Westsail 32, Tar Baby II, Disaster at sea Episode 11
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- Опубликовано: 10 июл 2015
- Westsail 32 travels and adventures from Anacortes USA on route to Australia.
This is the final trip for Tar Baby II after having left Palmerston Island on route to Beveridge Reef and then Nuie disaster struck.
It's a well-known saying that when going upwind the crew will fail before the boat does - but going downwind the boat will fail before the crew. I am very glad for you that you survived - but this is a classic example of the boat probably being pushed beyond its limits downwind. Surfing at 10 knots-plus is a sure sign that the boat is being pushed too hard. Fine if 30 miles offshore, but, frankly, less than stellar seamanship when in the middle of an ocean. When going upwind the boat can tell us it's overloaded by heeling over too far, griping up into the wind etc. Going downwind the signs can be harder to spot, but having to do 45 minute watches because the wind vane steering can't cope should be a sign that maybe things need to be calmed down a bit. Heaving-to is a much-misunderstood and seldom used tactic to reduce pressure on the boat and crew during bad weather. If there is sea room (not much required as you fore-reach at only a couple of knots, so a 12-hour heave-to would see you traveling 24 miles at most) and you are in a boat like a Westsail 32 which heaves-to impeccably, the pressure comes off the crew totally. it's possible to cook and rest in a good level of comfort in a hove-to boat. Fatigue and hunger lead to impaired decision making, so food and rest become vital to survival. To any aspiring sailor reading this - learn how to heave-to in your boat. I would recommend "Heavy Weather Sailing" by Adlard Coles and "Storm Tactics" by Lin and Larry Pardey as essential reading for anyone venturing further offshore than immediate reach of rescue organisations. As I said above, I am glad that you got rescued and are OK. But I can't help thinking this might have been avoided with a bit more boat sympathy and a fine example of one of the greatest ocean-cruising boats ever built might still be around. As a footnote - if you are not planning on returning to the boat to salvage anything - please scuttle her! If she's still out there, some poor other ocean gypsy is at risk of running into her on a dark night.
Thanks a lot for your insights!
Hi Louie, thanks for posting this. I was on board the Orion, so it's good to put some faces to the voices we heard on the VHF and understand what happened before we turned up.
Wayne Wow, Thank you so much Wayne, you guys did an awesome job and we were all (family and friends) impressed with the professionalism of the rescue services. My family thought it was great how you kept them up to date with information and pics.
You might remember it was my wife who talked on the hand held vhf as I felt very relieved once you guys turned up. Once I saw and heard you I was too emotional to speak. I had been going through emergency notions and everything I knew to do in that type of situation from sailing experience and various sailing courses including yachtmaster and sea safety courses.
It all hit me though like an emotional freight train once i knew help was with us.
Thank you so much once again
Louie
Made me cry. 😢. I just bought a Westsail 32 that needs work. I will be checking everything. Aloha from Hawaii ❤
In my opinion sailing at 10 knots at night with clearly to much sail up - is a big gamle.
First: if You hit a sleeping whale, a container, or a tree or an abandoned sailboat, thats game over. You most probably sink and sink fast. Remember the pressure on the hull is quadrupled when the speed is doubled. Meaning the impact-pressure is four times bigger at 10 kn than it is at 5 kn. Because pressure is in two dimensions fx: square inch!
2. It is very difficult to alter/reduce sail by the time it gets to much for Your nerves and the rig; reefing, heaving to, or just drop sails drifting on the rig alone.
I would personally always reduce sail early and particularly for the night, primarily to reduce the speed.
3. Another factor is if You surf down big waves accelerating into the wave in front of You, the boat might dive its nose under and actually come to flip over/to the side.
I tend to agree that leaving the boat should mean making sure she does not pose a risk to others by floating around as a potential, at night at least, invisible obstacle. Let her go down. Also it is a very unpleasant/traumatic experience for other sailors to meet an unmanned sailboat without the rig..."What happened here, did they escape or..." and why leave her floating like that. Because she means something to You as the owner? Thats a somewhat narrow-minded conclusion although I do understand that at this point You could not have been your usual self, obviously not.
A danish sailboat sailed from the Canaries and two days into the crossing of the Atlantic they met a norwegian sailboat that was unmanned. That experience really got to them as they did not know what to think. Should they look around for survivors, try to board the boat to see if someone was onboard to sick to reply on VHF - what to do?? They were able to board the boat and find its callsign and they found out that the crew had been rescued some weeks earlier. But I have lately read about a lot of sailors that have been rescued and left their boats floating around with no purpose, but with some risk for others. Have that in mind if - God forbid it should ever be relevant for You. Fair winds and calm seas to all.
