Boats sink in marinas, hit something or lack of proper maintainance. Where were all these disasters and what caused them?
They happen frequently for boats crossing oceans.
Cheeki Rafiki sank last year in the North Atlantic when the keel bolts failed, the keel fell off the boat, said boat capsized killing all four crew.
A UK sail boat, the Blue Pearl, sank in 2014 in the north Atlantic when the stern of the boat fell to pieces. Video the owner took showed the rudder structure in the boat moving back and forth in the stern. The crew of three people and one dog were lucky that a ship was nearby and pulled them off before the boat sank.
In the North Pacific in the last year or so, a trimaran hit something in the water which could have been debris or a whale. Major damage was done to one hull, rigging and the top of the deck. The crew survived.
This year the Rainmaker, a brand new Gunboat 55 was dismasted off NC and a cascade of problems led to the loss of the boat. The boat is still floating off of NC. The crew survived.
Last July, a J/111 sail boat was abandoned when its rudder failed making the boat uncontrolable and causing large cracks to form around the bottom rudder bearings. The crew survived.
Last June, in the Indian ocean, a boat was lost after suffering serious rudder damage that caused the boat to take on water. The crew was about to enter a life raft from the sinking boat when a ship arrived.
A Swedish boat was lost off the US when water leakage from the prop shaft could not be controlled. The leak was not supposed to have been from the seal. This was in March 2014. The crew survived.
Early this year, late last year, a large cruising boat was lost in the PNW, when the boat suffered flooding on one side. It was an older wood boat in pretty serious waves so did the boat sink because of rotten wood, bad structure, or just overwhelmed? The boat was pulled, submerged, to shore but I never heard if they figured out what failed. The crew survived.
Another sailboat in the Pacific had their rigging fail which appears to have been a structure problem with the chain plates followed by rudder failure which caused more damage to the hull. Both the holes on deck and the hull damage caused the boat to sink. The couple was rescued by other cruisers.
Today, there was a report of a sailor off western Australia that had to be rescued. Not quite sure what some of his Aussie English meant, but it holes were created in the deck during a storm, I am guessing a chain plate issue but even after the very experienced 75 year old captain made repairs water was overwhelming the pump(s) and he had to be rescued. The captain does not know where the other water was entering the boat.
Those are the ones I can think of real quick.
Later,
Dan