Thanks for watching & sailing along with us! To see repairs to the damage as a result of the collision check out Episode 87 ruclips.net/video/9vdcZLhIpf0/видео.html and Episode 88 ruclips.net/video/9Ex-FZ8tpY8/видео.html Of course you will miss some beautiful ocean sailing and a few wonderful places we stopped at in Brazil if you skip ahead 🙂
Having seen logs, barrels and containers, it could have been a number of other things. I would fear hitting a container because the corners can make a large hole. Thank God you did not have catastrophic damage.
We like the sleeping whale theory. Maybe a large tree? Whatever it was, we will never know. It must have been "softer" than the fiberglass (which we were very thankful for) but with enough mass to spin and lift the boat. Agree, probaby not a container as no jagged gouges, that would be very bad!
That's why we always sailed with double or triple reefed main at night and never tried to go over about three knots. Because, we didn't want to hit anything going any faster than that. We've just sailed close by too many things in the daytime, that I wouldn't want to hit at night going seven or eight knots.
Hi ralph :-) That is very cautious and prudent seamanship, good on ya'. Whatever this was, 7 or 8 knots of speed would have been really bad! Stay safe!!!
Friend of my dads hit a floating container many years ago off the South African east coast. They started taking on water. They were saved by a SA Airforce helicopter in some rough waters. Yaght had to be blown up and sunk as it was in a busy water way. Glad you guys had a much better outcome.
Nice job covering what I’m sure was a very stressful event. The underwater footage was a cool addition and helped understand what information you had available for on the spot decision making.
Thanks Kevin! It was definitely stressful waiting until daylight to check the outside of the hull. Thanks for the comment! 😊 Picking up the camera was not easy..
Good video. This should bring out all the internet detectives to help figure this one out. Glad you all are safe. I would think if you hit anything metal it would have left severe gouges in the paint and fiber glass. Only puzzling part for me is how the back side of the rudder was damaged. Yall keep having fun and stay safe.
That would freak me out as well. Great job keeping your wits about you Kate, and Curtis I liked how you were steady in reminding Kate to record everything. Glad y'all are safe.
Just caught up on this video, just pleased you’re both ok , let’s hope the damage is not too serious. Must be a nightmare sailing at night in bad weather , you did well keeping it together. 👍
Hi g l! :-) We will share more details about the damage in the future, but luckily we could sail on! We are pretty used to the dark and weather these days, it does take some getting used to for sure!!
Kate you did an amazing job keeping it together when the adrenaline was pumping and all sorts of thoughts are rushing through your mind in those immediate moments. You are both great sailors and more importantly a great team. So natural and easy to watch. So glad you are putting these videos together and sharing with us. Looking forward to the unfolding adventure. 💕P&J
Hey thanks Peter and Jennene and welcome aboard once again! It was definitely hard to keep it together, but I wanted to give my raw reaction as close to the incident after we figured it was safe to do so. Glad you are appreciating the content! Some weeks are harder than others 😊
Glad you were there to inspect the bottom for your guy that did not want to get in the water apparently or stop the boats so you could do a proper inspection.
Hitting something at sea is pretty scary, we collided with a large whale about 200 miles from Aus on our way home to NZ. Thought we'd collided with a trawler ,luckily we were 4mm steel so the whale came off worse. The rest of the pod came to it and lifted out of the water so it could breath in what's known as 'the Maugarite Formation'. I turned on the depth sounder to make some sort of sound and snuck away.
Wow! Thanks for sharing that story! Definitely not a fun time to hit things, especially if it causes serious damage. Fair winds and stay safe out there!
Having been on a boat hit an identifiable object offshore at night, it was nerve wracking. You were 8 days out, a long way from anything. Kate did really well to give such a clear update so soon after the event. In the event of losing the rudder/breaking the shaft a watertight bulkhead forward of the rudder post area would be a vital to maintain hull integrity. I'd much rather be in a disabled boat than in a liferaft, especially so far from help.
Hello BM! We couldn't agree more. Would love to add a watertight bulkhead. Maybe this incident will give us the time to do that. I'm glad you could understand my update through my shaky voice! I still can't believe the wind dropped just then, and you are definitely right about the nerve wracking feelings, especially so far offshore! Hopefully neither of us has to experience that again!
Heading to Australia from Ventura Ca in 2013 we hit a lot of small stuff from the Japanese tsunami 2 years before. A few of the Transpac boats had been damaged a couple of weeks before. Our boat was a cold molded wooden boat 25mm thick, guess we got lucky. We saw the debris for a few hours. It's best not to think too much about hitting containers etc, drives you crazy especially if you're by yourself. I've had many occasions when I start wondering why am I thinking about a container, is it because there's one just ahead? then go and check up at the bow and peer into the night. Your mind goes round and round in circles and there's no escape. Eventually you just give up and get ready to die at any moment if that's your destiny as there's nothing you can do about it. I hate that feeling.
You handled the bump-in-the-night very well, sharing it on video. We had a bump crossing the Pacific, luckily our Dufour 35 was well made and did not let any water in. I am looking forward to your cruise down the Brazilian Coast to the Rio del Plata. Are you going to call in Punta del Estes, reportedly a favorite port for the old Whitbread Sailors.
Hi Rauf! How are you this week? Thanks! Glad you made it through the pacific unscathed, lots of stuff floating out there. We do hope to stop in Uruguay, some friends of ours are there now ans say it is nice.
It amazes how it's such a big space and the odds are so long, and yet yachts hit stuff fairly frequently. Still, you got through it and all is okay. Hopefully that's your bad luck out of the way.
Everything that could go wrong it always happened at night, and when it is raining, glad that you are doing well, thank for sharing your sailing experiences, the life os sailing......like seeing you playing the guitar.....
Thanks xtransam! Glad you enjoyed the guitar playing and video(s). We are fortunate that we get to share our experiences with you! And certainly the night did not help as we couldn't see anything in the rain! At least the wind let us right then 👍🏻😬
I can understand your adrenaline rush. I’d be the same way once yours get life jackets that’s sort of panicky and I’d deal with it but once all seems ok. No leakage. That’s when it would totally fill me of what just happened including replaying in my mind over and over. Lol
I'm watching this while wearing my Hella Mega concert T-shirt for Green Day, FOB, and Weezer. You were playing that Green Day song in this one, and singing Africa in another episode... which Weezer covers. Wondering if you guys went to the same concert tour?
