by Nigel Barron
Injuries, damage and sinking boats as storm slams into Northwest racing fleet
Apr 2 2010 in Currents by Nigel Barron
A popular Northwest sailboat race turned into chaos this afternoon as a major windstorm tore into a fleet of boats off West Vancouver, B.C., injuring crews, sinking at least one vessel and damaging many more.
Heavy seas and winds gusting above 63 miles per hour (55 knots) quickly took their toll and the race was called off this afternoon. Boats were instructed to seek shelter after reports began flooding in about boats in distress. About a dozen Seattle area boats were scheduled to take part in today’s Southern Straits Race, a long-distance test of endurance that is notorious for bad weather.
“There’s a lot of people who have foolishly gone out sailing today,” said Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Greg Clarke.
A 30-foot custom racing boat, Incisor, skippered by North Vancouver sailor Clint Curry, sunk in the afternoon. All six crew members were rescued by the Coast Guard. By around 2:30 p.m., the distress calls and maydays, many from the racing fleet, filled the emergency radio frequencies.
At least two boats reported losing their masts and one crew said their boat was taking on water and sinking. There were reports of close to a dozen boaters in the water at one point, all of whom were rescued by the Coast Guard and other boats.
More than 60 boats were registered for the race, organized by the West Vancouver Yacht Club. But many sailors decided to sit it out after weather forecasts called for heavy winds and seas on the Strait of Georgia, a relatively large and open body of water between the B.C. mainland and Vancouver Island.
Seattle-area racer Paul LaMarche, the owner of the Santa Cruz 70 Neptune’s Car, opted to stay at the dock today.
“There just wasn’t anything in the plus column and everything in the negative column when we started to look at it. I have nothing to prove.
Coast Guard officials questioned why organizers didn’t cancel the race, a qualifier for the Vic-Maui race in July, before it started.
“I’m concerned that the race went on anyway,” Clarke said. “I don’t think anyone should have gone out. I think it was a foolish decision. It puts the rescuers at peril too. It’s not fun for anyone. To put a race on a day like this was, I think, very irresponsible.”
A spokesperson for the Yacht Club said they were still sorting through details and would release information later in the evening.
A 40-foot sailboat, Mad Max, was forced back to port after a crew member suffered a dislocated shoulder. Crew member Jay Markow said the race got off to an epic start.
“We had a great start, surfing for almost half an hour. We wiped out (and injured a crew member). We were knocked down for two to three minutes. We doused the kite (spinnaker), and took off surfing again until we could find a lull (in the wind) and try to turn around.”
Throughout the afternoon, battered boats and crews limped back to port. In several cases, ambulances took injured crew members to the hospital.
The windstorm created a hectic day for the Canadian Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Victoria. The center began dispatching rescue teams early in the morning, responding to reports of boats sinking, going adrift and smashing up against rocks on Vancouver Island.
Coast Guard officers rescued a liveaboard in Mill Bay, about 18 miles north of Victoria, who was afraid his boat would break free of its mooring. A 25-foot powerboat with no one aboard reportedly sank near Bamfield Park, on the south shore of Barkley Sound, and a 20-foot boat sank in Tsehum Harbour in North Saanich. Unattended boats broke free of their anchors and smashed onto rocks in several areas, including Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island.
The storm had less of an impact in the Seattle area. Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Chandler said at 6 p.m. that there had not been any calls of boaters in distress. “It’s pretty calm,” he said. “So far we’ve been lucky.”
Marty McOmber and Deborah Bach contributed reporting.
I think the Coast Guard quotes in the article really summarizes the sentiments of a lot of people out there, armchair or not –
“There’s a lot of people who have foolishly gone out sailing today,” said Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Greg Clarke.
Coast Guard officials questioned why organizers didn’t cancel the race, a qualifier for the Vic-Maui race in July, before it started.
