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Maritime News

Two Dead After Mexican Navy Tall Ship Hits Bridge

Mexican Navy training ship ARM Cuauhtémoc allided with New York’s Brooklyn Bridge on May 18^th resulting in the deaths of two people with a further 19 injured and in a critical condition.  All personnel on the ship had been accounted for and no-one was reported to have fallen in the water. 

The Cuauhtémoc sailed for the first time in 1982 and was 91m long (297ft), had a beam of 12m (40ft) and an air draft of 48.2m (158ft).  Each year the vessel sets sail at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets' training.  This year it left the Mexican port of Acapulco in April, with a final destination of Iceland with scheduled stops along the way including Aberdeen in July for the city's Tall Ships race.  She was towed from the scene after the crash and an investigation has been initiated by the US National Transportation Safety Board.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said she was deeply saddened by the loss of two crew members in the accident.  Far too early to offer any speculation on cause, Boat Chat send thoughts and prayers to the crew and families of all those involved in this tragic incident.

Diver Dies Trying To Raise Superyacht Bayesian

Dutch national and commercial diver 39-year-old Rob Huijben died during preliminary operations to recover the superyacht Bayesian, which sank in 50 meters of water off the coast of Sicily in August 2024.  The tragedy claimed  seven lives including its owner, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.Rob Huijben was working for the SMIT Salvage team at the time of the incident.

The cause of the yacht’s sinking remains unclear. Italian prosecutors are investigating the ship’s captain and chief engineer under manslaughter charges for failing to prevent the vessel capsizing. The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch has this week published its interim report into the sinking, more on which later. The recovery operation is expected to last for several weeks.

Narrowboats to Westminster

A 26-strong flotilla of boats from waterways campaigning group, Fund Britain’s Waterways, stopped by the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday May 7^th as a call to the nation’s policy makers to safeguard Britain’s inland waterways. The journey began with the initial group of boats setting off from Strawberry Island Boat Club in Doncaster in late March, aiming to raise awareness and being joined by other boats along the way. On reaching Parliament, the starting boats had been through 172 locks.

The flotilla included a pair of working fuel boats, a historic narrowboat, a Dutch barge and privately owned narrowboats from across the country.  They wanted to highlight the battle to maintain the UK’s failing canal infrastructure, pollution threats and to seek assurances to safeguard the future for the 5,000 mile network.

They arrived to cheers from supporters on Westminster Bridge and sounded their horns drawing the attention of MPs gathered on the Palace’s terrace ahead of Prime Minister’s questions.

Boat Chat Focus - Challenges Are Opportunities In Disguise

Last weekend saw the 63rd Ten Tors event with teams of 6 teenagers hiking 35, 45 or 55 miles over Dartmoor. It’s a tough enough challenge for most adults but when you’re 13 or 14…

My daughter’s team started the 35 mile event just after dawn on Saturday and had a tough day, just covering enough miles to have a chance of finishing on Sunday. With one managing an ankle injury that worsened on day two, the team took it in turns to carry their rucksack for 20kms. Hiking, on Dartmoor, carrying 25-30kgs against the clock isn’t easy, especially when you’re 14.

They came home as a complete team after showing resilience, courage, compassion and teamwork on an epic scale. A humbling experience to watch and a deeply inspiring moment to share with my daughter and her team mates. 

Challenges come in all shapes and sizes and the people who take them on and all have a story to tell.

On May 24th 28 year old Ella Hibbert (aka Ella in the Arctic) will slip her lines in Gosport and head north to attempt the first circumnavigation of the Arctic in summer.  It’s a journey that shouldn’t be possible but due to climate change and the retreat of the polar ice cap now is.  Ella’s voyage also aims to support two charities working tirelessly to protect the Arctic: Polar Bears International and the Ocean Conservancy.

