BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter July 2019

Contacts:Kath Liddiard (Commodore)01443 227928

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Becky Goddard (Treasurer) 01749 346818

Future Trips

1.1Jeff Woolmer will skipper a weekend sail from Plymouth on August 9 – 11. A Bavaria 36 has been chartered from Plymouth Yacht Charter. This is fully booked and paid, and crew information has been sent to all going.

1.2As Alan Howells will not be able to take another boat handling practice trip, Jeff Birkin has offered to replace Alan and will skipper this on the weekend of October 4 – 6. A Bavaria 36 has been booked from Liberty at Plymouth. This is fully booked and will cost £80 per person, due by September 2nd.

1.3Phil Steele will skipper a weekend from Plymouth on October11 – 13. This will be on a Bavaria 36 from Plymouth Yacht Charter at QAB, and will cost £88 per person, due by September 6th.

2.Recent trips

Trip reports A reminder that Chris Wallace has asked for all members who provide trip reports to include the type and name of the boat, and the names of all crew, so that the reports can be completely listed and referenced on the website. Photographs sent to webmaster@bristolsailing.org.uk would also be very welcome.

At the June meeting we had a report from Bob Buchanan who took his Coastal Skipper course in the Canary Islands. We also have the first of Julia and Chris Wallace’s reports this year, as they sail Aremiti back from the Med to the UK.

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Trip on Cora, skippered by

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3. MAIB fatal accident report

At the July meeting Jeff Birkin gave a precis of the MAIB report on the death of Bristolian Simon Speirs during the Round the World Clipper race in 2017. There are some lessons to be learned from this which affect all who sail. Here is Jeff’s report.

This is my précis of the MAIB report into the sad loss of Simon Speirs. The full report is available at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d079e0240f0b609cab64d40/2019-7-CV30.pdf

You may not agree with the items I chose to highlight, leave out or present as important however, this what I believed was most relevant to our club.

I make no comment other than to observe that the circumstances of fate, like sand in the wind, can heap against your door until, unaware of the change, your door is sealed.

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CV30 is a Chinese built 21.3m length yacht, 34.7 tonnes displacement of a foam reinforced plastic construction. It had a crew of 1 professional skipper and 16 sailors with varying degrees of skill, experience and knowledge of the boat. The crew were split into 2 watches, Union watch and Jack watch

6 crew were there for the entire circumnavigation including Simon Speirs, a 60 year old retired solicitor and a lifelong dinghy sailor from Bristol. Simon held RYA qualifications including Level 2 powerboat, Coastal skipper, YM offshore theory and qualified to skipper charter yachts on flotilla holidays. He also completed the Clipper Ventures coxswain course which meant, in the event of the skipper becoming incapacitated, he could take command and safely deliver CV30 to a safe port.

Simon was highly respected by the crew and known for being safety conscious, an excellent watch leader and he undertook the majority of sail repair work - a frequent endeavour. Clipper Ventures has a SOP manual which all crew, especially the skipper, have to be thoroughly conversant with. The crew manual stated ‘Never clip on to the steering pedestal, sheets or running rigging, standing rigging - and importantly - pulpit/pushpit, guard wires or stanchions.

The skipper of CV30 was regarded as very safety conscious and talked the crew through a number of ‘what if’ scenarios. He assessed the strength of the crew and during an earlier leg of the race chose not to sail competitively due to the demographic of the crew.

Whilst in Gosport, prior to the start of the race, after consultation with other skippers who had completed previous races, the skipper decided that for extra safety of those working on the foredeck in the event of a sudden heeling, he would fit secondary jackstays running the length of the vessel. In common with what others before had rigged, this was accomplished by means of a line threaded through the loops at the base of the stanchions. The intention was the crew would be attached with their long tether to a primary jackstay and the short tether to the secondary jackstay.

During earlier legs of the race steering wheels in the fleet had become loose and repair parts were being fitted as they became available. On CV30 the starboard wheels suffered from excessive play so all helming had to be undertaken from the port wheel.

