Posted on 06/09/2008 1:13:26 AM PDT by BellStar
If CW was lacking a raft, this'll be another Bonfire for TAMU.
Oh, racing regs. I thought you were saying it was some kind of law. Nevermind.
Deduced from the long time it took for the Coast Guard to find them. Plenty of time for 2 Cospas-Sarsat passes, only ~27 miles offshore, had a LKP for the hull, crew should have been found within 5-6 hours. The sailors were fortunate.
R4F - As mentioned before, lack of EPIRBS,
Ramius - I didn't see that in the story.
Hopefully the on watch were wearing theirs, they'd be fools not to in that weather, 38' boat w/ an open transom. Good jackets, too, with lifelines attached to boat - inflatable jackets with integral lifeline harnesses, equipped with a minimum of whistle, knife, strobe, and EPIRB.
Apparently only 1 of the 3 belowdecks made it out of the cabin with their jacket. The other student didn't, and we don't know yet about the deceased.
R4F - I'd have been wearing mine on a boat that small).
Ramius - Not too many people do, normally, though in those conditions it might be a good idea. Perhaps they were?
I was also thinking what a nightmare to have to float for hours/days in the GOM knowing you are table-fair some the ocean's larger predators.
Ramius, given that liferafts are required (besides just good offshore common sense) - yes, it would have been quite negligent not to have one onboard.
It’s easier to find a place for a trunk that big on a motorboat, but on a 38ft sailboat there aren’t too many good places for it on deck. Again... I know it ~can~ be done, it just isn’t common. All I’m saying is that it’s not necessarily fair to allege some kind of negligence for not having one.
Hero.
Other pics on site show that the raft case is directly athwartships the radar mast, suggesting that in a roll the raft may have fouled on the mast. Not saying that it's necessarily a bad location for the raft, since hardly anyone expects their boat to turtle, but food for thought.
Pics on the TAMUG site clearly show a common case mount - the life raft mounted on the starboard aft quarter stanchions, outside the lifelines. Immediately inboard the lines is the radar mast.
“Stone’s son, 14-year-old Eric, wrote on an online sailing forum about 4 p.m. that divers were being sent down to examine the sunken wreckage of the Cynthia Woods.
At 6:55 p.m. he posted: “He’s gone. Roger was found in the boat. He was a hero. He did his job as safety officer. He got those kids off the boat. He’s in a better place now.”
His son is rightly proud. Stone is a He was a hero.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Roger Stone’s family.
Overview of Events Concerning the Cynthia Woods and Crew
GALVESTON, June 9, 2008 —The five fortunate survivors of the two-day Gulf of Mexico ordeal in which their sailboat capsized were released from The University of Texas Medical Branch here today and all of them are calling their deceased safety officer, Roger Stone, a hero for his quick action and leadership in having them evacuate the sinking vessel.
The four students--Joseph Savana, Travis Wright and Steven Guy of Texas A&M University at Galveston and Ross Busby from the main university campus in College Station—were joined by TAMUG faculty member and safety officer Steve Conway in leaving the UT medical facility after being held overnight, primarily for treatment for dehydration and severe sunburn. When rescued by the Coast Guard, they had been in the water about 26 hours.
Funeral services for Mr. Stone are pending.
TAMUG Chief Executive Officer R. Bowen Loftin said during a media session Monday afternoon that student leaders and faculty representatives at the marine-oriented campus in Galveston have begun discussing ways to honor Mr. Stone and to help his family.
“We want to honor his heroic actions,” Loftin said.
“Roger Stone did a selfless act,” the TAMUG CEO emphasized. “He was down below when water started coming in and he literally pushed out two students to make sure they got out.
“He was last seen standing in the entranceway on the lower deck. He could have saved himself, but he did make sure others got out first, and this cost him his life. It's been a very difficult time for all of us.”
The Aggies and their two safety officers were participating in the Regata de Amigos, a sailing race from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico, that began festively Friday afternoon when their boat, the “Cynthia Woods,” and approximately 25 other vessels set sail on the planned 700-mile race.
When the crew did not make a planned satellite contact with TAMUG officials at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard was contacted and a search for the vessel began.
