I have to assume you have read The Daily Pilots reports
regarding the sinking of the yacht AEGEAN.
I first noticed the boat and crew on April 26th
the night of the send off party at BCYC. I had volunteered as a gangway
attendant that allowed boat owners and crews access to their boats while
keeping the general public off the docks.
The crew of the AEGEAN was easily spotted with their blue
shirts that read “I am on a boat” and their blue hats. The crew walked past me
many times throughout the night and showed no signs of over serving themselves.
Because the boat was slipped next to the gangway I was able to watch the crew
step on and off their vessel many times throughout the night. With 25 years of
being a yacht broker I can tell from just watching people approach a boat and
how they board them if they are very experienced or not.
My observations of this crew, this was not their first
rodeo, they where having fun as a team and staying under control. In fact I
recall they all had returned to their boat by 9:30 PM the night of the send off
party.
I am not sure what happened to this crew but if I was to
guess; they had their dinner at 8:00 Pm and where just west of the boarder. The
wind had died down to under 5 knots at about 11:00 and the crew of the AEGEAN
probably started their engine and reduced the watch to one person while the
engine and autopilot did their work.
What happened next we will never know, but if I was to
continue with my conclusion the one crew member left on deck grabbed his
blanket and placed his back to the forward bulkhead of the cockpit and was
facing aft. He then would fall asleep, wake up take a look around and then fall
asleep again. I know from experience if you allow yourself to fall into that
routine you will fall into a deeper sleep each time. When I catch myself doing
this, on the delivery trip home the other day, I stand up and turn on my Ipod
on.
For what’s its worth, that’s what I think what happened. The
crew member on watch fell asleep at the wheel and the boat ran into the North Coronado
island.
Tragic yes but this happens in cars every year. Nothing can
be said to the family’s for their loses other than, “from my family to yours we
wish you the best and am sorry for your loss.
Sea ya
4 comments:
Len - I have no evidence to dispute your view of the tragic events onboard the Aegean but wonder why you suggest just one person (of four) was left on deck alone? Two (or more) people on deck is much more fun, and safer, so why suggest fewer on deck is 'the norm' on a fully-crewed boat? I don't think it is, nor should be.
When I cruise, under power I prefer to get more sleep, with four crew one crew member would take a two hour trick and then 6 hours sleep. Or in this case, should the wind pick up call the next three people up and start sailing again.
I cruised about a 1,000 miles this year alone using this system and would call it the norm. One places a lot of trust in their crew members this way.
My boat is a heavy cruiser which I have raced four King Harbor races. Although severely challenged in drifting conditions, I would never race it in a 'cruiser class' where running the motor in gear for X amount of time was permitted. I do not know, cannot figure out, what that has to do with Corinthian yacht racing. Can any one explain?
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