I run a junk rig. It cant do any of this. There is no heavy boom, and the sail is double sheeted, the sheets attached to every batten, spreading the loads evenly. A preventer for a junk rig is a line tied off to the rail, and it doesnt need watching, because if it fails, it will merely be annoying. Reefing is trivial, and there are no clew rings or cunninghams to deal with because the sail drops like a roman blind in all conditions, just by easing the halyard.
Dont run complicated, fractional, high aspect rigs unless you're racing. Just dont. You get nearly nothing from it, and that rig is very, very dangerous.
at 16.01 in video the arrows appear to show the wind coming from the front of the boat? If this was a jibe surely the arrows should be coming from the stern forwards??
Experienced sailors should already know that knots used to extend lines reduce strength, and that preventer lines should not be extended in this way. Also, for all their experience and safety equipment, they didn't use a friction device in addition to a preventer. Preventers can fail, and booms can start swinging wildly, that's why people invented friction devices that when used in addition to preventers, make downwind sailing almost 100% safe, because even if you're preventer is fouled/broken/failing, the friction device makes it so that the boom can't move so fast that it destroys people and equipment. These devices just get more and more important the bigger the sailboat is.
No matter how many hours, days, years on the water, this story tells us; "Experience hinders the very fabric of the chosen word "MASTER" for arriving promptly at one's destination alive, keenly aware of the sense of dismay that lingers on such a journey, defeats the purpose of learning." A costly mishap of overestimating thy sense of fear shall give way to shear gravity of arrogance…
I feel a bit for the skipper. However all crew should be aware of man overboard and how to work the epirb in case the skipper goes over rhe side. First thing i was taught was if you hear man overboard you throw the danbouy with the flag an horseshoe. Its easy to condemn someone but these crew were well qualified in comparison to most. Just boat familiarity let them down. The hydraulic steering was a major culprit and should always get frequent checks like any member of the crew. Ah well.
Enjoyed the video. Just one small point – Cape Reinga is not the most northerly part of New Zealand. North Cape is the northern point of the North Island, but NZ extends further to the north due to other offshore islands.
In open seas with an unreliable quartering and high wind, surely you stow the main and run on foresails. Much safer. Why were they not wearing lifejackets? Why did they not drop the main from the mast or even scandalise it by using the topping lift. ANYTHING to stop that boom swinging. The first thing you do after man over board is throw a buoy out and station one person whose sole job is to watch the man overboard, Everything that could go wrong DID go wrong on this voyage. Appalling ineptitude. Kudos for a brilliant and succinct description of this terrible tragedy.
I had to think about this one for a while before I commented. The primary mechanical problem is that they lost steering. I have heard so many stories of sailboats/sailing yachts either losing their rudder entirely due to corrosion or just losing control of the steering like this. Once a boat has lost its steering, it’s at the mercy of the elements. So check the rudder/steering system regularly and before any major trip.
Beyond that, I really think this boiled down to the skipper should have taken the lead before they left the docks. First priority would be a safety talk… PFDs at night or in rough weather. Someone is on the helm at all times. Then, at least have a discussion of the MOB drill. I can so easily see how this was skipped because the crew was so experienced, so I’m taking a lesson from this. For the most part, racing sailors are wired differently from cruising sailors. Cruisers would probably have had the safety discussion. I have been on an all racing crew, sailing at night on deck with no PFD in moderate conditions with storms in the area. I’ve also been racing on a boat where the owner did a lot of cruising. We all had Type I PFDs on at night with manually activated strobe lights on them. If the guy who went overboard had a PFD with one of those fancy GPS locators (or even just a strobe), he would be alive today.
Finally, that damned preventer. I have only sailed on boats under 50’, so I don’t know how common preventers are on bigger boats; but my experience is that preventers are a pain in the ass. When you’re ready for a jibe in a race, those are often forgotten, causing potential disaster. It’s better to have the crew aware (and watching their heads) of a potential crash jibe than have a false sense of confidence that the boom isn’t going to come screaming across the deck unexpectedly. That preventer caused a lot of damage after the steering went out. No preventer, no damage to the traveler, etc.