TAMUG officials were informed by the Coast Guard about 5 p.m. that the hull of a vessel matching the general description of the “Cynthia Woods” had been spotted about 27 miles southeast of Freeport. It was reported that the keel of the vessel appeared to have been torn from the hull. The capsized vessel was confirmed to be that of the “Cynthia Woods” around dusk that evening.
Coast Guard rescuers continued their search for the presumed missing crew throughout the evening.
At about 2 a.m. Sunday TAMUG officials were informed by the Coast Guard that five survivors from the wreck of the “Cynthia Woods” had been found floating nearly five miles from the original wreck site.
Late Sunday afternoon divers arrived at the wreck and were able to explore the hull of the vessel. It was inside the vessel that divers found the body of Mr. Stone.
Loftin noted in a Monday media session that the process will now begin to determine what caused the accident and to attempt to recover the vessel.
“Our first step in finding out the cause of this accident is to recover the vessel. We think we know the location of the vessel, but if it's now below the surface it will be difficult to find it. Once we do find it, we will have to take the mast off and then tow it to Galveston.
“My goal is to understand why this happened. We know what happened, but we don't know why. We will look at every aspect to determine why this happened and to make certain that it can never happen again.”
In an earlier statement, Loftin thanked the Coast Guard for its vital role in the two-day ordeal.
“I must emphatically thank the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard who responded so quickly and professionally to the call for help in the search for those aboard the Cynthia Woods. I know that same sentiment has been expressed by President Elsa Murano and others who came here to Galveston from the main campus to lend support.
“Also, we thank all of those who participated in the rescue effort, the Aggie Family, and all those who offered their prayers and support.”
I'd imagine that the off watch was in the port aft quarterberth (visible aft of galley), and the 2 salon settees (fwd of the nav table stbd & galley port, approx where the camera man's feet are in the pic below). So, 1 of the off watch was within inches of the companionway, the other 2 within 4-5 feet. Companionway on a 38R:
Searchers find keel that caused A&M sailboat tragedy
June 20, 2008, 9:01PM Searchers find keel that caused A&M sailboat tragedy
By MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
The keel that fell off a Texas A&M University sailboat last week and led to the drowning death of one of its six crew members has been located in 113 feet of water about 32 miles off the coast near Freeport.
Contrary to early predictions, in which A&M officials said the chance of a successful recovery might be as low as 10 percent, marine salvage experts needed little time to find the keel using underwater acoustic devices late Wednesday. Divers were sent Thursday to inspect and photograph the keel where it lay partially buried in 4 feet of mud. U.S. Coast Guard investigators also went to the scene.
The salvage company was expected to raise the keel and bring it back to Galveston today.
The 5,000-pound fin-and-bulb keel separated from the hull of the 38-foot Cynthia Woods late June 6, about 10 hours after the start of a race from Galveston to Mexico. Water flooded into the boat and flipped it over, tossing the crew into the Gulf of Mexico where five of them floated for 26 hours until rescue. The sixth, 53-year-old safety officer Roger Stone, did not make it out of the boat after helping two students escape the cabin.
Investigators hope the keel will contain clues about why it fell off. They will be looking especially at the condition of the bolts used to secure it to the hull. One of the first questions to be answered, experts say, is whether the bolts failed or the hull and structure were damaged and could no longer support the keel attachment.
The Cynthia Woods had experienced several grounding incidents, with the most recent in March 2007 leading to significant keel damage and repairs. No specialists were brought in to inspect the damage, and no annual surveys of the boat were done, said officials at A&M-Galveston, home to the boat.
...more...
“
No specialists were brought in to inspect the damage, and no annual
surveys of the boat were done, said officials at A&M-Galveston,
home to the boat.
“
Mechanics and maintainance ain’t the forte of lots of academia.
I’m not a boater, but this sure makes it sound like they tempted fate.
And this was the sailing team, the officers ought to know what shape their boats are in.
Mechanics and maintainance ain’t the forte of lots of academia. I’m not a boater, but this sure makes it sound like they tempted fate.
Bad News
You're looking at the keel from Cynthia Woods, recovered this weekend from the sea floor where the Cape Fear 38 flipped near Galveston, Texas, killing Roger Stone, who was trapped inside the turtled boat after staying back to shove the rest of the student crew to safety. Since the incident, a lot of news and speculation have popped up in our forums, and some of it is incredibly unsettling.
