57 footer sinking at Sucia?

[klee wyck]

Did I miss a thread on this within the last few days? What do we know?

57-foot vessel hit rocks and was sinking when rescued by Coast Guard Station Bellingham crew
BY WHATCOM NEWS ON OCTOBER 5, 2022 1:44PM

 

[twistedtree]

Hadn't heard. Here's the story https://whatcom-news.com/57-foot-ve...y-coast-guard-station-bellingham-crew_207749/

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Lot of grounding this year in Puget Sound.

 

[RedRascal]

As always there has to be more to this story, the entrance to Echo Bay is more than a 1/3 of a mile wide and can be pretty much a straight shot in to anchor. From an approach perspective there are very few if any anchorages in the San Juans where you can basically just drive straight in. Must have been a mechanical issue or misread where the reefs are. Glad they were able to make it back safely.

 

[dhays]

Lot of grounding this year in Puget Sound.

Global warming.

Increased water temperature has made the rocks grow unusually quickly this year.

 

[dhays]

As always there has to be more to this story, the entrance to Echo Bay is more than a 1/3 of a mile wide and can be pretty much a straight shot in to anchor. From an approach perspective there are very few if any anchorages in the San Juans where you can basically just drive straight in. Must have been a mechanical issue or misread where the reefs are. Glad they were able to make it back safely.

Yeah, that is really odd. Echo Bay is an easy anchorage. I suppose someone could have thought they could try to enter the bay from the North at a high tide? Using the normal approach, I can’t imagine hitting anything there.

 

[Ken E.]

Was the boat name mentioned, that anyone saw?

 

[soin2la]

Lot of grounding this year in Puget Sound.

Not just Puget Sound; all over the coast. It's a result of the red hot covid, sell anything to enybody market.

...the entrance to Echo Bay is more than a 1/3 of a mile wide and can be pretty much a straight shot in to anchor.

Could easily have misjudged Ewing Island Reef or any of the junk inside Ewing if they were headed in there.

 

[Bmarler]

Yeah, that is really odd. Echo Bay is an easy anchorage. I suppose someone could have thought they could try to enter the bay from the North at a high tide? Using the normal approach, I can’t imagine hitting anything there.

I saw a sailboat do exactly that several years ago. Make a heck of a noise when he hit the rocks with the keel.

 

[RedRascal]

...Could easily have misjudged Ewing Island Reef or any of the junk inside Ewing if they were headed in there.

These groundings always interest me from a what went wrong perspective. I went back and looked at the tides and at 2:00 pm on the Oct. 4th it was about a 7 foot tide. The reefs by Ewing would have been covered pretty well but it would be a bold move to try to cross them in a 57 footer. Shoot I even use navionics when I am buzzing around that area in the dinghy. I don't go there enough to have all the rocks memorized so I fire up navionics for a refresher on what rocks are where.

Not finding any info on the location of the grounding or what caused it. But the Bellingham Coast Guard facebook page has a few more pictures https://www.facebook.com/USCGPNW/ and someone in the comments posted the below pic

 

[twistedtree]

These groundings always interest me from a what went wrong perspective. I went back and looked at the tides and at 2:00 pm on the Oct. 4th it was about a 7 foot tide. The reefs by Ewing would have been covered pretty well but it would be a bold move to try to cross them in a 57 footer. Shoot I even use navionics when I am buzzing around that area in the dinghy. I don't go there enough to have all the rocks memorized so I fire up navionics for a refresher on what rocks are where.

Not finding any info on the location of the grounding or what caused it. But the Bellingham Coast Guard facebook page has a few more pictures https://www.facebook.com/USCGPNW/ and someone in the comments posted the below pic

Wow. I'll bet those rudder posts are where the water was coming in. Thankfully nobody was hurt, and the boat didn't actually sink or make a mess.

 

[Art]

These groundings always interest me from a what went wrong perspective. I went back and looked at the tides and at 2:00 pm on the Oct. 4th it was about a 7 foot tide. The reefs by Ewing would have been covered pretty well but it would be a bold move to try to cross them in a 57 footer. Shoot I even use navionics when I am buzzing around that area in the dinghy. I don't go there enough to have all the rocks memorized so I fire up navionics for a refresher on what rocks are where.

Not finding any info on the location of the grounding or what caused it. But the Bellingham Coast Guard facebook page has a few more pictures https://www.facebook.com/USCGPNW/ and someone in the comments posted the below pic

Post #10 photo is EXACTLY Why... I am so damn careful to NOT hit bottom!!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Post #10 photo is EXACTLY Why... I am so damn careful to NOT hit bottom!!

Oh young grasshopper don't you know: There are those who have grounded and those who will be grounded.