Glad you guys are alright. There's is so much junk around this part of the coast lots of huge debris much bigger than my boat as I was bombing it down from canaries to Dakar. Now currently in Gambia will stay for 1 year then head out to Cape verde. The trash is a massive concern doesn't matter how fast your going it can seriously end you passage fast.
Hi SV Pantera! Scary stuff! Sounds like you had a good rip of a passage through there also! Not much can be done but cross your fingers and hope for the best. We are working on the episode this week where we finally cut into and repair the damage.
@@SailingSweetRuca yeah exactly when you see the trash in day light your worried but at night your less worried I find when your flying through it but in the back of your mind you remember how big some of the trash was which brings that level of concern back again. Its exhausting especially hand steering all the way. Need match sticks for the eyes. Happy recording will check it out. 👍🏿
Have had a big hammerhead shark knock my 14000lb sailboat around while anchored at night in the fl keys. My keel was only 2ft from the bottom so probably just swimming along and didn't even see my keel. And probably got a headache since my keel was solid lead and was going a good pace to make the boat sway back and forth.
I agree that spade rudders are not “seaworthy” for a voyaging boat. In an impact they can easily have a shaft failure, and are nearly impossible to fix at sea. A fair number of boats have been abandoned at sea from rudder failure. A metal shaft is going to bend, jamming the system, often holding the boat yawed to one side such that a jury steering system cannot overcome the force it exerts. The only cure is if possible to jettison the rudder downward if even possible, then do a jury rig of some sort. The abandoned cat Rainmaker is the classic case…..sliding backward I believe, the rudder(s) was / were fully deflected, and bent. I would not want to make a transoceanic passage in such a boat without a plan to deal with this.
@@SailingSweetRuca you (and others in similar situations) might consider a forward-looking sonar. There's a few on the market, some under $1k. Sounds like reasonable insurance.
Ask Bob Perry. He states that most skegs are held on by the rudder! And I would also consider the multiple instances of Malos with partial skegs that have their hulls breached by collisions or grounding against the skeg.
@@kylek2794 I think it depends on the skeg. Some of the vestigial ones appear more or less decorative and I doubt if they help at all. But in the end, nothing is as protective as a full keel, but that means compromises in sailing agility as well as reducing the pool of available boats pretty radically. Personally, I like a full keel with a cutaway forefoot; they handle well enough, since it's the underwater profile forward of the mast that most affects tacking. But that doesn't mean they're perfect, it's just my preference.
You should get a decent pair of night vision goggles, even the digital ones are good nowadays. These UFOs, i have noticed, give off alot of infrared spectrum light. Light you can't see with the naked eye.
With the back top corner of the rudder damaged, by a forward moving strike, it means the rudder flexed enough for the back of the rudder to ram the hull. Bringing into question the condition of the rudder shaft and hull support. REDUCE SAIL AND HEAD FOR THE NEAREST SAFE HARBOR‼️
Hey Superman, where do you think the nearest safe harbor was from their reported position of 8.5°N x 23 °W? I assume Natal. This was a great video and I am happy to know they got somewhere safely.
Thanks Jim!!!! You are correct also. At the time the easy angles Africa were not a great option for yachts and with possible damage, we did not want to sail upwind into the trades. We are also prepared for this risk, to sail rudderless, etc. Continuing with the trades and closer to shipping lanes seemed the best option for us after an inner hull, bulkhead, keel bolt, and rudder inspection (we didn't film any of this as cameras were the least of our concern at the time).
WOW! What a small world. We are glad you are safe. That had to be a terrifying experience. Are you back out sailing? Do you have a website or sailing channel to follow you as well? Sounds like our collisions to the rudder were similar. We did end up taking on some water months later from a small crack made by the impact that was difficult to find. Hopefully when we make it to your neck of the woods we can stop and say hello! Cheers!
Hit a sunfish on a 94 ft tug off coast of California, didn't see it sunning on the top of the water, it was huge and ended up almost stopping two massive 4 blade kort nozzle wheels with 4000 HP, by the time I felt and heard the engines bog down , the body of the fish went thru the wheels all there was was blood and fish pieces all around the vessel, the engines never fully stopped and we gained our rpm's back and kept going. Pretty crazy though, if we were a fiberglass vessel I can't imagine !
Every offshore sailor's worst nightmare. Near the end of 2018 Newport Bermuda one night there was report of a large partially submerged structure right near the fleet. It caused a lot of anxiety to say the least. I'm planning a transatlantic race in 2025 with my Baltic 51. Collision is my worst fear. At night, we sail with our radar on. But its the stuff just below that is scary. You guys did well with no panic! I've enjoyed your channel.
Hi High Note :-) We dig the logo!!! Scary stuff for sure, at least racing other boats are around, but still you can't reall slow down either! Good luck in the race, we will have to follow along!!! If you have time to do watertight bulkheads in the Baltic, it may be worth the peace of mind. Smart about the radar, we do as well. A lot of times in dual range mode (short and long). Uses some battery, but cheap insurance! Cheers!!!!
@@SailingSweetRuca Thanks for the logo praise. My wife and I came up with it with the help of a talented designer in Newport. I love the new B&G radar. The dual range is a huge improvement and it doesn't kill the batteries like the old systems. I am going to make a watertight bulkhead up forward. The anchor fore peak already has a fiberglass tabbed bulkhead separating it from the V berth. There are a few penetrations for plumbing and electric but those can be sealed. It is my aft compartments I worry about where my rudder post is. It is very difficult to access and if we had flooding there, it would be difficult or impossible to deal with. I've enjoyed your channel because you guys are real sailors and are not just fumbling around! I do like helping people to learn also. I had Bums on a Boat with me to Bermuda last summer.
The weird wave part of the collision makes me think whale fluke. I think you hit a whale. Especially since there was no real damage. The barnacles probably were the cause of the strange paint scuffs. You guys got lucky. 😀
I have always been a devotee of the long-keeled sailboat. I am a little cautious of deep-fin keels, exposed props and spade rudders. They are more vulnerable. Long keels have less performance but they are less vulnerable. The long-keel will heave-to a little better, too. Long-keel is king. Fair winds !
Horses for courses. We like pretty much all boats, and like people every one is different. For us the preference is speed to give flexibility in routing and the pure enjoyment of sailing itself.
