Bad Times in Mobile

[MisterMoon]

Before they took it down from the website, I'm almost positive the NOR stated every boat was required to have a VHF.

I *always* have a waterproof VHF in my PFD pocket. I've gotten to the point where it seems crazy not to have one. Too much Watertribe, I suppose.

 

[ropetrick]

Thanks for the excellent write-up.

Fuck golf.

 

[wlrottge]

Before they took it down from the website, I'm almost positive the NOR stated every boat was required to have a VHF.

I *always* have a waterproof VHF in my PFD pocket. I've gotten to the point where it seems crazy not to have one. Too much Watertribe, I suppose.

That was my post quoted above.

I have the SI's, you're right,

13. RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

13.3 All boat shall carry VHF radios, no matter size or Class rules, for safety purposes.

Regardless, as I stated before though, it would have been stowed and turned off; only so much space in the vest; food, tools, spare parts, GPS and cell rank higher than the VHF. Worrell 1000, this isn't, so I like to keep my vest below 40lbs!

 

[Max Rockatansky]

My wife received a phone call from the RC, I think it was Thursday. They told her that they were calling all the catamarans and small boats to make sure they carried VHF, as they were amending the SI to reflect that, if I recall (they had posted SI at the site and were constantly amending as the race drew nearer.)

 

[nolatom]

this been posted before? If not..

Note that among the "bay sailors" was designer Lee Creekmore, who got knocked down, had to go into the water to uncleat horizontal halyards so the boat would recover, and was unable to save his crew who was went overboard. Sad story, but even the best of sailors was simply overpowered by the squall.

Being safe on shore at a keyboard, I'm inclined to cut everyone some slack, including the race officials. note that one commenter to this article takes a nasty and opposite position...

http://www.al.com/mobile/

And yes, the conventional wisdom was that it was the "beach cats" that would have been the most hazard to their crews, Will R's comments indicate otherwise.

 

[DryArmour]

I don't want to Monday morning armchair quarterback people who go to sea in smaller craft but I sailed a NACRA 5.8 catamaran (19ft) a lot way back in 1984-1992 both single and double handed. I NEVER left the harbor without my VHF on the front left of my PFD and my Mini B Epirb on the back left of the PFD high enough up that I could turn it on with my right hand. On the right front side of the vest I work three SKY BLAZER aerial flares and on the back one long burning smoke flare. A firefly II strobe was the last piece of equipment I kept on me at all times. Whenever I was going for a sail I let someone I trusted know where I was planning on going and approximately what time I was expected back. I set up a ship to shore account for phone calls through the San Pedro Marine operator and used it occasionally to let people know when I had a change of plans or the wind had gotten lighter, earlier than expected. A hand bearing compass was also a must have as fog in California can pop up out of no where and drop visibilities to near zero. We started rigging radar reflectors above the spreaders whenever we crossed the shipping lanes from 1986 on. A flashlight was also maintained in a dry bag in the tramp pocket at all times. The water is cold here so a quality GoreTex Drysuit is also a must have for me along with great boots. This is all pre-cell phone era but in today's world I would have that in ADDITION to the items already listed.

All of these items are MUST HAVES* for me in the interest of personal safety. Growing up sailing in Hawaii there are no second chances if things go bad on the leeward side of the islands so you have to be prepared to save yourself at all times. I would not go out without these items now except on larger boats that have substantial man overboard equipment ready to deploy and I still wear my Mustang auto inflate PFD/harness for anything but inshore day races along with my strobe.

This is my list. What is on yours?

 

[Edith Bicknell]

Amen. I realize this was a coastal/inshore race but not having a handheld vhf is just plain dumb. Try calling all the boats in your area on your cell

phone when you are floating in the water sharing a life ring with 2 other guys. And you can turn it on occasionally for weather updates...dosnt have to

be on 24/7. I would also wear my DryArmour shirt if it ever came.

