Schooner Nina

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by dskira, Jun 28, 2013.

  1. dskira

    dskira Previous Member

    The famous 1928 Burgess designed schooner Nina apparently was lost at sea in New Zealand. No news for weeks.
    Seven people are onboard.
    They had very bad storm, wind at 60mph and 20' waves.
    I hope she will come back safe.

    P.S. Sorry I didn't see the Titirangi thread about the Nina.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2013
  2. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Nina

    Daniel, I sure hope that somehow they make it thru-tremendous history with that great schooner!
    More about Nina from Scuttlebutt Europe this morning:

    * NINA is one of the most famous designs of Starling Burgess and was built on the beach at Monument Beach, MA by Reuben Bigelow, launched in 1928. Rigged as a staysail schooner she was designed and built for the trans-Atlantic Race from NYC to Santander, Spain, which (the smallest vessel) she won.

    She measures 58' 10" LOD, 50' on the WL and draws close to 10 feet on 44 ton displacement.

    Built for Paul Hammond she also raced in 1928 in the Fastnet which she won in 4 days and 12 hours, 48 minutes as the first American yacht to do so. In the later ownership of DeCoursey Fales she won the Stamford to Vineyard Race so frequently that it became known as her race.

    She also won the Bermuda Race, and was so successful on the race course that Mr. Fales used to donate her trophies back and then win them again. More recently she was owned by Hans van Nes (whose son Nick owned PETREL while another son, Gordon, owned the Boston pilot schooner PILOT) and visited the Vineyard on frequent occasions. In the late 80's she was sold to Rosemarie and David Dyche III who sailed her all over the Med, Atlantic and then through the Canal and into the Pacific for a circumnavigation.

    Jim Lobdell mentioned growing up in a harbor that had both BRILLIANT and NINA to admire, and I can only add WHEN AND IF and MALABAR II, as well as a few other lovely schooners such as JUNO, REBECCA, CHARLOTTE, VOYAGER and MARTHA, ALCYONE, ADVENTURESS and the ROSE OF SHARON (also designed by Starling Burgess) to make it perfect. I'm thinking quickly about classic wooden schooners so if I've missed yours, my apologies.

    NINA is a grand boat, and we can only hope that she's drifting somewhere and will make landfall eventually. Unfortunately the signs are not positive. She's a lovely boat and very fast but the last communication was June 4th and she was in a bad storm. The reports that mention the 1300 miles between NZ and Australia where she has disappeared as being a voyage that an 85 year old schooner couldn't do in less than 20 odd days has never examined NINA's race record. Let us all say a prayer for those at sea, and hope that she shows up. -- Ginny Jones
    ===========
    Daniel, I found the other thread: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/al...assic-21m-us-schooner-nina-missing-47470.html
    But, in my opinion, this thread is appropriate as a tribute to one of the greatest sailboat designs ever.
     
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  3. PAR
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    This wouldn't be the first time an old war horse has had her sticks stripped and is using 19th century technology and sailing brawn to cover the distance. The boat was in grand shape the last I saw here (several years ago) and the skipper is well skilled, so when they get within cell phone distance . . .
     
  4. philSweet
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    philSweet Senior Member

    there is already another thread running on this in the bilge.
     
  5. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    ================
    Mentioned in post #2.....
     
  6. philSweet
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    philSweet Senior Member

    Sorry, Doug, I missed that. She is definitely something special. And I'm not normally the sentimental type.
     
  7. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Nina

    I'm hoping Par is right!
     
  8. PAR
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    I was stuck out in deep water for 4 days without communications before, so it's not really that unheard of, even with modern equipment.

    The time frame is larger here and concerns are warranted, but there's a huge amount of area to consider, so . . .
     
  9. MikeJohns
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    MikeJohns Senior Member

    Sobering news. I have had very similar weather in the Tasman and in a similar sized similar displacement sailboat. We fell off a large steep fronted wave from a cross sea of around 25 feet, we fell down the face of the wave landing side on. The impact shook the boat like we'd hit a sandbank, then the wave broke right over us. Apart from broken gear, we bent the heavy steel mainmast compression post out by 2 inches. Off watch crew thought we'd heavily hit another vessel or floating object one thought we were aground.
    That weather continued unabated for another 15 hours at 48 knots average. Then dropped down to gale force for close enough to two days.

    I really fear for a 1929 timber classic in that sort of weather. But lets hope they are just disabled and limping quietly along.
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2013
  10. sharpii2
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    sharpii2 Senior Member

    Another thing to consider is collision with another vessel.

    I suppose, in nasty conditions, visibility is poor. And all that rising and plunging probably makes things harder to see on the radar.
     
  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  12. Doug Lord
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    Location: Cocoa, Florida

    Doug Lord Flight Ready


  13. boradicus
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    boradicus Senior Member

    That does not sound very good. But like Mike Johns said, it is still possible that they are out there. Let's pray that they will be ok and their families are comforted.
     
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