i’m guessing these pleasure super yachts are not hardcore sea fairing vessels that might not handle sudden extreme weather at all well. also might not be captained by people that would do all the right things in those weather conditions.
In this case they suspect there were a number of features on the yacht that contributed to its sinking. It had the world’s tallest aluminum mast, a retractable keel and large openings for windows and hatches all over the main deck that were most likely unsecured at the time.
They suspect she was knocked down by high winds or a water spout. Sailboats get knocked down all the time but all the factors I listed above may have contributed to her being unable to right herself quickly and subsequently filling with water.
From what I read it was also anchored, which according to my very own unscientific and probably incorrect hypothesis helped with the tipping over when the wind hit the tall mast because it couldn’t even try to float with the wind.
I’ve seen a clip about that. Many hulls are styrofoam with fiberglass. It’s cheap, looks good, but doesn’t do well with collisions and bad weather. If that’s the case here is to be determined.
Go to any marina and 90% of the boats there are „styrofoam” and fiberglass. In this size range core fiberglass is a tested technology with many advantages over steel or aluminum hulls (those sink too when abused)
You see the Titanic was made out of steel and it didn’t handle collisions very well. Boats aren’t usually designed to hit things.
Well there’s extreme weather and there’s extreme weather. There have been reports that the yacht was struck by a waterspout, which is basically a tornado but over the water. I’m not sure if the strength of it has been reported or not, but given tornadoes have been known to throw trucks and train cars it doesn’t surprise me that it was likely powerful enough to capsize the yacht.
Unlike trucks & trains, a sailboat is designed to roll side-to-side. One current theory I’ve read is that the waterspout damaged the mast, causing it to unbalance the yacht (and possibly damaging the hull). The combination of being unbalanced and being slammed by the waterspout likely rolled the hull enough to flood it within seconds. Even if the mast wasn’t damaged, a tornado striking the yacht broadside would have likely been catastrophic depending on the strength of the storm. And waterspouts that powerful are still rather rare so I wouldn’t blame the captain for not anticipating it.
There are now some reports as well that the yacht sank in roughly one minute. If that’s the case then it means the yacht indeed rolled very quickly and took on a huge volume of water in very little time, so much that it was unable to right itself or that its bilge pumps could contend with it. Again, not something that could have really been anticipated.
i’m guessing these pleasure super yachts are not hardcore sea fairing vessels that might not handle sudden extreme weather at all well. also might not be captained by people that would do all the right things in those weather conditions.
obviously i have no idea if any of that is true
In this case they suspect there were a number of features on the yacht that contributed to its sinking. It had the world’s tallest aluminum mast, a retractable keel and large openings for windows and hatches all over the main deck that were most likely unsecured at the time.
They suspect she was knocked down by high winds or a water spout. Sailboats get knocked down all the time but all the factors I listed above may have contributed to her being unable to right herself quickly and subsequently filling with water.
From what I read it was also anchored, which according to my very own unscientific and probably incorrect hypothesis helped with the tipping over when the wind hit the tall mast because it couldn’t even try to float with the wind.
Removed by mod
I’ve seen a clip about that. Many hulls are styrofoam with fiberglass. It’s cheap, looks good, but doesn’t do well with collisions and bad weather. If that’s the case here is to be determined.
Go to any marina and 90% of the boats there are „styrofoam” and fiberglass. In this size range core fiberglass is a tested technology with many advantages over steel or aluminum hulls (those sink too when abused)
You see the Titanic was made out of steel and it didn’t handle collisions very well. Boats aren’t usually designed to hit things.
Get a boat with a torpedo belt
Well there’s extreme weather and there’s extreme weather. There have been reports that the yacht was struck by a waterspout, which is basically a tornado but over the water. I’m not sure if the strength of it has been reported or not, but given tornadoes have been known to throw trucks and train cars it doesn’t surprise me that it was likely powerful enough to capsize the yacht.
Unlike trucks & trains, a sailboat is designed to roll side-to-side. One current theory I’ve read is that the waterspout damaged the mast, causing it to unbalance the yacht (and possibly damaging the hull). The combination of being unbalanced and being slammed by the waterspout likely rolled the hull enough to flood it within seconds. Even if the mast wasn’t damaged, a tornado striking the yacht broadside would have likely been catastrophic depending on the strength of the storm. And waterspouts that powerful are still rather rare so I wouldn’t blame the captain for not anticipating it.
There are now some reports as well that the yacht sank in roughly one minute. If that’s the case then it means the yacht indeed rolled very quickly and took on a huge volume of water in very little time, so much that it was unable to right itself or that its bilge pumps could contend with it. Again, not something that could have really been anticipated.