Nordhavn sinks. full blog account of sinking told by the owners . very sad

[Avenger]

From what I can gather from the blog he's a retired B-52 driver. That background probably disposes him to a considerable amount of accountability and understanding of the purpose of failure analysis.

Still, it's a sad tale and a cautionary one of how little it takes to turn thousands of hours of labor and love into junk. Posting that is exactly the point of failure analysis and it's good that they shared it. Fortunately nobody was hurt except the insurance company. I hope they get back to their retirement plan and get out on the briny again soon. A bit more carefully, of course.

[Boatsb]

Maybe a boat with some hp could have freed itself and limped to a travel lift. On my customers nordy he had could hit 5 kts if the current is with him.

I'd bet he never thought of powering off and running running for help.

[johnjen50]

That is a tough read. That being said, have any of you looked at the pix of the hole? I can't really get a grip on how thick the hull is, or maybe it's the angles, but it really doesn't look nearly as thick as I thought it would. I've seen the pix of that Hatt convertible that took out the rest of the marina before landing on the hard, all without a hull breach, and keep wondering how my boat would have taken this grounding. Agree with Scott, about backing her off, but maybe it would not have had the hp to get it done. I just keep looking at that hole and thinking "it's not that big". I replaced the main thru hulls and seacocks when I first got the boat and was pretty happy to see the thickness of it. Now reading this has me wondering, how thick is thick enough?!?!! the other thing is last year I started thinking I was too old school, as I actually really enjoy charting out a course and studying the route before taking off. I'm a big paper chart fan. I was thinking I should spend some serious time getting to know everything about my chart plotter. Don't get me wrong, I have a good command of how it works, and the differing screens effect on what you are actually looking at. Still I thought hmmmmm. Well, after reading this I'm feeling much better about being old school. Sad story.

[SeaEric]

I'm with you johnjen50. A paper chart would have certainly shown a jetty in unmistakable clarity. I always have a paper chart book on the seat next to me when I'm underway. The plotter is fun but the screen is still smaller than the paper chart. Old school rules!

[GJH]

Life is about timing. Had they hit it when the tide was coming in.......

Wouldn't have changed anything in this case.

[Pascal]

Hard to tell but from the blog it seems the fatal hole was caused by being stuck high and dry at low tide with motion caused by wakes. Had they hit on a rising tide they may have gotten off and away quickly with minor leakage

As to powering off th jetty, it's a tough call. Powering off may increase damage which woudl be fatal without assistance standing by. Yet staying on the rocks as the tide comes down will increase damage too. Tough one,

[SKYCHENEY]

Two observations:
1) A boat without a cockpit such as an older Hatteras MY would not have been swamped by the wakes of passing boats.
2) I think a Hatteras hull would have faired much better. The damage would have been less and as stated, a breach in the keel would not have allowed water into the bilge areas.

[MarioG]

I just can't help but to think about the 53 hatteras convertible that destroyed all the boats next to it, and destroyed the dock it was tied to and destroyed the house that it landed on after climbing up the seawall during the fury of hurricane Andrew. Aside from the massive cosmetic and mechanical destruction, the hull was intact.

[capttonyf]

Its a sad story but is a reminder to me of why I do a few things the way I do.

1. When I travel I ALWAYS have the paper chart next to me as reference against what the Plotter is showing. Now I don't do that in Ft. Lauderdale because I know it well, but anywhere else I have it right next to me, even when in Ft Lauderdale I still have it handy if needed in a pinch for some reason.

2. I never cut the corner or take a short cut out of a channel when travelling. It may add a little distance and time to the trip but if I don't have "RECENT LOCAL" Knowledge of an area I just don't chance it, even then I don't chance it. I always come up on the Sea Bouy and hit every Green/Red on the way in, and I hit everyone on the way back out. I just believe it's good practice. If I'm more worried about shaving a little bit of time off a run by cutting corners then I shouldn't be out there at that time in the first place.

A captain friend of mine was poking at me because I even hit every marker when coming into or out of Charleston SC. As anyone that's familiar with that inlet knows the Sea Bouy seems to be like 10 miles offshore and there is plenty of good water just outside of the channel once you clear the rocks but I still head all the way out. Especially when travelling north toward Cape Fear/Beufort NC. When travelling north or south if you go to the bouy you can put in 1 waypoint at St. Augustine and not have to touch it all day, and you have a nice clear path offshore avoiding all the towers and markers. It's the same way heading North to Cape Fear, by hitting the bouy before turning north it give you a nice 1 waypoint clean shot. But if you turn to soon you have to worry about the shallow water off the beaches and you have to make multiple adjustments all the while worrying about depth.

I don't know, call me crazy but I always make big wide turns on my approachs and always err on the side of safety and take my time when I'm not 100% Recently Familiar with an area. An extra 1/2 hour or even an extra hour by taking your time and giving a wide berth in your approach is much better then Mulitple hours or days because you ran aground and damaged a boat, or worse, you sank a boat and risked lives in the process.

From what I can see briefly looking at the pictures it appears he cut a corner and left the channel obviously before he was supposed to.

The whole scenerio is scary and sucks for everyone involved. It just shows you how quickly bad things can happen if your not on your toes.

Tony

[Fanfare]

Most of the time you can cut corners and nothing bad happens. Then there is this Nordhaven or another Costa Concordia accident.

I will again renew my New Year's Resolution to ALWAYS make 90 degree turns at buoys and harbor entrances, to only come straight in. And to try to be more dilligent even in known waters because things change. My appreciation to this skipper for speaking up. I hope we get a chance to meet up with him on the water in his next boat.

There but for the grace of God go I...........