On her Bruce Roberts designed 38 foot steel yacht ‘Yeva’ she will set out from Haslar Marina in the Solent, up the East coast of England, to a start point on the 66.5°N latitude of the Arctic Circle between Norway and Iceland. Then, around Iceland, southern Greenland, through Canada across the Northwest Passage, then across Northern Alaska, and into Russian waters. She will then cross the Laptev and Kara seas (Northeast Passage) and eventually return to her starting point near Norway, before heading back down the coastline of the UK and arriving home at Haslar Marina.  It’s an epic journey of nearly 10,000 miles and she hopes to complete it in 5 months.  Find out more about her amazing challenge here:

https://ellainthearctic.co.uk

Of course, some people’s challenges are not voluntary or driven by ambition and aspiration.  Some are just the result of life dealing you a duff hand that has to be managed or endured.  This where some of the UK’s amazing charities such as the Disabled Sailors Association come in.  Their vision is to allow sailors of all abilities the chance to participate in sailing, rather than spectate, no matter the complexity of their needs. To give people of any type of disability the freedom to explore their ability, potential and place through inclusive sailing adventures.  Sailing a yacht when you are in a wheelchair is no small feat and the DSA have a modified catamaran and yacht to deliver amazing experiences to disabled sailors.

The charity is headed up by Mike Wood MBE who has been a wheelchair user since a road accident severely damaged his spinal cord in 1978.  The charity has a range of boats and dinghies to enable sailors with any disability to try sailing.  Over the last 30 years about 50,000 people have got out on the water with the DSA. The charity is currently fundraising to buy a new catamaran and are 83% of the way to their target of £1million.  If you or your company’s values align with the Disabled Sailors Association’s work, head to their JustGiving page below and give them a boost:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/DSA

Another charity with a mission that is close to my heart is Forces Veterans Afloat, an organization that brings together both veteran and civilian boaters to refurbish and provide narrowboats to British Armed Forces veterans. Their mission is to assist veterans who are homeless, about to become homeless, or living in accommodations that do not provide a stable environment. Through community engagement, we are committed to making a lasting impact in the lives of those who served our country.

The charity owns 9 boats, three already deployed with veterans, one almost ready to deploy, a 70ft, 104-year-old flagship NB Daisy and the rest waiting either refurbishment or a decision on their future.  

The charity is very new and only started in December last year. Money is tight and donations of goods and services are vital for them to continue their much needed work. By their own admission, they may not help hundreds of people but seeing the change in the lives and wellbeing of the veterans they do help makes it clear that what they do is needed and life-changing.  

The boats awaiting refurbishment are currently kept at marinas and boat yards on the Derbyshire - Nottinghamshire border.  If you are local to the area and have skills or time to donate, please reach out to the charity.  Financial donations are of course always very welcome and you can contact them via their website:

https://www.fva.org.uk

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What Happened On Superyacht Bayesian?

The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch this week released its interim report into the foundering of super yacht ‘Bayesian’ in August 2024 resulting in the loss of 6 guests and one crew member. Owner Mike Lynch was among the dead along with members of his family and friends. ‘Bayesian’ was built by Perini Navi and sank in 50m of water off the coast of Sicily and a salvage operation is currently underway.

In the initial round of speculation as to what happened, President of the The Italian Sea Group (TISG) and CEO of Perini Navi, Giovanni Costantino, made public statements about the sinking of ‘Bayesian’.  He blamed a "long list of errors" by the crew and emphasised the "unsinkable" nature of Perini yachts.  He denied any design or construction flaws, claiming the yacht's structure and keel made it a very safe vessel. 

The MAIB’s initial findings from a ‘desktop assessment’ suggest the yacht's stability, especially in motoring mode (sails furled, keel raised, and in the loaded arrival state with 10% consumables on board) may have been vulnerable to high winds especially from the beam.   Their study (assisted by the University of Southampton’s Wolfson Unit for Marine Technology and Industrial Aerodynamics) determined that the angle of vanishing stability for ‘Bayesian’ in this condition was 70.6° and heeling beyond this angle meant there was no chance of a return to an even keel.

