yachtie heading out last friday across the seaway

[Always_offshore]

a freind emailed these photos to me ,thought you guys might find them amusing.
as heading says heading out of gold coast seaway last friday.

[cormorant]

Not a small boat and at least they had a keep to point them the right way up.

Have done it before in yachts and it's sort of like being in big fishing boats where as much as you watch and time it you just at some point go for it as you don't have the advantage of speed like a planing boat.

Bening driven backwards by a wall of water is never funny I can tell you be it a 45 foot sail boat or 40 foot trawler. Really makes you consider a few things.

Yachts well set up are very seaworthy and can take a fair battering.

Getting caught well out and surfing a long way in is pretty exciting as well when you hav eno choice but just go with it and get the best control and angle you an.

Often looks worse than it is but thatlooks pretty bad but usually a soft landing in a yachyt if still upright and you are as well

It can all go wrong in a millisecond.

Was he the only boat going out and how big was the waves?

[Leighton]

I herd Police were looking into fines for this fella

[Always_offshore]

cormorant - wave buoys recorded swell as 5 to 7 metres.dont know anything else.
no wonder some guys get into so much trouble,think about the poor bast44ds that had to rescue this idiot.

[cormorant]

5-7 yikes you are just gonna break something or someone trying to help. You would want to have a hull full of drugs and a deadline to run that.

Don't they formally close the bars anymore?

[Always_offshore]

yes,bars at noosa and tin can were closed,not sure what happened on the goldy.

[backlash08]

well what can you say, someone wanted to become a headline

[FNQCairns]

That bloke needs the seasick gene bacterially inserted, the ocean looks too messy and big to consider, hope he didn't have gullible company along for the ride.

Where was he 5 minutes later??

cheers fnq

[boatboy50]

Hey Guys,

Could this have been a show boat from Sanctuary Cove that actually belonged to an owner, and had a pro skipper driving?

Did anyone actually need to go out and assist him, or did he make it out alone without much dramas apart from making a few good pics?

I did hear during the nasty weather that the Seaway had been closed to all vessels by order of the waterpolice.

Regards

Darren

[dogsbody]

Hey deckie can you get me a new pair of Reg Grundys from below.

I see a damn fool.

Dave

[TheRealAndy]

I heard the guy was heading to yepoon. Pretty crazy at best. Why would you want to go out in that shit anyway. He would have been better off going up inside of the bay than trying to cross that. They gave up in the end and turned around, police were waiting for them.

[Taroona]

The series of pictures are on sailinganarchy.com. Apparantly the police where looking into fining the skipper as the bar was closed.

Les

[kokomo]

yeah he was going to yepoon.

pretty epic.

id prefer a 50knot southerly than a 20knot northerly for that trip :) :)

he should have gone up the inside of the bay,
moral of the story. if your going to be stupid.. be smart about it!

[Bowser]

I question what we should do with dare devils and idiots. This guy ended up successfully turning around and coming back to the waiting arms of the gendarmerie but what earthly reason could make you want to go out in the weather that existed that day? He couldn't have gotten full sails up with the winds that were blowing, his speed would have been zilch and there would have been a greta probabilit that he would have broken something if not the whole boat. If he had to get to Yeppoen why didn't he choose to chug up through Jumpin pin, and the bay? It wouldn't have been fast and may not have been comfortable but at least it would have been safe and no poor seilly beggar would have had to risk their life to pull his drowned body from the sea when he eventually met his end.

I hope they fine his ass off and take away his boat. It is like that single handed yachtie that the navy had to save a few years ago. Why bother doing it. You choose to sail through the Great Southern Ocean in a fibreglass cockle shell you take your chances, loose and you die, no one else should have to risk their life or spends millions trying to drag your hide back to land.

[Always_offshore]

search and rescue should set up a special departmaent for rescuiing yachts,like when they get into trouble they launch a yacht to go and save them,it might be slow but then the yachties wouldnt have to set foot on a"stink boat". oh and the greenies would love it as well cause we'd be reducing our carbon foot print.

[TheRealAndy]

search and rescue should set up a special departmaent for rescuiing yachts,like when they get into trouble they launch a yacht to go and save them,it might be slow but then the yachties wouldnt have to set foot on a"stink boat". oh and the greenies would love it as well cause we'd be reducing our carbon foot print.

Same could be said for the idiot stink boat owners out there too.

[BM]

Judging by the size of that yacht I would say he was in control much of the time. don't forget, its a displacement boat and they handle completely differently to a planing hull. Far more seaworthy.