Why burn down the camper if you have to leave? (sarcasm)You are 100% right. 10 knots at night i a 32 ft boat with exhausted crew are a result of too litle experience , too big confidence or even worse, stupidity. Sleep is free but total dependent on preparation and adequate sails and all the other 387 things the skipper have to take in consideration. Only when the skipper doing his skipper job this is posible. Two bosses on a skip have no boss. Thats a democracy. They are all taken over. Bye the sea. I'm glad they see land again. Buy a farm. The dog should have a good name too.
Nailed it, 100 % agree.
Most important...."...know your boat!" Sailing in those conditions meant lowering the center of force to as close to the deck as possible...leaving those sails up high, "wing on wing" was a huge error....taken down and "storm jib" and or smallest part of main up.....better yet, on the Westsail use the second "jib sail" position closer to the mast for storm jib. I dind't see any "drogue" deployed........Good thing they survived; too bad to loose the boat probably not necessary....good luck next time and "know your boat".
Presumably it wasn't possible for the rescue ship to tow their boat ?
Man that must be the saddest thing leaving your boat still floating, especially such a nice boat like a Westsail.
This is such a lesson for all of us out there who haven't had to live the experience in person. Thank you for sharing this. We watched this paying close attention to the rigging, and it looks as though the starboard shrouds are extremely loose, flopping around in some shots (around the 6:00 - 6:30 mark). For anyone watching this in the future, check your cotter pins, and keep an eye out for loose shrouds and stays! Do this daily! Even if the rigging is in great shape, these pieces can come loose, especially in rough conditions.
Did the pin snap or was it the fixing to the Hull?
An adventure, survived and shared. Memorable video.
Wow!!! That's one to tell the grandkids....sorry for your loss, and glad you came out of it in one piece....wiser and stronger I guess.
It has certainly been a lesson that will inform others and make us all better sailors, thanks for sharing....made me put bolt cutters and wire cutters on the list.
Good luck with all of your future adventures.
Thank you for sharing your story so that we all may learn from your experience. I'm sure it was difficult to still film/take pictures while mentally, still dealing with a difficult situation.
Incredible video. Thanks to the sturdy construction, the deck could take the impact of the mast. You two are mighty sailors--you must have been so exhausted. You made it through to sail another day--so happy for you!
So happy that Alicia and you are safe and well. I am so sorry about your yacht. Thank you for sharing your lives with us, and I hope you will continue to keep us updated. Remember, when one door closes, another one opens up to a better place.
Cheers, and thanks immensely!
Tony Astaphan
Absolutely heartbreaking. Lots of credit for you two for sailing a new boat across the Pacific and then telling about this disaster. Most people would have just curled up under a blanket and try to forget. Good luck for your future plans, whatever they may be.
We just started a year ago sailing on our Van de Staadt 40 and are in love with this life. Hope you can come back to this one day.
Cheers from Cairns
How awful. I'm very glad that you're both okay. The sea can be as harsh as it is beautiful. Wishing you both well.
So sorry to see this I have tears , glad your both safe but how sad to loose such a beautiful boat , hope you both recover for more adventure.
Wow. What an absolutely crazy story! I've never seen any of your videos but I have to say I am so glad you both made it out of that. Much love.
Sorry for your loss, buddy. I dismasted my IP35 off of Florida when I had a chainplate fail while under full sail in 25kts of wind. Luckily I was able to cut my rig away with bolt cutters and motor my boat to Fernandina Beach, and thus salvaged it. My rig also came down at 2am, and it was a very unpleasant experience. Glad to see that you and your wife were unhurt.
Very powerful vid. Sorry for your loss. Glad your adventuring spirits carry on
Cheers
wow amazing story, thanks for sharing it with us. I purchased my first yacht 8 months ago she's a 26" cavalier that was abandoned for 10 years and in a big mess but after 8 months work she is nearly new but I found after the time spent I now love my little yacht and was truly sad for you two when you had to abandon yours.
Damian Church, thank you for your comments. So exciting for you having your boat almost ready to go.
Just watched this video. First and foremost you both survived this, well done.... But i was gutted for you both having to loose your boat. Nobody knows what life is going to throw at us, so this experience will stand you in good stead for the future no what that is.... So hoping that your both back sailing.... Fair wind in your sails......... Marty from SCOTLAND
They make boats everyday bro the main thing you guys are alright and no loss of life.
I just watched all of your videos from one till this one.. I did say to myself, doing 10 Knots in that weather ,,, hmmm
I read your comment below on the age of your rigging, i would've thought it to be ok also with the boat being in fresh water for a while. I'm really glad you guys are alive and well, i loved watching your videos and now fell heartbroken..
Such an adventure and a lucky escape, not to many people have a story like this to tell the grandchildren ; }
So sorry you were having a great adventure hope you can find another boat and push off. Good luck.