A close family friend was an experienced sailor that had circumnavigated many times. His sailboat was sunk on purpose by pilot whales him and his wife spent 53 days at sea in a raft. He wrote a book about it called our last chance. There are old charts that mark the location this happened with warnings for whales attacking boats.
Read Jonathon Swifts book Tale of A Tub. British Sailors carried empty wooden barrels on board to toss off for whales to play with instead of whales playing with their wooden planks vessels and creaking leaky planks
Dealing with the unknown is not alway comforting.But going really fast across the ocean is amazing it alway taking that chance the adrenaline if flowing, Thank god you were be watched over and protected ! You two are amazing real life sailing ! Thank you !
There should be a collision notification service for Maritimers. GPS coordinates of the strike, sea state, time, etc. is all valuable data. Every city does this same record keeping for accidents, and its important at sea as well.
Curious, first, why didn't you just drop the main and stop the boat for the inspection. Lacking that, why did you not tie a lashing to Kate in case she lost her grip?
We did stop the boat (the hit stopped it for us) as we inspected right at the time of the incident. Don't worry I was tied when I went off the side. Off the transom, we were trailing a line and in the process of slowing.
Great video. Scary stuff to get hit like that. Good luck that you did not break the rudder blade as it had to be a big hit to bend the rudder blade to make the marks in the back of it. If I am correct it is not designed to bend but to be stationary. My rudder shaft is stainles, i knew that you can have it made in carbon but did not know that there are ones made like yours. Waiting to see what damage you got from this unfortunate collision. BTW do you have normal keel in sweet ruca? The keel looks shallow.
Hi Topc! Sweet Ruca has the shallow draft keel 6'3". She is designed to just barely fit into the intercoastal waterway (draft and rig height). More later for sure, lots of good info and cool insider boat design stuff to come. J used a large diameter fiberglass shaft. Basically the rudder and shaft are almost all one piece. Fiberglass is more flexible than carbon or steel, allowing it to deflect and absorb impact rather than break. It seemed to work as designed in this case. We think, but don't know....a carbon shaft may have transfered more shock to the hull and bearings, and possibly if the shaft was steel in this case, it could have bent far ebough to render steering impossible. We think we are pretty lucky.
@@SailingSweetRuca sounds like a clever design. You make a good marketing for j boats. It has to be a rare insident to hit the side of the keel and then the rudder. What ever it was you are wery lucky as it did not hit straight to the keel. Propably with a lead keel you would stay afloat but lose a part of the lead. With 4 knots it is a huge bang but at that speed you wil not lose the keel, but you will have a big problems and repair (like expedition Evans).
If you lose your rudder completely you should probably let someone know immediately what your dealing with along with exact position,wind speed ,direction etc. just in case things go from bad to worst.
the worst thing we have thank god nearly hit was a mine, yes naval mine , a big spiky ball ! we did not even see it until it was along side us. This was in the Mediterranean of all places. We reported it to windy station on Gibraltar , they were not even surprised, They said they come from the black sea and break free and drift down though the med. 10 feet to the left and it would have been BOOM.
That's a scary situation! Looks like you both handled it as well as possible! Just conjecture, but assuming it was a whale, I wonder if the rain played a role? I'm not a whale biologist or underwater audiologist, but I know whales rely on sound for information. I would bet the rain drowns out the sound of the boat underwater (especially with no engine running). Maybe the whale was just as surprised as you were! All things considered, this could have been much worse. Glad you three are OK!
Orcas have recently been very active attacking sailing boats along the coast of Portugal, mostly aiming rudders, apparently for fun 😮(?) That is what happened to you, for sure!
One lesson to be taken along .. be prepared and slow down at night. A nice tool for the bad weather is radar .. it will tell you how big the squall is and how much rain.
I know how you feel. I remember going surfing years ago. I had a long board and as I was about to surf in towards the shore. Then all of a sudden, something twatted the back of my board. My first thoughts was, that I hit another surfer. There was nothing submerged as well. As it was wintertime, there were only a few of us in the water. We was well spread apart. To this day I still don’t know what it was. . Another surfer who was about 100 yds away. Looked over at me. As to say he saw something that I didn’t. I never got to ask him as he left well before I did.
Your boat look very fast! What Brandt and model you have! Thanks for the delightful image and quality of the music ambiance. Feel really like we are sailling with you two!
Could be, the rudder and shaft are designed to withstand a collision or hard grounding though. What we hit had significant mass. We will take good fortune to the bank any day though. To each their own regarding preference of design.
god bless ! I worry the bump in the night created a compression of the material under the fiberglass + compromised the structural unity of the keel - but pray I am wrong - nice music choice - greetings from South Louisiana
My first thought was that the rudder probably got hit from the front, not the rear, so if it was hit in the front in such a way that paint was knocked off the top rear, there could have been some really interesting (i.e. expensive) forces at work during the collision. For example, did the rudder shaft flex so that the top rear rudder struck the hull? There could be all sorts of strain damage inside the rudder if it bent and hit that way!
On a crossing to the azores we brushed up against a container about 150 NM west of Horta ,we went over the side and found it scrapped the entire length of our boat ,the sound was scary to hear (steel hull)
Wow! Small world! It was such an awesome boat and sad ending for her, but glad everyone made it safely to Hawaii! A Transpac is high up on our bucket list!
There needs to be some kind of pinger device that would warn whales a boat is coming. Another thing I'm looking into is integrating a forward looking sonar into a boat, sort of like an automatic collision avoidance mechanism.
In an interview with the guy who designed the Kraken 50 boat, he describes taking the prototype out for a sail. The boat just stopped dead, sending everyone flying, then carried on. Minimal damage. He guesses it was a whale
Thank you! I'm in a horrible nadir in my life but have had a surge of live giving positivity coming up with a three year plan to get a sailing boat, learn to sail, and go all over. Hopefully as a decent versatile guitarist I'm hoping busking will keep me going financially. I m experiencedr in uk but not do much abroad. Any thoughts maybe? Subbed to you..see you out there!
Glad you guys are okay! I can guess what you may have found later on, but will definitely stay tuned to find out more. You’ve also helped make a decision for me: it’s time to deconstruct and service the upper bearing on our rudder given how much play there is in it (a couple 8ths of lateral wiggle). Likely also the right time to drop the rudder and lower bearing when we next haul out.