“I’m concerned that the race went on anyway,” Clarke said. “I don’t think anyone should have gone out. I think it was a foolish decision. It puts the rescuers at peril too. It’s not fun for anyone. To put a race on a day like this was, I think, very irresponsible.”
So John – If you respect the Coast Guard so much do you also respect what they had to say about the race?
“There’s a lot of people who have foolishly gone out sailing today,”
“I’m concerned that the race went on anyway,” …. “I don’t think anyone should have gone out. I think it was a foolish decision. It puts the rescuers at peril too. It’s not fun for anyone. To put a race on a day like this was, I think, very irresponsible.”
Kinda sums it all up doesn’t it…. period.
Let’s be careful. While it may have been a questionable decision for the WVYC to go ahead with the race, ultimately the go/no-go decision is that of the skipper and/or the crew. If we start pointing fingers at the yacht club, then we start down a slippery slope. I don’t think we want an environment where a sponsoring organization bears responsibility for the weather and the decisions of all participants. Who would ever want to sponsor a race if that were the case?
Sailing is all about personal responsibility. Let’s not dilute that fact by spreading blame around.
Could different decisions have been made on the part of the WVYC? Sure. However, let’s imagine that winds were less than forecast and the race went off without a hitch. Would anyone have criticized because something “might have” gone wrong? Nope. We’re only criticizing because things did go wrong – things that could have been avoided by more prudent skipper/crew decisions and/or better luck. These two factors are in play every time we go out – even in light winds. So, at what point is the sponsoring organization expected to assume responsibility for these?
I would like to give the WVYC the benefit of the doubt and assume that there are some people seriously second-guessing their decision today, and you can bet that some valuable lessons were learned all around. Considering everyone involved gets to go home at the end of the day, that’s not too bad. My bet is that the lessons learned will save lives in the future.
While sailors debate this topic, with plenty of rallying cries, I’m a voice for the Coast Guard. They can’t say much of anything to you, now can they? Being the wife of one, I can.
The Coast Guard earn their keep every day, indeed. However, the majority of the rescuers yesterday were Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers. And, on land and sea, from auxiliary members to communications and ships officers, they are there to keep mariners safe. In this case, the organizers of the race were questioned by Coast Guard, and asked to reconsider, before the race began. Meteorological Service of Canada had issued storm warnings well in advance of the race.
In their wisdom, the organizers chose to disregard the above. In doing so, they not only contributed to hugely inflated tax payers costs (helicopter search crews, diverting other vessels, CG Cutter crews, RCMP response costs, Emergency Health Services, etc.) but they put the lives of Coast Guard regular and auxiliary crews and other responders at risk. They also tied up those crews when they could have been helping out elsewhere.
The Coast Guard were busy with mariners and incidents from the early morning hours, before the race. However, with the race a “go”, their communication frequencies were flooded, resources were diverted, and the difficult prioritization of overlapping incidents challenged Coast Guard and Rescue Services well towards the evening.
Earned their keep, indeed. Did-ja have fun?!
I’m going to attempt to respond to some of RD’s concerns. It is a touchy subject, but here goes:
No.1 … Like the police force, the CC is not always a desk job.
No.2 … Being an auxiliary or regular CC member involves risk, and this no doubt, is part of the appeal. Why would someone jump from a helicopter into the Abyss with a high risk of death to possibly save someone ?? There is no amount of money that would induce me to do that. Charging over the tops of waves to rescue someone is not boring, and this is part of the appeal of the job. They train and equip themselves to do just that…. And they have my absolute respect.
No.3… The CC is not there to keep us safe… that is the responsibility of every boater who is out there. The CC is there for the times when things do not go as planned. This was one of those times. I know the boats and crew involved and can tell you – they are not fool-hardy risk takers, regardless of what you think.
While the decision to race is ultimately that of the skipper, the Race Committee sets a precedent by allowing a race to go ahead. Not all those racing possess the skill &/or experience to be out in the conditions that occurred yesterday.