FYI, the “jibe” they did before disaster happened, where they really tacked rather than jibed is called a “chicken jibe”. That was a fairly conservative move for such an experienced crew.
Thank you to the creator of this video. This is one sailor who is taking some lessons from this one.
2 people died as a result of poor seamanship by the owners, and very poor alterations which were made to the vessel. It was not just the preventer attachment knot which failed … it was the entire set up of the preventer in the first place. This by people who supposedly had thousands of hours of seatime. These "experienced" sailors thought it fit to sail almost directly downwind in a serious sea state using autopilot and a poor preventer set up. The autopilot was unable to cope with the amount of work, in addition to it leaking hydraulic oil, which the crew never checked! This case never went to the Coroner, and Maritime NZ never pursued it either. Money talks … everything else walks!
Photo at 40 seconds is not Sydney , it is in the Brin Wilson shed at Gulf Harbour Marina, New Zealand. In fact I took that photo at 1019 on the 9th February, 2015. That is my boat under wraps on the left. Another of my photos at 04:20.
Steve's daughter, Grace, told me that this was Steve's 16th voyage to Fiji on a yacht. She had asked him not to go. Being the kind community man that he was, he went anyway, wanting to help and give a hand to locals. It certainly appears that this feeling was not reciprocated, when the remaining people on deck saw him at least twice as they passed him, as he floated there in the swells with his hands raised. I cry to this day. How could they have not, at least, thrown a life support item overboard and toward him? A truly good man was lost at sea. Ironically, at his memorial, we were told of how his grandfather (or perhaps great?) had also been lost at sea. I cannot imagine a more hopeless and lonely way to die. Especially in a place that you have loved and embraced. RIP Steve There are many who miss you, especially in Devonport ❤
It's good to see a New Zealand story on your channel. I was working for a company involved in the refit of Platino at the time so I remember it well. Perhaps you could cover the Enchanter fishing boat Sinking from NZ?
Classic case of trying to spend their way out of actual competency, no expense spared,newest and best,automation over redundancy and controllability. Why were the crew not able to control the boom in multiple hours?A far less equipped but more familiar vessel would have barely had a hiccup and a good story to tell at landfall for at least a round of free drinks
Thank you for doing this it is a salutary tale for any sailor. However it had very little to do with the ‘knot’ (as the title suggests) and a lot to do with what the skipper and crew had NOT done prior to the incident.
the ocean and the weather can hit an experienced sailor hard but yet not harm a complete novice – so irrespective of how expensive the yacht is, I think the smaller the minimal you are at sea the safer you may be
A comedy of deadly decisions and errors led by a skipper that had some course and book knowledge but no real world knowledge of actually being in command.
While I’m a merchant mariner I don’t know much about sail boats. What happened to the hydraulic fluid? I’m assuming they blew a hose and lost all the fluid in a few seconds but I’m very confused as to why they didn’t simply replace the hose and refill the hydraulic tank? Did both steering pumps fail? Did they lose all gensets? Nothing makes sense to me as to how short of physical damage to the rudder itself could be an unfixable problem. Did this boat not have an emergency steering system? Every single screw vessel I’ve ever sailed on has something to steer it in an emergency such as a steam or diesel pony engine, or even a emergency tiller that can be put onto the rudder post and rigged with two block and tackles and manually operated by a few men. You said there was pressure in the steering cylinders, why weren’t the bypass valves opened? Where talking about some massive rudders on offshore tugs and ships here, such a setup for a little sailboat wouldn’t need to be anywhere near as large or heavy.
I'm glad all the commenters survived this incident. Hope they all collaborate and publish their findings. "Armchair admirals musings on tragic incident"😅
Why didn't the owners buy a new boat built to their specifications? How much money did they save? It couldn't have been very much. Were the new owners cheapskates?
