Boat sinking in Hood Canal!

[dhays]

Great reporting Dave, thanx.


Bill in Tsehum, off to Sooke tomorrow.

Jealous of your trip Bill.

 

[syjos]

Great reporting Dave!

You're doing a better job than the local news.

Hope to see pictures of the big hole.

An aquaintance hit a rock with their Pacific Mariner last summer. Cost over $250,000 to repair the damage.

Does anyone know if the PM is cored?

 

[dhays]

Just got back from making a trash run and took the opportunity to look more closely at the Silver Lining.

Turns out I was very wrong with my quick glimpse earlier today.

First off, the boat is still hanging in the straps of the Travel Lift. They have lots of stands, but the weight is being borne by the lift.

The keel has more damage than I initially thought as well. It appears that the boat hit the rock just behind the PH door. There is significant damage at that point, then again maybe 8’ back from that, and again another 6’ back from that second point. Water is still pouring out of the keel in all three places. The glass on the bottom of the keel is shredded, but those three places are particularly bad.

Aft of that third damage location, it appears that the boat bounced hard on both port and starboard shaft struts. The port side strut was punched up through the bottom of the hull and then came down. Lots of water is still pouring out of the hull in that location. The shaft is bent, the prop is toast, and the rudder all but torn off. It took me a while to figure out what the rudder even was. The starboard strut did the same but not nearly as bad. Shaft and prop are all bent up and the starboard rudder is bent out at an angle.

From the looks of it, they hit a rock that was maybe about a foot shy of the boats draft. The boat bounced three times on the keel, causing three major leaks and then finally bounced on the struts which put the large hole in the port side. I think the boat probably went right over the rock. At that point it would have had no steering or propulsion and no way typical bilge pumps could have kept up with the water intrusion since it was coming in from at least 5 places. Who knows how much things were knocked around in the ER?

The name of the boat appears to be Silver Lining 9. I wonder what happened to the first 8?

 

[AlaskaProf]

Jealous of your trip Bill.

I'm headed to Barkley Sound for a bit of kayaking, then back to Sidney to pick up wife and sister about 8/20 for a meandering return to Tacoma.

 

[Civilitas]

I was going to get some photos of the hull damage, but the owners were removing personal items from the boat so I didn’t want to embarrass them any more than they already must be.

Both a considerate and ethical decision on your part; kudos.

Thanks for your information and fascinating insight into what really goes on in a situation like this, as well as your decency.

This reminds me in multiple ways of the loss of the Nordhavn 62 #16 Charlotte B in 2006, sadly then with a loss of life. I understand/IIRC there was a actually a USCG officer on watch (off duty/retired IIRC) in that rock incident and it shows that hyper-sensitivity is the watchword around marked shoals, even in seemingly benign waters.

I point this out as wreck/loss/incident curiosity is not about morbid curiosity, but about learning and SAFETY. Thank you dhays for helping bring us up to speed.

 

[JohnEasley]

Great reporting, Dave! Good observations and analysis that should be a valuable lesson to us all.

John

 

[Portage_Bay]

Both a considerate and ethical decision on your part; kudos.

Thanks for your information and fascinating insight into what really goes on in a situation like this, as well as your decency.

This reminds me in multiple ways of the loss of the Nordhavn 62 #16 Charlotte B in 2006, sadly then with a loss of life. I understand/IIRC there was a actually a USCG officer on watch (off duty/retired IIRC) in that rock incident and it shows that hyper-sensitivity is the watchword around marked shoals, even in seemingly benign waters.

I point this out as wreck/loss/incident curiosity is not about morbid curiosity, but about learning and SAFETY. Thank you dhays for helping bring us up to speed.

Looking at three charts, NOAA raster, NOAA vector and Navionics there are clearly 3 hazards in the area of Sisters rocks. Only one is marked, the southern Sisters rock. Unmarked are the northern Sisters rock and two rocks to the NW of the unmarked Sisters rock.

Looking out for aids to navigation is important, but it's not enough. We still need to study our charts.

A side note is fully trusting the magic gizmos is not a great idea either, Navionics auto routing can't be fully trusted. Selecting an auto route from mid channel near Foulweather Bluff southbound to Pleasant Harbor Navionics will put you uncomfortably close to the two unmarked rocks NW of the unmarked Sisters rock.

 

[BandB]

The name of the boat appears to be Silver Lining 9. I wonder what happened to the first 8?

Well, there is definitely a silver lining to this, no loss of life.

