Link: Catamaran accident off Costa Rica...
- Thread starter TIDE-HSV
- Start date
I haven't been able to talk to him yet, but, about 25 years ago, we financed a raft trip down the Grand Canyon and it turned out to be when historic floods hit. She was a raft guide herself and knew what to expect, under normal conditions, but she ended up watching people drown. We spent a frantic week, only hearing from her a couple of times. I'm familiar with the canyon and following the flood down the canyon through news reports was harrowing...
Reminds me of an incident that happened almost 30yrs ago when my brother and his friend rented a small personal cat out of Gulf Shores (or was it Panama City - I can't remember), convincing the owner that they knew what they were doing (they didn't have a clue). They ended up capsizing several miles off shore, didn't know how to right the vessel, caught an outgoing current with the sail that was now pointing straight down, and drifted out into the open ocean.
My brother and his friend said sharks were literally circling the boat waiting for one of them to fall in from the bottom of the hull where they were perched. They had their "I love you man" conversation and everything, thinking that it was only a matter of time. They were eventually spotted by a passing cargo ship who thankfully called the Coast Guard, who came and righted them before towing them to shore. They had been drifting for about 24hrs (SMH). Idiots.
Glad your friend's daughter made it out OK.
My brother and his friend said sharks were literally circling the boat waiting for one of them to fall in from the bottom of the hull where they were perched. They had their "I love you man" conversation and everything, thinking that it was only a matter of time. They were eventually spotted by a passing cargo ship who thankfully called the Coast Guard, who came and righted them before towing them to shore. They had been drifting for about 24hrs (SMH). Idiots.
Glad your friend's daughter made it out OK.
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Ye gods! It's hard to right even a small cat. You have to know what you're doing. A small sailboat is much easier. I don't know if you looked at the pix of the huge powered cat which capsized, but it's hard to see how the captain did it. Somehow, it looks, from the reports, that he got abeam of the seas. Get water rough enough and you can put almost anything under that way...
Reminds me of a time when I was 9 or 10 and my buddy Billy and I were fishing near 3 Mile Creek just as it exits from Municipal Park where Ziegler turns to Springhill. We were crossing the water main to get to the other side and we both fell in and the current was pretty swift. Neither of us could touch bottom and we both had to swim for the shore. Thank goodness for the swim lessons we had at the Coast Guard training center near the airport. They showed us how to swim with the current and we both kept our wits about us and made it ashore safely. We were even able to find our fishing poles. We didn't try and cross again after that though.
I agree. It's very scary when that windward hull lifts off the water. Speaking of unstable, I used to own a 22' Venture. Nice boat. It had a hefty drop keel. You let it down with a winch and then shot a 3/4" bolt through a hole in its stowage compartment through the matching hole in the keep and then through the hole on the other side of the stowage. You could also thread the nut on a few turns for more security. It was a nice feature, but most of us who had them sailed without the bolt, because the breezes around here don't generally require it.
I had a friend, an MD, who raced in the Thistle class. He'd shown some interest in guest helming my boat. One day he called and said that the winds were going to be "wild and wooly" tomorrow, could I get off? (It was March.) Well, we went out and his prediction was correct. The boat performed very well, but, in the hardest gusts, there was a moment of instability. Both my friend and I noticed it. When we'd had as much as we could take, we came in and I went around to raise the keel. To my horror, I discovered I hadn't shot the bolt through on the one day it really should have been. The instability was the keel moving up in its slot. If we had been knocked on beam ends, the keel would have slammed all the way up into the slot and we would have just gone on over...
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