Rainmaker in trouble.

I especially liked "Authority in the water"

& "people would see me in the street & notice that I was boatless..."

:?:


Jeff.

 

Another rich dude that knows everything about everything.
You cant tell them anything and you cant teach them either,
they simply just know it all
yeah yeah

 

Gunboat Dismasting

This 'mast split by a wave' just doesn't sound plausible
. I might believe it might have had something to do with improper support of the mast in the reefed configuration.

You may have hit upon an interesting detail. Many times mast do not like reefed mainsails attached to them??

There has been a LOT of discussion (and speculation) over on this forum:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/gunboat-dismasting-140508.html

 

The link was posted in the early stages of the CF series. Interestingly the original poster went back and said the wave post had been redacted. Hard to tell at this point. A stressed, bowing carbon mast could have easily been knocked out of column by a wave and shattered. The posted lack of running backs etc...makes a number of scenarios likely. Too bad the Coasties aren't saying more but then they would just be repeating what was told to them initially. At some point the crew made a effort to get their stories straight but why tell stories at all? The facts would be best, perhaps Gunboat will send out a owner only storm to do list...

 

I don't recall ANY of those huge-corded wing mast of the RACE cats getting knocked out by wave impacts

...and they had some pretty long 'unsupported panels'


...and come to think of it, how about those numerous French racing tri's with big carbon wing mast doing noise dives....yet not breaking their mast??

 

We should all chant the news mantra regarding calamities. "It is better to report the news than make it."

Gunboat seems pretty confused too, obviously they have felt safe in making pretty extravagant claims about storm running. Are those rotating masts? If so running off wind the side would be exposed to a wave versus the long cord. At this point without any verification it is all conjecture. Those wanting to read about the mast story source should read the CF thread.

 

Post Mortem, Part 1

Here: http://sailinganarchy.com/

 

Part 2

http://sailinganarchy.com/2015/02/25/the-loss-of-the-rainmaker-part-2/

 

A couple of things about Part 2 of the interview

The use of a Mayday call rather than a Pan Pan is curious. Mayday is for imminent loss of boat and the boat's loss did not seem to be a foregone conclusion. This led to an immediate rescue response from the CG and then the crew being lifted.

The reasons for leaving include large holes in the cabin and non functioning doors. It does seem that the boat was very well founded in electronics and rig removing tools. Yet they do not seem to have any spare cabin material for covering windows - stormboards. As one of the companionways did not fit this meant the cabin was open from the rear too.

One suggestion I would make for others is to use the space under your bunks to carry spares for windows and doors. Wing deck catamarans need the double bunk cushions lifted off the bridgedeck by 15-20mm or they will produce condensation on cool nights. On Kankama we use 40x19 cedar under assorted plywood. On many other boats people use proprietal materials. I would urge anyone going offshore to consider using the space under the double to good effect and carrying material to cover broken windows, deck or even above hull breaches. Some tools are needed too but I usually carry enough - small generator, cordless drill, jigsaw, sander polisher and hand tools - all up weight about 40kg - to rebuild the boat anyway.

I would have been happier to read more about how the crew tried harder to look after themselves before asking for help.

cheers

Phil

 

An account from the ship that attempted to assist Rainmaker thanks to the user loop on SA for the link:

http://www.crowley.com/News-and-Med...ides-At-Sea-Assistance-to-Ill-Fated-Catamaran

 

That's a nice account of how professional seamen conduct themselves.

 

Proof enough why I don't like these extra large windows people seem to want these days. And I agree, why no storm covers? I always carry something to cover the largest window, kept as you suggest, under a bunk. I also don't like the big sliding aft doors, when they jam (as happened to me during the Capetown to Rio race on a Norseman 43) you are very vulnerable to big waves. If I were drawing a boat like RM I would assume the windows were not there and design the hull access appropriately. Seems un-necessary these days to have an engine fail due to engine room flooding.

As I said before, 2 mast breakages and one rudder fail in a year isn't a good record for any builder, and certainly not one who makes such unlikely claims. I suspect the Lagoon 38, maybe even the Gemini have actually sailed more miles than Gunboats.

Maybe the "mayday" comment was journalistic license?

What surprises me is that they didn't see the white-out storm front on their radar. In these days of precise gps and AIS, radar is largely redundant, except for watching for the size and intensity of rain squalls which nothing else can do. I know I could see both the back and front of rain quite precisely on my very basic, 15 year old, radar. I'm sure Rainmaker had a much better system

No doubt people will still be wondering why they took so long to sail to the position they lost their mast. That doesn't seem to have been addressed yet

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

Richard,

The story is aparently thatthe twerp onthe phone with the CG who advised them to turn on the EPIRB, and call a mayda once the planes were called in.

 

Unless things have changed, EPIRBS only have a mayday button, not a panpan or securite, which is why a satphone is better in many respects, or maybe the Delorme

I just looked at the Rainmaker video again, this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0PA-tpzVUM

and I was surprised to see, at say 50sec - 1min in, that there were no pulpits or lifelines to the bows. So working on the open foredeck must have been pretty scary especially with no forestay to hold onto

More surprising, given the price of the boat, was the way the netting was attached. Even on my 24ft superbudget Strider Club design we do better than that. The main problem with netting is chafe where it is attached to the hulls. So every edge should be roped and every mesh square should be lashed so that it cannot move to and fro.

On Rainmaker I just see a rope slid through the mesh and not secured at all. And if I paid USD2mil I'd also expect a neatly reinforced hole where the forestay bridle goes through the netting.

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

part 3 has been posted:

http://sailinganarchy.com/2015/03/01/the-last-of-the-rainmaker/