SUNDAY:
Woke up at 3 AM with an Epiphany: Had I loosened the main sheet before capsizing? ???
I vaguely remembered un-cleating the main sheet so as to (attempt to) spill out the wind, when the gust slammed the sail over, but wondered if I had inadvertently grabbed onto it again, reaching for something for balance when we went over and had accidentally re-cleated it. :-\
And like all other 3 AM OCD brains everywhere, had calculated that 100 sq feet of sail area with a cubic foot of water over each sq ft at 60-something pounds per cubic foot, over each square foot of sail surface area, was uhhh . . . . . 3.12 TONS. :o
On the end of a 15 foot lever, (the mast) that we had tried to counter-balance with 400 pounds (us) and a 3 foot centerboard lever.
Mildly freaked out, to think that if a tow boat operator HAD arrived, with the main sheet still cleated, that mast would have bent like a paper clip, at the cabin roof. :o
Time to start thinking things through, Dude, and start acting, instead of reacting.
Maybe even try to go back to sleep. :-\
Since I had managed to drown 2 phones in 4 months, I was reduced to using my wife's phone to coordinate with Chris on my way to Lake Weir, on Sunday morning.
It rang with a number unknown to me, but I decided (against my usual habit) to answer it.
It was the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) asking me if I owned a dinghy, seen that morning upside down in Lake Weir.
Since I was capable of logical reasoning today, I realized they had gotten the registration number off the hull and used the registration info to call my phone (currently somewhere on the bottom of Lake Weir) and failing that, had used the emergency contact number, which was my wife's phone.
Someone had seen the boat that morning and called the Marion County Sherriffs office, who also dispatched the Marion County Fire Department under the entirely plausible theory, that someone might still be in the boat, dead.
I quickly assured them, that all passengers were safe and sound and further explained that I had been forced to leave the boat the previous evening and was now only about 20 minutes away with a 2nd boat, to recover my boat and return to the ramp.
They admonished me with all the sternness of Officialdom, >:( that I should have called that in to the FWC, or Marion County Sherriff Department.
And perhaps, if I hadn't been on the razor's edge of becoming a Gibbering Idiot from shock, on the night before, I might have done just that. :P
I'd like to think so, anyway. ::)
Saw some Marion County cop cars and an FWC boat already in the water, so I walked the dock over to their boat and introduced myself and endured another lecture on calling things in; they thought maybe somebody had died. >:(
(Thought to myself: "Hey! The way my luck is going, you just might get your wish! :P The day is still Young!") :'(
They told us they were going to go with us and flash their lights to keep all the jet skis away from us, which I greatly appreciated.
My son had arrived and we loaded my scuba gear aboard (that I hadn't used in 8 years) rigged and launched the RIB and off we went, to the GPS coordinates.
The PLAN: 8)
Since the end of the mast was stuck in the mud, we reasoned that things that had fallen out of the boat might be close-by on the bottom and could be recovered.
Then using the much greater lift capacity of my scuba gear BCD (Buoyancy Compensating Device) and hanging onto the end of the mast, I could lift the end of the mast to the surface, making the hull much easier to right
The REALITY: :-\
Aaannnnddddd . . . . . it wasn't there. . . . . .
Chris and I were both saying to each other: "Wasn't it closer to the ramp?" ???
Besides GPS coordinates, we had also performed some old-school pilotage, sighting on a line between the ramp and one of two cell towers on the opposite shore, and a cross-reference line of a distinctive home compound, so we knew where it should be. :P
The FWC boat kept on going though, so we decided maybe they knew something we didn't and followed them, until spotting our boat wayyyyy further across the lake.
Apparently, the previous evening's thunderstorms had dislodged the mast and allowed the boat to drift across the lake, dribbling Boat Bucks worth of gear, as it meandered along. :'(
So much, for recovering any gear under the boat. >:(
Instead of ¼ of the way across the lake from the ramp, we were more like ¾ of the way across.
But we finally spotted it and motored over.
Explained to the FWC, we were going to recover what we could before the boat righted so as not to lose any more gear, then release the main sheet, then pull the boat upright using the BCD.
