The Preventer Mistake That Killed Two Sailors — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00This is a serious video.
2. 0:03This lesson costs two sailors their lives.
3. 0:05And what you're about to learn here can literally save yours.
4. 0:09We're going to talk about SV escape.
5. 0:11And more importantly, we're going to talk about it
6. 0:13from the paradigm of the seamanship lessons that explain
7. 0:17how a routine reef escalated into catastrophe.
8. 0:22This story has taken me three years to tell.
9. 0:25I was one of the last people to see Carl and Anne-Marie alive.
10. 0:30We were anchored together in Bermuda, waiting
11. 0:32for Tropical Storm Alex to pass over us so we could leave.
12. 0:36They went west towards Nova Scotia and I went east towards the Azores.
13. 0:4172 hours later, they were gone.
14. 0:44This is their story.
15. 0:46And a professional sailor's analysis of the risk
16. 0:49chain that allowed things to unravel so quickly.
17. 0:53More importantly, there are seven lessons here.
18. 0:56And if you don't catch anything else from this video, skip to that part.
19. 0:59I'm not here to reconstruct every minute or assign blame.
20. 1:03I'm here to talk about the seamanship lessons that
21. 1:06keep this from happening again.
22. 1:08So what happened to escape?
23. 1:09The date is June 9th, 2022.
24. 1:12Carl and Anne Marie departed from Saint George's, Bermuda,
25. 1:16aboard their cab 66 escape with two experienced crew.
26. 1:20It's a modern yacht with a large rig and very powerful systems.
27. 1:25It's got electric winches and a hydraulic boom bang and an electric
28. 1:30in boom furling mainsail system with the control buttons at the mast.
29. 1:35The plan is straightforward.
30. 1:37They're going to ride the back edge of that tropical storm that we just
31. 1:41wait it out all the way north towards Nova Scotia,
32. 1:44and the first 48 hours of this go fairly well.
33. 1:47Squalls are handled,
34. 1:49the sail is reduced and reefed as needed, and this boat moves fast.
35. 1:53The hull speed on a cab 66 is 10.5 knots,
36. 1:58so they easily clear 200 miles in that first day.
37. 2:02At this point, they're running downwind with the preventer
38. 2:05rigged on the boom, and everybody's starting to settle into the passage.
39. 2:09Somewhere late on the second night, the conditions start changing.
40. 2:13The wind starts building rapidly from the high teens
41. 2:16into the mid 30s, with gusts well into the mid 40s.
42. 2:20And at this point, they're crossing the Gulf Stream
43. 2:23in a classic wind against current situation,
44. 2:27which is one of the most dangerous times you can be out there.
45. 2:30The wind blowing from the east and the current coming from
46. 2:33the west stacks up the sea really fast.
47. 2:36The waves get very short periods, they get steep and they get violent.
48. 2:40We often call them square waves because that's what they feel like
49. 2:44when they slam India.
50. 2:45As the weather gets worse, wave height increases.
51. 2:49The motion of the boat becomes really violent.
52. 2:51Escape has already reefed and is running downwind at whole speed at this point.
53. 2:57So another reef is called for and that decision is sound.
54. 3:00However, their sail handling system requires that the boat be turned
55. 3:06head to wind in order to furl the mainsail
56. 3:09in boom furling systems need a very precise boom angle
57. 3:14in order for that sail to roll up on the mandrel inside the boom.
58. 3:18These conditions are very difficult to maintain at night in steep seas,
59. 3:23so they get the boat turned around their head to wind.
60. 3:27It's dark, visibility is very minimal.
61. 3:30The yacht begins pitching side to side very heavily.
62. 3:34And at some point in this sequence,
63. 3:37in this reefing sequence, they lose control of the boom.
64. 3:40Whether it's gear failure or human error or a combination of both.
65. 3:45The exact details are unknowable, but what matters is the results.
66. 3:50As the boat is being thrown around by the sea, the boom swings
67. 3:53violently from one side to the other under immense load.
