I have read about smaller boats capsizing.
They were sailing with keel unsecured.
In a 90 degree heel the keel, possibly aided by wave action, swung up with enough force to smash the hull.
This put out as a warning about the possible result of sailing with the keel winched up to an intermediate position in a quest for a compromise between speed and stability.
-------------------- Ohm's law
Not just a good idea; It's the LAW!
Boats are designed to be water tight up to a 60 degree list. If the boat laid over to 90 it would have immediately begun sinking. Engineroom ventilation is a likely source for water ingress.
Smaller vessels like this use fuel for ballast so their stability condition changes throughout the voyage. The stability letter lays out fuel consumption plans on order to maintain best stability. Not following the letter may be as big of a contributing factor as operating with the keel retracted.
It's also possible the vessel lost its keel.
It's nearly impossible to evacuate from a boat laying on its side. Ladders and stairs don't work anymore.
I'm hoping they've now given up trying to "rescue" people from a wreck sitting under 50m of water. For a while, that really looked like it was setting up to kill a diver or two.
Rolling past 30 degrees is always dangerous as that is when unsecured items start flying.
Rolling to 45 degrees means there is no difference between the deck and bullhead. If you're on the wrong side of the boat you're going to fall to the bulkhead below, potentially 40 feet in a boat this size.
The boat may be able to right itself from 88 degrees but if it gets knocked down to that level, everyone is going to be injured maybe some dead. The boat will be in total disarray.
There was a tug some time back that rolled and came back upright. All of the deck plates scattered, the batteries flew out of the battery boxes and the bilge water coated everything in a film of oil that made it impossible to move about in the engine room, exacerbated by the missing deck plates.
Before you call off the search, don't forget about this guy.
Anyone initially surviving in an air pocket will most likely be done by oxygen toxicity by now.
164 Feet depth, over 5 atmospheres, probably not survivable for this long..
-------------------- Ohm's law
Not just a good idea; It's the LAW!
The guy above was down for 3 days but I think it was 80 feet. His skin was already starting to peel off. I can't imagine having the wherewithall to find and drink coca cola cans in absolute blackness, upside down, while experiencing oxygen narcosis.
The Apollo missions flew on 5psi-absolute pure oxygen. Apollo 1 ground test was done with 5psi-guage pure oxygen (5psi above atmosphere). All future ground tests was done with 5psi-gaage air.
Having survived a total knockdown (mast in the water) in a racing yacht with fixed keel I'm a bit unimpressed by some of the alarmism here. Yes, some water went down the companion way which was open but since it had storm boards or whatever you call them not much water got in and we had very little bailing to do. I must admit, the funniest thing was the expression on the skipper's face ( I was sat opposite him) as he got dunked. We continued the race.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
It's alarmism because the vast majority of people have no likelihood of being on a super sailing yacht much less dying on one, much less being trapped far below the ocean surface in a small unlit compartment with high pressure nitrogen intoxication.
Considering that had the main character in this story not been a billionaire he would not have died, it seems like that is even more remote. No one would pay attention if it were not for the billionaire. That alone is alarming from a societal point of view that money is seen as making one life more important than another.
On the other hand a similar number of people die each year in lakes and rivers after wading in from the bank. Raising the alarm about first finding out what the water situation is like before entering is more useful.
I agree with most of that (and observe that when fishing boats capsize taking the crew with them, I'm not used to seeing the same reckless rescue efforts). Just not sure "alarmism" is the word I'd have chosen.