Normally the CV yachts sail with the staysail permanently rigged and, if not in use, would be strapped to the deck. Also, sails are normally stowed in the forward locker cabin and passed up and down via the hatch. However, due to an ongoing issue of leaks and problems with the bilge pumps in the forward locker, it was decided to stow sails on the deck against the guard wires and netting, in rough weather.

Leg 3 from Cape Town to Freemantle Australia began on 19th October 2017. Crew ages on this leg ranged from 29-63 with an average age of 50. All the crew had undertaken training before setting off on this leg including MOB recovery in relatively rough conditions. Simon began Leg 3 as an assistant watch leader for Jack watch having asked to step back from the watch leader role.

4th November during very rough seas under the weight of water washing over the deck and hitting the Yankee (Y) sail it broke its lashings and pushed against 2 stbd forward stanchions causing the bases to sheer off. A temporary fix was made - it was too rough to be on the foredeck making more fundamental repairs and no better repair solution was available in any case. This stanchion failure resulted in the temporary/secondary jackstay being released from the stanchion bases at these points and far more slack in the jackstay. It was later identified that these stanchions had previously been re-welded and, as there were no replacements in Freemantle, they were again re-welded before the start of leg 4.

8th November and the yacht suffered damage to 2 mainsail battens. Also, a crew member mistook the vang struts for the main sail outhaul and accidentally overtightened it causing it to buckle. A temporary kicker was then rigged to control leech tension. Same day and the Jack watch leader fell from his bunk injuring his hand and had to be confined below decks. Simon Speirs therefore became Jack watch leader again.

16th November due to failure of forestay shackles on other boats, instructions were sent to all yachts to add lashing to the shackles and, to reduce the loads, they were given strict limits on the conditions head sails were to be used. The apparent wind limit for a Y3 was 24 knots. The medic also injured her hand and was confined below decks. Simon felt lousy due to a hacking cough common with heavy colds being suffered by other members of the crew.

18th November they were approximately 1500nm from Freemantle, Western Australia, in F5-7 winds and sea conditions describes as rough. Sailing downwind with a full main and 2 preventers rigged as per SOP, the staysail was lashed to the deck and the boat was under reasonable control. 14:00 with strengthening and gusting winds the skipper decided that it was sensible to play it safe and reduce the Y3 foresail before it exceeded the new recommended maximum limit. His plan was to accomplish this on change of watch from Union to Jack and use the crew from both watches for the Y3 with the main being reefed after as it required fewer crew and could be accomplished by oncoming Jack watch alone.

With 5 crew, including Simon on the foredeck - all clipped on - the skipper on the helm then put the wind behind them to reduce load on the sail by sheltering it behind the main. They began lowering the sail, with the 3 crew on the port side gathering and securing to the stanchions as Simon and the bowman lowered the sail. The task was proving very difficult and the skipper sent a further crewman to assist. Simon was standing on the stbd (high side) between the inner forestay and main forestay.

14:14 a large wave approached but the foredeck crew could not hear the warning shouted by the skipper. The foredeck slewed to starboard as it fell into a trough and was awash. During this the bowman lost his grip and fell overboard. At the time, he was clipped to the stbd jackstay by his long tether and the pulpit itself by his short tether. It is possible and likely that, at this point, Simon unclipped his short tether to move and assist the bowman which explained why he was only secured by his long tether. The yacht then slewed to port causing an accidental gybe. The block acting as a kicker failed releasing leech tension and the main filled on the wrong side held at power by the preventers.

The Y 3 was still 1/4 raised and now backfilled with 3 crew trapped between it and the staysail already on deck.

Simon was then washed or fell overboard on the stbd side at a point, possibly between the 2 failed stanchions which could not offer the support to the netting and rails normally available to the rest of the safety netting system. The crew managed to ease the preventers and partially de-powered the main allowing the skipper to turn back to a stbd tack. As all this was happening the mainsheet acquired a riding turn on the winch.