Wow. I found your videos recently. I have been keeping up with quite a few sailors as my wife and I are pushing as hard as we can to follow in the footsteps of the people we envy. Like drake paragon, sv delos, wiked salty to name a few and you and Alicia. For the past few days I have watched all your videos to the point I felt as if I was part of the crew. This video actually brought a tear to my eye. Which my wife will tell u is hard to do. Thank you for the courage to continue your story even at the hardest time. Your videos have brought joy and sadness to us. You have inspired and only lit our fire and passion even more so to pursue our sailing dreams. Again a huge thank you and we wish you the best!
desertcajun Thank you so much for your kind comments. I'm so glad you enjoyed our videos and that you may have picked up a couple of destinations, travel points or boat points from watching them.
Life is all about the experiences and I think we we grow and learn from them.
I also wish you all the best in pursuing your dreams and travels and look forward to maybe watching your dreams unfold on youtube as well!
Louie
Sorry this happened to you, good that you both are safe!
Well made video. All the questions I have were answered in the previous comments. After four days of hand steering (in the Atlantic, 40 knots of wind...) we deployed our 16 foot sea anchor and bobbled for 36 hours getting rest. I only used it once but it was $600 well spent. I wish I had been able to give it to you before your journey, the anchor bag sits in our garage waiting for next boat.
wildebeest3 Thank you.
It's a tough situation as you want to get to your next destination, and conditions were not bad enough to heave too or reduce sail, but we could have done so to rest.
I find that even though we were tired and wanting to rest we were also anxious to arrive at our next destination and had previously experienced tiring conditions on different journey legs, so thinking to ourselves it's only less than a day sail away we can wait a little longer.
I like the idea of stopping and resting a while but I don't think I was tired enough at that time to feel I really needed to stop as we were doing ok with the 45min watches. If we had stopped, unless I was exhausted I don't know if I could have relaxed and slept comfortably. I think I would probably be quite anxious knowing we were not moving towards our destination.
We also only had to hand steer down the waves and had the wind vane working well otherwise most of the time. Not as tiring as your mammoth effort hand steering for 4 days, that sounds exhausting in 40 knot conditions.
Thank you for your comments and ironically I have been thinking about buying a sea anchor for my current boat a 24 ft Corsair trimaran for when sailing offshore to a group of islands here. I know the trimaran would sit into the weather with a drogue out front instead of the trimarans weakest point being side on. Only thing currently stopping me is its only a 4-5 hour sail to the islands and I generally only sail in good conditions. (Famous last words I know!)
Regards
Louie
I wish we could all go back and revisit those situations that were so notable in our lives and have a re-do. A gear failure is not from a lack of rest but a mishap that is tough to predict. But I am very aware and guilty! of the get-home-itis that can lead to pushing on when we might take a break. I don't think anything would have been different in this instance other than if you had been able to wait for better weather. As for the Corsair... I have never sailed one but I think a drogue would make a fine sea anchor for a lighter vessel. Stay safe and keep on sailing!
You live to sail and adventure another day. That's the important thing!
Harsh sea harsh lessons. Lessons that make you more aware of life and how great it can be. Have not lost a boat (fingers crossed), but have been out there in big seas at night wandering if it is all worth it, and when it all settles.. yes.
I do hope you return to the sea soon as there are so much out there.
Good luck in what you do next...
Mick Relic Hi Mick, I agree it is all worth it and we only regret the things in life we did not do, not the ones we did. I went sailing only days after we were rescued on my wife's uncles yacht in Sydney Australia and still sail regularly. Check out one of my other videos on sailing and kitesurfing Shark Bay for a look at my current yacht a Corsair 24 trimaran and an awesome sailing location.
Lovely old outboard!!
Thanks for sharing! I suspect a bottom swage fitting from the boomkin. Like "the devil to pay" a seam (or in this case a wire terminal) that gets constant in and out of water wear are the first to fail. Not the first Westsail to have a boomkin failure. So glad you all are okay!
novice here - looking at buying a Westsail for bluewater adventures , I understand chainplate failure , rigging failure under stress , but how / why / what could a "boomkin" be the culprit ? what would a "wire terminal", "bottom swage" ?? have to do with anything ? Thanks for educating me ! seems like they could have cut everything away and limped into port as so many other have ?
It's like another life when U rescueing from this type of awful situation and U feel that how life is beautiful and valuable..!!
Great to see your both ok. think of the amazing stories for the kids and grand children. Enjoy Australia S&T Coffs harbour aus
A viewer told me about this video. Such a sad time 😢
I’m glad you guys made it out safely, but such a sad event.
@ 6:01 Been there. I was stationed on an American - FFG 7 Oliver Hazard Perry Class Missile Frigate in the 1990s. After days and weeks of bobbing around it sure is a treat to get into port and knock down a few beers.
