Boat sinking in Hood Canal!

[Pau Hana]

https://www.king5.com/mobile

 

[Miz Trom]

Hey Peter:


The link says "king5/mobile" but I am not familiar with a Hood Canal in Mobile. Sad video of the boat slowly sinking.



Did this happen in Mobile (Alabama)? Are you there now and can tell us any more? We will be heading that way so are curious.


Cheers,
Mrs. Trombley

 

[Pau Hana]

King 5 mobile is the mobile site for King 5 news.

The sinking is occurring in the Hood Canal in Washington state.

 

[Ken E.]

This incident happened in Washington state, nw of Seattle. Saw it on the news a little while ago. It was half submerged at that point. All people aboard got off safely.

 

[dhays]

This happened just a bit North from where I am now. Hood Canal is not a man-made canal but a 65 mile long natural fjord in Washington State’s Puget Sound. The boat sank a bit over a mile South of the floating bridge that crosses the Canal near it head.

 

[rochepoint]

Really sad to see, glad everyone made it off and to safety..........

 

[wkearney99]

https://komonews.com/news/local/65-foot-boat-sinking-near-hood-canal-bridge

POULSBO, Wash. — Eight people managed to escape to safety when their 65-foot boat began sinking near the Hood Canal Bridge Tuesday evening.

It's unclear what caused the boat to start to take on water about 1.3 miles southwest of the bridge, but as the boat began sinking, those on board initially tried to pump the water out, according to Levi Read with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Eventually it became too dangerous to stay on board and the eight people evacuated to a dinghy and row to shore.

Coast Guard officials arrived and went back to the boat with the boat's owner in a second attempt to pump out water, but again were unsuccessful.

The boat was expected to sink in about 80-90 feet of water, Read said. It's carrying about 300 gallons of diesel fuel and 12 gallons of oil, and private divers have been hired to secure the fuel, according to the State Department of Ecology.

No one was injured.

 

[Vashon_Trawler]

I feel terrible for the owners. I am not familiar with the area, but could he have run the boat aground? I assume he lost engine power. I find that these unfortunate events can sometimes provide teachable moments for us.

 

[wkearney99]

I find that these unfortunate events can sometimes provide teachable moments for us.

True.

 

[Portage_Bay]

I feel terrible for the owners. I am not familiar with the area, but could he have run the boat aground? I assume he lost engine power. I find that these unfortunate events can sometimes provide teachable moments for us.

The only thing to hit there is the Sisters shoal and it's well marked. Most run under the SE end because the vertical clearance is higher, 50 ft vs 35 ft, and there's nothing to hit

 

[gsholz]

Looks like a 65' Pacific Mariner.

 

[sunchaser]

The many other owners of Pacific Mariner 65s are curious too. Peter, any related claims on this boat model in your business you’d care to share?

 

[Shrew]

What would claims on a specific model have to do with this incident?

 

[ben2go]

What would claims on a specific model have to do with this incident?

Some have known issues and defects.

 

[JLD]

Fortunately, everyone got off the boat safely.

It's interesting that the divers were able to prevent the boat from sinking. Sound like they are returning today to get the stern out of the water and move the boat.

Jim

 

[BDofMSP]

The only thing to hit there is the Sisters shoal and it's well marked. Most run under the SE end because the vertical clearance is higher, 50 ft vs 35 ft, and there's nothing to hit

I think he was implying that they might have ran it aground to prevent the sinking, not that grounding caused it. Might be wrong.

 

[dhays]

I spoke with the guy at the fuel dock this morning before we left to see if they had heard anything. Turns out the boat stayed at Pleasant Harbor on Monday night and left Tuesday afternoon. We actually saw them leave but didn’t recognize the boat in the video. The dock guy heard that they ran aground. There isn’t a lot to hit out there but I would guess they hit near the bridge and the wind and incoming current pushed them SW of the bridge.

the dock guy said they were a nice family. Kids and grandkids from Nebraska along with the Grandparent owners. He did say that after they left the fuel dock, the owner appeared to be driving using a remote and wasn’t on the bridge. I noticed that the PH had window covers over them in the news video. My guess is an AP course set and someone not watching the carefully enough. Sad story.

 

[dhays]

Just heard the USCG issue a securite message about salvage operations South of the Hood Canal bridge.

 

[syjos]

There has been numerous boats hitting rocks in that area. Sisters Shoal is marked but the shallows and rocks to the north aren't. Boaters stay clear of Sisters and cut the corner to the north hitting rocks or going aground.

An aquaintance sunk his boat there many years ago on one of those rocks.