68. 3:57The main sheet.
69. 3:58That's the line that connects the back of the boom
70. 4:01to the deck of the bow, snaps tight and strikes and Marina,
71. 4:05throwing her headfirst into the seating area.
72. 4:08She's badly injured.
73. 4:09Coral, her husband, is at the mast controlling
74. 4:12the motor for the boom furler, and he sees this happen.
75. 4:15And understandably, he's
76. 4:16so focused on helping his wife that he never sees the boom coming back.
77. 4:21The other way.
78. 4:22It hits him, and when he hits the deck,
79. 4:25his leg is severely compound fracture.
80. 4:28Somewhere in this melee, the main sheet is ripped clean out of the deck
81. 4:33just due to the shock loading of the boom hitting back and forth.
82. 4:37The boom is now uncontrollable with the sails still half up,
83. 4:41the wind is still very heavy and the sea is still very violent.
84. 4:45The remaining crew respond decisively.
85. 4:47They move Carl and Anne-Marie out of danger.
86. 4:50They apply medical care
87. 4:52and they activate the Epirb and make distress calls over the VHF.
88. 4:56One of them crawls to the wheel on his hands and knees and gets the boat
89. 4:59turned back downwind, trying to pin the sail and the boom against the shrouds.
90. 5:05But this is a very difficult thing to hold because you're extremely overpowered.
91. 5:11The boat's trying to round
92. 5:13up, you're trying to stay clear if the boat jibes again super hard.
93. 5:17But in a brief lull, they managed to lasso
94. 5:20a strop around the boom and secure it near the center line of the boat.
95. 5:24A complex offshore rescue follows.
96. 5:26A long range aircraft is launched,
97. 5:29a helicopter refuels at sea from a cutter to extend its reach.
98. 5:33Rescue swimmers are dropped from the helicopter
99. 5:35in the darkness in heavy conditions, and Carl
100. 5:39and Anne-Marie are recovered, but sadly they don't survive.
101. 5:46Here are the
102. 5:46seven lessons that we can learn from this tragedy.
103. 5:50Number one, always take a reef at sunset.
104. 5:53A great sailor once told me, James,
105. 5:54if I can give you one piece of advice, it is to always reef at sunset.
106. 5:59If you're asking yourself whether it's time to reef,
107. 6:02you are already too late to steal a phrase from the parties.
108. 6:05One of the most prolific cruising couples from the 20th century
109. 6:09reef early reef often, and after dark, everything gets harder.
110. 6:13Visibility drops and depth perception disappears, and reaction time slows.
111. 6:18As your circadian rhythm gets disrupted, you're colder, you're more tired,
112. 6:23and you're more likely to make mistakes that inevitably cascade into bigger ones.
113. 6:29And for reasons I can't fully explain, the wind almost always seems
114. 6:33to pick up offshore at night, and almost every serious problem
115. 6:37I've ever had at sea started in the dark.
116. 6:40So make this a rule on your boat reef at sunset.
117. 6:43You can always check it out later, but putting it in early
118. 6:46before you're rushed and wet and tired will save your ass one day, I promise you.
119. 6:52Number two, sail at 80%.
120. 6:55Offshore sailing is not about extracting maximum performance from the boat.
121. 6:59It's about preserving margin.
122. 7:01That extra 20% buffer, that part that you could use but choose not to,
123. 7:07is what gives you time to think and time to react,
124. 7:10and time to fix problems before they become emergencies.
125. 7:14Sailing at 80% means not carrying full sail just because the boat feels fine
126. 7:19and not pushing harder just because the polar says you can, or not.
127. 7:23Optimizing for speed
128. 7:24when you should be optimizing for control and optimizing for the crew.
129. 7:28Boats break when you push them too hard, the crew's break when you push them too
130. 7:32hard, and good captains live comfortably inside that safety zone.
131. 7:37That 80%.
132. 7:39Number three respect wind versus current, especially at night.