Video is a credit to you ..... greetings from New Zealand. Glad we could help !!
Thanks for posting - we can all learn a lot from your experiences. I was wondering why you couldn't clear the failed rigging from dragging in the water? Did you carry a bolt/cable cutter on board?
I know hind sight is 20/20. Replacing standing is very important as you know. Not sure why your mast fell, I suspect chainplate failure. I replaced all the standing rigging on our boat when we bought it. It was 30 years old ! My dock neighbors thought I had more money than brains.. Lol. So sorry for your loss...Westsail 32 is a Great boat!
Sorry for you guys,thank you for the video.
Rimas Meleshyus Thank you 😊
Sorry for the loss.
Thank God you are ok.
Would it have made any difference if you went bare poles in such conditions ?
Retrospectively looking back now taking down all sails and putting up the storm jib and heaving too for the night probably would have been the best thing to do. I had noticed only that day rust out of the rear rigging and thought I would get it checked at the next available location, so much pressure would have been alleviated from the rigging had we heaved too with storm jib. Also a good opportunity for us to rest as both exhausted. I dont think conditions where strong enough for bare poles. Unfortunately for me also, is having to manage sea sickness, so if I limited movements in rougher weather I would limit any ill feelings and be ok. This would always complicate any rough weather decisions as I knew I would eventually be exhausted from sickness if I did too much or pushed myself too hard by constantly trimming and adjusting sails in rough weather. So my decision to take down sails and put up storm jib and heave too was compromised by my not wanting to be too sic to complete the task. We were also sailing along ok but pushing the boats limits. Pretty difficult when you love sailing and being out there so much but have to contend with and manage nauseousness.
Do you know of Bob Oram boats out of curiosity? Fantastic catamarans!
@@ozkite1 No I don't think so, I am from the UK and never been to America.
@@ozkite1 thank you for responding to my comment, I am interested to learn from other peoples experiences
I know sea sickness does effect state of mind, I recently was on a passage around the canaries as a crew member and had sickness for several days, it crossed my mind if I threw myself overboard It couldn't feel any worse.
To all those who might think "Oh my good" and never go out on an ocean, it is better to have had the adventure and survived than to have never had the adventure. No regrets.
;-) So true!
I'm told we will regret the things in life we didn't do, not the things we did!
How about using the engine to motor towards the nearest island ? Or even ask this ship to tow your sailboat behind with you like towing a dinghy , and save her ?
This is just totally shocking! What a traumatic experience! Thank God y'all are ok!
Since this was in 2010, what are you guys doing now? Are y'all back on the water or was that enough of the ocean! Take care of yourselves and may God continue to bless you guys......Johnny
bro- so bummed! i've been following along as you've posted these. you're welcome to crew on my boat any day. hope all is well, fantastic effort in the Westsail, with tan-barks to boot! you did great out there.
dawntreader70 Awesome, thank you!
Louie van Praag i'm about to spend a year primarily singlehanded on my cal39, and i've been doing a refit and getting ready all summer for a nov departure. i'm on a limited budget, and had life-raft and epirb on my "non essential items" list. i woke up this morning and dropped $800 on an epirb from west marine and am looking at some used offshore rafts tomorrow. the dinghy and a handheld radio don't seem like a reasonable option anymore!
My friends Cal 39 was damaged by other boats in the marina during the cyclone not at sea.
thank you so much for the advice! is there any way i can personal message you for some more advice? i love my cal39, she is smooth and balanced and she takes snotty weather in stride. she is well outfitted for coastal cruising here in new england, it has been a labor of love outfitting for offshore, and i've been trying to make good decisions about what to spend money on. i'm about to mount up the monitor windvane i bought used, exciting! i've lived on her for a while, but recently totally committed, sold the house and car and am headed to the caribbean after hurricane season, and on to central america. i plan on exiting the canal in 2017 and heading galapagos>s pacific. i'd love to pick your brain a bit about what you felt was crucial gear and what gear worked best for you.
Hi you can email me at ozkite@gmail.com
Louie
YEAH - BRINGS TEARS TO MY EYES . NOT ASHAMED TO CRY AS SAILBOATS / HOMES ARE VERY SPECIAL .
Wow just wow, how lucky is your wife to not have been killed with all that rigging , the boomkins and that winvane pulled forward over her head at a great speed with all the pressure of filled down wind sails and forward rigging dragging it all no wonder she screamed that must have been horrendous for her, so glad you both got out of it unscathed
At night sailing extremely dangerous, when I crossed of the China sea at night ,hit me log flouting, big damage my tiller, and I can not continue sailing anymore .At night 🌙 its very dark. I was sailing solo from Hawaiian islands 🏝
At night only small jib need to use ,you never know what happens
looks like you made some good moves.