Thanks Shane! We learned a lot from this, a lot more to share as we get down the road. Good decision to invest in your steering system, we are very happy ours was strong and in good condition.
That was an example shot from earlier in the night since we weren't filming at 3am. It is nearly impossible to film 24/7. Sorry if that made it confusing.
Don't worry about pirates, they've all entered the US across the southern border. Lightning is my number one fear. I remember the first time I was far away from civilization on the water, I've never seen dark that dark. Couldn't see my hand in front of my face. It was summer, in the 70s, the water was warm so things weren't too scary! But I was scared, it was creepy, unnerving I guess. Pirates are number two fear, especially around the Caribbean where they seem to have better equipment and shorter distances. Thank you for posting awesome video, keep living our dream!
Sailors should deploy some kind of sonar as a whale-warning device, so the whales can avoid us. Otherwise, sailboats are too silent. Can depth sounders be set to a low power mode?
Not sure exactly if there are Orca's where we were, but we have seen one surface close to us in Brazil. Intimidating! Our friends in spain had their rudder broken near Portugal by them.
@@SailingSweetRuca Yes, there's been quite a few incidents off the coast of Portugal of Orcas attacking sailing yachts. Curious and worrying behaviour. Would like to know the cause.
@@SailingSweetRuca I hit a container on a delivery off the south Island of NZ once , We just managed to see it 20 meters ahead , It was simurged , Covered in mussels ,witch is all you could see on the surface , Just a glancing blow & that was in the 80s when there was a lot less containers around , Reported it but the coast guard never found it (Hope it sunk)
We could carry a spare rudder and make mounts on the transom to fit a cassette (a lot of ocean racing programs do this) but it is very expensive to set up properly. It is on the wish list along with watertight bulkheads.
Thanks for watching & sailing along with us! To see repairs to the damage as a result of the collision check out Episode 87 ruclips.net/video/9vdcZLhIpf0/видео.html and Episode 88 ruclips.net/video/9Ex-FZ8tpY8/видео.html Of course you will miss some beautiful ocean sailing and a few wonderful places we stopped at in Brazil if you skip ahead 🙂
That is some scary sh*t! I'm so glad you guys weren't ripping along as usual....just glad you're safe!
Thanks @Ken K. Yes, super glad we were not doing 10+ with the kite up at that moment!
Having seen logs, barrels and containers, it could have been a number of other things. I would fear hitting a container because the corners can make a large hole. Thank God you did not have catastrophic damage.
We like the sleeping whale theory. Maybe a large tree? Whatever it was, we will never know. It must have been "softer" than the fiberglass (which we were very thankful for) but with enough mass to spin and lift the boat. Agree, probaby not a container as no jagged gouges, that would be very bad!
That's why we always sailed with double or triple reefed main at night and never tried to go over about three knots. Because, we didn't want to hit anything going any faster than that. We've just sailed close by too many things in the daytime, that I wouldn't want to hit at night going seven or eight knots.
Hi ralph :-) That is very cautious and prudent seamanship, good on ya'. Whatever this was, 7 or 8 knots of speed would have been really bad! Stay safe!!!
Friend of my dads hit a floating container many years ago off the South African east coast. They started taking on water. They were saved by a SA Airforce helicopter in some rough waters. Yaght had to be blown up and sunk as it was in a busy water way. Glad you guys had a much better outcome.
WOW! Holy smokes Gary, that is some scary stuff. Thankfully he was rescued. So sad to hear about the boat's fate. That had to be devastating.
This what I get for watching you guys sail around the world ..you've got me to where I worry about you guys ..stay safe..
Awww. Don't Worry JOJO, we will stay safe! Promise :-)
@@SailingSweetRuca
Nice job covering what I’m sure was a very stressful event. The underwater footage was a cool addition and helped understand what information you had available for on the spot decision making.
Thanks Kevin! It was definitely stressful waiting until daylight to check the outside of the hull. Thanks for the comment! 😊 Picking up the camera was not easy..
We iWe y
Good video. This should bring out all the internet detectives to help figure this one out. Glad you all are safe. I would think if you hit anything metal it would have left severe gouges in the paint and fiber glass. Only puzzling part for me is how the back side of the rudder was damaged. Yall keep having fun and stay safe.
Thanks stubby! Thats what we think also. We now know why the back of the rudder was damaged, but it took us a while to figure it out.
Hero, Picking up the camera and invite us, amazing, thank you guys 🤟🏋🏻♀️
Welcome aboard M K!!! :-)
That would freak me out as well. Great job keeping your wits about you Kate, and Curtis I liked how you were steady in reminding Kate to record everything. Glad y'all are safe.
Thanks Paul!!! Great to hear from you. Hope you have been well!!! Cheers!!!!
Just caught up on this video, just pleased you’re both ok , let’s hope the damage is not too serious. Must be a nightmare sailing at night in bad weather , you did well keeping it together. 👍
Hi g l! :-) We will share more details about the damage in the future, but luckily we could sail on! We are pretty used to the dark and weather these days, it does take some getting used to for sure!!
Kate you did an amazing job keeping it together when the adrenaline was pumping and all sorts of thoughts are rushing through your mind in those immediate moments. You are both great sailors and more importantly a great team. So natural and easy to watch. So glad you are putting these videos together and sharing with us. Looking forward to the unfolding adventure. 💕P&J
Hey thanks Peter and Jennene and welcome aboard once again! It was definitely hard to keep it together, but I wanted to give my raw reaction as close to the incident after we figured it was safe to do so. Glad you are appreciating the content! Some weeks are harder than others 😊
Glad you were there to inspect the bottom for your guy that did not want to get in the water apparently or stop the boats so you could do a proper inspection.
Hitting something at sea is pretty scary, we collided with a large whale about 200 miles from Aus on our way home to NZ. Thought we'd collided with a trawler ,luckily we were 4mm steel so the whale came off worse. The rest of the pod came to it and lifted out of the water so it could breath in what's known as 'the Maugarite Formation'. I turned on the depth sounder to make some sort of sound and snuck away.
Wow! Thanks for sharing that story! Definitely not a fun time to hit things, especially if it causes serious damage. Fair winds and stay safe out there!
Sailors should deploy some kind of sonar as a whale-warning device. Can depth sounders be set to a low power mode?