The last pic shows him laid over to port but he could have laid hard over without too much worry as he has no sail up so the righting moment of the keel will pull it up straight. And with all hatches closed, the cockpit is self bailing so he basically won't sink. Also, yachts don't go over waves like a planing hull does, they go through them.

If the bar was closed then ok, give him an infringement notice but other than that I see no problem heading out in that size (and configuration) boat. If it were a similar sized powerboat then I would say the owner is brain dead.

cheers

[Marlin_Mike]

Idiot, temporary australian...........................

[finding_time]

but what earthly reason could make you want to go out in the weather that existed that day? He couldn't have gotten full sails up with the winds that were blowing, his speed would have been zilch and there would have been a greta probabilit that he would have broken something if not the whole boat. If he had to get to Yeppoen why didn't he choose to chug up through Jumpin pin, and the bay?
.


Hey Bowser

I agree it was a silly thing to try a cross the bar in those conditions but if he had crossed there were some pretty big benifits for him!!!;) Yes he wouldn't have got full sail up, but he didn't need to!! Three reefs in the main and a small genoa and that boat would have been doing 16 knots easily and comfortably in those conditions! High probability he would have broken something? Again not really, cruising boats like that are well over engineered and aren't trying to keep there weight down at all so they have heavy rigging!

I'm sure power boaties will never understand sailers and visa versa , the boats are totally differant and designed for differant purposes and sailing only gets really good above 25 knots. I think BM is spot on with his post and being from Melbourne he probably see the local wednesday Avo/night races on Port Phillip bay go ahead in howling gales that keep people of the streets, the skippers and crew live for it! I have been on Bobsled in a gale , no idea what the wind speed was but the boat was doing 28.5 knots and we had a spiniker up:o the sound of the keel cutting the water is something i'll never forget! ;)

Maybe if the swell was a little less and you crossed right on the top of the tide the boat would have got out but i dont think the pics look that bad , he's probably just had a issue getting enough way on the boat to punch through waves.

Ian

Ps. As far as your comments about adventures, well the world( a much smaller one ) would be a pretty boring place without them wouldn't it!!

[BM]

Cheers Ian.

Done a bit of sailing myself. My brother races in the midweek races in a little boat and occasionally does some of the larger races crewing a 36 footer.

28.5kn!!! now thats bloody quick and a lot of strain! Even though I am more of a powerboat person there is something awesome about a yacht ripping along at a fair speed, getting dumped on by the wall of water coming over the bow, the sails and rigging straining under the load.... great fun!! But I must admit, if its to do with the water I am there and I don't care what activity it is.

I spent many years windsurfing down here and you hung out for a 30kn souwester. The eastern side of the bay ripped up by the waves and the board is airborne more than it touches water. And operator upside down in the drink quite regularly too......

cheers

[kokomo]

when its rough there is only one type of boat i would want to be on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1gcvHBd7oc

[rando]

Too much draught for a yacht that size too go up the inside of the bay.There is a shallow spot about half way where there is only about 6 ft of water at high tide. That thing would draw 6ft easily.
My 34 footer can just scrape thru on a big tide,and she draws 6ft exactly.

Had he got out he would have been right as rain so long as she was a well set up ship.
She must have been pushed backwards by a wave and he lost steerage as the water-flow over the rudder reversed.
Thats when she laid over.
Once he lost headway he could not have regained it as he would not be able to build enough momentum to retain steering control with the flow over the rudder reversing every time she got pushed backwards. A main with 3 reefs would have helped him punch his way out,,,,,maybe.
That boat probably has a 50hp diesal or thereabouts pushing it.

I would have waited for better bar conditions myself,,,,,, sea state and wind,, in that boat,,,,,no problem

There is a fantastic shot from a plane of Grant Warringtons original "Wild Thing" racing the down the west coast of Tassie in a 70-kt {average} gale,( on a two sail reach doing more than 28kts( they couldnt tell how fast because the transducer on the front of the keel kept getting lifted out of the water:o

[PinHead]

I don't care how safe or otherwise that boat is...just glad I was not on it.

[finding_time]

[quote=kokomo;1024928]when its rough there is only one type of boat i would want to be on. [quote]

Yep looks great but those sea's are tiny compared to what it was designed for! I wonder if the'll run another Volvo 70 around the world race now that the economy is stuffed?

[steve9999]

Hi,

would the decision to turn around half way out be possibly more dangerous then trying to keep going. How long would it have taken for him to turn 180 degrees without copping some big hits

cheers

[Taroona]

[quote=kokomo;1024928]when its rough there is only one type of boat i would want to be on. [quote]

Yep looks great but those sea's are tiny compared to what it was designed for! I wonder if the'll run another Volvo 70 around the world race now that the economy is stuffed?