 

[wkearney99]

For the curious, a video about the Hood Canal floating bridge:

 

[wkearney99]

A side note is fully trusting the magic gizmos is not a great idea either, Navionics auto routing can't be fully trusted. Selecting an auto route from mid channel near Foulweather Bluff southbound to Pleasant Harbor Navionics will put you uncomfortably close to the two unmarked rocks NW of the unmarked Sisters rock.

Agreed, I fired up the web app and noticed the same thing.

It has to route close to the western shore to get under the bridge, but then routes what looks to be within 80' of the rocks along the western edge of the route. As opposed to routing a jog hard to the east, just south of the bridge to skirt them entirely.

I'd wonder what sort of chart plotter they had installed, and if an automatic route was involved?

It'll be interesting if a report comes out about it.

 

[MurrayM]

Looking at three charts, NOAA raster, NOAA vector and Navionics there are clearly 3 hazards in the area of Sisters rocks. Only one is marked, the southern Sisters rock. Unmarked are the northern Sisters rock and two rocks to the NW of the unmarked Sisters rock.

Looking out for aids to navigation is important, but it's not enough. We still need to study our charts...

Remember to zoom in on electronic charts, especially when near marked hazards.

Reminds me of the Volvo Ocean Race, when one of the multi million dollar yachts with world class sailors aboard was destroyed by hitting a reef at night.

We spend quite a bit of time close to rocks photographing seals and birds, and there can be some significant differences between what the electronic chart says (even when zoomed in) and what the depth sounder says.

 

[Ken E.]

Remember to zoom in on electronic charts, especially when near marked hazards.

Reminds me of the Volvo Ocean Race, when one of the multi million dollar yachts with world class sailors aboard was destroyed by hitting a reef at night.

We spend quite a bit of time close to rocks photographing seals and birds, and there can be some significant differences between what the electronic chart says (even when zoomed in) and what the depth sounder says.

Murray, it's also a little reminiscent of that BC ferry that banged a rock and sunk up your way. Was it at the lower end of Grenville channel?

 

[soin2la]

Remember to zoom in on electronic charts, especially when near marked hazards.

Nothing illustrates and reinforces that comment by MurrayM, than this bit by Sam Landsman. Scroll down to the fourth picture and accompanying comments.

Safe Harbour: Alaska 2016 | Day 12 | Ocean Falls Wigham Cove

 

[MurrayM]

Murray, it's also a little reminiscent of that BC ferry that banged a rock and sunk up your way. Was it at the lower end of Grenville channel?

Yup...apparently due to an inadequate watch during shenanigans on the bridge.

 

[koliver]

Yup...apparently due to an inadequate watch during shenanigans on the bridge.

In the QOTN (ferry) incident, there was no excuse of a bad charting program available. One officer was fired and sentenced to 4 years in jail for Criminal Negligence causing death.

I have both Navionics and CAPN (using Canadian Hydrographic raster charts). Autorouting on the Navionics is handy, but those charts are no match for the real thing on my CAPN. I wouldn't trust the Navionics, except in the dinghy, where the consequences are somewhat reduced if they do take you on to a rock.

 

[syjos]

Most boats navigate between the Sisters Shoal and the shallows north of it. The channel is wide and deep enough for passage.

 

[Simi 60]

Remember to zoom in on electronic charts, especially when near marked hazards.

Reminds me of the Volvo Ocean Race, when one of the multi million dollar yachts with world class sailors aboard was destroyed by hitting a reef at night.

That's where the latest split screen version of opencpn is great.
One half of the screen zoomed out and the other zoomed in, both showing vessel position .

https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/about/ver500.html

 

[psneeld]

Wow...just saw that split screen on OpenCPN....sweet....gonna take a really different chartplotter to get me off OpenCPN.

 

[dhays]

That's where the latest split screen version of opencpn is great.

One half of the screen zoomed out and the other zoomed in, both showing vessel position .

https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/about/ver500.html

One of the reasons I use a vertical split screen on one of my MFDs. One is zoomed in and the other gives a more general view.

 

[dhays]

Another tidbit of info that I got from the reporter covering the sinking and recovery. The owner did say that there was 300 gallons of fuel on board. That is what the salvage crew prepared for. The largest tank they could get was 150 gallons. Divers when down and pumped the fuel into the tank on the dive boat and then ran it 45 minutes round trip to dump it. Turns out that there was actually 650 gallons of fuel on board so it took 5 trips to dispose of the fuel. Don’t ask me how they actually did it, I don’t know.