# Once again



## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

Sailing Vessel TAO
BOSTON - The Coast Guard coordinated a rescue of three sailors approximately 1,200 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at approximately 2 p.m., Thursday.
Watchstanders from the 1st Coast Guard District command center in Boston were notified at approximately 6 a.m., Thursday, of a 406MHz emergency position indicating radio beacon signal registered to the 42-foot French-flagged sailing vessel Tao with three men aboard. 
A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew currently deployed to St. John's, Newfoundland, immediately launched to locate the Tao.
Three Frenchmen were reported aboard, one age 72 and two age 79. 
The district command center watchstanders also contacted available vessels in the area to assist. Crews from the 500-foot Maine Maritime Academy training ship State of Maine, the motor vessel Mol Maxim and the Spanish-flagged fishing vessel Robero diverted to assist.
The Hercules crew arrived on scene at approximately 11 a.m. and dropped marking flares, a life raft and radio to the Tao's crew. The men abandoned the sailing vessel and entered the life raft. The Tao was taking on water and capsizing.
The Robero arrived on scene at approximately 2 p.m. and safely rescued the sailors from the life raft. They were reported to be wearing lifejackets.
"This rescue demonstrates the strong bond between mariners on the open ocean," said Petty Officer 1st Class Joaquin Alayola, a search and rescue coordinator at the 1st Coast Guard District command center. "The Robero's crew proved that mariners from any nation can unite to help save lives in a distress situation."
The Robero will transport the sailors to the 300-foot Spanish-flagged hospital ship Esperanza for further evaluation and arrangements for travel.
*Weather on scene was 10 to 12-foot seas with 33-knot winds.*


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## JonEisberg (Dec 3, 2010)

capta said:


> Sailing Vessel TAO
> BOSTON - The Coast Guard coordinated a rescue of three sailors approximately 1,200 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at approximately 2 p.m., Thursday.
> Watchstanders from the 1st Coast Guard District command center in Boston were notified at approximately 6 a.m., Thursday, of a 406MHz emergency position indicating radio beacon signal registered to the 42-foot French-flagged sailing vessel Tao with three men aboard.
> A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew currently deployed to St. John's, Newfoundland, immediately launched to locate the Tao.
> ...


I swear, if this keeps happening, we may be seeing a return to the frequency with which sailors were abandoning their boats offshore in years past... 

Not sure why you bolded the weather on scene as being significant, this was certainly not an instance where the crew could be accused of jumping ship prematurely or unnecessarily. This comes about as close to "Stepping UP into the liferaft" as I'd ever want to get:






Seems likely they might have encountered more serious weather beforehand. The boat was dismasted, I wonder if this was a case of the rig punching a hole in the hull before it could be cut free?

Good looking boat, anyone know what it is? Twin rudders, some French centerboarder perhaps? They had obviously stopped in St Augustine at some time, perhaps before heading to Bermuda?


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I say, one more hats off to the Coasties.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Graphic example of how dangerous it is to try to get a raft close to a ship.
Why dion't ships head into the sea?,wouldnt that be safer for the liferaft?

Wonder if the crews age had anything to do with it.

I know sailing in the wrong season did!


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## jameswilson29 (Aug 15, 2009)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> Wonder if the crews age had anything to do with it...


You raise an interesting point, that I mentioned previously in connection with the rally thread. No one else wants to talk about this point, especially since it goes head on into all commercial interests, so I will.

First, I salute all active older persons who are out there doing something, instead of rotting away in an assisted living home or retirement community;

Second, physical limitations come with age, not matter what you do. Some of us are luckier/more blessed than others;

Third, the demographics show that sailing is becoming a sport/hobby/past time of older persons;

Fourth, the trend toward larger and larger sailboats, and greater and greater reliance on electronics, has created a situation where even greater brute strength is required in the event of a loss of power;

Fifth, my pet premise is that reliance on electronics has resulted in a larger number of unprepared, insufficiently-experienced folks heading out into bluewater; and

Sixth, this combination of factors has created more dangerous journeys: older sailors with physical limitations on boats that are too large for them to handle encounter typically challenging conditions that result in engine failure or loss of electrical power requiring rescue.

One absurd notion floated repeatedly here is that larger boats are necessarily safer. The fallacy is fifty footers are necessarily safer than forty footers, which are necessarily safer than thirty footers, which are necessarily safer than twenty-five footers. So, of course, a rally restricted to boats larger than forty feet is safer than one with no restrictions on boat size. Nonsense, particularly for older sailors, who should probably be on a boat size more manageable for their age, maybe a 30-35 foot boat.

Who wants to convince every one that we need larger and larger sailboats, with more and more expensive goodies, and greater complexity? Could it possibly be the merchants and commercial interests?


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Hi James,

We have no stats on nuffin'

We don't know if size is safer. I would certainly, in the blink of a wombats eye, swap my 39 for a 50.

