Darwin Award Cantidate

[alf jessup]

Hi all,

 

Drama in the high seas unfolded lastnight, today and late this afternoon out in Bass Strait as a yacht (4 pob, 2 experienced and 2 not) was dismasted last night after apparently leaving the comfort and shelter of Wilson Promontry when storm force winds had been forecast.

 

Our rig supply vessel (252ft long) was enroute to Barry Beach after leaving our rig to go to shelter in port as we decided they should be able to sleep in some form of comfort than slopping around out here in forecast 8 meter seas.

 

Well as our vessel was passing Bream platform lastnight around 11pm the darwin candidate sent out a general message and his coordinates to any vessels in the area of his situation, our vessel in hearing the call and calculating his fix from darwin's was only 4 nm away and proceeded to turn towards him and offer assistance.

 

Darwin refused any help saying he was ok as his only problem was his mast with a full sail was only laying over the bow and he only had limited steering and only one of his 2 engines was working.thumb_down

 

Darwin wondered if our vessel could contact Eden coastguard (about 100nm away) as he only had a hand held marine radio and could not contact them:clap:.

 

Our vessel offered to escort them to Lakes Entrance or tow them back to corner inlet but darwin was fine he said:thumb_up: so our vessel continued on to port.

 

This morning darwin called up on 16 reporting his position which after some long time looking we finally spotted him amongst the massive white caps and his sail sitting happily over the bow wallowing like a lonesome log.(winds only constant 40 +knots and seas onlt about 6 meters).

 

Darwin was asking what the wind speed was and was content with heading to Eden as he says even though he was actually heading to south america as that was the way the sea was going.

 

Darwin was informed that the winds were going to increase to 75kts but he was fine he said as he was going to Eden and would turn the corner around Gabo even though he wasn't heading that way:clap:

 

A second supply boat out here offered assistance but he refused once again and no amount of asking via various platforms relaying messages to him would he accept help which was on hand.

 

Darwin had only about 10mn range with the hand held and was soon going out of range from the furthest platform to the east on his way to south america um Eden i mean or as we all thought the bottom of the ocean.

 

Well around 4pm today Darwin by now well out over the continental shelf and most likey in seas of 15 meters plus finally put dropped 20 cents into his ears and the penny dropped that he and his crew might die and activated his epirb as he finally realised that he was in deep doo doo.

 

Helimed was dispatched and located darwin and his crew and promptly winched them off the south american headed yacht.

 

Good result in the end as no lives have been lost but he has most likely lost his boat when he could have saved it by taking the help offered by others.

 

Interesting listening on the radio out here of the discussions by all of the platforms and boats including a fishing boat offering him assistance also, also interesting listening to darwin how he was going to be fine getting to eden with no steering capabilities in 8 meter seas and by now as he passed us in 55+ kts winds.

 

Note: even our helicopter flights were cancelled after 12:30 due to the weather but old mate was fine.

 

What annoys me about this is

 

1/ he unneccessarily puts other peoples lives in danger (HELIMED CREW)

 

2/ refuses help when it is close at hand

 

3/ he leaves shelter even after storm force winds are forecast

 

4/ he only has a hand held radio (maybe he lost his main one if he had one when the mast fell down.

 

5/ doesnt take the advice of people about how much worse the weather is going to be and how much bigger the seas are going to get once he gets over the continental shelf.

 

Sorry for rambling on but if it makes the papers or news you will know the real story.

 

Cheers

 

Alf on a rocking platform

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Man, what a story... I hope he doesn't fly aeroplanes.....:hittinghead:

 

You have avery right to be annoyed.. Reckless..tottaly reckless...

 

Thanx Alf..

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Still in the gene pool

 

Alf, thanks for the entertaining story:clap:. It would be funny if it wasn't so real - belongs in Laughter is the best medicine. Wonder who/what changed his mind?

 

Very few who qualify for the Darwin Award are alive to receive it.

 

Decca

 

 

[BLA82]

. Wonder who/what changed his mind?.

 

Decca

Probably the thought of having a mast jambed up his when the rigging finally let go. What a tool. He should be made responsible for the cost of rescue. Especially after refusing help.

 

 

[storchy neil]

alf i thought that you had put this story in the wrong place sounds like politions are at the helm thank crist their not pilots

 

brain dead imbersols wonder will they have to pay for their rescue neil

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

Sounds like one of the chopper crew was hurt:

 

AdelaideNow... Medic hurt during yacht rescue

 

 

[alf jessup]

Yes Basscheffers you are totally correct, one of ther paramedics sent out to the yacht to rescue darwin and his friends got injured (leg injury of some sorts), apparently a woman was injured and maybe she started to shove the mast up darwins:censored: and that maybe the reason he finally activated the epirb.

