> At that kind of speed it's incredible there weren't serious personal injuries > from the reef grounding situation. Bodies must have gone flying . .
I believe the impact was less violent because the keel was canted to weather. On our old school boats with a fixed keel a grounding at speed equals that very sudden stop that throws crew to the deck. The video of Vestas' grounding showed some violent motion but it appears to be a rotation (180 degree?) around the keel as it comes to a stop. The first hit appears to be a dagger board or possibly a rudder which may have absorbed some of the momentum. Back in the late 70's I was crewing on a C&C 39 competing in the Southern Straits of Georgia race (near Vancouver BC). I was off watch and in one of the pilot berths, feet forward. The on deck team was cutting close to one of the islands (possibly Entrance) to get some relief from the adverse current. When the boat struck a chuck of the island the stop was so sudden I slid forward in the bunk. Many of the crew on deck were knocked down. We got off the rock by using the spinnaker pole as a lever to rotate clear. The keel stood up well to the hit losing a golf ball sized chunk of lead. Martin DeYoung Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of OldSteveH via CnC-List Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 8:26 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Volvo Reef Grounding Report Myself and 10 other crew helped Derek Hatfield sail his Volvo 60 1,700 nm from Halifax to Antigua just over a year ago. Fortunately we hit no reefs, though we did run aground (under power) on the way into Jolly Harbour in Antigua. The boat has a long spade keel with a bulb at the bottom and carries about 12 ft of draft. Our top speed on our trip was about 22 knots, the most I had at the helm was 18 knots. At that kind of speed it's incredible there weren't serious personal injuries from the reef grounding situation. Bodies must have gone flying . . . On a side note it is not pleasant to be off-shift on that boat in tropical weather. There is no cabin ventilation whatsoever due to constant wash and spray, it's very hot inside. Cheers Steve Hood S/V Diamond Girl C&C 34 Lions Head ON _______________________________________________ Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