They were pretty agreeable to whatever we were doing.
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Put on a 100 cu ft tank, that was out of ICI Annual (Internal Cylinder Inspection; it's done yearly) :-[ and also out of "Hydro" (Hydrostatic Cylinder Certification, done every 5 years, to ensure they don't randomly explode) :-[ and attached my regulator that had not been overhauled in 8 years (supposed to be done yearly). :-[
Figured if this wasn't a Future Scuba Fatality Accident Report in the making, I didn't know what was. :-\
Cracked the tank valve and the octopus (an auxiliary regulator) immediately began free-flowing air, but I ignored it.
(Once I got below 3000 psi tank pressure, down to 2000 psi, the main regulator also started free-flowing a little.)
You'd think a 1973 U.S.Divers Conshelf XII would be a little more reliable, than all that! :P
Went down and the very first thing I checked on, was the main sheet cam cleat, which I HAD unfastened!! ;D See?!? I'm not COMPLETELY incompetent!! ;D (Just, mostly!) :P
Next, I started grabbing everything still in the veranda or floating around on the inside of the cockpit, then began surfacing and handing it up to Chris, who was leaning over the side of the RIB.
After that was accomplished, I went down to the mast head (studiously avoiding the sail!), got a firm grip around the mast and inflated my BCD.
Nada. >:(
It's not like the BCD wasn't doing its job, I could barely hold onto the mast; :o it's just that the mast stubbornly refused to move more than about a foot above the bottom.
Finally, I had to vent out all the air in the BCD, to keep from rocketing to the surface and giving myself assorted embolisms (cerebral, cardiac, etc.) or any pneumothorax injuries (collapsed lung). :o
Yeah, it's a Real Carnival down there, >:( when you're scuba diving and you're out of shape and using defective equipment! :o
Based on my early morning mathing, figured maybe we could pop the hull up if we disconnected the main sail, boom and yard from the mast.
Explained to the FWC guys that Plan A had failed and Plan B was disconnecting the sail, boom and yard.
Their glazed-over expressions ??? suggested to me, that they might not be Sailors. ::)
Went back down and began disconnecting and untangling all the rigging.
Building your own boat, sure is good background for taking it apart . . . under water . . . upside down . . . on an overcast day . . . in poor visibility . . . and unsettled weather . . . .
The Florida Keys, Lake Weir, AIN'T. >:(
Got the boom free and lifted it up to Chris and wondered why it was so heavy for a moment, then realized it was likely full of water, plus half of the sail rig was still attached.
Got the yard free from the rigging and handed one end up to Chris (very light; guess I had made it waterproof, after all) and now he could get the mainsail, boom and yard dragged aboard the RIB.
Now only attached by the main halyard and the lazy jacks, I went back down again, checking that I was now down to 600 psi (you're supposed to surface when you reach 500 psi, and I ran it down to 200 psi, before I stopped) :P and worked at disconnecting the halyard.
With the halyard free, the mast was now loosely hanging and if I disconnected the deck block it would come free, out of the mast trunk. (We were in 20+ feet of water, at this point.)
Which it did and I lifted it upright and handed it up to Chris, up on the surface.
How he got it up and in the boat, I still cannot figure out, ??? but he did.
I surfaced, attached my scuba gear to a line/shackle that we keep on the RIB expressly for scuba-diving; we don and ditch our gear while in the water and retrieve it from the side, after we're back in.
I wondered exactly how I was going to re-board, :P since random boat gear was stacked half-way up between the top of the hull tubes and the Bimini top, but Chris cleared out enough of a path for me to re-board.
I wanted to rest a bit then try to right the hull, but Chris decided I was too beat-looking, to even try and he offered to give it a shot.
He swam over and tried the same method we had used the day before, with zero results. >:(
Horsepower it is, then.
I rigged up a tow line and Chris swam over and tied it off and I got the boat going . . . . . .
Aannnnnnddddd. . . . . . it didn't move . . . . I was just dragging the hull sideways through the water. >:(
Chris went in again and tied a loop in the end off the centerboard up haul and looped the side mounted tow line through it, to use the extra leverage to help right the hull.