Post #135 is self evident but you will still have these people saying they didnt have adequate warnings, which were also pointed out very early in the

thread. Maybe that other guy was right. Its a psychological thing.

Whether the race was postponed or not is immaterial. People weren't prepared for conditions that were predicted to have a better than average

chance to develop as they did.

 

[Captn_1]

I can't comment on the race itself, however, I was registered to attend. I withdrew on Thursday the 23rd due to severe storm warnings being posted all week for the Mobile Bay area. I needed a couple of days to get my boat (37.5' Hunter) from Pensacola to Fairhope for the race. Conditions were clearly reported each and every day. I had crew coming from Louisiana, Alabama, and North Carolina. The general consensus was to withdraw from the race due to the poor conditions that the NWS had been warning about. The point of my post is not to second guess anyone who chose to race. I have friends who raced and limped away with shredded sails and missing biminis. My only point is to comment first hand that their was plenty of data leading up to the race to suggest, in my own opinion, that it was not a wise decision to sail that day. I have a 50T Master License with sailing/towing endorsements, have sailed over 30 years and been through my share of storms, but in all my years, erring on the side of caution has always kept myself, crew, and vessels safe. To hear all of the reports about the storm coming out of nowhere, etc, is just bologna. We've had severe storms move through the area several times over the past 2-3 weeks. All of the signs were there and had been for days leading up to Saturday. In the end, it was up to the individual captain to understand their own, crew's, and vessel's strengths/weakness and to make the final judgement call.

 

[Team Subterfuge]

I don't want to Monday morning armchair quarterback people who go to sea in smaller craft but I sailed a NACRA 5.8 catamaran (19ft) a lot way back in 1984-1992 both single and double handed. I NEVER left the harbor without my VHF on the front left of my PFD and my Mini B Epirb on the back left of the PFD high enough up that I could turn it on with my right hand. On the right front side of the vest I work three SKY BLAZER aerial flares and on the back one long burning smoke flare. A firefly II strobe was the last piece of equipment I kept on me at all times. Whenever I was going for a sail I let someone I trusted know where I was planning on going and approximately what time I was expected back. I set up a ship to shore account for phone calls through the San Pedro Marine operator and used it occasionally to let people know when I had a change of plans or the wind had gotten lighter, earlier than expected. A hand bearing compass was also a must have as fog in California can pop up out of no where and drop visibilities to near zero. We started rigging radar reflectors above the spreaders whenever we crossed the shipping lanes from 1986 on. A flashlight was also maintained in a dry bag in the tramp pocket at all times. The water is cold here so a quality GoreTex Drysuit is also a must have for me along with great boots. This is all pre-cell phone era but in today's world I would have that in ADDITION to the items already listed.

All of these items are MUST HAVES* for me in the interest of personal safety. Growing up sailing in Hawaii there are no second chances if things go bad on the leeward side of the islands so you have to be prepared to save yourself at all times. I would not go out without these items now except on larger boats that have substantial man overboard equipment ready to deploy and I still wear my Mustang auto inflate PFD/harness for anything but inshore day races along with my strobe.

This is my list. What is on yours?

I used to sail a Nacra 5.2 in Santa Barbara - and I just wear a swim suit and trapeze harness, sometimes a T-shirt. I'd wear a float coat if it got windy and cold. I am unaware of anyone who sailed with an Epirb, handheld VHF or flares back in those days (pre-Nacra 5.8). Although there were times it would have been nice to have along. However, we weren't sailing to the islands either.

It is interesting how safety had changed. Seems like people now feel more comfortable to take on more severe weather with the safety gear now available when back in the day you were a bit more cautious since you could not count on someone coming to save you.

 

[Skull and Bones]

Condolences to all that lost their lives. Fair winds and following seas.

 

[Fast Freddie]

What kind of craft was the none9

Seems that another body may have been found.

 

[vibroman]

What kind of craft was the none9

Seems that another body may have been found.

