Sorry Cisco, too many witnesses (me and Havefun).
I put running up on a reef at 19 kts in a different category than hitting the sand doing 3 kts in a crowded harbour. Vestas prang was a serious case of incompetence/negligence that had the potential to cause death/serious injury but, fortunately, only resulted in the loss of the boat.

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MorningBird said..
Sorry Cisco, too many witnesses (me and Havefun).
I put running up on a reef at 19 kts in a different category than hitting the sand doing 3 kts in a crowded harbour. Vestas prang was a serious case of incompetence/negligence that had the potential to cause death/serious injury but, fortunately, only resulted in the loss of the boat.

I'm impressed the keel is still there. Seriously good engineering!

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Ramona said..


I'm impressed the keel is still there. Seriously good engineering!

I'll go out on a bit of a limb here and say that possibly the keel was canted to nearly horizontal and when she hit the keel acted like a lever and spun her around on the rocks.
Whereas had the keel been in the upandicular position and hit the rocks it would have pulled the bow down as the stern reared into the air, under those conditions the keel possibly would have ripped out the bottom.

But as you say Ramona, seriously good engineering and building.

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Pekeri said..
Here you go, the official Flinders Islet Yacht Race Internal Inquiry Report from the CYCA.


http://www.cyca.com.au/about-the-cyca/flinders-islet-yacht-race-internal-inquiry-report/


There are definitely lessons to be learned here.

Thanks for that, an excellent read. I also viewed a couple of youtube videos on Garmin Blue Chart vision g2. I should imagine the 2009 version was not too flash either.

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Ramona said..

MorningBird said..
Sorry Cisco, too many witnesses (me and Havefun).
I put running up on a reef at 19 kts in a different category than hitting the sand doing 3 kts in a crowded harbour. Vestas prang was a serious case of incompetence/negligence that had the potential to cause death/serious injury but, fortunately, only resulted in the loss of the boat.

I'm impressed the keel is still there. Seriously good engineering!

Well Cisco does say the Lotus is very well built.

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LooseChange said..

cisco said..

HaveFun said..
It seems obvious that proper preparation would have made the navigator f not the whole crew that the reef existed. I suspect the reason why no-one has raised the issue is because of past skeletons in the closet or fear that it might happen some time down the track. There have been some expensive and sadly fatal groundings on Flinders Islet near Wollongong when all on board obviously knew it was there. It is called the Flinders Islet Race. Why I even know of a crew of seabreezers that grounded on a sandbank leaving the fuel wharf at Port Macquarie.

There are no photos, so that never happened.

Cisco
Posted 14/5/2014, 1:58 pm

The stop over in Port Macquarie was very pleasant allowing us to get a good night's sleep and use shoreside ablutions. The inlet was quite crowded with many moored yachts and the anchorage was stacked up too. We were told that if buying fuel they didn't mind if you stayed on the fuel wharf overnight which we did. Leaving the next morning I didn't really remember exactly which way we had come up the inlet. I am driving off the wharf and heading between moored yachts and the south wall when whoops, the sand bar says, no you are not going any further this way. The channel is between moored yachts on either side. The guy on the yacht that took our line that we used to winch ourselves off said this happens to him at least once a week.


It might not have happened except there has already been an admission of guilt. Digital photos are not admissible as evidence, so in this case, your confession will do just fine.

Well, I can't deny that one can I??

Nothing slips past you does it LC? How many pages did you have to go back and find that???

I went back about 18 pages back in the posts trying to find where Ramona had recommended in his words, a "snake oil" additive for diesel fuel called FTC Decarbonizer. I ordered 1 litre of it for $120 which is the same price I pay per kilo for the best beef jerky from the Tiaro butchery just south of Maryborough.

It was ordered online on Wednesday and arrived here today. That is a smart business and I am expecting the product will live up to expectations.

For those wanting to slick their engines up with the best fuel and oil additives I think this out fit is worth a look. The name says it all, "cost effective maintenance".

I have not put the product into use yet but will keep Y'all posted.

Check them out here:- costeffective.com.au/

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FreeRadical said..


Well Cisco does say the Lotus is very well built.

There is no doubt about that but whether she will survive a 19 knot hard grounding is another question as, it would be for any yacht.

We can do the experiment on your yacht if you like???

Been posted before but this is interesting.

The 2009 CYCA report is interesting and valuable reading for those who venture 'out there'.

My reading of the report is that a lack of knowledge/experience with the aids used and therefore a total reliance on one point of failure, the Garmin chart plotter and in particular the display on the stbd side, and crew competence were the key lessons.

The report spent a lot of time on the system issues but only gave passing reference to the crew fatigue, tiredness, affect of any drugs/alcohol (standfast a passing reference that there was no alcohol at dinner). The crew organisation covered extensively is very pertinent but I still wonder how the crew were operating at 0300 after maybe 20 hours since the last sleep.

Looks like they recovered it. Could just drop it straight back in the water?





Maybe not?

Well built boat. She will sail again.