Aannnnnnddddd. . . . . . it didn't move >:( . . . . . so Chris grabbed the top of the centerboard while I was towing and it started to roll.
Then Chris fell off and the hull rolled back and he gave a mighty lunge and grabbed onto it again and as it once again started to roll, he climbed onto the centerboard and used all his weight and finally the SCAMP came up right.
Felt like a Baptist at a Revival: "We're SAVED!!! ;D We're SAVED!! ;D
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"Wow! Popped right up!" My @$$!! >:(
HOW did I manage to build a simple dinghy, that somehow requires two men, scuba gear, and a 2nd boat, plus partial disassembly, just to turn it upright? ???
Chris wasted no time, re-boarding the SCAMP and starting to bail all the water out of the hull.
He did yeoman's work, 8) moving out large volumes of water.
In all the disaster surrounding me, I was still filled with Pride for the resilient, positive, child, I had raised to manhood. :)
What a Good Man, he had become.
Handled everything the Fates (and his Dad!) :P could throw at him, with a strong "what's the next layer of this puzzle, to be figured out?" calm, resolve.
Don't tell my kids often enough, but I AM proud of them and was never more so, than in this particular moment.
My Little Boy, is saving my BOAT!! ;D (First time he'd ever been aboard, BTW; what an introduction!) :P
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That boat has DEFINITELY seen Better Days!! :'(
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Now I was the proud owner of TWO boats that were a complete total mess! But, Hey! It was still two boats.
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Good thing RIB's have such fantastic load capabilities; we used up all of it! :P
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Rather less knee room than I'm used to . . . . :-X
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. . . . . . and might only be able to make right turns . . . .
Yes! :) THAT bilge pump!! :D
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Notice how much higher out of the water, the hull is? ???
We stowed all the spars and the sail all the way forward in the cabin locker (it's usual resting place) and securely lashed down on the SCAMP, so as not to risk losing them over the side, on the RIB.
Towing was a long way back to the ramp, in worse weather than we had, yesterday; could only maintain a fast idle, because of all the gear aboard, affecting hull trim.
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YES!!! ;D Back at the dock!! ;D And only 24 hours later, than I originally expected!! :'(
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Color me HAPPY!! ;D
A really good feeling, to see both of my water craft, safely tied up.
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Very deceptive; LOOKS normal, but there is Total Chaos under that cover!! :P
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Ditto for the RIB; half of the Irish Pennant's (remaining!) :'( gear, is hiding under that cover. :P
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Took Chris and his wife to his favorite local Italian bistro, 10 minutes from the ramp, by way of gratitude for all the amazing help he had provided me, all day.
Then we both drove back to my house to drop off both boats, with today's drive being considerably more joyous, than the previous night was! :P
Another example of the warm, nurturing and supportive family that we are, came from my daughter, who can do most anything at the speed of the Internet.
Next day: (While I was still licking my wounds!)
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She always knows how to make me laugh, really hard! ;D
Part 3 of 3 (Aftermath) is going to be some time coming, since things are still being dried out, cleaned up, evaluated, and assessed.
Plus, I have been doing a lot of thinking about things and haven't yet finished thinking them all the way through yet, so I expect the finish to this series, to be probably 2 weeks or more.
Charles Brennan
Love the shirt! One of the Flying Scots in our racing fleet is named "Don't Panic" written upside down. ;D
Did the batteries survive? I am really interested in why the boat was so difficult to right. I suspect the boats in the videos are mostly empty. Although, if I recall when Howard rice went over in the big storm, he was able to right his loaded boat a couple of times before swimming ashore. Glad all were OK and pride the only injury. Yet the pride you felt for your son was a bonus!
Doug, Hate to keep you in suspense, but I feel any partial answers would be misleading, because right this minute, I just don't know. :P
Not generally known, but pure water (distilled) is an electrical insulator.
We used to wash all our printed circuit boards in an ordinary dishwasher, that had a distilled water supply to remove solder flux and whatnot.
Not so with lake water; there's all kinds of ions from all the kinds of metals, salts, and minerals, in the water and it's all the random ions that actually kills the electronics.
