate yacht owners who have their boats properly inspected before an ocean crossing usually fare well, even some Beneteaus make it across.
This was the result of Stormforce trying to saving money and the skipper hesitating when SHTF. So tragic. Also, you NEVER ground a yacht like a Beneteau 40 on purpose...this isn't part of RYA training.
The RYA courses are the top of the line. Much more rigorous that the ASA courses for example. But they cannot teach you to think, be a leader and to make tough decisions like abandoning ship. Especially if you are 22 years old with limited lifetime experiences under your belt. RIP. Also..keelboats and spade rudders re the achille's heel of sailboats...
So good day to my favorite site and my favorite story teller. ❤😉 So did you have issues with the keel bolts on your yacht? So do you still sail regularly?? Be safe, please
I always questioned the wisdom of storing the liferaft amidships during offshore passages. I know there aren't many good options on most boats. I remember Kevin Escoffier's sinking during Vendee Globe. He only had time to radio "I’m sinking, I’m not joking. MAYDAY." During a catastrophic failure or capsize there's not much time to run around the deck unhooking the liferaft...