 

[Pau Hana]

The many other owners of Pacific Mariner 65s are curious too. Peter, any related claims on this boat model in your business you’d care to share?

No issues of note on the Pacific Mariner yachts- this seems like a tragic accident and nothing more.

 

[BandB]

Some have known issues and defects.

Well, Pacific Mariner has no known issues and defects and had they not stopped making them, we would have loved the 65 for a loop boat. We do own an 85, which they've now stopped producing as well as Westport now starts at 112'.

 

[GoneFarrell]

DavidH, your guess on cause makes sense to me. Tough lesson.

I have recently been on a boat with a remote AP control.
The way we use it, I usually stay at the helm and watch the screens/depth.
The admiral stands forward with the remote and watches the surface for debris & traffic.
I can disengage if I see the bottom coming up, the admiral jogs the AP for debris & traffic.

 

[wkearney99]

Ugh, rocks, makes me glad to spend most of my time boating on the Chesapeake! Might not be the clearest waters around but at least mud/sand bottom is a lot more forgiving than rocks!

 

[dhays]

Most of the time, it seems to me that you really have to try hard to hit something around here. The rocks don’t move, and the area has been really well charted. We mostly have deep water, so the areas that have obstructions or are shallow are easy to take note of. Even as a kid, before the advent of GPS, the only time anyone would hit something would be if they weren’t paying close attention to the chart and/or buoys. Even so, as boaters we find ways to screw up.

We went past the area where the boat sank. There was no sign of the boat, oil sheen, salvage divers, or markers. We past one large floating cushion that likely came off the flybridge, but as we were near the sisters rocks we didn’t go pick it up.

After we got North of the bridge, we were passed by three USCG boats making speed to go South followed by some type of WA DNR or other boat and another that was possibly a dive boat. We heard that today the salvage operation was going to be limited to divers going down to see if they could keep the fuel from leaking out. Not sure how they would do that. Plug the fuel tank vents?

 

[wkearney99]

Most of the time, it seems to me that you really have to try hard to hit something around here.

I'd imagine guest distractions and naive 'go to waypoint' autopilot routing explain the great majority of recreational boating mishaps.

I had two different episodes involving the latter from other boats this past weekend. Both times it was an older couple at the helm. Both were clearly steady-on for a single distant waypoint, barging right through boats fishing.

 

[dhays]

We came into Port Townsend Boat Haven just ahead of the raised boat. I grabbed a series of photos. The Uniflight TowBoat did well but misjudged the wind and momentum making a right turn to the travel lift. They almost side swiped another boat and the sudden power application caused one of the air bladders to rupture. The boat then started to sink all over again. They were able to get it far enough into the travel lift to keep it from sinking but not far enough to lift. Eventually they raised it just enough to get the cockpit bulwark above the water and then used 4 pumps to dewater the boat. They were then able to reposition it in the lift before sinking again and last I saw it was hanging in the lift just above the water with water draining out of the keel and several pumps going. I don't have a shot of it but by the time it was inn the lift the water covered the entire cockpit bulkhead.

 

[dhays]

I spoke to a reporter who had been covering the operation for the past 16 hours. She said that they did hit one of the Sisters Rocks and witnesses on shore said that the boat was going "very fast" when they hit.

The boat didn't sink as expected so the USCG towed it into shore and the stern bottomed out on sand in about 30' of water. A salvage crew came out on Wednesday and spent all night trying to raise it. They ran into some problems as there an additional hole under the stern that was hidden by the sand that the boat was sitting on.

It was towed with three boats. The Uniflight attached at the hip and a boat with a line to each the bow and stern. Given that they had been working for 24 hours on this, I can understand the small misjudgement at the end. It was easy to see it happening from our vantage point but tougher for them.

I will try to get some photos of the bottom if I can.

 

[sunchaser]

Good reporting Dave. Nice to have TF boots getting used. If his AIS was active they can recreate and track the vessel’s every move prior to accident.

 

[dhays]

Good reporting Dave. Nice to have TF boots getting used. If his AIS was active they can recreate and track the vessel’s every move prior to accident.

Good point. I never thought to do that. I would be curious to know what his actual cruise speed was when he hit.

At 6:00pm this evening we walked back and the boat is up on stands. 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. I did note that water was still draining rapidly from keel in the after hull. It looks like it took some major damage in that area, but there is about a 15’ section of the keel that is damaged. I couldn’t see any obvious damage to either prop or shaft but I haven’t gotten a close look.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Great reporting Dave, thanx.


Bill in Tsehum, off to Sooke tomorrow.