Having been on a boat hit an identifiable object offshore at night, it was nerve wracking. You were 8 days out, a long way from anything. Kate did really well to give such a clear update so soon after the event. In the event of losing the rudder/breaking the shaft a watertight bulkhead forward of the rudder post area would be a vital to maintain hull integrity. I'd much rather be in a disabled boat than in a liferaft, especially so far from help.
Hello BM! We couldn't agree more. Would love to add a watertight bulkhead. Maybe this incident will give us the time to do that.
I'm glad you could understand my update through my shaky voice! I still can't believe the wind dropped just then, and you are definitely right about the nerve wracking feelings, especially so far offshore!
Hopefully neither of us has to experience that again!
3:28 Big Tree Logs fall into Rivers and get washed to Sea, then drift with currents for years.
We've had a run in with one of these as well, but it happen to be in a canal 😬
Heading to Australia from Ventura Ca in 2013 we hit a lot of small stuff from the Japanese tsunami 2 years before. A few of the Transpac boats had been damaged a couple of weeks before. Our boat was a cold molded wooden boat 25mm thick, guess we got lucky. We saw the debris for a few hours. It's best not to think too much about hitting containers etc, drives you crazy especially if you're by yourself. I've had many occasions when I start wondering why am I thinking about a container, is it because there's one just ahead? then go and check up at the bow and peer into the night. Your mind goes round and round in circles and there's no escape. Eventually you just give up and get ready to die at any moment if that's your destiny as there's nothing you can do about it. I hate that feeling.
Thanks for the tips. We definitely know that feeling now more than ever. Thanks again for sharing the story.
There are bound to be scary events out at sea. Wishing many more safe voyages... stay safe.
Thank you for the well wishes Mary!! :-)
You handled the bump-in-the-night very well, sharing it on video. We had a bump crossing the Pacific, luckily our Dufour 35 was well made and did not let any water in. I am looking forward to your cruise down the Brazilian Coast to the Rio del Plata. Are you going to call in Punta del Estes, reportedly a favorite port for the old Whitbread Sailors.
Hi Rauf! How are you this week? Thanks! Glad you made it through the pacific unscathed, lots of stuff floating out there. We do hope to stop in Uruguay, some friends of ours are there now ans say it is nice.
Wow,,Amazing!
It amazes how it's such a big space and the odds are so long, and yet yachts hit stuff fairly frequently. Still, you got through it and all is okay. Hopefully that's your bad luck out of the way.
Agree completely
Everything that could go wrong it always happened at night, and when it is raining, glad that you are doing well, thank for sharing your sailing experiences, the life os sailing......like seeing you playing the guitar.....
Thanks xtransam! Glad you enjoyed the guitar playing and video(s). We are fortunate that we get to share our experiences with you! And certainly the night did not help as we couldn't see anything in the rain! At least the wind let us right then 👍🏻😬
It gives us an idea of what humanity is doing to this planet
I can understand your adrenaline rush. I’d be the same way once yours get life jackets that’s sort of panicky and I’d deal with it but once all seems ok. No leakage. That’s when it would totally fill me of what just happened including replaying in my mind over and over. Lol
You are a sweetie. And you're so brave. I think you can Relax. And enjoy the ride.❤
Thanks Clarence!
I'm watching this while wearing my Hella Mega concert T-shirt for Green Day, FOB, and Weezer. You were playing that Green Day song in this one, and singing Africa in another episode... which Weezer covers. Wondering if you guys went to the same concert tour?
We did not but we share a similar taste in music! Haha what a fun moment of coincidence. Thanks for sharing 😁
I recommend inspection ports for rudder and keel...
Glad you guys are alright. There's is so much junk around this part of the coast lots of huge debris much bigger than my boat as I was bombing it down from canaries to Dakar. Now currently in Gambia will stay for 1 year then head out to Cape verde. The trash is a massive concern doesn't matter how fast your going it can seriously end you passage fast.
Hi SV Pantera! Scary stuff! Sounds like you had a good rip of a passage through there also! Not much can be done but cross your fingers and hope for the best. We are working on the episode this week where we finally cut into and repair the damage.
@@SailingSweetRuca yeah exactly when you see the trash in day light your worried but at night your less worried I find when your flying through it but in the back of your mind you remember how big some of the trash was which brings that level of concern back again. Its exhausting especially hand steering all the way. Need match sticks for the eyes. Happy recording will check it out. 👍🏿
Have had a big hammerhead shark knock my 14000lb sailboat around while anchored at night in the fl keys. My keel was only 2ft from the bottom so probably just swimming along and didn't even see my keel. And probably got a headache since my keel was solid lead and was going a good pace to make the boat sway back and forth.
That is a pretty awesome story. We can only imagine the visual when you looked over the side! Crazy!!!
I agree that spade rudders are not “seaworthy” for a voyaging boat. In an impact they can easily have a shaft failure, and are nearly impossible to fix at sea. A fair number of boats have been abandoned at sea from rudder failure. A metal shaft is going to bend, jamming the system, often holding the boat yawed to one side such that a jury steering system cannot overcome the force it exerts. The only cure is if possible to jettison the rudder downward if even possible, then do a jury rig of some sort. The abandoned cat Rainmaker is the classic case…..sliding backward I believe, the rudder(s) was / were fully deflected, and bent. I would not want to make a transoceanic passage in such a boat without a plan to deal with this.
Agreed
We think it is seaworthy, lots of boats with spades make it around the world. Every boat is a comprimise. You are not wrong about the steel shafts.
@@SailingSweetRuca you (and others in similar situations) might consider a forward-looking sonar. There's a few on the market, some under $1k. Sounds like reasonable insurance.
Ask Bob Perry. He states that most skegs are held on by the rudder! And I would also consider the multiple instances of Malos with partial skegs that have their hulls breached by collisions or grounding against the skeg.
@@kylek2794 I think it depends on the skeg. Some of the vestigial ones appear more or less decorative and I doubt if they help at all. But in the end, nothing is as protective as a full keel, but that means compromises in sailing agility as well as reducing the pool of available boats pretty radically. Personally, I like a full keel with a cutaway forefoot; they handle well enough, since it's the underwater profile forward of the mast that most affects tacking. But that doesn't mean they're perfect, it's just my preference.
You should get a decent pair of night vision goggles, even the digital ones are good nowadays. These UFOs, i have noticed, give off alot of infrared spectrum light. Light you can't see with the naked eye.
