Cheeki Rafiki
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Keelboat classes
Forum Name: Keelboat news and development
Forum Discription: All the latest developments for yachts
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11479
Printed Date: 26 Jun 25 at 3:29pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Cheeki Rafiki
Posted By: Noah
Subject: Cheeki Rafiki
Date Posted: 19 May 14 at 6:52pm
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Why is there absolutely no news either on Y&Y.com or on the forum about the disappearance of this British yacht, crewed by Brits? Its on the http://Sailing%20Anarchy" rel="nofollow - Sailing Anarchy front page! See the http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/u-s-coastguard-restart-the-search-for-the-missing-cheekirafiki-crew-dontstopsearching" rel="nofollow - on-line petition here to put USCG in the spotlight and get the search restarted. Please sign it! ------------- Nick D-Zero 316 |
Replies:
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 19 May 14 at 8:53pm
| Signed. Its on Radio 4 now |
Posted By: ASok
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 9:47am
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Yes its really strange the lack of coverage here.
Saw the petition yesterday and signed immediately. Not sure how much sway that will have, but its good to see the numbers behind it have raised the profile enough to make mainstream news. |
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 11:34am
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+1 and Facebooked it, I'm optimistic, they knew they had problems so will hopefully have prepared their life raft, a container ship appears to have clocked the upturned hull, so if the US coastguard can be persuaded to calculate the drift from that point they might have a chance of finding them.
Don't these life rafts things have some sort of transponder on them these days? ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: ASok
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 1:23pm
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Yes, but I think they have a short battery life.
I read that the key thing now is for someone to properly check the capsized boat. They need to examine whether there are survivors (i.e. Tony Bullimore style) and whether the life raft is present. If its gone then the crew could be tucked away safely on it. Fingers crossed. |
Posted By: Telltale
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 1:42pm
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Signed and Fb 'ed. Is the are facility on the the site to PM the link to members?
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Posted By: davecooper
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 2:58pm
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I hate to say it, but I'm pessimistic: the photo from the Maersk box carrier shows the hull inverted, awash, and without its keel. My guess is that the original leak was cracking near the keel. At some point the keel dropped off and the boat inverted. I don't think that would allow time for the liferaft. The fact that they didn't call on the satphone to say they were abandoning and the liferaft epirb wasn't activated seem to support a catastrophic scenario. Dave |
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 3:12pm
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Yes but there is the suggestion that the beacons they fired do not work in or underwater so they had to be fired relatively dry and one was fired after the other, not that I have the first idea about any of this and am just grasping at straws.
They've resumed the search at least so we can't ask for more, like everyone else I'm just hope and praying. ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: RichTea
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 3:39pm
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27486648#TWEET1134228 The search is back on..... ------------- RS200 |
Posted By: Oatsandbeans
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 7:35pm
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Your heart goes out to all the sailors and the loved ones involved in this, but it does focus the mind on keels and their attachments. In the old days it never really mattered much as the keels were small and the loads were low. Sadly in some of today's "cruiser racers", ( I have no knowledge of this specific design), this is not the case and when things go wrong it is catastrophic with big keels being attached incorrectly to hull shells, most of the times it works, sometimes it doesnt.
Here is my list of things to do for anyone who has a cruiser racer that does overnight passagges. Make sure that someone competent has surveyed the keel area, looking for any cracking, movement - its not rocket science you can do it yourself once you know what to look for. The interface of the keel bolts to the laminate are crucial, small washers onto thin skins are not good, large thick SS plates well seated onto a good hull inner skin are good. Overdesign in this area is what you want. As a skipper always carry out a check to see that all is in order before a big trip. Brief everybody to prepare them for the worst case scenrio when it all goes dark, everything turns upside down and water starts to come in fast. They need to be mentally prepared for this and have pre-worked out how to get from their bunk and out of an upturned hull in the dark. I dont wear an inflating life jacket for this reason. |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 7:42pm
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I assume you mean self inflating lifejacket?
------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: Oatsandbeans
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 7:47pm
| Yes, having a self inflating lifejacket on in the dark in an upside down boat, when you are in an air pocket and have to swim out does not sound like a lot of fun to me. I would take my chance on the other scenarios where a self inflating one may be better ( boom on the head knocked overboard), as the keel falling off and getting put of the sinking hull is so unpleasant. I want everything going for me and having a life jacket inflate just after I have started my,swim out, sounds like my worst nightmare! |
Posted By: Telltale
Date Posted: 20 May 14 at 10:18pm
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First of all I have little knowledge of how to fix a keel to a thin/light hull, but on a windsurfing mast foot part of the construction includes a tether, (see pic). The idea is that if the mast foot universal joint fails, the tether keeps the board and mast attached. Could the keel not be tethered to the boat with a high tech rope glassed into the hull, even if it didn't last long it might give you time for a mayday, life boat launch.
 |
Posted By: Oatsandbeans
Date Posted: 21 May 14 at 7:28am
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Having your keel fall off the hull and then be tethered to the hull with a length of rope would not probably help the situation. It would not stabilise the boat, so it would still flip over, you then would have the keel banging against the hull. So if the hull had watertight integrity when the keel came off, it wouldn't for long with the keel banging into it.
What you need is a well engineered hull shell, internal structure, fixing details and keel structure. This is a chain and the weakest element in the chain can lead to a failure. What you don't want is to lose the integrity of the hull skin as that is critical to keeping the boat afloat , even if inverted, for as long as possible. The whole thing has to take the normal sailing loads without failure, but also has to fail in a progressive and controllable manner if it sees an extreme loading, eg. Hitting an object at speed-again without letting the water in! |
Posted By: sargesail
Date Posted: 21 May 14 at 8:14am
| The other thing is to ensure that the gear is strapped down so that things ike the batteries are not escaping as you try to. A big bank of batteries is also a threat to the hull integrity when it drops from 6 feet up. But there is no reason that these things woul prevent the crew from being alive inside, or on the raft. |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 23 May 14 at 9:16pm
| BBC reports a US warship has found the hull, capsized and minus keel. They've knocked on the hull ad received no response. |
Posted By: craiggo
Date Posted: 23 May 14 at 9:34pm
| On the basis that the USCG will call off the search in the morning, would they have put a beacon on the hull to allow future recovery? |
Posted By: Noah
Date Posted: 24 May 14 at 7:40am
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USCG Report that the life raft is still on board. http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2168318/" rel="nofollow - http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2168318/ . My thoughts are for the families now. RIP. ------------- Nick D-Zero 316 |
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 24 May 14 at 10:53am
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Not the outcome anyone would have wished, but it's good that the USCG have done what they have to bring a little closure, everyone in the sailing communities thoughts will be with the family. RIP. ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: pondscum
Date Posted: 24 May 14 at 8:05pm
| Andy Bridge was a Cadet sailor at my club Frensham. Awful. |