I'm no master mariner but the question I have is, why not heave to when things got to dicey? Was there a reason for not doing so? Heaving to and waiting it out seemed like an option.
What a sad story. Puuh. Lucky that you guys survived. One question, is that really cool to close the seacocks and hatches. Wouldn´t it better when it gets down, cause of safety for the other sailors. It´s a horror when you hit that boat at night.
abandoning ship without scuttling ship is then leaving a potential navigational hazard for someone else.
You are going to get a better boat and teach us all how to be the safest sailor/ vessel on the planet!
Don't let anybody tell you that they are perfect sailors.....
do you think if you deployed a drogue that might have helped with the surfing and preventing the bow sprint breaking
what made you upload your adventures now? I loved watching your channel this latest film really saddened me I feel for you guys
I'm glad to hear your enjoying the videos. I had a fair amount of footage to sort through from our trip & pretty much focused on getting our lives sorted out for the last few year's. I injured my knee recently & started looking through the footage & putting clips together, putting them up on utube so my wife's family in the US & my family scattered around Australia could see them. I never expected others to take interest in them & stoked people have though, which has inspired me to continue putting the clips together quicker. I have just finished the next clip episode 12 & waiting on Alicia to view it before uploading it.
Hey I'm managing to buy a Westsail 32 to fulfill my dream of sailing away across the world. But I saw this video and gave me pause
Was motoring not an option? I've always thought you only leave the boat if she is activly sinking.
Would had thought it easy to jury that boat and go to safety
There was no urgent need to abandon the boat. EPIRB is only for when you run out of options.Glad you are well now.Karel.
+Karel van der Velden I totally agree with you! Most of his points for abandoning the yacht were financial
Homonym Antonym thanks for your comments,
The fishing vessel that rescued us, picked us up on their way to their destination only slightly deviating to pick us up on their way.
Regardless though it's not about money but the value of human lives which I believe is priceless. We have emergency services to save lives and prevention is always better than risking the alternative which, then people would say emergency services should have been consulted had someone perished trying not to contact them with systems that are in place for such situations to save lives. Don't risk your lives unnecessarily they are too valuable and appreciate that we have well set up and established emergency services here for our safety.
Louie
Louie van Praag So glad you all made it out safely. You did the right thing putting the EPIRB in so soon, in such a remote location, because it took them 6 hours for the Orion to first make contact with you. Imagine if the mast holed the hull and you were sinking fast, and then having to wait hours for a plane to spot you in a life boat, then waiting for a ship. The sooner the better I say and if it was by chance in hindsight you acted to soon then no harm done to anyone!
Did you get to see what part of the rigging failed?
RIP Westsail.
Long after the fact, but STILL a good ad for a keep stepped mast and Frequent rigging inspections....
Very sorry for your boat:(
maybe a stupid question..why you dindn't attached a rope from the rescue boat to your boat and towed to the port to repair it or at least save it?
An hug
did you not have an auxiliary?
Good video, glad you are alright, shame about the boat, good to see how that whole timber backstay arrangement was set up and how it failed. this is a classic case bad decisions as a result of fatigue, might have been better to douse the main and reef the jib overnight perhaps even deploy a drogue so you can both get some rest and take the extra time arrive. Since the rig was still attached did you think about retrieving the poles and making a jury rig? I would not have been able to shake the thought of 'what would Captain Bligh think' about abandoning a good boat in that position. He sailed 3500nm in an open boat from about your position to Timor after being set adrift by mutineers. Seems like your crew wouldn't have had the heart for it so good call on the epirb.
Leaving your ship when she was still floating is hard to think about for me that is everything I own and worked hard for so I can't imagine I'm sure your on new adventures now
Thanks for your comments. At the end of the day the boat is simply a materialistic item that can be replaced. We all come in the world with nothing and will leave the world with nothing but our experiences and the effects we had on those around us. Hopefully no one will say at our funeral, "they had a nice couch or nice boat". But instead be thankful for the help or encouragement we provided for them and positive effect we had on their lives. So overall, yes sad to leave the boat but life goes on and we continue on our journey. Steve Callahan from 57 days adrift at sea, once said, "we are all on the same path just our journeys are different."
Best wishes to you on your journey! 😊
@@ozkite1 thanks for that I liked it
8:40 ish 10 knots surfing down large waves at night, sails poled out downwind.. no wonder the mast broke... DUH.. The autopilot or wind vane was obviously overpowered and a human can't push the tiller the required oh about 180 lbs to keep from broaching for very long..
How do I know this.. I was in an identical situation in a Tahiti Dreadnaught 32 ft ketch about 25 years ago 100 miles off the cost of California. We had to drop the head sail and mizzen, double reef the main to slow us down oh and dragged anchor chain astern to prevent a potential pitch pole as the waves were growing. Yup easily avoided if you know what your doing. Glad you both survived.
