Has the HP hit team got back to California yet?
(sore losers)
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Perhaps the HP payments were too much?
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That’s a little one. Here is the 90 meter mast for the world’s largest (75m) sloop. We built and installed the exhaust emissions control systems on this boat.
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… and it’s carbon, so much lighter.
M5, yes?
All I remember of it was it started with “But men and officers must obey”. And no, nothing in BRM or ISM for that matter would be ok with blind obedience to orders. Those days have come and gone.
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I have made a fairly extensive study of the J Class boats (my paper on Yankee was published in the 2010 Proceedings of the Classic Yacht Symposium) and that deckhouse on Bayesian certainly caught my eye:
Admittedly, the J’s were all-out racing machines, but those windows …
Earl
Yes, M5. It isn’t the weight of the rigging that applies in this situation, it is the “flat plate” area exposed to wind loading that turns into upsetting forces. In the case of this boat, the mast and rigging area was calculated to be around 114 square meters, more than the hull itself which is only about 72 square meters. The Isle of Man regulators did the calculations after an anchor dragging incident which showed the IACS figures for anchor weight aren’t really adequate for large sailing yachts.
The standing rigging is instrumented to show loading conditions and display alarms when nearing limits. These are not your grandfather’s sailboats!
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Noted, but I was thinking of weight in the Bayesian context of impact of broken mast falling/penetrating, rather than windage. However, I remember those studies you refer to, and that DNV/GL were the only people to class the big carbon rigs (and only Pantaenius would insure them!)
I also remember that anchoring → grounding incident for M5 off Cap Ferrat, which led to them asking the DNV/GL rep to try to get me out of the big drydock in La Ciotat so they could get in. Sorry, nah!
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The knockdown from the windage is one thing. It’s the not getting back up again that was the problem. And that had to be a function of most of those windows and doors being left open in the heat of a Sicilian summer. Which I find odd, given that a luxury yacht would have been air conditioned in the living spaces.
Most sail boats, especially racing sailboats, are designed to survive a knockdown, as long as everything is sealed up. So what was the issue here?
It’s not really a “racing sailboat”, it’s a sailing megayacht. There are few windows or doors that might even be left open because the boat is air conditioned among other reasons. Even at the dock it is almost unheard of to have doors or “windows” left open. Most have large hull side doors and/or a stern door used for launching tenders or used as “beach clubs” for hanging out at water level. One of those may have been open but it’s unlikely any were left unattended. They open to a watertight compartment so unless W/T doors were also open and unattended, progressive flooding is unlikely. The windows on the house are very strong, they might crack if struck by debris but they are not any less strong than those on a merchant ship, in most cases probably stronger. This is certainly a freak accident, a black swan event that probably has a lot of otherwise unimaginable conditions involved.
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Here’s a photo album that shows some interesting modifications:
In particular, the aft portion of the deckhouse appears to have been originally enclosed:
And then later opened up:
And here’s an interior view of what appears to be the new arrangement:
FWIW
Earl
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"… deckhouse … originally enclosed… "
just looks like snap-on, zip-up plastic - normal for these spaces.
However, I would love to see what the Stability Book says…
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BBC Wold News had a story on the sinking tonight:
PS> I would have though that this luxurious yacht had A/C. (??)
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On closer examination of the photo, I agree.
Cheers,
Earl
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It reads like the author has never set foot on a large yacht much less enjoyed the benefits of the size, design, and capacity of the air conditioning systems installed on them.
The boat almost certainly had a retractable keel and at anchor with no sails it would be up in order to reduce roll. It is fairly safe to say that few if any sailing yachts are designed to withstand the gust force of tornado winds on the superstructure, mast, and rigging.
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I agree with you on the need for unique circumstances. One of many possible causes for the rapid down-flooding: the AC was out. The plant(s) failed, and to deal with the heat it is possible many doors/windows otherwise secured were opened.
As you say, the retractable keel may have been up. The boat was knocked down with insufficient righting arm. Waterspouts move on quickly. If the normal watertight closures had been maintained the boat would have likely righted as soon as the waterspout passed on. But with windows/door open she might have taken on water so quickly she could not right herself and rapidly flooded.
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Perhaps does’nt relate to this incident, perhaps it may. The OP says “The Sea demonstrates again it doesnt care” . Absolutely true. Pushing a modern rig in not good, but not bad weather, about 10 feet seas.Freak wave busted out my lower wheelhouse windows. 40 feet hight of eye in lower wheelhouse. Shit happens, the weather doesn’t care.
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The keel would be up to reduce roll?
you might need to explain how putting weight at the longitudinal roll centre helps it not to roll?
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You might want to review stability before sailing again.