Lee shore, Redondo Beach, Boat Lost

[Christian Williams]

We've had Force 6 this week, gusting to 35.

It appears the jib sheet fouled, among other things. In any case, they were lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYTGre3fAA

Start at Minute 2.00 for the short version.

 

[alcodiesel]

Good golly! Of course lying here with my laptop propped up on my knees I can think: put up the main, get some steerage, drop anchor and kedge your way out, yeah. 35kt gusts are pretty fresh and in reality I doubt I could have saved the boat either.
Thank heavens no one was killed!
I'll take our comparatively little bitty Chesapeake Bay waves.

 

[tenders]

It does seem that the wave that did them in was particularly large, but that boat was in extremis with no headway, no steerage, and the tiller hard over from the beginning of the video. I would love to hear from the skipper what he wish he'd done, and when. A lee shore with strong winds and breaking waves...yikes, I honestly don't know what I would have done. Don't those boats sail pretty well on main alone, like a J24? Wonder why they took that down instead of the jib.

 

[one21five]

A lot learned and re-enforced by watching this. Glad no one was lost.

 

[Don Smith]

Lee shore, Redondo Beach, Boat Lost

My boat is berthed in King Harbor and I've sailed through this areas hundreds of times.

There's an anomaly in the bottom near the harbor entrance commonly referred to as the Redondo Trench or the Redondo Canyon, which runs approximately parallel to the shore. As you approach the entrance from ocean the depth abruptly goes from about 45 feet to around 150 feet or more. Once you cross over the canyon the depth immediately drops to around twenty to twenty-five feet, which accentuates the wave action, as you'd expect. Experienced skippers who are familiar with the area, which the skipper in question is, know not to get their vessel near the shore on the shore side of the trench in this area. Although the waves were unusually large at the time of the incident, there's no good reason for a sailboat entering the harbor to be in this area even on a calm day. This vessel was in big trouble even if it had not capsized.

When I saw this video I assumed that there had been some sort of mechanical failure with the rigging, or that the main halyard had failed. I understand that no, in fact the skipper had ordered the mainsail lowered and was trying to sail in on jib alone. This boat had an outboard stored below and per race rules was supposed to be carrying an anchor.

I think that this accident can be attributed solely to skipper error. As a local old salt said, (XXXXX) had everyone on board wearing a life vest, but that's the only thing he did right.

Captain Don
Gitana, E26