 

[RedRascal]

I tried to zoom in on the props from post #10. Based on the shape of the prop would that indicate the boat was going faster than say a fast idle. I've seen some prop strikes where one blade is mangled and the others just slightly bent. The port prop here is fully mangled and the starboard prop looks pretty rough too. I am not sure if it would be fair to say the boat had higher than a fast idle power applied when it hit the rocks. It makes me wonder if they were coming in at a cruising speed vs I'd better take it slow there are rocks around speed. Or could you do that much damage at a fast idle?

For the record this is just one picture from a coast guard facebook post related to the incident which doesn't even state if this was the boat or not. So I have a picture and not really any facts to back it up. But it seems reasonable that the picture is the boat in question.

 

[Art]

Oh young grasshopper don't you know: There are those who have grounded and those who will be grounded.

Oh younger [at least I think that may be true] grasshopper... I've been boating since the 1950's with my own boats since 1963. And, Knowing grounding well... I'll always be extremely careful!! hop, hop!!

 

[SteveK]

Oh younger [at least I think that may be true] grasshopper... I've been boating since the 1950's with my own boats since 1963. And, Knowing grounding well... I'll always be extremely careful!! hop, hop!!

OMG Art, no one will admit being older than you and still boating.

 

[Art]

OMG Art, no one will admit being older than you and still boating.

I'm bit of a youngster to some on TF!! Not too many... but more than just a few!

 

[sjisailor]

It was not really Echo Bay, AFAICT. We were there at the time, mooring in Fossil Bay and we observed the AIS track, radio, and Canada Air Force helicopter and USCG response.

It appeared that they hit a rock on the NW side of Little Sucia, just South of Shallow Bay. Not Echo Bay as was reported in the press. The vessel was visible from Fox Cove for several hours, drifting southeast from Little Sucia generally towards Eastsound airport until USCG handed them off to Towboat US.

According to AIS they did a counterclockwise circumnavigation of Sucia on an apparent day trip from Lopez Island. The track looked like they were at normal speed until just south of Shallow Bay, making way close in, and that's where there is a rock charted off Little Sucia. AIS speed track dropped off immediately after that, and that's also where we observed the helicopter circling.

Good reminder to check shoal areas and charted rocks very closely

 

[Slowmo]

As other have said it would be interesting to know exactly where/how this happened. Echo Bay isn't at all hard to enter unless you're coming close to Ewing island, there is a rock there. That's just on the north side as you enter so they wouldn't have slowed all the way down yet.

Those not familiar with the area may not know to expect the long reefs that can extend off the points in these waters. Normally I'd expect someone with a 57' boat would have known what they're doing but who knows these days.

 

[RedRascal]

SJI thanks for chiming in with the location and speed observation form AIS. Boy definitely a totally different location than what was in the news story and also on the Coast Guard site. I was thinking from the way the props were mangled that they might have been at a cruising speed which your observations suggest. Here's a view of Little Sucia and the reef that extends off of it. Nothing tricky about avoiding that reef, now I am curious if the boat was on an auto routed course and the skipper put too much confidence in a software derived route.

 

[sjisailor]

Yes, the vessel's AIS track appeared to show cruising speed southbound past Shallow Bay, until exactly by Little Sucia shoal. Then it was slowing and stopped. I observed USCG tied up alongside the vessel about 1nm SSE of that rock, and then Towboat US a couple of hours later.

If anyone has access to historic AIS tracks -- I didn't think to take a screenshot -- the vessel name was "Wet Tush".

 

[Art]

Yes, the vessel's AIS track appeared to show cruising speed southbound past Shallow Bay, until exactly by Little Sucia shoal. Then it was slowing and stopped. I observed USCG tied up alongside the vessel about 1nm SSE of that rock, and then Towboat US a couple of hours later.

If anyone has access to historic AIS tracks -- I didn't think to take a screenshot -- the vessel name was "Wet Tush".

Boat name implies... Captain might have had interest placed in other directions than just navigation!! LOL :lol:

 

[GoneFarrell]

I'm careful around that island even if I'm in the tender. Lots of kelp and current. Lovely beach on the inside passage, its a no camping island.

 

[DDW]

Nothing tricky about avoiding that reef, now I am curious if the boat was on an auto routed course and the skipper put too much confidence in a software derived route.

My thoughts on this are conflicted. On the one hand, who could possibly need a thing like autorouting, doesn't that just disconnect you from thought, responsibility, and hazards? On the other hand, with many buying a 57'er as their very first boating experience, maybe autorouting is their only hope to keep afloat - similar to the claim that self driving cars will reduce accidents because people are so bad at it.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Oh younger [at least I think that may be true] grasshopper... I've been boating since the 1950's with my own boats since 1963. And, Knowing grounding well... I'll always be extremely careful!! hop, hop!!

OMG Art, no one will admit being older than you and still boating.

I'm bit of a youngster to some on TF!! Not too many... but more than just a few!

Now Art some of us have seen one of your boats. A drum on the bow and 15 oars on each side.....

 

[Art]

Now Art some of us have seen one of your boats. A drum on the bow and 15 oars on each side.....

Did have a dugout canoe in one past life... of many!!!