LOST KEEL!!! How Did They Sail Home?!?!?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Unfortunately many catastrophic keel failures on monohull sailing yachts end in tragedy, like the Beneteau 40.7 Cheeki Rafiki, which lost her keel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which led to all four sailors on board tragically losing their lives.
But there are rare cases when keel failures don’t end badly, and the crew miraculously managed to sail home, like the crew of this Hotfoot 27 Hay Tor.
This video describes how they did it, and provides some tips on what you can do if you find yourself with large holes in your boat.
For more examples, including a test of the tarp method, Sail World did some great videos comparing various techniques for dealing with holed boats: • Yachting Monthly's Cra... (part 1) and • Yachting Monthly's Cra... (part 2).
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The crash blanket sounds handy, and many of us have lots of practice deploying spinnakers in a similar fashion!
I've actually done it for real after colliding with something (we think a shipping container) on a trans-Atlantic trip in 1975. In our case the damage was far less severe but the canvas over the hull kept the inflow well under control while we did some more substantial repairs.
Thanks for your testimonial! One of the sailing magazines also did a test a few years back of various methods to plug holes in boats and this was by far the best. Given that I’m surprised it’s not part of the safety requirements.
Yeah, but then the reason you aren't capsizing is the wind coming directly from behind, you probably want the spinnaker as a spinnaker?
@@lachlanhines7644 I don’t think I’d use a spinnaker as a crash blanket because it’s pretty easy to tear on the sharp edges of a fractured hull. But a nylon sail bag, or a Dacron sail, or even more ideally a piece of heavy tarp with grommets in the corners and pre-attached lines to fish it under the hull would work great!
A charter yacht sailing in Cornwall lost her keel on the way out, made her journey and back again..all before they realised.
Polyester resin car body filler is pretty good at temporarily sealing cracks , even below water. It is cheap and sets quickly, you can hold it in place with a gloved hand…but might have issues getting the glove out…and your hand…. Obviously you would have to first plug those big holes.
Good suggestion! Another approach is to have a heavy tarp with grommets in the corners and lines attached to fish under the boat and the water pressure will hold the tarp against the hull and seal the holes (temporarily).
I'm glad everyone on Hay Tor was alright. Having to stop bailing so they could send the Coast Guard their coordinates was a twisted irony!!
Yes, they could have benefitted from making a DCS (Digital Selective Calling) distress call which would have included their GPS coordinates, but presumably they didn’t have a DCS-compatible radio on board, and none was required for this race.
very lucky that they were heading down wind when it happened and there was also a safe harbour downwind! without the lateral resistance of the keel they would have been unable to sail in any other direction
Yes they were very lucky that the prevailing favourable downwind conditions allowed them to sail home! And the seamanship of the crew was also exceptional!
@@SailingTipsCa agreed!
We love you so much so good that the crew got back safe
I’m so glad they made it back safe too!!!
Hi Garry, It looks like you had an interesting ride in the Swiftsure, Hope to see a video on how it was on your boat.
Thanks
Glenn
Yes we broke our rudder shortly after rounding the mark at Clallum Bay and wound up sailing 35 miles home with a jury rigged canoe paddle rudder in a gale! I’m just going through the footage and hopefully can post a video!
@@SailingTipsCa Any time I looked on the tracker you were doing 8+ knots on the way home. With a canoe paddle for a rudder? That’s impressive!
Your description of a bucket was pretty much told to me as "The most reliable pump in the world, is a scared sailor with a bucket. Just pray you never need it sonny."
Yup that’s pretty much it! And hopefully that scared sailor can reach the water and it’s not inaccessible beneath the cabin sole!
@@SailingTipsCa Yup, you could actually call the sailor the 'ultimate multitool' - arm him with a bucket and he's pump, and fire fighting system. Give him a flat piece of board as an oar, he's a propulsion system. All he asks in return is a berth space, 3 square, his regulation tot and shore leave where there are loose women to help repopulate the planet.
@@efnissien LOL yes good sailors are very versatile!
Over the last four decades, I noticed that some anchor spots have lost popularity and others - far less attractive - are now frequently used. I assume this type of keel is the main reason, requiring not only more depth but being way more fragile when touching ground.
I think it really depends on the area. Some places have notoriously shallow water but around here in the Northern Pacific it's pretty deep so lots of boats have deep fin keels around here. But there are still some reefs and rocks which are unforgiving, and can easily damage such boats!
NB crash blanket works for holes in front of the keel (unless the keel is missing and then you can get it further back!). It won't work for holes alongside or behind the keel.
Good point - you need the water pressure to be pushing the crash blanket against the hull and not sucking it off! Presumably most collision damage (e.g. from floating objects) would be in front of the keel…
Review of the Malizia Bow shape?
That’s a great video suggestion - thanks!!!
they are so lucky,, good they are all safe and back on land,,,, so lucky they were heading downwind as well when they lost the keel if they were beating upwind then for sure the boat would of capsized without warning ,, as a dinghy sailor myself heading trying ot get into keel boats we always remove the dagger board when going downwind
Yes a crew of four is certainly not enough ballast to keep that boat upright going upwind! I think they used their dinghy skills to get home without the keel!
Hay tor , Dartmoor England ❤❤
Cool - thanks for watching!!!
Captain Cook did this when the Endeavour ran aground on on the Great Barrier reef near Cooktown. No Coast Guard back then.
I was only thinking about captain cook when I was driving the sinking hotfoot 27 back home, god bless his soul
Captain Cook survived some serious ordeals - grounding, mutiny - at least the crew of Hay Tor didn't have to deal with a mutiny!
Even with the wind dead aft, it's shocking they didn't capsize.
I know - that boat has a very rounded bottom and very little form stability!
Is that called "fothering"? I learned that from the Master and Commander novels.
Yes I think that's exactly what it's called to use a a piece of fabric to stop a leak! Except only people who have read Master and Commander still know it by that term ;-)
Your tarp wouldn't do diddly. Clay corks, soft wood and mallets, tar, etc.
The tarp isn’t completely watertight but it does reduce a geyser that will sink a boat in minutes to a trickle that can be managed by a bilge pump. I would have done a video on this but Sail World already did: th-cam.com/video/bRhcXBtmPQs/w-d-xo.html (part 1) and th-cam.com/video/eUg3TUmnQBs/w-d-xo.html (part 2).
Fucking hell. Top men.
I agree!!!
Cheeky rafiki was hauling cocaine
That shouldn't cause the keel to fall off!
@@SailingTipsCa Maybe the keel was loaded . Or prepared without knowing
A route without stops avoiding customs . Has been out of the water with keel issues. On previous occasions .
Inuedo dont pass start Dont get 200 pounds on the radio .
No beacons able to trace the vessel ..
@@jeroenvanrixel7980 Certainly possible! The boat had allegedly been grounded and repaired previously which could have contributed to the failure.
@@SailingTipsCa exactly my tought they fiddled with it before .considering 1 kg of coke goes for 50.000 usd .
Its not uncommon for reacreation sailor who loiter in the Caribbean or Latin America to be in hauling coke bussines .
How else they can afford such an expensive hobby 😏
But just soeculation
@@jeroenvanrixel7980 It’s big business for sure!!!
Multihulls sail the world without ballast for thousands of years. And it doesn't make any breaking news.
LOL you're right - except they do have other means of keeping upright (floatation) and providing lateral resistance (dagger boards)!