Possibly one of the Catalinas. Mr Moon got a peek at the scratch sheet before they pulled and might know.

In the article it mentions that this was the 2nd fatality from that boat and the other 3 crew were picked up. Possibly the 3 that my Bud on the E33 picked up during the storm...They were from a C22.

 

[Rasputin22]

Local news just reported a third body recovered. Expanding the search to the east now. 3 still missing.

 

[LeeJerry]

Vibroman described it exactly how it rolled: "As far as I can tell there was no cloud formation visible that would warn people just an increasing darkening overcast. The cold wind off the tops approached at 65 knots! most boats were towards the SW part of the bay so by the time the squall line hit the water and became visible out of the gloom it was too late."

Max- The description matches overhead development of a severe thunderstorm but I submit that is to be expected given the forecast and the cold air mixing with relatively very warm Gulf waters over Mobile Bay. I am not saying novice sailors would have recognized these signs but the NWS watches and warnings provided at least a hint that the weather could turn SEVERE on Saturday afternoon. What is the solution to best ensure this does not happen again? I am not sure but it is worth discussion by this community to try and identify the warning signs in the hopes that the next time the conditions mirror Saturday's events, sailors will seek safe harbor sooner if possible.

[SIZE=medium]I was not on the water on Saturday, but was aware of the tornado watch that expired at noon. While T-storms are always a possibility here, this implied to me that the worst of the weather would be passed by then. The NWS is usually pretty good about that sort of thing down here, including tracking strong cells and streaming to the minute when they will hit the various towns across the bottom of the TV.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]We were in the Gulf Shores area (20-25 mi east of Dauphin Isl) that afternoon. We got caught outside (on land) when it first hit and ran for cover and then the car, drove in it for a bit, got out/in again (in the rain) and then drove awhile through the rest until it passed. While clearly not just a shower, we were surprised at the amount of damage that we saw along the way – trees and lots of limbs down, numerous billboards trashed, power / traffic lights out.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Again, maybe because I wasn’t following the weather, and I (probably) would have paid a little more attention to it if I was actually going out on the water, but the severity seen in the aftermath of this storm was somewhat surprising to me.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]A couple other items to reiterate (for you to interpret as you please):[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=medium]Many / all of the catamarans caught by the storm had finished the race and were on their way home.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=medium]The Catalina 22 that sank and had three crew rescued from the water was because they were literally run over by another, larger boat and not because of their abilities or lack thereof.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=medium]It has been reported, but I can’t confirm that it’s true, that only about 10-20% of the 50 or so plucked from the water were in the race, the rest were “civilians” out cruising.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]This race and many others have been run in the Gulf, from FL to TX, for decades and nothing like this has happened before (that I’m aware of). My reading of all of this is that while perhaps not completely unpredicted / unpredictable, the storm event was a bit of an anomaly. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again. Condolences to all affected.[/SIZE]

 

[USA190520]

The words "found another body" just made me a bit sick to my stomach-

whatever happened, happened-

It's our job as sailors to learn from this and more importantly, to return home.

To return home-

Prayers and condolences to all involved-

 

[bottlerocket]

So for the audience here, what would you have done if you were the small sailboat with main up and several crew that the boat in the video passed ? Looking for a constructive response to what to do when you are caught unprepared (mainsail up) and need to ride out a major squall. e.g get sail down, point into the wind, how to keep the boat stable etc.

 

[Edith Bicknell]

For novices - It's time to reef when you first think about it.

 

[Presuming Ed]

And put on the kettle & have a cup of tea when you first think about shaking it out.

 

[billy backstay]

And put on the kettle & have a cup of tea when you first think about shaking it out.

The ten minute rule...............

 

[powergroove]

In the Carolina's you have a 50/50 chance of a late afternoon thunderstorm everyday from May-October. The weathermen just guess during these dog days at best, so you are right, if you cancelled evey time there was a threat of a storm we wouldn't race in the South.