Great review. One hopes other sailors will learn and implement from this incident. The main lesson.., Investing money in large quantities does not suffice to make a boat safe. Owner, skipper and crew well trained and practiced are essential. It takes time to build a team and it has to be done gradually going scenario by scenario. “Team” can be a single handed or multi crew team. You go to sea, the “crew” must be trained on the specific boat. Team buildup plan including manoeuvres , best practices, emergency equipment , prudent sail plans fitting the weather for “this” boat, emergency steering drills, watch checkup list including hydraulic levels, dry bildge checkup etc. it’s a long list , which by the way , must be trained and refreshed periodically. Most important is probably “expect the unexpected and act accordingly”
As a professional master mariner with 40 years experience and several hundred thousand blue water miles ( stopped counting) I would like to state that I hold experience well above qualifications. When I started experience was what counted. The fervour for qualifications has been advanced by insurance companies and can be achieved with minimal sea time. Unless there is regular time at sea these ‘qualifications and acquired skills ‘ fall out of habit. Practise ( helps) make perfect
A lot of ‘expert comments and criticisms here’. An excellent description and account. There were very experienced crew on board. I knew one of them. This was avoidable but it was a very sudden and extremely violent consequence. Please be careful and measured when criticising from the comfort of your living room.
I run a junk rig. It cant do any of this. There is no heavy boom, and the sail is double sheeted, the sheets attached to every batten, spreading the loads evenly. A preventer for a junk rig is a line tied off to the rail, and it doesnt need watching, because if it fails, it will merely be annoying. Reefing is trivial, and there are no clew rings or cunninghams to deal with because the sail drops like a roman blind in all conditions, just by easing the halyard.
Dont run complicated, fractional, high aspect rigs unless you're racing. Just dont. You get nearly nothing from it, and that rig is very, very dangerous.
at 16.01 in video the arrows appear to show the wind coming from the front of the boat? If this was a jibe surely the arrows should be coming from the stern forwards??
Experienced sailors should already know that knots used to extend lines reduce strength, and that preventer lines should not be extended in this way.
Also, for all their experience and safety equipment, they didn't use a friction device in addition to a preventer. Preventers can fail, and booms can start swinging wildly, that's why people invented friction devices that when used in addition to preventers, make downwind sailing almost 100% safe, because even if you're preventer is fouled/broken/failing, the friction device makes it so that the boom can't move so fast that it destroys people and equipment. These devices just get more and more important the bigger the sailboat is.
No matter how many hours, days, years on the water, this story tells us; "Experience hinders the very fabric of the chosen word "MASTER" for arriving promptly at one's destination alive, keenly aware of the sense of dismay that lingers on such a journey, defeats the purpose of learning." A costly mishap of overestimating thy sense of fear shall give way to shear gravity of arrogance…
BONK!
I feel a bit for the skipper. However all crew should be aware of man overboard and how to work the epirb in case the skipper goes over rhe side. First thing i was taught was if you hear man overboard you throw the danbouy with the flag an horseshoe.
Its easy to condemn someone but these crew were well qualified in comparison to most. Just boat familiarity let them down. The hydraulic steering was a major culprit and should always get frequent checks like any member of the crew. Ah well.
I am surprised that since many of the crew did have some sure of boating license. And not to meny years of sailing that no one knew how to do it.
Enjoyed the video. Just one small point – Cape Reinga is not the most northerly part of New Zealand. North Cape is the northern point of the North Island, but NZ extends further to the north due to other offshore islands.
Been at sea for 26 years and still going. But I don't know a damn thing about sailing.
In open seas with an unreliable quartering and high wind, surely you stow the main and run on foresails. Much safer. Why were they not wearing lifejackets? Why did they not drop the main from the mast or even scandalise it by using the topping lift. ANYTHING to stop that boom swinging. The first thing you do after man over board is throw a buoy out and station one person whose sole job is to watch the man overboard, Everything that could go wrong DID go wrong on this voyage. Appalling ineptitude. Kudos for a brilliant and succinct description of this terrible tragedy.