The bowman managed to get himself back aboard without assistance - partly because of the location of his short tether - and saw Simon with his lifejacket inflated being dragged along by this tether. He tried but could not haul Simon back aboard.

There is no clear evidence to be certain as to where Simon was clipped on however, as per normal practice, he should be clipped on the pad-eye or inner jackstay stbd side. However, in his evidence the bowman stated he saw he was clipped onto the secondary jackstay and his clip was caught under the deck cleat. This could not be replicated by MAIB on the Port side as the stanchions were intact and there was insufficient slack in the line but with the additional slack on the stbd side it was possible. By comparison, with difficulty, it was just possible to jam the clip under the cleat when attached to the main jackstay. However, there was so little slack as to prevent side loading the clip and, at the point of contact, it would have left evidence of that contact on the recovered item.

For 3 mins the boat speed increased to 8.5 knots as the skipper tried to gain control, turn upwind and keep Simon on the high side whilst trying to stop the boat. This proved impossible with the Y3 still part raised and the main not under control. The 3 trapped crew managed to release themselves with one cutting his long tether off and having to make his way back to the cockpit attached by his short tether, to obtain a replacement. Simon was being buffeted by the waves as they broke over him at 6-9knts.

The halyard of the staysail was released and passed to Simon to clip to his lifejacket harness. All the foredeck crew were trying to reach him. Simon could not attach the halyard before, at 14:22, with a loud bang his tether hook broke free and he was released from the boat.

Simon’s safety tether had an overload indicator which denoted a force in excess of 500kg had been placed on the line at some point. In subsequent tests, it was established that the hook would fail at much lower loadings when held at 90° to the applied force.

One crew member immediately released the dan buoy and, with 2 crew pointing to his position, they prepared for a MOB recovery with a swimmer and scramble net. Due to the rough seas they could not maintain a visual position location for long. As they did this, the Y3 headsail started to self-hoist. A crewman went to assist the others to bring it down and while gathering the sail he fell overboard on the port side. He was attached to the jackstay via his short and long tethers and was quickly brought back aboard with the assistance of other crew.

14:24 the skipper managed to tack CV30 and head towards Simon but he could not make a second tack due to roughness so, at 14:28, he had to gybe. Around this time Simon’s automatic AIS beacon position was picked up by the boat and they made their way to his position. It should be noted, the AIS on the dan buoy was never received on the vessel systems and the equipment was not recovered.

As the skipper used a combination of tacks and gybes to approach Simon at some point the main sheet became caught around the self tailer of the main sheet winch ripping it off. Also, one of the blocks on the main sheet traveller broke making main sail control very difficult.

14:34 they passed 1-2m from Simon. It was too far to get hold of him. They noted he was pale in colour and unresponsive.

14:48 they were lined up for a port recovery with the swimmer ready to grab him but Simon went under the bow and passed 1-2m on the stbd side.

14:54 the same happened but Simon was grabbed with a boat hook until 6 crew lifted him over the side. He showed no signs of life.

2 qualified doctors and the boat medic tried CPR but at 15:25 he was pronounced deceased. With a graze on one elbow being the only visible injury they believed he drowned.

Simon was buried at sea at 09:00 19th November.

Aremiti in June - Trials and Tribulations - not our best month

Things haven’t gone quite to plan this month….

Our plan for this summer’s cruising was somewhat more ambitious than usual. After ten years away from Bristol, Aremiti is going home! We had already brought the boat out of the Med at the end of last summer and she had been patiently waiting for us in Faro in the Algarve all winter. However, given our previous experience of slogging northwards against the wind up the coast of Portugal, we decided to make the return trip home via the Azores - a last exotic fling, and probably our last big sailing adventure before settling into a more sedate style of cruising as befits our age. The Azores is an iconic destination for ocean yachtsmen and we were keen to add this adventure to our experience and to explore these little known islands set so far out into the Atlantic.

The plan was to depart from the southwest corner of mainland Portugal in early June, for the 800 mile passage to Santa Maria, the nearest of the islands, spend a few weeks cruising between the islands and then to return direct to the UK – 1200 miles – making landfall, we hoped, in the Scillies in August.

