ARC yacht loses rudder
- Wed, 25 Nov 2009
- Comments (6)
The German yacht Auliana II, a one-off Joubert Nivelt 53 design, lost its rudder early yesterday morning, just 36 hours after the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers started off Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 22 November. Skipper Christian Potthoff-Sewing, from Bielefeld in Germany and his seven crew members were safely ashore in Arguineguin, Gran Canaria, late Monday evening.
The yacht lost its rudder at 0400 Monday morning some 70 miles southwest of Gran Canaria. The exact cause of the breakage is unknown, though the on-watch crew doesn't think that the yacht struck any debris in the water.
Unable to make steerage back toward Gran Canaria, the skipper contacted MRCC Las Palmas at 0600 on Monday, requesting assistance with a tow. At around noon, a lifeboat from the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service (Salvamento Maritima) was on station and the tow was soon underway. However, owing to the increasing wind strength (between 20 and 28 knots) and direction of the swell, the towing line repeatedly pulled deck cleats off the lightweight racing yacht.
With the daylight fading, the entire crew was evacuated from the yacht as a safety measure, though attempts to tow the yacht continued. The salvage crew was unable to secure a line to the deck-stepped mast, and after several more frustrating attempts, the decision was made to abandon the yacht and return the crew ashore.
The yacht is fitted with a Yellowbrick Iridium satellite tracker and its position is being monitored by MRCC Tenerife, as attempts continue to salvage the yacht.
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November 29 15:54
peter potthoff-sewing
I am a crewmember on the Auliana II and I was abondand and to me was clear, that lot´s of comments would come up about our situation, knowing everything better.
The tip of towingline around the mast is right, if there is some steerage in the boat.
This boat had no steerage and we spreaded the loads over both frontcleats and the strongest winches. While being towed, the Boat made to sailingdirection 120 degrees. A towingline around the mast would have snaped the frontstay easily. The risk of a breaking mast with eight people aboard is to a livetaking risk.
We had waves up to 5 meters.
Most of the crew are simelar experienced like me. I am sailing since the age of eight, did my Yachtmaster with the UKSA in Cowes and sail an Dragonfly 920 extreme in the northsea.
To leave a boat on sea is a very hard decision, but crewsafety comes first.
best regards
Peter Potthoff-Sewing
December 01 16:27
Gillie Davies
I wonder if it would have been possible to hip tow this vessel. I guess not in those conditions, and they probably thought of it anyway.
December 01 17:23
Mike Shepard
The only way to tow a yacht with no rudder is backwards. The hydrodynamic loads with just the keel keep the boat quite stable. A Nicholson 55 that lost its rudder was towed 500 miles in the N Atlantic at quite high speed by a tug. Apparently it was quite an exciting ride. Was it tried in this case?
November 23 10:47
Charlie Pank
This is inexcuseable.
I was towed 300 miles in 8-10 ft swell with no rudder in a fin-keel boat with no problems. We DID attach to (very substantial) deck cleats, but used 50ft of nylon rode, 50m of chain weighed down with 2 anchors and another 50m of rode. This configuration avoided snatching in the swell and we trailed a spinnekar pole for directional stability (total rudder failure). What a waste of a vessel and a danger to others!