They shouldve been billed for a portion of the rescue operation
So well explained thank you 🙏🏻⚓⛵🏴☠️🌎❤️
I had to think about this one for a while before I commented. The primary mechanical problem is that they lost steering. I have heard so many stories of sailboats/sailing yachts either losing their rudder entirely due to corrosion or just losing control of the steering like this. Once a boat has lost its steering, it’s at the mercy of the elements. So check the rudder/steering system regularly and before any major trip.
Beyond that, I really think this boiled down to the skipper should have taken the lead before they left the docks. First priority would be a safety talk… PFDs at night or in rough weather. Someone is on the helm at all times. Then, at least have a discussion of the MOB drill. I can so easily see how this was skipped because the crew was so experienced, so I’m taking a lesson from this. For the most part, racing sailors are wired differently from cruising sailors. Cruisers would probably have had the safety discussion. I have been on an all racing crew, sailing at night on deck with no PFD in moderate conditions with storms in the area. I’ve also been racing on a boat where the owner did a lot of cruising. We all had Type I PFDs on at night with manually activated strobe lights on them. If the guy who went overboard had a PFD with one of those fancy GPS locators (or even just a strobe), he would be alive today.
Finally, that damned preventer. I have only sailed on boats under 50’, so I don’t know how common preventers are on bigger boats; but my experience is that preventers are a pain in the ass. When you’re ready for a jibe in a race, those are often forgotten, causing potential disaster. It’s better to have the crew aware (and watching their heads) of a potential crash jibe than have a false sense of confidence that the boom isn’t going to come screaming across the deck unexpectedly. That preventer caused a lot of damage after the steering went out. No preventer, no damage to the traveler, etc.
FYI, the “jibe” they did before disaster happened, where they really tacked rather than jibed is called a “chicken jibe”. That was a fairly conservative move for such an experienced crew.
Thank you to the creator of this video. This is one sailor who is taking some lessons from this one.
Well done. Thank you.
2 people died as a result of poor seamanship by the owners, and very poor alterations which were made to the vessel. It was not just the preventer attachment knot which failed … it was the entire set up of the preventer in the first place. This by people who supposedly had thousands of hours of seatime. These "experienced" sailors thought it fit to sail almost directly downwind in a serious sea state using autopilot and a poor preventer set up. The autopilot was unable to cope with the amount of work, in addition to it leaking hydraulic oil, which the crew never checked! This case never went to the Coroner, and Maritime NZ never pursued it either. Money talks … everything else walks!
Photo at 40 seconds is not Sydney , it is in the Brin Wilson shed at Gulf Harbour Marina, New Zealand. In fact I took that photo at 1019 on the 9th February, 2015. That is my boat under wraps on the left. Another of my photos at 04:20.
How much sale did they have out? 35 plus when one hope it would be on third reef.
Steve's daughter, Grace, told me that this was Steve's 16th voyage to Fiji on a yacht. She had asked him not to go. Being the kind community man that he was, he went anyway, wanting to help and give a hand to locals. It certainly appears that this feeling was not reciprocated, when the remaining people on deck saw him at least twice as they passed him, as he floated there in the swells with his hands raised. I cry to this day. How could they have not, at least, thrown a life support item overboard and toward him? A truly good man was lost at sea. Ironically, at his memorial, we were told of how his grandfather (or perhaps great?) had also been lost at sea. I cannot imagine a more hopeless and lonely way to die. Especially in a place that you have loved and embraced. RIP Steve There are many who miss you, especially in Devonport ❤
Nah , it was the knot that killed them
Very interesting. Sounds like they did everything to avoid actually having to do any sailing themselves.
Your explanations are both detailed and easy to follow, fantastic work. These sort of analyses will save lives.
It's good to see a New Zealand story on your channel. I was working for a company involved in the refit of Platino at the time so I remember it well. Perhaps you could cover the Enchanter fishing boat Sinking from NZ?
that's why all the "certifications" and "miles sailed" don't mean much when it's all fair weather and decisions made by others.
What is that sound effect you keep using? It sounds like rubber balls bouncing in a metal bucket.