 

One must wonder what could lie in the hull of this cattermaran for darwin to refuse help when he so much needed it.

 

Just goes to show guys, if help is offered take it while you can as you may stop someone else from getting hurt instead of only hurting your pride in the first place.

 

Cheers

 

Alf still rocking on the rig

 

 

[Relfy]

He should be charged with endangering the life of his crew and culpable navigation. It's only luck that this hasn't become a coronial matter. thumb_down

 

 

[hihosland]

Pity the Helimed captain didn't declare a full load when they'd lifted the first three off and left Darwin to continue his navigation.

 

 

[winsor68]

Hopefully he will be charged and have to pay for the rescue...It does happen...

 

A man in Mackay a few years ago had to be rescued twice in rough weather way out of the coast on his jetski...he was charged, fined, and made to pay and barred from the water...

 

 

[BLA82]

One must wonder what could lie in the hull of this cattermaran for darwin to refuse help when he so much needed it.

Maybe it might be worth one of those supply ships to go have a look if it's still floating around and making good of the old maritime law "salvage rights"

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

Sounds like a pretty poor showing all round. I've been pounded in a gale or two in Bass Strait on a 32 footer. It's not nice. One time in particular a gentle SE breeze built up like it wasn't supposed to as a depression deepened and then moved west - the opposite of what it was supposed to. A very similar situation to the '97 Hobart.

 

We were well out into Bass Strait before the forecast deteriorated and only had limited options. We ended up hove to and playing chicken with 7 boats - mainly the cross strait passenger and freight ships. In our case we remained safe and self sufficient throughout - albeit with some close encounters of a ship kind that focused the mind!!

 

What can happen in that kind of situation makes it very easy for your decision making to deteriorate. You are wet and cold - and have been for a while, you might be sea sick, it's hard to sleep without getting thrown out of your bunk so you are deep in fatigue, you may well be scared and you may not have a lot of experience. Add to that the dismasting and now you're functioning very poorly because you are overloaded with stress.

 

I wouldn't mind betting that having made the initial bad decision to set out, this guy then found himself very quickly overwhelmed. I wouldn't mind betting that he decided that the gale was an ideal situation for him to really show the speed of his cat and run downwind at high speed. Stupid but I have my suspicions...

 

His decision making would have deteriorated in those conditions and his vessel may not have been insured - leading him to be concerned (almost certainly unnecessarily) with the potential for salvage claims.

 

He and his crew were lucky to get away with it, however I think you'd be surprised how easy it is to make decisions in those conditions that later appear plain stupid.

 

I had a friend who lost his mast from a 43 foot yacht in the North Sea in a gale in the 1968 (from memory) Round Britain race. He was towed to "safety" by a tug returning from an oil rig. He described the horrendous situation of being towed. They wrapped a length of 3/8 inch chain twice right around the topsides of the yacht and then attached the tow to that. They were then towed at something like 12 knots in very difficult conditions. The reason for the chain bridle was that otherwise the tug would have simply pulled cleats etc out of the deck.

 

During the tow they lashed the tiller and then lashed themselves into their bunks. The noise was horrendous and at any moment they expected the boat to begin disintegrating. It didn't but the damage was significant.

 

In this case our man should probably never have left Wilsons Prom and he appears to have made bad decisions. However until you've been there its hard to appreciate what it is like and how hard it can be to make the right decisions.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

That's true mike, but the descision NOT to accept help??.... even cold, wet and out of his depth, thats the bit i can't understand...

 

cheers

 

 

[Tomo]

If he accepted help, it would mean failure on his part... even though it turned out like that in the end, in his mind he was probably thinking he was strong enough to handle it himself, and excepting help would show failure.......

 

Some old farmers are a bit like that, won't except government (or something like that) aid to get out of debt (or what ever), but then end up going broke anyway in the end...

 

I think it's all got something to do with Pride...

 

 

[ianrat]

I have been in the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard for over thirty years and unfortunately have had to put my life as well the lives of my crew in danger to go out to rescue more Darwin's than we should have to. He might have been cold and wet and not thinking straight while he was at see but why did he leave port in those conditions. We are highly trained and have state of the art rescue vessels but we still get wet cold and scared when we have to go out in those conditions to rescue the Darwin's. More training for some Darwin's would be nice.

 

Yours in safe boating

 

Ianrat

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

Sorry if I wasn't clear: In the last para I said he should probably have never left shelter.