Go to sailinganarchy.com and see how much money is still being spent on yachts

[GBC]

no decision to be made once you've been knocked down and lost momentum.
He just needed to throw a couple of snickers in the fuel tank to give his little diesel some nuts:P.

I'm toey as anything now for a sail after watching that pirates vid - grew up in dinghys, then cats, then trailer sailers then yachts, including a stint at sailboards.

Who's got a sail boat - I wanna hear some humming........8-)

[GBC]

P.S. - he might have been in a good boat, but being stood on his end like that would have shortened him up real quick. Any guesses on the breed? I'll go Beneteau? Looks like he was well underprepared with world's biggest dodger there.

[TheRealAndy]

P.S. - he might have been in a good boat, but being stood on his end like that would have shortened him up real quick. Any guesses on the breed? I'll go Beneteau? Looks like he was well underprepared with world's biggest dodger there.

The word is that its a Jeanneau. At the time they tried to cross the bar it was open, so not sure how they guy can be charged. Southport tower recored nearly 70knots of wind at the time.

There is no doubt about the guy, he is an idiot. You dont cross bars in that kind of weather unless you really need to. You either stay in or out, yacht or otherwise.

Rando, I dare say looking at that yacht that its not set up for racing. Its more than likely a shoal draraft model, lucky to draw 6foot of water.

[rids01]

A few weeks ago i was crossing the bar at currumbin and lost nearly all power halfway through the break (felt like a couple of sparkplugs gave up the ghost, had just been serviced too!) and ended up getting caught in the break doing about 6 knots. Got vertical over a few waves, and that was with only 3-4' surf! (entertainment for the mullet fishermen waiting on shore)

Can't imagine what that yachtie though he was doing!

[GBC]

Definitely a cruiser with that rig and dodger. Maybe a club racer at best - he DOES have a mast top wind vane - can't be serious without one of them::). Ya need one of those to see the apparent wind shifting forard when ya hit 25 kts:-X:-X:-X:P

[wirlybird]

search and rescue should set up a special department for rescuing yachts,like when they get into trouble they launch a yacht to go and save them,it might be slow but then the yachties wouldn't have to set foot on a"stink boat". oh and the greenies would love it as well cause we'd be reducing our carbon foot print.

The statistical majority of rescues are so called pro fishermen so the special department should be for them. As a former employee of the company that owns those boats i can say I'm not surprised that the skipper did that, as the pressure to get the boat back to the Whitsundays would have been intense. This is a typical occurrence when un trained mariners are told "she'll be right mate just go really fast" or "the auto pilot will take care of that go to bed" way of training competent crew.

[Apollo]

Have a good look at the bar - is that safe! No - bloody idiot!

Now would he have been ok if he made it out???? I don't think the boat is a Beneteau as it doesn't have the fat arse and not enough freeboard. I must admit to struggling to identify the boat with the twin steering and backstays, single cabin window, no forward porthole. Possibly a Jeaneau. It might be a cruiser, but isn't setup for ocean work other than coast hoping in good conditions. Look at the forward hatches (notice something wrong?) and the bay cruiser dodger. Certainly not setup for heavy going.

I have delivered and raced yachts up and down the east coast and as far around the bottom as Tas and SA, plus coupled with 20years of ocean racing (Hobarts, Coffs, Mooloolabah, Gladstones, etc) and delivering, I need to make the following comments.

Firstly it won't do 16knots - try averaging 6-7knots downwind. Cruisers are heavy and don't surf that well. In those conditions, 1/4-1/2 headsail to keep the speed under control as only idiots spend their cruise ploughing into the back of waves, risking broaching as euros do in a quartering sea do to carrying too much volume aft without running flatter spring.

Secondary - to head out into 5-6m conditions on a cruise/delivery is stupid. Seamanship is only going out when it is safe and being able to handle it when it is not. I have been out in decent conditions (read 11m seas and 65knots), but it has either been racing (with a full experienced crew and race prepared boats) or when we are part way through a delivery. We have sat under Gabo island for one week wait for a weather window to delivery a boat to Melbourne. No experienced or sensible person sets to sea in those conditions if they don't have to.

So, he is an idiot for trying to cross a dangerous bar into rough conditions in a boat that isn't that safe in heavy seas. Gives yachties and boat people a bad name.

[siegfried]

The dude has no brains but balls like a Paroo mailbag