According to a report attributed to one of the divers who recovered the keel, “The bolts with backing plates, washers and nuts were all still intact. The only damage on the fin itself is from when we were getting it back on board our vessel in side sees and it struck our a-frame. the bolts if I have to guess are 1"-1 1/4" in diameter and there were approximately 10. They would not let us take pics and all of our video footage from the dives was confiscated by the salvage company that contracted us. The key to the problem is that instead of having one large backing plate to distribute the load, there are three extremely small plates that do not even equal the area of the mounting surface of the keel itself. The 5,000 lb. keel bolted to a surface area of 3-4 ft x 4-6 in... Considering that there is only approximately 5/8" thickness on the fiberglass with no reinforcement, that is not much surface area...The area beneath the backing plates contained the fiberglass hull material but no more of the hull was ripped out than what came out with the plates.”
A Rhode Island-based composite construction specialist named Peter Ross was heavily involved with the initial build of the first of the Bruce Marek-designed Cape Fear 38s for yard owner Kent Mitchell. This weekend, Ross jumped into the discussion on the forums with a bang, and if his claims of the kind of negligent, half-assed work on the part of Cape Fear Yacht Works are even partially true, there will be hell to pay for Mitchell and his boatbuilding outfit in North Carolina, and current CF38 owners should rightfully be nervous. Here's an excerpt from one of Ross's posts:
“Their ads read that the boat was built by sailors for sailors. The problem is the people buying these boats didn't know there are no sailors in the shop, none have a clue about the loads or the importance of fiber orientation in these limited fiber boats. If the foreman is clueless and the guys laminating clueless, who was overseeing this? Why wasn't the designer on hand every day to ensure proper lamination and inspect the glasswork?
Sailors have a right to know their boats are built correctly and by qualified builders with a passion for their trade. I will take the hits for writing this with my chin fully extended, but it is time. The entire development process of that boat was a story in itself, I tried without success to buy those molds to destroy them, They want the barstool bragging rights too much. Silicone filled "brown eyed puppy dogs" touting off info as if full of knowledge and experience...sad. Arrogance, ego and ignorance it is difficult to keep my emotions out of this, I feel Roger's in my sleep, I feel his family's pain night AND day. Why would anyone want to be involved in this?”
Some have claimed that Ross is a disgruntled ex-employee. We spoke to him tonight, and while he is definitely an emotional guy, he certainly knew a great deal about Mitchell's operation, and in his opinion, it was “only a matter of time” before someone got killed on one of the boats.
The keel was apparently repaired sometime in the past 18 months, but we were unable to find anything else out about it. Bruce Marek wouldn't talk about the incident with us on the record given the likelihood of litigation, and the USCG station investigating the capsize told us that they wouldn't have anything for us for a few days. Both the Coast Guard and Texas A&M are investigating the incident, and we will stay on top of them both. If you have any additional information about the repair of the boat, let us know.
This is probably one of all racers' biggest nightmares – the sudden, unannounced capsize of a race boat. We are hoping that the investigations shed some light on what caused this incident, and on how we can all ensure that the likelihood of it happening again is substantially reduced. If investigations show that Stone's death was due to the negligence or cost cutting of Kent Mitchell and what Ross called “Mitchell's hobby shop boat building operation,” this is going to get uglier in a hurry.
"The key to the problem is that instead of having one large backing plate to distribute the load, there are three extremely small plates that do not even equal the area of the mounting surface of the keel itself. The 5,000 lb. keel bolted to a surface area of 3-4 ft x 4-6 in... Considering that there is only approximately 5/8" thickness on the fiberglass with no reinforcement, that is not much surface area"
Cynthia Woods is not a bad design or poorly built boat!!!!!
I knew about the previous grounding and bad repair and knew as did the skipper that this boat was not fit to race cruse or sail
Damn, at least we know the keelbolts didn't let go. Wonder if there was more metal on that keel before the repairs? Doesn't look like there was a larger backing plate there before, does it?
It has been reported in several publicatios 2 hard grondings well after it was donated.
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