The ‘Azores High’ is the weather system dominating the northern Atlantic – a large semi-permanent centre of high pressure. This creates winds from the north nearer the mainland moving around to easterly and then southerly air flows - perfect conditions for our projected passage west from the mainland. This system drifts around with the seasons, but is generally established and stable during the months of June, July and August.

Keen to get away as early as possible in June, so as to give ourselves the maximum time cruising the islands, before setting off back to the UK well before Autumn gales set in, we spent ten days at the end of April preparing Aremiti for her two ocean passages. As well as all the usual preparations for a summer’s sailing, we had our life-raft serviced, genoa repaired, rigging checked. We applied a new coat of non-slip paint to the deck, checked out the short-wave which would enable us to receive weather forecasts and emails while far offshore, and obtained new flares. Most importantly we arranged for various friends to join us along the way – Trudy and Geoff (who sailed with us from Crete to Malta last year) for the leg from mainland Portugal to Santa Maria, Jean to cruise some of the islands with us, and Chris – who’d sailed with us from Sardinia to Andalucia with us last year – to join us for the long passage home. All set to go - we thought!

On arrival back on board at the start of June we were pleased to find that the forecast for our planned date of departure out into the Atlantic in about a week’s time was exactly what we wanted, with the Azores High perfectly in place. However, we were immediately beset by a number of unforeseen problems with the boat. One of the final departure jobs was to fill the freshwater tanks – whereupon we detected a dripping sound. Aremiti has four water tanks, and on investigation we found that one which we’d had repaired in Turkey three years earlier had started leaking again. The capacity of the leaking tank was 17 gallons, out of a total capacity of 91 gallons. We didn’t feel we had time to get the tank repaired again and so decided to cut it out of the system and ditch it altogether. This left us with a mere 74 gallons – 336 litres which seemed ample for each of the planned long passages. We now have a lovely new space to fill with supplies of bottled water and fresh vegetables – so a result - of sorts! Next the battery charger/inverter appeared to be playing up. Having been unable to locate any specific problem, we’re seeing this as an indicator problem. The third rather alarming discovery was a tear in the mainsail, which it was obviously imperative to get repaired. Trudy and Geoff were about to join us and remaining on the hard in the Faro boatyard was not an option, so we decided to head for Portimao where all yacht services are available. Underlying these boat issues, while we had basked in warm sunshine in April, now in early June, the weather had become unseasonal and very markedly chilly and damp.

We used the few days waiting for the sail repair to provision the boat and to explore the hinterland in a hire car. This included a fascinating day exploring the remote and iconic peninsulars of Sagres and Cape St Vincent which would soon be our last sight of land as we set out on our passage.

Finally the repair to the sail was completed and we were able to depart from Portimao only a few days later than originally hoped. We decided on an intermediate stop before launching out into the Atlantic, and set sail for Sagres 25 miles west, to anchor for a final night on the mainland. Despite a forecast of 20 knots from the north we found ourselves battling into 30 knots gusting to 35- 40. It was a boisterous, uncomfortable and wet passage, which ended as the light was fading, passing through an area strewn with fish farms. It was good to get the anchor down off a sandy beach – albeit with the wind still howling. This mini-epic was a rude awakening, shaking us out of our marina complacency and providing a reality check. It also revealed a number of leaks around the boat.

After a good night’s sleep we got things better stowed for the long trip and set off in good order.

Our forecast on departure showed northerly winds which should give us a good beam reach westwards. This was to be followed by a small low moving north-westwards half way through the passage, which we planned to skirt to the south of, and then use the southerlies we anticipated would follow. That was the plan - however it had become clear during the past week that the Azores High was not behaving as it should and we could not expect the fast and uneventful passage we had initially assumed of around 7 days.

We set off mid-morning in high spirits - invigorated by the sight of Cape St Vincent disappearing behind us in a blue sky. Ten miles out we started to cross the traffic separation zone, which keeps ships proceeding around that corner of Europe well apart from each other – five lanes in all over a 25 mile wide ‘motorway’. While this provided some interesting navigational issues and close encounters we were glad to reach the other side before dark.