With the back top corner of the rudder damaged, by a forward moving strike, it means the rudder flexed enough for the back of the rudder to ram the hull. Bringing into question the condition of the rudder shaft and hull support. REDUCE SAIL AND HEAD FOR THE NEAREST SAFE HARBOR‼️
Hey Superman, where do you think the nearest safe harbor was from their reported position of 8.5°N x 23
°W? I assume Natal. This was a great video and I am happy to know they got somewhere safely.
they stopped in Brazil
they had to get special clearance
This is good and CORRECT ADVICE! Thank you Clark for sharing for others if they ever encounter this!!!
Thanks Jim!!!! You are correct also. At the time the easy angles Africa were not a great option for yachts and with possible damage, we did not want to sail upwind into the trades. We are also prepared for this risk, to sail rudderless, etc. Continuing with the trades and closer to shipping lanes seemed the best option for us after an inner hull, bulkhead, keel bolt, and rudder inspection (we didn't film any of this as cameras were the least of our concern at the time).
Hi Rick! You get the super slueth award this week ;-)
That’s our boat sinking at the start of your video! We got hit by a sunfish!!! Glad you didn’t take on any water 💦
WOW! What a small world. We are glad you are safe. That had to be a terrifying experience. Are you back out sailing? Do you have a website or sailing channel to follow you as well?
Sounds like our collisions to the rudder were similar. We did end up taking on some water months later from a small crack made by the impact that was difficult to find.
Hopefully when we make it to your neck of the woods we can stop and say hello! Cheers!
Hit a sunfish on a 94 ft tug off coast of California, didn't see it sunning on the top of the water, it was huge and ended up almost stopping two massive 4 blade kort nozzle wheels with 4000 HP, by the time I felt and heard the engines bog down , the body of the fish went thru the wheels all there was was blood and fish pieces all around the vessel, the engines never fully stopped and we gained our rpm's back and kept going. Pretty crazy though, if we were a fiberglass vessel I can't imagine !
Always something to hit in the ocean 😬
Run 40 ft. Line out of he back in case you let go when swimming in while underway
Thanks. There is a line but not quite 40 feet. Longer is better though for sure. Just have to remember to pull it up before the motor comes on
Every offshore sailor's worst nightmare. Near the end of 2018 Newport Bermuda one night there was report of a large partially submerged structure right near the fleet. It caused a lot of anxiety to say the least. I'm planning a transatlantic race in 2025 with my Baltic 51. Collision is my worst fear. At night, we sail with our radar on. But its the stuff just below that is scary. You guys did well with no panic! I've enjoyed your channel.
Hi High Note :-) We dig the logo!!! Scary stuff for sure, at least racing other boats are around, but still you can't reall slow down either! Good luck in the race, we will have to follow along!!! If you have time to do watertight bulkheads in the Baltic, it may be worth the peace of mind. Smart about the radar, we do as well. A lot of times in dual range mode (short and long). Uses some battery, but cheap insurance! Cheers!!!!
@@SailingSweetRuca Thanks for the logo praise. My wife and I came up with it with the help of a talented designer in Newport. I love the new B&G radar. The dual range is a huge improvement and it doesn't kill the batteries like the old systems. I am going to make a watertight bulkhead up forward. The anchor fore peak already has a fiberglass tabbed bulkhead separating it from the V berth. There are a few penetrations for plumbing and electric but those can be sealed. It is my aft compartments I worry about where my rudder post is. It is very difficult to access and if we had flooding there, it would be difficult or impossible to deal with. I've enjoyed your channel because you guys are real sailors and are not just fumbling around! I do like helping people to learn also. I had Bums on a Boat with me to Bermuda last summer.
Hit something hard in the middle of the night south of Haiti in '79. Gave us a nasty sinking feeling.
Woof! Scary stuff, and back then, no EPIRBs or SAT Phones. Hope all turned out well!
Great episode you guys. I’m glad you guys are safe and getting everything sorted out.
Thanks @KGladie!
The weird wave part of the collision makes me think whale fluke. I think you hit a whale. Especially since there was no real damage. The barnacles probably were the cause of the strange paint scuffs. You guys got lucky. 😀
We got lucky to complete the trick, but unfortunately there was some real damage, but you'll have to keep watching! Barnacles is a good theory!
Glad this turned ok, good thing you were going so slow. Think about that rudder if you were going 10.
We agree. At normal speeds we sail this could have been a major disaster.
What a story!
I have always been a devotee of the long-keeled sailboat. I am a little cautious of deep-fin keels, exposed props and spade rudders. They are more vulnerable. Long keels have less performance but they are less vulnerable. The long-keel will heave-to a little better, too. Long-keel is king. Fair winds !
To each their own 😀 fair winds indeed!
Or just stern hung rudder
THIS is why a full keel boat will always be THE boat for blue water.
Yea, Chassing Lattitudes, I’m talking to you!!!! 😀
Horses for courses. We like pretty much all boats, and like people every one is different. For us the preference is speed to give flexibility in routing and the pure enjoyment of sailing itself.
yes know how you feel... I've had hairy experience's at sea... take care may U be safe 🙏🇦🇺
Glad you're safe, too! That's living I guess! Many thanks
Keep it together. 🤙🏻
Thanks Chris! Will do 👍
Such an adventure. Great video. Hope your boat isn't too banged up.
Thanks Mark!!
A close family friend was an experienced sailor that had circumnavigated many times. His sailboat was sunk on purpose by pilot whales him and his wife spent 53 days at sea in a raft. He wrote a book about it called our last chance. There are old charts that mark the location this happened with warnings for whales attacking boats.
Wow that's crazy. Thanks for sharing the story. That's the risk we take. We are very lucky.
Read Jonathon Swifts book Tale of A Tub. British Sailors carried empty wooden barrels on board to toss off for whales to play with instead of whales playing with their wooden planks vessels and creaking leaky planks
Unidentified Floating Object. Steel containers Floating beneath the surface?
Dealing with the unknown is not alway comforting.But going really fast across the ocean is amazing it alway taking that chance the adrenaline if flowing, Thank god you were be watched over and protected ! You two are amazing real life sailing ! Thank you !
Right on Neal! Thank you!
I can hear your dogs panting & concern when you were in the water checking out your rudder damage.