133. 7:43Wind against current is where the ocean stops playing fair.
134. 7:47It doesn't matter what the forecast says.
135. 7:49When the wind stacks up against the current seas gets steeper,
136. 7:52periods get shorter and it gets much more violent.
137. 7:56The loads on the boat's spike motion becomes unpredictable.
138. 8:00People get seasick. Boats trip. They stall.
139. 8:04They get thrown around.
140. 8:05Turning head to wind in these conditions is one of the most dangerous things
141. 8:09you can do on a sailboat.
142. 8:11Please do not do that.
143. 8:13When you turn the boat, it loses momentum.
144. 8:16The waves crash into the front and they stop the boat
145. 8:19and then pitching goes through the roof.
146. 8:21And everything that was manageable seconds ago is just chaotic.
147. 8:26If you're sailing in places like the Gulf Stream, algunas, Kuroshio,
148. 8:31the Humboldt Current, or any other major current system, assume
149. 8:35that the conditions will be worse than advertised and plan accordingly.
150. 8:41Number four reef off the wind when possible.
151. 8:43This is a bit more advanced offshore technique,
152. 8:46but I find that most cruisers fall into this eventually.
153. 8:51We don't let our sails flog.
154. 8:53We don't ever head up to reef our sails, because every time
155. 8:57the sail snaps into the wind and flogs,
156. 9:00it stresses out the stitching and it breaks the sail eventually.
157. 9:04And those things are expensive.
158. 9:05And that's your propulsion.
159. 9:07That's your primary propulsion.
160. 9:08So better learn your boat and learn
161. 9:12how to reef your boat off the wind on a broad reach or downwind.
162. 9:17John Harris from Attainable Adventure Cruising has a really good article
163. 9:21about this. I recommend everybody go to read it.
164. 9:23The link is in the description.
165. 9:25But basically you get better balance, you get fewer loads,
166. 9:28there's fewer shock events, and it's just a better way to reef.
167. 9:32If your boat has a system like one of those boom furling systems
168. 9:36that requires that you turn your head up to reef, you better have that system down,
169. 9:42and you better teach your crew to do it with their eyes closed.
170. 9:47Number five a
171. 9:48ship is a crew brain, not a captain brain.
172. 9:52If only one person on board understands the sail plan and the weather
173. 9:56and the limits of the boat, then you don't have a crew.
174. 9:59You have passengers with a captain.
175. 10:01Situational awareness off shore is a full crew job.
176. 10:04There should be more than one person
177. 10:06watching the weather and looking at the sea state
178. 10:09and backing up the captain
179. 10:10while they sleep, and modern tools make this easier than ever.
180. 10:14Wind maps are so intuitive now.
181. 10:16You don't need a meteorology degree to know that
182. 10:19that giant red blob moving towards your position is a bad thing.
183. 10:23You just need access and a little context and access matters.
184. 10:27If you're the captain,
185. 10:28your job isn't just to make the decision, it's to distribute judgment.
186. 10:33That means your crew needs to know how to reef step
187. 10:35by step, not just how to pull line when pulled to.
188. 10:39They need to know how to recover a man overboard.
189. 10:41They need to know where the fire extinguishers are and which one
190. 10:44to grab, how to secure or power the boat.
191. 10:47If you're not on deck, give them the tools to back you up.
192. 10:52Give them access to this weather software.
193. 10:54Share the predict win log in, walk them through the routing.
194. 10:57Walk them through the sail plan.
195. 10:58Walk them through the reefing thresholds.
196. 11:01First reef at 16 knots.
197. 11:02Second reef at 21 knots.
198. 11:04Third reef at 27 knots.
199. 11:05Have it written down right there at the nav station.
200. 11:08If you have to make it boring, make it repetitive
201. 11:11and encourage questions, not silence.
202. 11:13Because offshore the most dangerous words a crew can thank.
203. 11:17Our other captain's got it. He's good.
204. 11:19Make your crew co-captains.
