Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Giles]

Yesterday, it was The Round the Island Race

I was going to race with some friends, but the boat refit ran late and I did not make it, not that I was that bothered as the weather was foul.

Coco de Mer a 66ft Gun Boat, is moored opposite SAKURA, and the crew have been on deck every day since we got back from Menorca, getting her ready for the race.

Very sad to say, the wind got the better of her on the east coast of the island, and this happened....

All the crew are fine, but so sad.

Last I heard was as we were coming back in from a cruise today, Solent Coastguard, put a "notice all mariners" out on channel 16. She is dragging her anchor and there is an exclusion zone around her.

That will be one expensive write-off.

[Karol]

@Giles
RIP
If they wanted to race trimaran or monohull would have been better option. Catamaran is not something that you buy for such task unless it’s a racing one and not a house on the water.

[Giles]

Racing catamarans is a thing, and Gunboats are one of the best options available. My friend David Thomson races one.....

Here he is on the bow, which is his speciality.......

And another when they won their class in Antigua earlier this year.....

And a simile, if I wanted to catch lots of fish, using meat or live bait is a much better option than flies or lures, but I do the latter because I personally believe it to be more fun and requires greater skill....

[Karol]

Those can almost fly, being part of the race crew must be super fun but freaking physically demanding.
Me being lazy and risk averse would go for something from https://www.neel-trimarans.com/
The 52 is the sweetest https://www.neel-trimarans.com/range/neel-52/

[Giles]

Trimarans flipped too....

[goosehd]

I truly love the water and have great respect for it. It constantly amazes me how quickly the seas can change and how devastating brutal they can be.

[Giles]

I chatted to some mates in the know, the current thought is that Coco de Mer suffered a rudder failure, then she was completely at the mercy.....

[Karol]

@Giles sweet mother of darkness!!
Freaking humbling experience, the conditions that does that … , or the hubris.

[Giles]

I am sure, a bit of both........

[tody]

@Giles said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

suffered a rudder failure

No Orcas to be found, though?

[Giles]

Not that I know of

[Karol]

It sure looks like the behavior is spreading among the population
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/orca-rams-yacht-off-shetland-first-such-incident-northern-waters

[endo]

oh

[Giles]

Bits of Coco de Mer being bought back......

[goosehd]

Some discussion on the capsize: https://forums.sailinganarchy.com/threads/gun-boat-66-capsized.242724/

Interesting read and definitely sad…

[Karol]

@Giles @goosehd very sad, but it’s good that all on board were OK. The movie that You found in above post @goosehd kind of shows what lead to it. They were really pushing it to the limit, and usually in true racing catamarans you can move the entire crew on the opposite side to balance this out, but here plenty of mass is fixed. There is awesome picture in the same thread showing “points of no return”

https://forums.sailinganarchy.com/attachments/1688238123818-png.600468/

[Giles]

Off to Austria for a few days tomorrow to see @Chap and fam.

So we have shut SAKURA down. We'll have engineers on board quite a lot sorting out warranty issues, but she looks nice and snug....

[Giles]

Had some fam over today, so we went over to The Island for a swim. Saw some friends out and a bout on their boat, so we buzzed them.....

[goosehd]

@Giles said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

Saw some friends out and a bout on their boat, so we buzzed them.....

Is that code for you hit another boat

[goosehd]

…and there are easier ways to make and meet friends…