Roxy tries to be a lifeguard :-)
When there is so much fear, why do You stress Yourself sailing? -Leads to selfullfilling prophecy
There should be a collision notification service for Maritimers. GPS coordinates of the strike, sea state, time, etc. is all valuable data. Every city does this same record keeping for accidents, and its important at sea as well.
That is a great idea Edward! You have got the wheels turning :-)
Unless you tag the object once spotted it's hard to predict how it's going to move.
Curious, first, why didn't you just drop the main and stop the boat for the inspection. Lacking that, why did you not tie a lashing to Kate in case she lost her grip?
We did stop the boat (the hit stopped it for us) as we inspected right at the time of the incident. Don't worry I was tied when I went off the side. Off the transom, we were trailing a line and in the process of slowing.
Maybe you found that container that fell of my ship :-). Glad you OK
Hahahahaha! :-)
Always have some Splash Zone with you on those long journeys.
Excellent advise!
Yes, so glad you were going that slow. Could easily have been worse. Good job
Hi Steve! Thanks! :-)
Great video. Scary stuff to get hit like that. Good luck that you did not break the rudder blade as it had to be a big hit to bend the rudder blade to make the marks in the back of it. If I am correct it is not designed to bend but to be stationary. My rudder shaft is stainles, i knew that you can have it made in carbon but did not know that there are ones made like yours. Waiting to see what damage you got from this unfortunate collision. BTW do you have normal keel in sweet ruca? The keel looks shallow.
Hi Topc! Sweet Ruca has the shallow draft keel 6'3". She is designed to just barely fit into the intercoastal waterway (draft and rig height). More later for sure, lots of good info and cool insider boat design stuff to come. J used a large diameter fiberglass shaft. Basically the rudder and shaft are almost all one piece. Fiberglass is more flexible than carbon or steel, allowing it to deflect and absorb impact rather than break. It seemed to work as designed in this case. We think, but don't know....a carbon shaft may have transfered more shock to the hull and bearings, and possibly if the shaft was steel in this case, it could have bent far ebough to render steering impossible. We think we are pretty lucky.
@@SailingSweetRuca sounds like a clever design. You make a good marketing for j boats. It has to be a rare insident to hit the side of the keel and then the rudder. What ever it was you are wery lucky as it did not hit straight to the keel. Propably with a lead keel you would stay afloat but lose a part of the lead. With 4 knots it is a huge bang but at that speed you wil not lose the keel, but you will have a big problems and repair (like expedition Evans).
If you lose your rudder completely you should probably let someone know immediately what your dealing with along with exact position,wind speed ,direction etc. just in case things go from bad to worst.
Great advice! We were prepared to pass that information.
the worst thing we have thank god nearly hit was a mine, yes naval mine , a big spiky ball ! we did not even see it until it was along side us. This was in the Mediterranean of all places. We reported it to windy station on Gibraltar , they were not even surprised, They said they come from the black sea and break free and drift down though the med. 10 feet to the left and it would have been BOOM.
OMG! That is scary!!!!!
That's a scary situation! Looks like you both handled it as well as possible!
Just conjecture, but assuming it was a whale, I wonder if the rain played a role? I'm not a whale biologist or underwater audiologist, but I know whales rely on sound for information. I would bet the rain drowns out the sound of the boat underwater (especially with no engine running). Maybe the whale was just as surprised as you were!
All things considered, this could have been much worse. Glad you three are OK!
That seems to be a good theory regarding the whale and sounds. We didn't think of that.
Are there orcas in this region. They have been known to ram and sink boats as well as attach rudders.
Orcas have recently been very active attacking sailing boats along the coast of Portugal, mostly aiming rudders, apparently for fun 😮(?)
That is what happened to you, for sure!
btw, it's "killer whales" in english
You may be right about this! We will never know for sure as it happened in the night and we saw nothing.
One lesson to be taken along .. be prepared and slow down at night.
A nice tool for the bad weather is radar .. it will tell you how big the squall is and how much rain.
Right on Monk!
you should tie off if you are going in the water while the boat is under way, even slowly.
Thanks Forest :-)
You guys are nuts. Good luck.
Thank you and thank you 😁
I know how you feel. I remember going surfing years ago. I had a long board and as I was about to surf in towards the shore. Then all of a sudden, something twatted the back of my board. My first thoughts was, that I hit another surfer. There was nothing submerged as well. As it was wintertime, there were only a few of us in the water. We was well spread apart. To this day I still don’t know what it was. . Another surfer who was about 100 yds away. Looked over at me. As to say he saw something that I didn’t. I never got to ask him as he left well before I did.
Scary stuff Taffy. Weird feeling never knowing! Glad you are safe.
What a scary event im very happy you both are ok stay safe my friends
Thank you William!
Hmm, I have a twin keel boat, although I do have a skeg rudder. Just thinking about that...On the plus side, it doesn't go very fast !
Cool! Another plus is it won't tip over if the tide goes out too far!
Your boat look very fast! What Brandt and model you have! Thanks for the delightful image and quality of the music ambiance. Feel really like we are sailling with you two!
Hi! Glad you enjoyed. You can learn all about the boat here sweetruca.com/about-the-boat/
That would be very scary. At first I thought you were in the wind shadow of another boat but you definitely got hit underwater.
Lots of living and non-living things in the ocean!
its not a testament to the rudder, you just had a stroke of GOOD FORTUNE. I personally never cruise on a fin keel like that.
Could be, the rudder and shaft are designed to withstand a collision or hard grounding though. What we hit had significant mass. We will take good fortune to the bank any day though. To each their own regarding preference of design.
Watching her get in the water woooo scared the s*** out of me! Sitting here thinking about all the things that can go wrong 😬
Have to overcome a lot of fears to go sailing and diving. Heights, small spaces, sharks, unknown, etc ;-) Overcoming those is the path to freedom.
Me too. her legs trailing in the water 😱. couldn't wait for her to get out
Well they do say ufos come from the sea not the sky...
My biggest fear... Being in the water in the middle of the ocean. And you did right that. Thanks for the nightmares.
Sorry 😬 new nightmares for us too 🤦♀️
god bless ! I worry the bump in the night created a compression of the material under the fiberglass + compromised the structural unity of the keel - but pray I am wrong - nice music choice - greetings from South Louisiana
Hi Space Ace! We were worried about that also. Lots to learn in future episodes. We didn't escape free and clear, but the boat handled it very well.
Im guessing the paint was lost as the rudder was forced backwards, pulling down on that area of the hull.