Going to take at least a week to dry out the batteries, before I even dare to assess what shape they might be in.
Playing with high energy density devices, is something that has to be approached with the utmost of caution.
An LFP battery can provide it's own oxygen, fuel and heat in a fire, and is very hard to extinguish once it gets started; as many dolts who have tried to jump-start a shorted BMS and set an LFP on fire, have discovered! :o
Like most Maritime Mishaps, there was no single cause; it was an unfortunate confluence of several different factors and listing only one of the factors, would give an erroneous perception of the whole problem.
Please give me just a little more time to get my topics and thought processes better organized, and I hope I will have a more comprehensive and meaningful answer.
Thanks,
Charles Brennan
Wow, I'm (almost) speechless. I tried to find some humor in this event and only could when I could say Yep, I did that. I'll refrain until the aftermath except for a critique on the mirror launch. It looked great to me, but then I'm comparing it to mine. Short distance from pivot point to axle, going to be tough. I have a few years on you and unfortunately I would suggest you practice mirror launch because, unless you're lucky you will end up like me with that being the only option as the flexibility in that muscular/skeletal unit diminishes to the point you can't turn around.
Glad you, yours, the boat and maybe most of the equipment made it to dry ground safely. Hope any damage is minimal.
Just to add numbers to the recovery attempt, I'm 260 lbs (more soaking wet), and nothing I did could right that hull. I watched him do it, and figured I have about 4" height advantage, and not sure how many lbs on him, and I just couldn't do it. With his RIB pulling hard, and me pushing on the centerboard we got it to 90 degrees, and it wouldn't roll. Only after I slipped off and shot back up and grabbed it and pulled myself on top of it did it finally roll, and once it got past 90 degrees it became easy. That's WITHOUT the mast. My next plan for my boat based on this experience would be a trouble kit in the form of a decent bilge pump and battery sealed in a 5 gallon square kitty litter bucket, among a few other things. I have a bilge pump on board, but with a dead battery it's not much good. Even though it was one heck of a bit of work to recover it, I'm grateful that no one was hurt (except some amazingly colored bruises) and the boat took very little damage. Of course he may find otherwise as he's doing his damage assessment. That storm could have flipped BOTH of our boats, luckily we had one to work with.
Charles, no hurry, no pressure on the aftermath report. I'm just extremely interested in your assessment when you post it. One question though, what point of sail when the storm hit? My mast will be mostly hollow when finished which may help keeping the boat from turtling. At least I hope so!
Chris, both sea kayaks and white-water canoes are often outfitted with a small bilge pump and incased battery.
We use a mast head float in winds over 10 or if high gusty wind is forecast when club racing as a turtle really takes the safety/crash boat out of the picture. A float might be something you might want to consider as an option.
Really glad no one was badly injured. Once I took up sea kayaking, I got into the habit of just always wearing a PFD. I know they can be hot, but stuff often happens without any forewarning. This isn't a criticism just my personal philosophy. I was an excellent swimmer growing up spending hours in deep water, but I'm older now and though feel comfortable in the water just don't have the same stamina I once had. It's up to the individual as to what they are willing to risk. They do impede the ability to swim well though.
Doug, his mast is hollow also, one of the hardest things to deal with was bringing the mast out of the water, and it had been submerged long enough to be full of water. I'd pull it up about 4', let it drain for a minute, 4' more, drain, once enough of it drained and I brought it into the RIB, I made sure the transom end was lower than the end hanging over the bow so it would finish draining. That thing was heavy to begin with, and I can imagine that if it had still been on the Irish Pennant, righting the hull would have been even more challenging. He did great derigging the mast, boom, yard, and sail, without that I doubt we would have gotten her upright.
Chris, I was impressed with what your Dad did to recover the boat below the surface in murky water. Thanks for the extra info on what it took to get the mast onto the RIB. It was certainly a 2-man job. I wonder how much water if any ended up in the floatation compartments and if so, may have also added to the difficulty. After the night and the storm, I suspect they have had some water intrusion.
Whew! I'm glad all are safe and the boats at home.