The sailing was fast and furious and the wind had a westerly component we had not expected, pushing us to the south of our course. We hove-to to make the boat more comfortable for our evening meal together, before the start of night watches – Chris from 9-1, Trudy and Geoff from 1-5 and Julia 5-9. We were not too concerned about our course as this tallied with advice from a number of Azores afficianadoes we had spoken to that we should head south-westwards towards Madeira, where we would then pick up southerlies to waft us up to the Azores on the second half of the passage.

After 24 hours the forecast was showing large areas of calm ahead of us, before the low – which was certainly showing no signs of disappearing, and was now to be followed by westerlies. None of this was very good news. If we wanted to keep some momentum we would need to use the engine in the calms, but despite increasing our fuel capacity, we had only enough for about half the passage. We also didn’t relish the final couple of hundred miles bashing into adverse winds. We decided to monitor the situation and review in 24 hours. During that day the wind strength gradually decreased making the sailing more comfortable – though slower. In the early hours of the following morning we became completely becalmed.

Mid-morning we received the next forecast, and also a message from Chris back in the UK, who was monitoring forecasts on a larger scale and relaying these to us. Everything indicated a much worse scenario than the previous day’s predictions. The calm was set to last a couple of days, to be followed by the low which had now become far more extensive and impossible for us to skirt around. Another calm was to follow and then finally headwinds the rest of the way to the Azores. There was also indication of a second low following on the first. This picture was backed up by Chris’ message referring to Force 8 winds and 4-5 metre seas.

Added to this scenario was the discovery that the boat was quietly taking on water – obviously somewhat worrying! Chris systematically tracked this down to a seal on the exhaust water lock which he tightened, and this seemed to do the trick.

What to do? On the one hand it didn’t make sense for us to continue to plough into these conditions, on the other hand we absolutely didn’t want to give up on our dream of sailing to the Azores – not to mention letting down the visitors arranged for the summer. We could have accepted riding out the storm ahead, but the combination of calms – for which we didn’t have enough fuel, strong adverse winds and then a second low in the offing persuaded us with heavy hearts and much reluctance to turn back to mainland Portugal. We felt hugely supported in this decision by Chris back at home reinforcing our assessment, especially given that this wrecked his own plans to join us for the homeward passage later in the summer.

So, after two days and a couple of hundred miles out into the Atlantic, we changed course to head towards Lisbon – motoring in the flat calm, spending our time working out new plans for the summer. On the following day a useful wind piped up and we enjoyed an excellent sail, reaching the lanes of shipping feeding into a separation zone just north of Lisbon - unfortunately after dark – so more interesting encounters, before arriving to anchor off Cascais, just outside Lisbon at around 0900.

It had never occurred to us that this passage out to the Azores might be problematic. We were a little

anxious about passage back to UK, when getting beaten up by the weather somewhere along the route seems par for the course, but we never thought we wouldn’t even get there.

We’d like to thank all the friends involved in the change in plan for their support and understanding.

As we arrived on to a marina berth in Cascais, we found ourselves berthed alongside a British yacht which had been planning the same passage as us, but not even set off, given the forecast. They also knew of other boats which hadn’t set off and others who had but were forced back. Later research showed that our storm was caused, along with other unusual and intense weather patterns throughout the northern hemisphere, by anomalies in the distribution and intensity of jet streams – the Polar Jet Stream circulating much further south than usual in summer and the Arctic Jet Stream more chaotic and meandering. It was a very rare event – just our bad luck to be at the right place at the wrong time, though we could comfort ourselves

with the thought that had we left on the date originally planned – a few days earlier - there might have been no avoiding this unusual meteorological event.

We continued on our way up the coast of mainland Portugal as far as the little port of Nazare – where we have left Aremiti safely tucked up - while we have magically arrived in the Azores after all – by air! More of this next time.

Bsa July 2019 8