You are correct!!
Never know what's out there for sure
My first thought was that the rudder probably got hit from the front, not the rear, so if it was hit in the front in such a way that paint was knocked off the top rear, there could have been some really interesting (i.e. expensive) forces at work during the collision. For example, did the rudder shaft flex so that the top rear rudder struck the hull? There could be all sorts of strain damage inside the rudder if it bent and hit that way!
You are right on James!!! Lots more on all of this in future episodes. The grinder will come out eventually, and..... ;-)
On a crossing to the azores we brushed up against a container about 150 NM west of Horta ,we went over the side and found it scrapped the entire length of our boat ,the sound was scary to hear (steel hull)
Scary stuff for sure J K! You guys had to be really glad to have a steely at that moment!!!
@@SailingSweetRuca it absolutely was
I'd go back and pay myself with the content.
OEX was owned by my best friend! I've sailed many a competition nautical mile with him...
Wow! Small world! It was such an awesome boat and sad ending for her, but glad everyone made it safely to Hawaii! A Transpac is high up on our bucket list!
yea, that'd get a sailors attention....
when do you hope to cross cap horn? I'm curious
Hi non. :-) We hope to in the next southern summer.
@@SailingSweetRuca same here. of course why i was asking...
I'll be in touch..
owe ya'll a hand shake anyhow.
Wow, I’m so glad you’re alright.
Thanks Kids!!!
It was probably one of the red buoys that check for tsunami
Might have made a different sound if it was metal but I suppose it could be!
There needs to be some kind of pinger device that would warn whales a boat is coming. Another thing I'm looking into is integrating a forward looking sonar into a boat, sort of like an automatic collision avoidance mechanism.
That would be super cool! Let us know what you find out about sonar :-)
In an interview with the guy who designed the Kraken 50 boat, he describes taking the prototype out for a sail. The boat just stopped dead, sending everyone flying, then carried on. Minimal damage. He guesses it was a whale
Oh wow! We are with you Phillip.
Thank you! I'm in a horrible nadir in my life but have had a surge of live giving positivity coming up with a three year plan to get a sailing boat, learn to sail, and go all over. Hopefully as a decent versatile guitarist I'm hoping busking will keep me going financially. I m experiencedr in uk but not do much abroad. Any thoughts maybe? Subbed to you..see you out there!
This is exactly why I bought a steel boat, no keel to hull joint or bolts and a welded skeg, not for everyone though, but I don't have that worry
Totally understandable!
Glad you guys are okay! I can guess what you may have found later on, but will definitely stay tuned to find out more. You’ve also helped make a decision for me: it’s time to deconstruct and service the upper bearing on our rudder given how much play there is in it (a couple 8ths of lateral wiggle). Likely also the right time to drop the rudder and lower bearing when we next haul out.
Thanks Shane! We learned a lot from this, a lot more to share as we get down the road. Good decision to invest in your steering system, we are very happy ours was strong and in good condition.
If it was raining with squalls and incumbent weather surrounding,then what is the bright light above your boat in the dark night sky?
That was an example shot from earlier in the night since we weren't filming at 3am. It is nearly impossible to film 24/7. Sorry if that made it confusing.
Wow Sailor, 👍
😊
So glad you are pk i have been worried all week i hope everything works out ok be safe
Thank you Brad! Don't worry, we are OK, but we learned a lot from this.
I hear the pup panting anxious mom is in the water
We arent sure if she is anxious or jealous to be honest 😂
Don't worry about pirates, they've all entered the US across the southern border. Lightning is my number one fear. I remember the first time I was far away from civilization on the water, I've never seen dark that dark. Couldn't see my hand in front of my face. It was summer, in the 70s, the water was warm so things weren't too scary! But I was scared, it was creepy, unnerving I guess. Pirates are number two fear, especially around the Caribbean where they seem to have better equipment and shorter distances. Thank you for posting awesome video, keep living our dream!
Cheers Mike! Your first sentence gave us a good chuckle! We agree lightning is a major concern!
Glad you guys are okay🙏💝🙏
Thanks boss man!!!! Diggin' the screen name BTW :-)
Thanks
You're welcome!
Sailors should deploy some kind of sonar as a whale-warning device, so the whales can avoid us. Otherwise, sailboats are too silent. Can depth sounders be set to a low power mode?
Hi Markus! That is a good idea!
you should have a harness on when you do that
Not a bad idea. Probably better than just a trailing line. But all is well that ends well
Rogue Orca? Ther's a crazy pod around that area. They don't like boats.
Could be? Only one hit, but you never know. We have heard they are out on the prowl again, scary stuff for sailors!
Careful out there guy ⛵️ 🙏🏻
Will do Jimmy. Thanks guy ☺️
Do you get Orca's in that part of the ocean? They've been bumping into yachts lately so I wonder if that's what you came into contact with.
Not sure exactly if there are Orca's where we were, but we have seen one surface close to us in Brazil. Intimidating! Our friends in spain had their rudder broken near Portugal by them.
@@SailingSweetRuca Yes, there's been quite a few incidents off the coast of Portugal of Orcas attacking sailing yachts. Curious and worrying behaviour. Would like to know the cause.
Same here!
Probable a old long line with heavy bouy attached
Heya bill! A good possibility! Not sure we will ever know the answer?
@@SailingSweetRuca I hit a container on a delivery off the south Island of NZ once , We just managed to see it 20 meters ahead , It was simurged , Covered in mussels ,witch is all you could see on the surface , Just a glancing blow & that was in the 80s when there was a lot less containers around , Reported it but the coast guard never found it (Hope it sunk)
I've still got my Eye on you and believe it or not I am psychic in several ways. Glad you two and the boat are doing well.
Thanks David. We appreciate it!
WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU PUT YOURSELF IN THIS SITUATION!!! THE OCEAN IS SO DANGEROUS!!! NO THANKS!! GOD BLESS ALL
No need to yell Frank :-) God has a plan for everyone. Why? You will have ask him. We appreciate your concern. Well wishes to you.
Can you carry a spare rudder?
We could carry a spare rudder and make mounts on the transom to fit a cassette (a lot of ocean racing programs do this) but it is very expensive to set up properly. It is on the wish list along with watertight bulkheads.
Maybe some floating netting or something of that nature. Nice video! Thanks 🇺🇸
Hi Al, could be? Glad you enjoyed!!! :-)