+Tom Stewart, Your situation sounded pretty dire! We didn't experience quite those heavy conditions. Our windvane was not overpowered but just slow to respond as usual and tiller pressure was minimal around maybe 15 lbs at the most and both my wife and I had no issues with the tiller.The wind strength was fine for the sail configuration we had up of the yankee and staysail and the swell around 3 metres, although some of the bigger swells we had experienced on our trip the boat was handling them fine and we were comfortable with the boats performance.
A swaged fitting on the rear boomkin stay is what broke that I think had also been sped along by the exhaust water outlet being above it and covering it whenever the engine was running. The mast surprisingly lasted for 3 hours bouncing on the deck before finally snapping.
I had thought about reducing sail a couple of times to slow the boats rolling and stop us having to sit at the tiller while surfing the swell to preventing a sail backing. The down side of changing our sail configuration was that instead of heading directly for Nuie downwind we would have had to jibe all the way there instead.
Difficult to say any situation is identical unless in both those situations, from what you have said though I would say your situation sounded alot more serious than the conditions we experienced.
Thanks for sharing
Hi louie Jim here again thanks for getting back to me on the mileage from hiva oa to bora bora I just got the world map out the other day and was looking at it what can I say what a great video in #11 don't think because you haven't heard anything on your sailboat that shes not out there... ive seen stories that people find afloat for 10 years bobing around the ocens. Im planning on getting a 27 catalina and sailing your route someday .so planning is the best way thanks again Jim from AZ.
Thanks James,
It's an awesome trip and I would or will do it again when I have the time (now family commitments).
Go for it mate, you should love it. You regret the things in life you did not do, not the things you did!
Louie
i also noticed that in the wife's standing up dancing video bit, the compression pipe in the background was bent. And that's in a rolling sea. The tension on your standing rigging was off. You had no chance in a storm.
+moontan there is no compression pipe behind her but there is a heater exhaust fume pipe. I Couldn't comment on rigging tension except that it had all be professionally checked over within 12 months of the swaged fitting failure and I was told it was fine.
Was looking at tours of this model and came across this. Sad (actually got a bit teary eyed) but good to see someone posting a negative experience... My 2 cents worth, these are comfortable but heavy boats... and small though the full keel does make up for that: they’re also well designed, doubling speed to 10 knots would’ve put the undue strain on and the motor as you mention is only good for manoeuvring around marinas: all sail boats under 40’ should have engines with 1hp per foot minimum, preferably half again, over that depends on weight but 50hp for most blue water boats should suffice but unfortunately most don’t see the value and fortunately never need the horsepower... I watched a doco the other day about freak waves up to 150’, they used to thing 70’ was the biggest ocean wave that was possible but satellite photos and videos have shown that at least three wave every 24 hours reach around that size.. in confused seas you’ll get three waves from different directions merge to form one huge one, I’m sure most of us have seen two waves merge at a surf beach, it’s actually fun body surfing when this happens. Anyway, good to see you both made it and great that you’ve made this so we can all see how easily things can go sideways in a sea we know that can get rough but never ever expect it to get like this... Did Tar Baby II ever show up? A well battened mono hull can, in most cases be left to her on her own and survive. I used to unload seed and coconut oils in Sydney into road tankers from the ships that did the islands: the captains and crews are the best, a few of us had free rain over a few of the ships, we even went for a ride to the harbour bridge and back once to turn about... our boss showed up as we took off waving 👋, had no idea what was going on.
So sorry to see that
You have real courage to have taken on the mighty Pacific with a small boat. It must have been difficult posting this and you deserve kudos for doing so. Hopefully one day I will also have the courage to attempt to cross an ocean in a small boat. I'd be really interested to know what you learnt from this experience. Why did the rigging fail? Is there anything you would have done differently? How did you cope with the aftermath? There are always valuable lessons to be learnt.
Thank you Ben,
Regarding your desire to sail, Don't think about it twice just do it! That was what a sailor said to me inspiring my desire to sail to distant islands.
I would like to go again, and I was really looking forward to sailing through Tonga and Fiji on route to Australia. So many islands to explore and so much closer together. The loss of our boat and situation as a whole was unfortunate for us but if your prepared to win you have to be prepared to lose.
Louie
Westsail 32 isn't exactly "small". Its a heavy displacement, well built blue water cruiser that has completed many circumnavigations of the globe. These people just got unlucky.
I shed a tear for her. May Neptune take her and she sleeps well in the deep.
so sad but you guy alive, you can save money and continue journey just money lost, you were insured ? what mistakes you think you made ?
When I watch the sea conditions in this video all I hear is the theme music to Victory at Sea .