The competitive spirit amongst racers is strong, and when a boat doesn’t start it often calls into question the skill, the drive and the commitment of the skipper and crew. In racing, following through and taking risks is a matter of pride – and sometimes pride allows foolishness to prevail. By allowing the race, a dangerous situation was created and the WVYC (not RYVC as earlier posted) should be held at least partially responsible for what occurred. Of course, this applies to all yacht clubs and race committees who send boats out in severe weather, the WVYC was behaving as many other yacht clubs would in similar circumstances.
Everyone involved is very fortunate that the day didn’t cost lives.
Crazy day, I can’t believe anyone went out. I overhead a commercial boat out on the Strait of Juan de Fuca reporting 50 knot winds and eight foot seas, and that was early in the day. There may not have been any boaters in distress on the US side of the border, but there were sure some boats in trouble! I watched a yellow sailboat adrift in Port Townsend hit the breakwater outside the Boat Haven. It’s not there this morning… either sunk or someone finally got out there and got a line on it.
I know the decision to race falls on that of the skipper, but knowing the characteristics of that stretch of water -combined with the advanced weather forecast- this one should have been called by RVYC; irresponsible on their part. It’s one thing to get ‘caught’, but quite another to choose to ignore confirmed incoming weather systems.
Having lived in Vancouver for 63 years and sailed the area for many decades, and raced Straits in 2 of my own boats, I can say that the so called ‘characteristics of that stretch of water’ as Shane refers to, are to blow itself out in 12 hours and it had been blowing since the night before. Also we are inundated locally with gale warnings that turn out to be 15 kts. I know many of the skippers in this race, and have sailed with many of them. Not one of them would sacrifice their boat or their crew for bragging rights, and once the fleet started reporting damage and injuries, and the weather office confirmed the continuing storm, the race was called. WVYC is very pro-active in safety, you cannot do a light air wednesday race without being subjected to a vessel safety inspection. But we will learn from this. We just don’t need monday morning quarterbacks, and people looking for someone to blame.
Well said, John.
I can’t imagine going out on a day like this. I’ve been offshore in “merely” full gale conditions, and that was plenty for me. Oh, and I’ve dislocated a shoulder during a race, too. It’s good to have somebody aboard who knows how to reduce the dislocation right there. We finished the race that day, although I wasn’t much help.
What a day for the Coast Guards, not to mention the racers!
Boy you said it. Those guys earned their keep today.
RD was right on the money and kudos to her for speaking for those who cannot… the CCGA volunteers (as well as the CCG regulars, RCMP and other emergency services providers who assisted) have made a commitment to promote safety and save lives on the water but sending out the rescue vessels and crews for a beating in those conditions because of a race that could have been cancelled led to a waste of taxpayer resources and an unnecessary risk to the crew (whether it was a “rush” or not John… you really should have left that one alone and respected the sentiment of RD rather than to try and debate her points). I know some rescuers who went out on the race mayday calls that day and both their crews and vessels took a real bashing… funny that the race committee hasn’t said much in the way of thanks to those who risked their well-being to respond to the maydays from the racers. This comment is not intended to bash sailors, skippers or racers in general as personally I believe the sailing community is a very responsible sector of the boating world but discretion would have been the better part of valor that day for all concerned if the WVYC RC had the good sense to keep the boats at the docks.
“you really should have left that one alone and respected the sentiment of RD rather than to try and debate her points”
….oh I understand now… censorship is the best form of communication ???
If you take the time to really READ my article you will see I have the utmost respect for CG members… and their families. After decades of sailing these waters, I also know you cannot be a wuss about storm conditions and belong to the CG.
I just believe there are two (or more) sides to every tail and all the armchair quarterbacks here who have never sailed, let alone done the Straits race are tiresome. The RC abandoned the race. PERIOD. Discussing the timing is pointless.
“you will see I have the utmost respect for CG members… and their families.”
I read your article twice and certainly did not take that away (not even close in fact). All you did was quote them and point out they showed up.