Terrible decisions led to a terrible domino effect ..tragic , even more so since it was avoidable
LEVIATHAN
Classic case of trying to spend their way out of actual competency, no expense spared,newest and best,automation over redundancy and controllability. Why were the crew not able to control the boom in multiple hours?A far less equipped but more familiar vessel would have barely had a hiccup and a good story to tell at landfall for at least a round of free drinks
pretty shocking really considering the amount of time they spent in port and didnt do any familiarisation of the boats safety gear or any drills
That “bowline” knot, not even tied correctly.
Thank you for doing this it is a salutary tale for any sailor. However it had very little to do with the ‘knot’ (as the title suggests) and a lot to do with what the skipper and crew had NOT done prior to the incident.
Great Video again👍 We sail with a beambreak. Greetings from Croatia 👍
Picasso…. what a stupid name for a yacht
Wow! Anything that could go wrong, really did.
I just learnt more about sailing than I have throughout any of my random boat trips.
the ocean and the weather can hit an experienced sailor hard but yet not harm a complete novice – so irrespective of how expensive the yacht is, I think the smaller the minimal you are at sea the safer you may be
"It's a rogue wave". Newp.
I do not understand why a safety relevant hydraulic piece of equipment does not warn of the imminent oil pressure loss.
Having worked as a sailing instructor, accidental jibes are scary even on small boats. I'd never want to experience one on something that big
@23:32 Pretty sure you ommitted the "Freedom" from Freedom Units there.
What a failure; did not even think to throw a life preserver to the man in the water.
wow
A comedy of deadly decisions and errors led by a skipper that had some course and book knowledge but no real world knowledge of actually being in command.
While I’m a merchant mariner I don’t know much about sail boats. What happened to the hydraulic fluid? I’m assuming they blew a hose and lost all the fluid in a few seconds but I’m very confused as to why they didn’t simply replace the hose and refill the hydraulic tank? Did both steering pumps fail? Did they lose all gensets? Nothing makes sense to me as to how short of physical damage to the rudder itself could be an unfixable problem. Did this boat not have an emergency steering system? Every single screw vessel I’ve ever sailed on has something to steer it in an emergency such as a steam or diesel pony engine, or even a emergency tiller that can be put onto the rudder post and rigged with two block and tackles and manually operated by a few men. You said there was pressure in the steering cylinders, why weren’t the bypass valves opened? Where talking about some massive rudders on offshore tugs and ships here, such a setup for a little sailboat wouldn’t need to be anywhere near as large or heavy.
I'm glad all the commenters survived this incident. Hope they all collaborate and publish their findings.
"Armchair admirals musings on tragic incident"😅
Why didn't the owners buy a new boat built to their specifications? How much money did they save? It couldn't have been very much. Were the new owners cheapskates?
Great review.
One hopes other sailors will learn and implement from this incident.
The main lesson.., Investing money in large quantities does not suffice to make a boat safe. Owner, skipper and crew well trained and practiced are essential.
It takes time to build a team and it has to be done gradually going scenario by scenario.
“Team” can be a single handed or multi crew team. You go to sea, the “crew” must be trained on the specific boat.
Team buildup plan including manoeuvres , best practices, emergency equipment , prudent sail plans fitting the weather for “this” boat, emergency steering drills, watch checkup list including hydraulic levels, dry bildge checkup etc. it’s a long list , which by the way , must be trained and refreshed periodically. Most important is probably “expect the unexpected and act accordingly”
All the gear and no idea?
As a professional master mariner with 40 years experience and several hundred thousand blue water miles ( stopped counting) I would like to state that I hold experience well above qualifications. When I started experience was what counted. The fervour for qualifications has been advanced by insurance companies and can be achieved with minimal sea time. Unless there is regular time at sea these ‘qualifications and acquired skills ‘ fall out of habit. Practise ( helps) make perfect
A lot of ‘expert comments and criticisms here’. An excellent description and account. There were very experienced crew on board. I knew one of them. This was avoidable but it was a very sudden and extremely violent consequence. Please be careful and measured when criticising from the comfort of your living room.