Trust Is Earned Slowly, But Lost Quickly

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Beth Murphy and Jess Smiles have just won the Women’s class in the Worlds Toughest Row. The pair rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic from San Sebastian de la Gomera in the Canary Islands to English Harbour in Antigua & Barbuda. In doing so they set a new World Record as the Fastest Women’s pairs team taking just 38 days, 12 hrs and 18 min.

That’s an average of at least 78 miles a day! Something to think about next time you get on the Concept ergo at the gym…

https://www.atlantichighway39.com

The three narrowboats at the centre of the dramatic breach of the Llangollen Canal near Whitchurch in Shropshire have been rescued. All three were dragged back from the canal breech, lifted clear and refloated alongside the emergency coffer dams. In an impressive operation all three vessels were refloated to clear the canal for repair works. No forecast yet released for when these will be completed.

New Zealand company TruDesign manufacture sea cocks and skin fittings from their proprietary glass reinforced nylon composite. Their ball valves have been accredited by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency for use in engine rooms as they possess the required fire resistance according to ISO 7840.

Boat Chat thinks these are a great innovation and have been seeing more of them during surveys in recent years. Not the cheapest in the chandlery, but worth the money…

https://amzn.to/4t0y94G

Boat Chat has covered the tragic sinking and raising of the superyacht Bayesian in previous issues. Events in the last few days have brought the story back into the public eye for all the wrong reasons.

The 56m yacht was launched in 2008 and 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.

Shortly after she sank, CEO of The Italian Sea Group (TISG) and Perini Navi, Giovanni Costantino, made public statements about the sinking in which he blamed a "long list of errors" by the crew and emphasised the "unsinkable" nature of Perini Navi yachts.  He denied any design or construction flaws, claiming the yacht's structure and keel made it a very safe vessel.  

The UK’s Marine Accident and Investigation Board conducted a ‘desktop assessment’ of the incident. Their initial finding suggested the yacht's stability, especially in motoring mode (sails furled, keel raised, and in the lightly 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 63.4ktson the beam were 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.

TISG have lodged court papers naming the yacht’s holding company Revtom, owned by Mr. Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, along with the skipper and two crew members as defendants. They allege crew incompetence and negligence caused the yacht to capsize during a violent storm off Sicily.  TISG CEO Giovanni Costantino maintains his claim that the yacht was “unsinkable” and that the crew failed to secure hatches, heed weather warnings and lower the keel as conditions worsened. The company argues those failures led directly to the capsize, and to catastrophic reputational damage for the builder. The shipbuilder is seeking around £400m (€456m) in damages, claiming sales collapsed after the tragedy and that it has been wrongly blamed for the sinking.  They allege that orders worth close to £1 billion failed to materialise and that they have sold no yachts since the sinking.

Media reports suggest the Lynch family strongly rejects the claim stating “This claim is as cynical as it is predictable. The UK investigation has raised serious, unresolved questions about the yacht’s design, stability and operating characteristics, including vulnerabilities unknown to the owner and crew. This action appears designed to distract from those issues but it will not prevent proper scrutiny of how the vessel was designed, approved and built. It is desperate, opportunistic and in bad faith.”

This looks set to be a hostile period for all involved as TISG seek to pass all of the blame for the Bayesian sinking onto the crew and family. A sinking that occurred in ignorance of the vulnerabilities of the vessel in extreme wind situations. In an industry built on trust and relationships, the aggressive and hostile initial response by Giovanni Costantino before the vessel was raised set the tone and the group has since doubled down on their position thay they bear no responsibility for the sinking and loss of life.

 As a wise man once told me: ‘Trust Is Earned Slowly, But Lost Quickly’

You like reading about boats, that’s why you’re here.

Sunday Compass is another great newsletter about all things Maritime written by Fernando Gomez. Well worth checking out…

The days are getting longer and hopes of getting back out on the water are rising for many boaters. Now is the time to pop down to your boat and check the condition of the batteries. For older batteries check the electrolyte levels and top up if needed. For all batteries check the cables are secured (don’t be afraid to give them a good pull), check the voltages and ideally load test them with a battery load tester.

Battery load testers can be either digital (relies on electronics to test battery) or mechanical (applies a high resistance load to the battery). Either is a worthwhile investment to help you keep track of the state of your batteries as they all age with time (don’t we all?).

Dictation software has come on a long way in the past few years. Wispr Flow picks up what you say, no matter how quietly and transcribes it into near faultless text and can even write code! I had a play with it and was really impressed. Worth taking a look if you want to spend less time typing and editing.

Dictate PRDs, acceptance tests, and bug reproductions inside Cursor or Warp and get paste-ready text. Wispr Flow auto-tags file names and preserves variable names so your technical writing stays precise. Try Wispr Flow for engineers.

See a demo

Read other surveyor’s reports. Through my work with the IIMS I am very privileged to read a lot of survey reports from new and experienced surveyors around the world. It is a rare day that I don’t take away something positive from these reports. It’s one of the great joys about marine surveying, everyone brings their previous experience to the table and strives to get better with every job. Even the oldest of dogs can learn new things and they should try to do so.

Or to put it more simply: “Every Day Is A School Day”

Boat Chat continues to grow well and now has nearly 1000 subscribers across all platforms. It’s all about:

‘Helping people understand boats better’.

The White Hat Marine Surveying channel now has over 2,500 subscribers and is growing well. A recent video delved into the weirdest form of corrosion - RUST TUBERCLES.

With the boating world now getting ready for better weather, why not treat yourself to some 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!

Knocked down – When a (usually sailing) vessel is pushed over by wind or wave so that the mast touches the water.

Two sailors walk into a bar after an exhausting cross channel passage.

They both say ‘ouch’.

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