 

I don't disagree that he appears on the face of it to have been stupid and to have unacceptably put others' lives at risk.

 

What I was trying to say also was that whilst his initial judgement in leaving shelter was faulty what happened from there and his decisions from there would have been severely impaired and become more impaired as time went on.

 

Not an excuse, not an excuse for endangering the lives of others, not an excuse for poor initial decision making but perhaps a frame for understanding it.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I am surprised that the Harbour Master allowed him to sail from port under those conditions. Interesting to note that to command a wind powered vessel you do not need any qualifications at all.

 

ozzie

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

I am surprised that the Harbour Master allowed him to sail from port under those conditions. Interesting to note that to command a wind powered vessel you do not need any qualifications at all.ozzie

G'day Ozzie,

 

he was probably at somewhere like Refuge Cove at the Prom - no harbourmaster there. And indeed in Australia I've never been anywhere where the harbourmaster showed the slightest interest in what I did as long as I stayed the $^# away from his big ships

 

In Victoria if said sailing vessel has an engine then you need a boat drivers' license or whatever they call it. 20 questions on rules of the road and carrying EPIRBS and that sort of thing.

 

In those sort of conditions, no matter how well you've been trained, nothing is better than experience.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[alf jessup]

Merv,

 

The bit I cannot understand is massive seas, thumb_downmast and full sail still rigged and laying down and over the bowthumb_downthumb_down, hand held radio onlythumb_down, one engine not working out of the 2 thumb_downthumb_down, limited or no steering as he saidthumb_downthumb_downthumb_down, information given to him that the winds were going to increase to around 75 kts from the current 45kts as it was and as it did:thumb_up:, information telling him that the seas off the shelf were going to be huge:thumb_up:, even more so when the wind got up more than it was when he went past us, as that was the way he was heading as being pushed by the 8 meter swells at this stage.

 

We listened on the radio when helimed 1 was talking to him (we couldn't receive Darwin as he was well out of our range), this is what we heard from Helimed 1, "ok inflate your life raft and tie it to the stern cleats, all get aboard and it cut free from the vessel and we will winch you up when clear":thumb_up:

 

About a minutes silence, Helimed 1 " Ummm thats not good then, we will lower a man down on the wire to the vessel and winch you all off".thumb_down

 

I don't know why they couldn't board the life raft because of whatever reason.Hmm Maybe he didn't have a knife to cut it free:ah_oh:

 

Some things just don't add up to me.:confused:

 

1/ Did they have a life raft?? or was it washed overboard and lost (the only injury to one of the crewmembers of the boat was slight hypothermia so boarding should not have been a problem).

 

2/ It was a brand new boat built by the owner and on its maiden voyage.

 

3/ Only had a hand held radio? (may have lost the aerial when the mast went down)

 

4/ One engine not working? did it actually have another one fitted in the hull

 

5/ Offers of help well within towing distance from shore.

 

6/ Departing from shelter when storm forced wind were forecast.

 

7/ Why did he not cut the rigging and mast free and improve his stability and steering

 

8/ Ebirb activated when yacht well out over the shelf.(sort of not within easy reach for towing)

 

Wonder if it actually had any bungs in it

 

I'm not saying anything I'll let you all make your own desicion.

 

Guess we will never know unless it washed up on some beach in South America, me I am guessing it is somehow sitting at the bottom of the continental shelf about 3000feet down by now for reason unbeknown to me.

 

I think this owner :nerd:definetly belongs in the Darwin award category,

 

Please, please anybody let me know if you ever find out who he is and if he has a pilots licence:censored:, as that is the day I will happily hand in my licence :clap:as he is either very unlucky in life :im with stupid:or has very poor decision making :loopy:and I don't wanna share the air , water or even roadways with him.

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[Yenn]

As an old deep keel driver I am not surprised, I have always had doubts about people who co to sea in multi hulls. Of course that is pure prejudice, but their safety record is a bit suspect.

 

We lost one in a Brisbane gladstone Multi hull race who went into the wrong inlet to shelter. South of Bustard Head rather than into the great anchorage to the North.

 

Normal procedure if the mast comes down is to cut it away before it punches a hole in the hull, but maybe the sail was acting as a sea anchor and without it the boat would have been surfing in those winds.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Hmm...maiden voyage... the term "insurance job" leaps to mind....think i'll shutup now....

 

 

[alf jessup]

Geez Merv,

 

I never thought of that one lol.

 

Dunno what I must have been thinking then.

 

I think I might shut up now too.

 

cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Lol.. sorry mate.. my missus always tells me i state the obvious too much..

 

 

[Derby]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Should have left them