Russian around the world inflatable sailing cat ended by shark attacks

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Squidly-Diddly, Sep 6, 2023.

  1. Squidly-Diddly
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    Squidly-Diddly Senior Member

  2. rwatson
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    rwatson Senior Member

    One way to avoid call up to the Russian Army - sponsor a "Science Expedition"
     
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  3. skaraborgcraft
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    skaraborgcraft Senior Member

    Please leave the politics aside.

    So, was it looking like a fat fast seal from a sharks eye view? For a one-off trip around the world, Im surprised more people have not gone down the inflatable path. Seems no shortage of people turning up in Vietnam to have new cats and tris built, at what is still a lot of money.
     
  4. seasquirt
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    seasquirt Senior Member

    Not "Jaws" type great white sharks, but small sharks about a half metre long, called Cookiecutter Sharks. They suck onto their prey with big lips making a seal, and bite a chunk out of almost anything, leaving a circular crater. They live in deep water in the day and surface at night, so rarely seen, but their bite marks are commonly seen, on whales, dolphins, other sharks, fish, squid, people, and have even tried to bite submarines. Top teeth are anchors, and lower teeth are saws, and they slice and twist around like a hole saw. Anything inflatable would be at risk from them. Common in warm tropical waters around the world.
    Maybe they should try again with a hard hulled RIB, still inflatable, but not fish food.
     
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  5. BlueBell
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    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    FYI
    RIB stands for Rigid Inflatable Boat, the Rigid means "hard hull" and Inflatable means... well, inflatable.
     
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  6. comfisherman
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    comfisherman Senior Member

    These guys are a wild bunch. We met them when the came through the chigniks/kodiak. Had dinner with the crew that was sailing it at the time, my crewman got talked into partying with them one evening in adq and I'm positive his head hurt for a week.

    0 chance these guys had cameras everywhere, it was the most primitive and brutal conditions man has traveled in since 1900. The distance they traveled and the conditions they traveled in on what amounts to a twin pontoon sailing vessel capable of about maybe 4.5 knots in the best of times. Living conditions were tarps Over top of netting strung between the cross members and the tubes. Backup power was a small diesel outboard that couldn't push against much wind or tide. Diesel and fresh water as well as the little food they had were stored in totes and little odds and end jugs.

    Refugee boats from the 70s had more amenities than this thing. I've grown up in western Alaska, have fished on some rugged boats with some even tougher guys. In the off-season I've set chokers logging, framed houses, worked on a large ranch and a myriad of other trade jobs. Aside from oil rigs I've seen some tough guys.... these guys beat them all. Guess the crew was in rotation and hadn't been the same the since leaving the lake. It was 3 guys and a gal when we me them, two had been on since nome the other two had been on the whole time. All knew each other from working in software/web design, who knew that motivated such rugged adventure.

    *edit.

    Asked my crewman if he had pics of the boat. I thought we has taken some, certainly used to have one of it coming under the kodiak bridge.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2023
  7. skaraborgcraft
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    skaraborgcraft Senior Member

    Thanks for the wildlife lesson. Have they been known to chew through plywood? As if flotsam was not enough to worry about........
     
  8. Squidly-Diddly
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    Squidly-Diddly Senior Member

    In some ways that more horrifying than a Jaws shark. They didn't just TRY to bite submarines but seems they sent several Ohio class back to base for repairs after disabling one type of their sonar systems and a secret weapon was suspected. I don't think any other creature has done anything comparable. They could've started World War III. They could make a good subject for another Sharknado movie. They don't seem dangerous at first glance, just sort of ugly and slow, but they can kill whales. Lots of people can't at first figure out WTF the bite was, figure maybe it was an odd cut from some sharp inanimate object, so its not going to happen again, until it does! Habitats include Hawaii and Bermuda Triangle.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2023
  9. fallguy
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    fallguy Boat Builder

    Maybe they thought they could convince mother nature they were Russians and she would comply.

    More seriously; it seems odd to overtrust~ a minimum amount of bottom is needed even to prevent troubles from a sharp stick. Apologies for grammar..
     
  10. BlueBell
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    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

  11. lobsterman
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    lobsterman Junior Member

    I know that i have said it before, but it is high time to reopen all commercial shark fisheries, when the sharks start eating boats.
    Sadly it is a corrupt globalist's regulatory system, and they are using it to usurp, and steal away everyone's resources of every type. They took my federal commercial shark permit away from me because I did not land more than 100,000 LBS. of shark in any of the three qualifying years. (We don't get that many sharks up here in the N.E..)
     
  12. rwatson
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    rwatson Senior Member

    No. You've got THAT all wrong. When sharks start eating boats (if its from hunger) , its because the fishing fleet or climate has removed their normal prey.

    Its like saying kill all the wolves because their natural prey, deer, have all been shot by humans.

    Google "recently extinct species", and get a shock.
     
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  13. lobsterman
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    lobsterman Junior Member

    Sorry Watson, but it is you who has it all backwards. There is absolutely no lack of sharks, or their prey, in any of the commercial shark fisheries. It would be comparable to having say far too many moose, and deer wandering onto the roadways, killing the motorists who have them coming flying thru their windshields.
     
  14. BlueBell
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    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    Thread drift alert there guys.

    Is hypalon shark proof?
     
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  15. skaraborgcraft
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    skaraborgcraft Senior Member

    Obviously not. Imagine your boat sinking and you feel relieved to escape into your inflatable Avon liferaft, only to get munched on by these critters. Hard dinghy with a canopy all the way.....
     
    fallguy likes this.
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