205. 11:22Not warm bodies with eyeballs.
206. 11:26Number six.
207. 11:27Buy a boat you can actually handle off shore.
208. 11:29This 1st May be hard for some of you to hear, but part of the risk that night,
209. 11:33part of what made everything happened so fast, was that boat.
210. 11:38Frank and Anne Marie were sailing on a 70ft race boat
211. 11:42with a 95ft carbon mast and roughly
212. 11:4620 300ft² of sail area.
213. 11:49The loads on that boat are fucking huge.
214. 11:53When everything's going right, that kind of boat is a dream.
215. 11:56It's fast, it's powerful, it's capable.
216. 11:59But when things start going wrong and start cascading, especially at night,
217. 12:04especially in big seas, the margin disappears almost instantly.
218. 12:08These big boats don't forgive hesitation, they don't forgive confusion.
219. 12:13And they absolutely do not forgive loss of control.
220. 12:16Every system is heavier.
221. 12:17Every line is under more load.
222. 12:20Every mistake carries more energy.
223. 12:23And when a boom moves on a boat that big, it's not swinging.
224. 12:27It's weaponized.
225. 12:29A smaller, simpler boat gives you more time to react, more time
226. 12:33to think, more time to fix mistakes before they cascade inevitably offshore.
227. 12:38The best boat is not the biggest one you can afford.
228. 12:42It's the one you can control even when you're tired or scared
229. 12:46or operating at 3:00 in the morning and shit conditions.
230. 12:50The ocean doesn't care how beautiful your boat is.
231. 12:52If you are going to have a big boat like that, you're going to have to
232. 12:56get some professional crew.
233. 12:59Number seven.
234. 13:00Beware the first 72 hours.
235. 13:02The first three days offshore are the most dangerous part of any passage.
236. 13:06You're tired.
237. 13:07Routines aren't set yet.
238. 13:09Your circadian rhythm is completely messed up.
239. 13:12The small issues on board haven't revealed themselves yet,
240. 13:15but they're their most mistakes don't happen two weeks into a crossing.
241. 13:19They happen early when people are still settling in,
242. 13:22and confidence hasn't really caught up to reality in this time.
243. 13:26In this first 72 hours.
244. 13:28Slow down, reef early, keep things super conservative.
245. 13:32Let the boat and the crew find their stride
246. 13:35before you start asking more of them.
247. 13:37On a personal note, I have been off shore when the forecast broke
248. 13:41and it was completely wrong as to what was happening outside.
249. 13:45I've watched gear get blown off the boat and disappear into black water,
250. 13:49and I've felt how fast control can slip away
251. 13:53the line between a hard night and a fatal one is much thinner
252. 13:58than people want to believe.
253. 13:59This isn't about blame, it's about respecting how little margin
254. 14:04the ocean gives us and choosing to keep some in reserve.
255. 14:08Before I wrap this up, I want to point you to
256. 14:09something that I built called the Captain's Locker.
257. 14:11It's a free library of actual tools that I use off shore.
258. 14:15It's not theory, it's not gear reviews.
259. 14:17It's printable stuff.
260. 14:19Stuff that you can laminate, things that live at the nav station or in a ditch bag.
261. 14:23And you can find printable, watch schedules, reefing cards,
262. 14:27ditch bag inventories, abandon ship checklists, things like that.
263. 14:32When I originally built this captain's locker, it was a place for me
264. 14:35to put all the things that didn't fit inside my book.
265. 14:38But as it's grown, it's become such a cool resource.
266. 14:41I really don't want it behind a paywall, especially after stories like this one.
267. 14:46So it's free.
268. 14:47You don't have to sign up. There's no email wall.
269. 14:50Go there and download whatever helps you run a safer boat.
270. 14:54The link is in the description.
271. 14:55Remember the takeaways here?
272. 14:57Reef early, expect to be tired and train your crew.
273. 15:04What's it?
274. 15:04I'll see you next week. Thank you.