For those in peril on the sea...

[trysail]

It's been a bad couple of weeks for sailors on the Left Coast.

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/img_lectronic_800/2012-04-16_7538_LowSpeedChaseLL.jpg http://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/farallones_yacht_wreck_041612.jpg?w=300​

First, there was the loss of five crewmembers from the 38-foot sloop Low Speed Chase when the vessel was driven on the rocks of the Farallon Islands on 16 April. For a detailed account of the disaster by a survivor and a video taken aboard a vessel that rounded the islands shortly prior to Low Speed Chase, see: http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2012-04-24#.T5b6o-3bC-E If you're prone to seasickness, you probably don't want to look at the video. Over the years, I've discovered that it's absolutely impossible to capture or convey what it's like to be aboard a small vessel in heavy seas. When you're "out there," 8-foot seas look like they're 16-feet high and 25 knots of breeze feels. The backside of ocean swells look very different than the frontside... and breaking seas? It's something you'll never understand unless you've seen it yourself.

...A century-old tradition, the Full Crew Farallones Race has never been for the faint of heart: Winds averaging 10 to 20 knots and churning 14-foot Pacific Ocean swells are among the rough conditions typically braved by yachts and their crews...

http://news.yahoo.com/coast-guard-ends-search-4-missing-yacht-racers-122219158--spt.html

Now, comes news of the loss of the 37-foot Aegean with three confirmed deaths and a fourth missing during the Newport (CA) to Ensenada (Mexico) race— an apparent victim of a night collision with an unidentified larger vessel.

...The Coast Guard said earlier that it hadn't determined what happened to the sailboat.

Dunphy said conditions were fine for sailing, with good visibility and moderate ocean swells of 6-to-8 feet.

A total of 210 boats were registered in the 65th annual yacht race, according to the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's website. It wasn't immediately clear how many finished.

The association's commodore, reached by phone in Ensenada, told The Associated Press that he didn't know the members of the Aegean or how many people were aboard.

"This has never happened in the entire 65 years of the race that I'm aware of," Chuck Iverson said. "We're all shocked by this whole event."

The names of the dead were not released pending notification of next of kin.

The Coronado Islands are four small, largely uninhabited islands about 15 miles south of San Diego.

The deaths come two weeks after five sailors died in the waters off Northern California when their 38-foot yacht was hit by powerful waves, smashed into rocks and capsized during a race.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=151618023

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=150660119


Coast Guard Ends Search For 4 Missing Yacht Racers
by The Associated Press
April 16, 2012


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Coast Guard suspended its search Sunday night for four yacht crew members who went missing off the Northern California coast after a weekend racing accident and has no plans to resume it, officials said...

 

[Handley_Page]

It sounds almost as dangerous as Flying

 

[estragon]

It can be. A 37-footer is none too big, hard to spot from the air even when the aircraft has a reasonably good fix.

Likewise many tankers and freighters, to say nothing of the cruise ships, are huge, have the minimum crew aboard, and run on GPS and autopilot, with desultory human eyeball watchkeeping, when they are out at sea. They don't expect sailboats and can't very well detect them at night either by radar or eyeball. From the chewed-up fragments of Aegean, I suspect she was run down by a merchantman who didn't even know she's run over anything, and ground up in the screws.

 

[trysail]

ENSENADA, Mexico (AP) — A 37-foot racing yacht was reduced to debris that looked "like it had gone through a blender," a searcher said Sunday after the boat apparently collided with a larger vessel, killing three sailors and leaving a fourth missing.

http://news.yahoo.com/yacht-debris-bodies-found-off-us-mexico-coast-000503013--spt.html

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gCLch2RNMZMvV6VIF52WoQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD01Mzg7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a43894d8158b380c0e0f6a7067005445.jpg

This Friday, April 27, 2012, photo shows the Aegean with crew members at the start of a 125-mile Newport Beach, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico yacht race. The 37-foot Aegean, carrying a crew of four, was reported missing Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The yacht appeared to have collided at night with a much larger vessel, leaving three crew members dead and one missing, The Newport Ocean Sailing Association said Sunday, April 29. Race officials...

​

 

[Handley_Page]

Aren't little ships equipped with radar reflectors ?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Even if they are and even if the merchant crew noticed have you any idea how hard it is for a really big ship to turn? Like the man said, trans-oceanic yacht racing is not a game for the faint of heart. And since my kind of bear doesn't have webbed feet, I'm staying within sight of land!

 

[trysail]

Aren't little ships equipped with radar reflectors ?

Yes, but they are frequently ineffective due to continuous pitch, roll and yaw— not to mention sea clutter. Roughly a decade ago, I read a report of a study performed on three different varieties of radar reflectors mounted in the rigging of a small sailboat. The test included the assistance of a cooperative large freighter. The ship related that the sailboats were largely invisible.