So how much did it cost you for the rescue? Great video....though. What year was that 32' foot wooden boat?
Chris S If you have a legitimate rescue there is no cost to people being rescued besides the loss of their vessel. Rescue costs are absorbed by the Gov of that particular region.
The boat was built in 1977 and made of fibreglass about 3/4 of an inch thick in the hull and very solid. There is more info on the boat in one of the earlier episodes.
Louie
So Sorry for your loss. Having owned and cruised a W32, " Patapouf ", for six years, I would no longer consider a sailing vessel that depended on bowsprits or boomkins to support the rig. If you must have these you may consider replacing these in metal. If you shorten the boom a little, you can rig the boat with a split backstay and replace the soft wood bowsprit that after a few years needs to be replaced...with metal. Add roach to the main. Too much weather helm anyway.
A Westsail 32 named Satori survived the 1991 perfect storm in the Atlantic. They did exactly as you said and all was good. The only bummer was miscommunication with the C.G. so they were forced to abandon ship. Long story short she ended up on a N.J. beach with minimal damage.
did you move onto land, get the dog and build a garden ? thanks for sharing this story so honestly... I feel for you .. Hope life continued rich for you both .. Now is Nov.2016 .
Canyon Haverfiel, Funny you picked up on Alicia's comments! 😄 Yes we have since been land based, have a dog, two young kids, and currently working on buying our own house 🏡. I bought a corsair 24ft trailerable trimaran and regularly sail and started a Facebook page called Sailing Australia where other trailerable yachts, cruising yachts etc can arrange to meet up or just share ideas.
Thanks for your comment! 😉
Louie
You guys get a New boat yet??
What caused the mast failure?
A bit too much sail for the conditions?
10 kt is very fast indeed for a 32 ft sailboat. The helm must have been rather vague.
I wonder what the outcome would have been if you just hove to for 24 hr or ran a para anchor? I think you need to stop a sailboat running over hull speed or it will break!
What engine did Tar B 11 have and fuel capacity ? Tar B. could get 100s of miles under power ! What would need to be reinforced to prevent or lessen failure you had ?
She had a 10hp Saab engine and enough diesel for two days of motoring. However the engine was only good in calm water with minimal current. Really only for motor sailing down wind or in and out of harbors. There was most of the rigging and sails also dragging in the water which was unsafe for diving on while the boat was pitching and rolling.
Westsail most often used 25 HP ,but 38 is much better ! When you leave sight of land be prepared for disaster !
Any help if your motor engine is above 40 horsepower, i wonder.
Hi Pan Roger,
A larger engine could have helped trans versing larger seas however one of the problems we had was all the rigging and sails dragging in the water. We would have had to wait for conditions to have calmed down to enter the water to remove the remaining rigging. In calmer seas the 10hp was fine and would push us along at 5 to 6 knots.
Thanks for your comment!
Louie
The is so difficult to watch. Wing on wing in a rough, big sea. You don't like to tack or better still, heave to? Who gave you your Yachtmaster?
+moontan Many factors lead to the rigging failure but as you can see in the video the boat was sailing well and not overpowered in mild seas. The boat was maintaining a good course directly for Nuie and I would have reduced sail if the wind freshened which it did not. I think the regular exhaust water flowing over the rear swaged boom kin fitting that failed accelerated the corrosion on it which ultimately gave way.
There was no need to heave too as we were both happy sailing as we were (45mins watches each) and the sea conditions were not anything we, and the boat had not already experienced.
There was no need to tack to Nuie as we were on a direct heading there and sailing well.
Elite Sailing in Chatham Kent in the UK. I'm not a yachtmaster but have completed all course requirements.
Every situation is different and it's great to share constructive options that further our understandings. Difficult to say what the best option could have been for this situation as so many considerations. If I was there again I think that heaving too so we could rest and eat a bit could have been a good option (we had discussed this already though and decided to continue onto Nuie) although the rigging would still more than likely have failed if it was not replaced soon.
Never abandon a boat till it abandons you. This was a complete unnecessary abandonment but it was also obvious you had married the wrong woman and she was thrilled with the loss.
markleyg Thrilled with the loss would not quite be the case! We were both devastated at the loss of the boat. We had planned to continue sailing with friends on their boat in Nuie but we could not get dropped off there. Alicia was happy to continue cruising but we mutually also agreed having a house base near good cruising grounds and occasionally flying out to sail charter destinations was more preferable for us than living and cruising fulltime.
Simmilar interests with opposites make for an awesome team that compliments each other.
Best wife for me who keeps life real!!! 😉😉
Thanks for your comments.
A little confused. didnt the boomkin break which would have let the rigging go?
Hey Terry, From what we could tell the port side rear boomkin stay swaged fitting broke leading to the wooden beams of the boomkin to snap leading a flow on effect. As the old quote goes, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link!".