The investigation has also established that, in the assumed loss condition, wind speeds in excess of 63.4kts on the beam would be sufficient to knock  ‘Bayesian’ over. A Met Office study and local observations indicated the probable transient presence of hurricane force winds were well in excess of 64kts at the time of the accident. Survivor reports suggest that the vessel was fully knocked down to an angle of 90°; downflooding and foundering would have been inevitable at this angle of heel.

Interestingly, these stability vulnerabilities when in the motoring condition were not identified in the stability information book carried on board. Consequently, they were unknown to the owner and the crew of ‘Bayesian’.  Had they been aware of such limitations, the crew’s plans and actions for dealing with very high winds, may have been very different and led to a different outcome.

As the MAIB sensibly concludes, until the vessel has been recovered and investigated further, these initial findings should be taken as being purely indicative of what happened.

What Else Is Going On?

Crick Boat Show 2025 at Crick Marina in Northamptonshire is next weekend.  Britain’s biggest inland waterways boat show opens its doors to trade visitors on Friday 23^rd May before the public arrive on Saturday.  It is Britain’s largest inland waterways boat show and draws hundreds of exhibitors, thousands of visitors and has more dogs than Crufts!

Boat Chat has business cards at the ready, a list of exhibitors to visit, contacts to catch up with and new ones to make.  Several stands have caught my eye and are on the visit list:

• Adrift Boats - To see their innovative all plastic (HDPE) narrowboat with VETUS e-drive.  A glimpse of the future for our canals?

• Bluewater Boats Ltd - Fellow YouTubers and creators of well prepared and beautiful finished narrowboats and barges

• Haven Knox-Johnston - Show sponsors, marine insurers and all round good eggs.

• Kingsground - Boat builders that won last year’s Best in Show with NB ‘Highgrove’. Can they make it two years in a row with ‘Kingham’?

• PRO Electrical – Plug and play lithium battery pack designed for narrowboats in 12 and 24V from 3.7-30.0kWh

Plus an extensive choice of boat ownership seminars from Waterways World Technical Editor Mark Langley and Masterclasses from the likes of Tiffany Gale-Haynes from Kingsground , Shaun Moir from Adrift Boats and Paul Knox-Johnston

To finish the day, there is a choice of 49 cask real ales!  What’s not to like?

Full report to follow in next month’s Boat Chat.

Boat Chat Continues To Grow

Boat Chat continues to grow well and now has over 700 subscribers across all platforms.

Alongside that, the White Hat Marine Surveying YouTube channel continues to upload videos for boat owners, brokers and surveyors all intended to:

‘Helping people understand boats better’.

In a recent video, marine surveyor David Pestridge found milky gearbox oil during a pre-purchase survey of a Hanse 430e sailing yacht. If water can get in, oil can get out and it will need more than just a quick oil change to put things right. Most boat owners check the engine oil level before starting the engine, but gearboxes are seldom afforded the same attention.

Surveyor’s Top Tip for this month - With the sun making an extended visit to the skies (above the UK as well for a change), solar panels will be working hard. If you have some fitted on your boat, take a little time to give them a morning check before they get going.

Check cables are well secured and in good condition, fixings are secure and tight and give them a quick clean. In the middle of the day, check their peak output panel by panel to see if any aren’t ‘firing on all cylinders’ and have cells that have failed. Also check all interior cables for condition, security and any heat build up which suggests failure may be imminent. Finally use any solar charge controller apps (e.g. Victron Connect) to check the battery bank’s State of Charge and history for any unusual readings. If you have a multimeter, use it to check the charging voltage of each battery within a bank to make sure they are all being charged (should be roughly equal across the batteries depending on the charging connection layout).

Great Kit Ideas

With the boating season now upon us, it is time to start thinking about new gear for the boat owners or marine surveyors in your life or as a treat for your boat. I have put together several collections on Kit.Co which are all personally recommended items and most of which I own.

From boat safety equipment to books about sailing and the tools and books a marine surveyor needs; there really is something for everyone!

Boaty Terminology

Foundering - When a ship fills with water and sinks.

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