I did a trans atlantic on a 65 and mine and though I felt comfortable on the 39 I would think the 65 safer. It feels more stable in larger seas. There was an old saying that your risk of capsize was when the waves became larger than your LOA. I can feel that heading to sea in a 20 foot Flika is gunna take a wave different than a 65.

Maybe keeping these sinking threads together in one forum we will be able to get a better idea.

This does seem to have been a very bad month. But we can't tell if its a statistical blip.


Mark


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## Shinook (Jul 13, 2012)

They seem pretty calm in the video considering 1/4th of their boat is underwater.


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## JonEisberg (Dec 3, 2010)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> Wonder if the crews age had anything to do with it.
> 
> I know sailing in the wrong season did!


I don't see how it can be categorically stated they were making that passage in the wrong season...

They were along the approximate route from Bermuda to the Azores, well south of 40 N... Cornell lists the "Best Time" for the passages from Bermuda-Azores and Bermuda-Gibraltar as May-June, and May-July, respectively... So, at least according to Jimmy, mid-May hardly qualifies as the "wrong season" 

Looking at the pilot charts, there happens to be a wind rose very close to the position of the rescue: 38 N / 44 W... Not all that much difference between the roses for May and June, except for May showing an average of F 5 from the W, NW & N quadrants, as opposed to an average of F 4 respectively, for June... And 0% probability of F 8 or greater, for either month...


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## gamayun (Aug 20, 2009)

It's my understanding that they try to maneuver the larger boat so the life raft is somewhat protected in the lee. That was one scary transfer though, and just goes to show that even with the Coasties on scene, there's nothing easy about an offshore rescue. 

Why are we glomming onto their ages without knowing anything about the conditions under which they were dismasted? Certainly size is important, too, but so are a thousand other variables. More information from the crew is needed here.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

No way will I second guess these guys for sailing in that beautiful boat. The coasties did an admirable job.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like being on that vessel, in that condition, for the 5 hours between when the EPIRB was received, and the C-130 arrived on scene... and then _3 more hours_ 'till the Roberto arrived.


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

jameswilson29 said:


> You raise an interesting point, that I mentioned previously in connection with the rally thread. No one else wants to talk about this point, especially since it goes head on into all commercial interests, so I will.
> 
> First, I salute all active older persons who are out there doing something, instead of rotting away in an assisted living home or retirement community;
> 
> ...


I think we need to be careful about broad judgements about distance cruising. There are just too many idiosyncratic differences of boat and crew.


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## rockDAWG (Sep 6, 2006)

I am so glad that they pushed their EPIRB button to get help rather than worrying someone might disapprove their journey. You can't make everyone happy. 

Good Job USCG


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

rockDAWG said:


> I am so glad that they pushed their EPIRB button to get help rather than worrying someone might disapprove their journey. You can't make everyone happy.
> 
> Good Job USCG


This would be almost exactly what the USCG would tell you to do. In Safety at Sea, they encourage you to contact them. They will sort out what to do about it.


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## capttb (Dec 13, 2003)

Seems people think it's good for the boat to be eligible for AARP (that's when FG was really thick) but bad for the crew.
Some of us old codgers are just as tough as the rawhide we appear to be made of.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm good once as I ever was.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

JonEisberg said:


> Cornell lists the "Best Time" for the passages from Bermuda-Azores and Bermuda-Gibraltar as May-June, and May-July, respectively... So, at least according to Jimmy, mid-May hardly qualifies as the "wrong season"


Launch off time from the Caribbean mid May is probably fine, but not being up there Mid may.

My jump from Bahamas to go North was timed for the first of June and I waited a few days for bad weather then till 6th.

Here is the reason why mid may sux


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## JonEisberg (Dec 3, 2010)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> My jump from Bahamas to go North was timed for the first of June and I waited a few days for bad weather then till 6th.
> 
> Here is the reason why mid may sux


Hmmm, June 6th wouldn't have been ideal for that passage, last year...

Here is a reason why mid June can suck, as well...


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Except thats miles north.

Its a narrow weather window. Much shorter than any other 'normal' cruising route seasonal window.


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## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

According to what I've read on this, they were rolled by a large wave in nasty conditions and lost their rig. Things apparently calmed down considerably by the time the fishing boat got there to pick them up. Not sure what caused the boat to sink. The boat was an aluminum centerboarder, with some debate as to whether she was an Alliage 42 or 44.


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## jameswilson29 (Aug 15, 2009)

killarney_sailor said:


> Could be, but you can only judge on a case-by-case basis. I am more concerned about someone on a 40 year old 28' on a tight budget than someone quite a bit older on a well-equpped and financed 50'.


It seems to be the (well-equipped and financed) newer, expensive, larger boats that are prone to losing their keels and rudders, not the 40 year old 28 footer. One thing the builders sell now is the illusion of safety in newness.

Here is Charles Doane's take on the recent keel losses on newer larger boats:

CHEEKI RAFIKI: Hull Found Again, Post Mortem


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