Select to expand quoteRamona said..
The question that should be asked is why were they at sea at all on this particular day. The forecast wind for the South coast was for 30 knots on both BOM and Seabreeze. How often do you ever see 30 knots forecast on Seabreeze? In the early hours of that morning we had quite a vicious squall pass through on top of the 30 knots of wind and heavy sea and there was damage around the town. This was really just bad planning that placed other people in danger.
Many of us have experienced far worse than 30 kts with gusts. This would be OK in the right situation, i.e. plenty of sea room, capable crew and a well found boat that is seaworthy. These guys didn't have any of these criteria.
Rope around prop and unsuitable anchoring tackle seems to be a common cause to these groundings . I only have 2 lines that could foul my prop which are my headsail sheet lines which are winched and secured when not in use.
We made an attempt to sail south out of Port Hacking that day, it was not comfortable and gusting to 40
All I can say is that shore in a southerly, has the ability to claim victim's, the seas build up along the coast, run across Bate Bay, get a boast off Osbourne Shoals and pound the beach!
Happy to retreat back to Jibbon for an attempt the next day!
richard
It's marvelous the difference a day makes. Actually checking a decent forecast before departing particularly in a cruising yacht these disasters could be avoided.
Just watching the build up to the start of the Sydney Hobart on TV. The commentator keeps mentioning 10 to 15 knots of NE winds for the early stages of the race. No idea where these forecasts are coming from. Early afternoon BOM has 25 to 30 knots for the next 3 days for the South Coast. The line honours boats will bet there before the chance of a change.
Select to expand quoteStockie said..
We made an attempt to sail south out of Port Hacking that day, it was not comfortable and gusting to 40
All I can say is that shore in a southerly, has the ability to claim victim's, the seas build up along the coast, run across Bate Bay, get a boast off Osbourne Shoals and pound the beach!
Happy to retreat back to Jibbon for an attempt the next day!
richard
Your experience seems to underline that you COULD get in and out of Port Hacking that day.
The news vid showed rough but not scary conditions that a good boat could have sailed upwind in.
If you zoom in close on the photos there is a tear in the headsail and also something wrong with the way the main is furled up so it could be damaged too.
