Tragedy East of Florida

[Dave G.]

Simply amazing stuff, kudos to the USCG.

 

[Rocinante33]

OMG! That was incredible! :eek:

 

[Vince Cirelli]

Wow. Just amazing, thank you so very much for sharing.

 

[rbonilla]

here is my finished log of events...will post "lessons learned" later ++

 

[rbonilla]

my two rescue aircraft ++ USCG is amazing ++ RESPECT

 

[Valkyrie]

here is my finished log of events...will post "lessons learned" later ++

Fascinating read.

"Increase popcorns please" -- what are 'popcorns' in this context?

 

[rbonilla]

my two rescue aircraft ++ USCG is amazing ++ RESPECT

Fascinating read.

"Increase popcorns please" -- what are 'popcorns' in this context?

popcorns" are electronic breadcrumbs "dropped" at set intervals...5, 10, 15min...on the garmin in reach system...they report location and speed....+++ you can select options within the garmin device....

 

[rbonilla]

my two rescue aircraft ++ USCG is amazing ++ RESPECT

popcorns" are electronic breadcrumbs "dropped" at set intervals...5, 10, 15min...on the garmin in reach system...they report location and speed....+++ you can select options within the garmin device....

 

[rbonilla]

USCG narrative - amazing crew and pilot/flying skills - a BIG thank you

 

[rbonilla]

"It sank," is what he says--he'll explain why when he "can do it justice."

Lots of comments, no information. He was in the water. His arm was injured but apparently not broken. Big seas.

Waiting for the real story.

in the water - 1.5 hours

 

[rbonilla]

"It sank," is what he says--he'll explain why when he "can do it justice."

Lots of comments, no information. He was in the water. His arm was injured but apparently not broken. Big seas.

Waiting for the real story.

in the water - 1.5 hours

seacock fail

it started with being tossed off the lip of a wave - and dropping 10-20 feet free falling b4 landing onto the water again...causing a sudden hard landing " BANG " with a massive shock to boat and shipper ++...

 

[Christian Williams]

It would be useful to us all as Ericson owners to have a narrative, including weather forecast and actual weather, sequence of leak discovery and attempts to identify and stop the leak, and so on. Such incident reports are a tradition of the sea, the idea being to help others avoid the same result.

A classic example is Skip Alan's report on the loss of Wildflower.

Skip Allan Says Farewell to His Beloved Wildflower on Transpacific Crossing - Practical Sailor

Since 1974, Practical Sailor’s independent testing has taken the guesswork out of boat and gear buying.

www.practical-sailor.com

 

[gabriel]

It would be useful to us all as Ericson owners to have a narrative, including weather forecast and actual weather, sequence of leak discovery and attempts to identify and stop the leak, and so on. Such incident reports are a tradition of the sea, the idea being to help others avoid the same result.

A classic example is Skip Alan's report on the loss of Wildflower.

Skip Allan Says Farewell to His Beloved Wildflower on Transpacific Crossing - Practical Sailor

Since 1974, Practical Sailor’s independent testing has taken the guesswork out of boat and gear buying.

www.practical-sailor.com

Different scenario;

wild flower was perfectly seaworthy, the owner asked for rescue and was advised by the coast guard to scuttle the boat before stepping off onto a warm rescue ship. With that much time of course there would be a better recollection of events. But for Mr Bonilla a lot of S went down fast for him that night and maybe he just doesn’t remember everything. Human recollection is about the worst testimony anyhow.

 

[nquigley]

It would be useful to us all as Ericson owners to have a narrative, including weather forecast and actual weather, sequence of leak discovery and attempts to identify and stop the leak, and so on. Such incident reports are a tradition of the sea, the idea being to help others avoid the same result.

A classic example is Skip Alan's report on the loss of Wildflower.

Skip Allan Says Farewell to His Beloved Wildflower on Transpacific Crossing - Practical Sailor

Since 1974, Practical Sailor’s independent testing has taken the guesswork out of boat and gear buying.

www.practical-sailor.com

That's SUCH a good article, from an extremely seasoned skipper. ... almost convinced me to rush out and order a (series) drogue now by way of advanced prep, even though I'm a few years away from possibly needing to use one.

 

[rbonilla]

a gread read and info - "Wildflower" .. especially the mistakes and fatigue side piece...

 

[rbonilla]

It would be useful to us all as Ericson owners to have a narrative, including weather forecast and actual weather, sequence of leak discovery and attempts to identify and stop the leak, and so on. Such incident reports are a tradition of the sea, the idea being to help others avoid the same result.

A classic example is Skip Alan's report on the loss of Wildflower.

Skip Allan Says Farewell to His Beloved Wildflower on Transpacific Crossing - Practical Sailor

Since 1974, Practical Sailor’s independent testing has taken the guesswork out of boat and gear buying.

www.practical-sailor.com

weather really wasn't an issue...seas slowly building from a relatively flat , calm day...the occasional usual Florida boomer would blow by...when the boat was "tossed" the seas were maybe 3-5 feet winds 10-15 kts...getting tossed really did come out of no where...in 30 years of sailing - i never experienced one of those...i attached a photo of a possible event...although...i didn't remember any large wave, spray, or much onboard water...just falling and weightless ( i am a pilot - and know the "top of the arch" weightless feeling... then a bit of time floating then "BANG" a hard landing - where i hit the binnacle ( rcd head "bell ring" - small laceration ) ... and hitting the deck...along with hand heled garmin in reach unit and a few items that were on the port main seat cushion...

 

[rbonilla]

so, i really don't think weather was a factor - i had a up to moment garmin/sirius/color radar system with
current info...my girlfriend ( in colorado ) had warned me about a front making its way west to east - across fl panhandle.. i was watching both in boat - real time and on electronic systems....the event was initiated by the "toss" off the wave...and the hard landing...at that point - instead of tending to be head injury - i should have inspected the boat for damage and leaks... i didn't have a head mirror...so - i shot a few photos to assess the laceration and rate of bleeding...applies pressure - stopped bleeding aprox 15-30 later...likely rcd a slight concussion during this event...

 

[rbonilla]

Forgive my comment. I see that you were in about 2500 feet of water.

no. I believe 150 feet

 

[mjsouleman]

R Bonilla, take time to recover and know your EYO community is here for you.
Mark "Souleman" Soule

 

[peaman]

no. I believe 150 feet

From the timeline document posted earlier:
"Richard sent 2 locations N29041.9641 W078058.0043 N2941.9991 W078057.9240"

Unless I am mis-interpreting the position data, and if that is the general area of the incident, the depth should have been much greater than 150 feet. In any case, the matter of depths reminded me of an incident I experienced just west of the Grenadines, when on a gentle, but very dark night, I saw off my port beam what proved to be white water ahead of a single wave which quickly washed over the 75' yacht I was sailing, flooding into the companionway. Later, I noticed that in that area, the depth changes from more than 2000 meters to less than 20 in a very short distance, which apparently caused the swell to pile up. I can imagine it could be seriously dangerous in any kind of weather, and could result in the sort of incident which Richard Bonilla experienced.