Louie
@@ozkite1 It seems like the the mast broke due to over stressing, speed of 10 knots is far more than the hull speed design of a 32 foot sail boat, something had to give.
@@richard21995 it took around two hours of the mast bouncing up and down layed out along the top of the boat and hanging off the broken bow sprit before it finally snap into two parts. I'm pretty sure it was the rear port boomkin swaged fitting that first broke that was then followed by the boomkin twisting up away from the portside, followed by the starboard boomkin support cable then breaking, followed by the two wooden boomkin beams snapping that was the last support for holding up the mast from aft so the mast then fell forward.
The 10 knot hull speeds was when we would surf down the waves other wise we would average 6 to 7 knots. We would hand steer when surfing down the waves due to the wind vane not steering the boat on course fast enough and wind backing either sail.
Well.done.
Its always easy to be an Armchair Admiral! Was your engine still operational? I take it you were not in immediate danger of sinking? Did you have a sea anchor on board?
There were many variables that led to the decision to leave the boat. We had fuel, working 10hp engine and a drogue. There was rigging and sails in the water around the boat and hanging below that needed clearing before any motoring, The seas where too big for the small 10 hp engine to be able to move the boat any distances and it was unsafe for me to enter the water while the boat was moving around so much in the seas to clear rigging and sails. No where close to perform the repairs and we did not have enough money left to fix the boat and I was sick. My wife was lucky not to have lost her arm when the rigging ripped past her so considering these facts the safest option was to be rescued.
Did the boat really sunk? I don't think so! Did you find out?
+Koko Diver Hi I have no idea what happened to the boat but all seacocks and hatches where closed and hull in-tacked. she could still be floating around? I have never heard anything about the boat since we left her.
Louie
It is a Westsail 32 I'm sure it completed the big circle without ya!! 😉
The only things that matter are you survived and you are still together. Its no good analysing. A gear failure can happen anytime.
I missed something here,, What was wrong with the motor?
Mazda rx7 This has been explained in previous comments but briefly, 10 hp pushing a 16 ton boat was only good in harbors or calm seas.
10 hp pushing a 32 foot boat???
Mazda rx7 It is a sailboat not a power boat!
The engine worked fine with it's variable pitch prop pushing the boat around 4 to 5 knots in calm conditions and harbours. The previous owner (an engineer) liked the simplicity, reliability and easy serviceability of the single cylinder engine matched with the variable pitched prop. It was called a Sabb engine here is a link to a clip on one
ruclips.net/video/Msz6HNB1-78/видео.html
I loved the sound of the engine when running even though loud as it sounded just like the African Queen, with it's chug chug chug.
More power would have been nice so we could have entered Beveridge reef and more of the Tuamotus atolls. We were happy with the engine overall though and I think the previous owner was trying to have a traditional, unique style set up on the boat as there were no electronics on it either when we bought her.
Louie
I understand what your saying but if your going in the deep blue you need more than a paddle. me uncle run in same problem 300 miles off Hawaii, he photographed the damage (for insurance) cut it loose and motored to Hawaii. It was a hunter 30, but had a 18hp motor. Lost the mast and most of the rig but saved the boat and his belongings .
As a side note, he said the Hunter dont ride very well without the mast, it just rolls back and forth forward and aft.
Insurance covered the mast but not the rigging (go figure) he saved the boom . I was going to convert my old Simpson 32 cat to power but he bought it off me and now he would never go back to a mono hull. The draft, better ride makes almost any cat more enjoyable than a mono hull
Anyway lot of luck to you and give some rum to the sea, she likes that
Why didn't you just motor on? Should of had running backstays.
She said she wanted...no more boat...
Where I come from tar baby is used as an insult lol
lucky to be alive........
If anyone knows of any boats that are not being used, abandoned or unwanted here is a group for sharing these, one persons trash can be another persons treasure, as well as bringing a boat back to life and use. Check out BOAT'S NEEDING NEW OWNERS on facebook!
My present sailboat has NO rigging !
I hope you found your house and a dog.
Hi Dale, yes we are land based now with a dog and two small kids.
should have hove to
+Dale Buckley your right, the westsail 32 is a hull design that lends itself to survival. heaving to would have been a practical alternative. but, it is easy to second guess, and hard to think poorly of a good outcome.
+Jason Smith methinks, the wife just wanted to get on land asap, Pressure.....i saw his pain. A sailing mate is all that matters.
half of the team makes three quarters of the influence.
+Dale Buckley We did discuss heaving too mainly as we were both tired but we were close to our next destination and decided to continue with the 45min watches.
+Jason Smith I love that comment / quote!
I used to say, that I'm the captain only to hear Alicia say, yes but she's the boss.