I Learned About Boating From That - Death on the High Seas

by Capt. Gregg Clark

Preparing for Intense Conditions

A strong low-pressure system had passed Newport, RI the night before. This left brisk north / north westly winds in the 15 to 20 knots range with gusts to 25. The conditions were nothing the 54’ sailboat I was racing on from Newport to Bermuda couldn’t handle, In fact, I was looking forward to the downwind, surfing conditions this breeze would enable. But the forecast for the following 24 hours looked a bit more ominous. A warm front was supposed to pass over the racecourse, a 635 nautical mile run on a bearing of 165° magnetic, generating near gale force conditions of 25 – 35 knots of wind with gusts to 40 knots for a short period of time.

The crew prepared themselves and the boat. I attempted to prepare myself mentally for what I knew would be challenging conditions. But big breeze, combined with the timed passage that would have us in or near the gulf stream, had my anxiety level at about a 10. I had seen worse I told myself. And I knew the crew was incredibly competent and the boat sound, seaworthy and well prepared.

As the wind started to back, we dropped the spinnaker and reefed the mainsail. Everyone was already wearing PFDs and were tethered to the boat whenever on deck. We had up a small headsail, a number 4 jib, and had rigged a preventer on the boom. A preventer is a line designed to prevent the boom from accidentally sweeping across the deck. The more proper term is a boom fore guy, but almost nobody calls it that. It is a reminder that this line may not actually “prevent” anything, but rather reduce the odds of an accidental gybe of the mainsail happening.  

The wind continued to back to the west / southwest and built to the forecast 25-35 knot range. We were power reaching at 12-15 knots with the leeward rail buried in the water most of the time. We were now in the gulf stream and waves were easily 10-15 feet directly on our beam. Spray was being blown off the top of every wave. Then it happened.

Upon rising near the top of a wave, a strong gust of wind, I’m guessing 50 knots, hit us. Just as the wave started to roll under us, the boat rolled hard to starboard and started to spin out to port as the force of the wave pushed our stern to starboard. The wind caught the back of our mainsail – attempting to throw us into a crash gybe. The mainsail loaded up on the port side and, with an ear shattering BOOM, the preventer line on the boom broke, sending the boom sweeping above the deck of the boat at breakneck speed. Luckily, it didn’t hit anyone. We recovered; all crew and the boat safe; rigged a new preventer line and proceeded the best we could. We didn’t experience any further drama for the remaining 4-5 hours it took the worst of the front to pass and finished in Bermuda a day and a half later. 

This situation could have ended much differently. In fact, I suspect a similar situation unfolded for two boat in the most recent, and tragic, Sydney-Hobart race. With a start annually on Boxing Day in Sydney Harbor, the race is a very similar distance to Newport Bermuda at 628 nautical miles. It sails down the southeast coast of Australia, then across the treacherous Bass Straits before ending in Hobart, Tasmania. This year’s edition saw the loss of two lives, one from being hit in the head by the boom when the preventer broke and the other by being hit in the head by the mainsheet while the boom was swinging. Weather tracking showed the boats were in very similar conditions to what I experienced in the Bermuda race of this story – gale force winds and beam seas.

Key Safety Considerations 

I know most of our readership are powerboaters and may be saying, OK Captain Gregg, what can I learn from this? Here are a few points for consideration.

1. Know your boat’s capabilities. When I do deliveries, I consider the capabilities of each boat individually. Some I might run offshore on a rough day and some I would never venture outside the inlet.
2. Know your crew’s capabilities. You should be less inclined to go into rough conditions with a green crew as opposed to having a crew with serious offshore experience. Nothing is worse than having crew scared, sick and incapable of being of use.
3. If winds and seas are forecast to be bad, don’t go. For sailors, especially offshore racers, this threshold is usually much higher than for recreational boaters.
4. Make sure the boat is prepared for pending conditions BEFORE those conditions present themselves. For deliveries, I always make sure the boat is in “worst case” preparedness. If you’re going on a two-hour pleasure cruise with a favorable forecast, leaving the coffee maker on the galley countertop may be OK.
5. Make sure everyone aboard knows the location and proper use of all safety gear.
6. Be flexible. Yes, you may have a destination or itinerary in mind but be flexible enough to modify that if the conditions warrant. Of course, in the case of an offshore sailboat race, this can be a much trickier situation.
7. File a float plan. Make sure you file a float plan with at least one emergency contact. These can be as simple as “I’ll be here by this date/time” to more complex ones like can be downloaded from the USCG Float Plan website. The purpose is that at least one emergency contact knows you’ll check in by some point in time and, if not, that they know to check in on you. If contact can’t be established they know to reach out to emergency services, likely the USCG.

As a result of this year’s disaster, there have been calls for the Sydney-Hobart race to be ended. I completely disagree. Sailors have sailed and raced offshore for millennia and will continue to do so. Sailboat racing offshore is statistically safer compared to other sports like base jumping, hang gliding or mountain climbing. It is even statistically safer than riding in a car. Typically, offshore racing sailboats are some of the best prepared boats with the most experienced crews and the Sydney-Hobart race maintains the highest levels of safety standards of virtually any race anywhere around the globe.

I say let them race. And let me race. I plan to do it until they bury my ashes at sea.

Capt. Gregg Clark is a test captain for BoatTEST. He holds a 200 GT master license and has boating and yachting for 40 years. He owns a 56’ Vicem and is co-owner in a 40’ high-performance racing sailboat. He can be reached at [email protected].

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