Sarah Young, 40, was washed overboard while taking part in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Her body was later recovered by her crewmates.



The ceremony took place at 01:00 BST on Sunday, with readings including the poem Sea Fever by John Masefield.

2 died on that boat already?  Damn

sad story. the ocean is scary.





she looks a little like Nichole Kidman






 

And standing next to a guy who isn't clipped in

The ocean doesn't allow mistakes

Seems odd to me that someone is washed overboard and drowns, then they bring person back on ship, then throw person back into the ocean for burial. Why bother, person was already "buried at sea"?

RIP

I bet that coffee cup has scotch in it.

Respect

 
How else can they confirm death?

Poke'em with a long stick?

In that sea state? Who fucking cares?

She could have been washed over while moving from point to point.  If they're not using a 2-tether system, she could easily have just been caught out.

bad weather or bad captain?  

arf both prolly

You mean the long stick they use for pull them back on board?  

Yep. You wouldn't catch me out there in a little boat like that. The thought of being out in the middle of the ocean somewhere, just creeps me out.



 

The deck of a sailboat in open water is a very dangerous place.  See the straps in the picture above along with the wires and rails on the outside edge?  You're supposed to be attached when on deck, because it's very easy to slip overboard in normal weather.  This had nothing to do with the Captain (unless he/she routinely allowed crew to be on deck without their safety harness attached) or weather (beyond the fact they were in the Atlantic in a relatively small vessel).  

Stuff happens out there.  The layers of security (such as inflatable life vests, straps with clips to keep you from getting washed overboard, etc.) generally prevent such tragedies.  If it was anyone's fault, it sound like it was hers for not being strapped in.

From the linked article:



She probably wasn't under for that long.  A sailboat under sail doesn't exactly turn on a dime.  There are several navigation options for returning to a man overboard as you can see here.  Sailboats typically do a "quick turn" whereas I practice a Williamson turn.  It is not as easy as it looks, and that minute or two of your crew being in the water is all it takes.  I have had a man overboard in inland waters, and it was terrifying.  I can't imagine open ocean.

I believe they're running boats in the 50'+ range.  While there's no such thing as too big of a boat when you're in open water, that's actually a very good boat size.  It's not uncommon to see smaller vessels in open water.

That's not the Sarah Young I remember.

The article mentioned she was swept under the safety wires when a wave hit the boat. Life comes and goes in the blink of an eye.

LOL

I know of at least one 20ft boat that is common to find blue water sailing.
eta...and I would love to have one.

Eight Bells.
http://clipperroundtheworld.com/

I had my brother fall out my hobie years ago while at the tiller . It was locked in and I threw him a square floating seat cushion and was 15 minutes before I got back to him....saved his drunk ass im sure.

Yes - there's usually about 1' below the lowest wire.  That's plenty to slide through if you're flat on your back.  I personally don't understand why they don't put another wire at about 6" high to prevent things like this, but I'm sure there's a good reason that I don't understand.

I think people that take 20' sailboats in open water are nuts.  In a sailboat your weather window has to be huge for a crossing of any kind, and weather windows like that simply don't exist.  Some of my good friends have circumnavigated in a 36' sailboat.  No thanks

I'm working hard to upgrade to the 70' range now. will have 3'+ gunwales, and will still watch weather windows carefully.  I like my water on the outside of the boat and me and my family on the inside....

Funerals are for the living, not the dead.

Well, the problem is actually a logistical one.  You can't really keep a body preserved several days on a small, crowded race boat... so back into the drink she goes.

Hard to bury someone at sea when they are wearing a floatation device.

That's called a boat hook (IIRC)

No, just a stick.  But if a boat hook is all they got handy.

The .gov spent many, many $$millions doing this a while ago, for a Kennedy that

thought he knew how to fly in shitty weather.



I guess that Royalty has its privileges.



 

That's a good point.  It's also unusual to drown quickly while wearing an appropriate life vest.  Even inflatables are supposed to inflate so that they raise the head out of the water for someone who's unconscious.  She must have had her vest on if they found her quickly (it takes a few days for a victim to float), so the whole thing is a bit unusual. Drowning with a life vest on is definitely the exception to the rule.

Sad, but not clipping in is akin to going open wheel  racing and not wearing a safety harness, it's just plain stupid.

FWIW, if the skipper doesn't enforce safety rules on deck and clipping in, he's a total frikkin idiot and has partial responsibility.

This aint the 1880s bub, or a death during combat at sea. Usually there are some people who want to inquire about a death like that, or make funeral arrangement. That crap is fairly odd, well at least in this day and age.

This...I have thalassophobia like-a-mug!

So you want them to sail for at least a week or so with a corpse just rotting away in the next berth?

And you live in Florida?

Fifty feet? Shit, in the 70's, my parents drove an Impala that was almost that big. You wanna get me out in the middle of the ocean, I'm thinking more along the lines of...

The CG or Navy doesn't come out to retrieve people who are already dead. Only the living. Burial at sea was the only option in their situation.

There is likely no way to keep a body cool on that boat.

Back in the day when I was kicking around on raceboats, that space was used by/for snatch blocks, guys, sheets, vangs, etc. in the cockpit area.

In the posted video, its easy to see the woven netting on the foredeck lifelines to keep sails onboard when they are lowered to the deck,

between sail changes, etc. At least on these boats they are using piston hanks, which make sail handling much easier than luff tapes.



And a comment to the boat size, it was mentioned that these are 70 ft. one-design boats, the whole concept of this race is amateur crews,

IIRC, with a professional skipper only. Yous pays your money, and yous take your chances.

Crews pay a considerable fee for the privilege of competing in this very amateur race. People come from all walks of life, to try their hand at ocean racing.

Just looking at the photo, they do not look like your 'average ocean racing crew'.



And while some may be experienced sailors, the average skill level is probably, well, average.

Yous pays your money, and yous take your chances.



This race reminds me of the 'guided tours' that some rich folk take up Mt Everest, to some extent.



While it can be exhilarating and all kinds of fun, both mountains and oceans are very unforgiving of screw-ups, mistakes, errors, and fuck-ups,

some of which can just be circumstances, others can be lack of experience, lack of sound judgement, and bad decisions.

The 'three strikes - you're out' rule applies to sailboats, just like other endeavors.

One little mistake leads to another bigger one, which generates a monster 'fuck you'.



Here's a possible scenario - not saying this is what happened, just a possible 'what -if'.



1. She leaves her position on the rail to make a sail adjustment - a very common thing, so doesn't clip in as she is moving around.

2. The sail(s) need adjusting to a change in conditions that is making the boat harder to steer.

3. Because steering is not optimum, the helmsman clips a wave the wrong way, or doesn't see a different wave coming, and dumps one in the cockpit.

4. This knocks him off course more, catching the next wave even harder. Boof, cockpit full of water, she's washed through the lifelines. Done.



Again, not sayin' this is what happened, just an illustrative scenario.



And, another crew member was killed on the same boat, just a few days out, on the first leg of this round-the-world race.

Something went wrong and he got knocked unconscious, permanently. In the wrong place, at the wrong time.



Yes, accidents at sea are tragic, just like anywhere else. It can be very unforgiving, especially to noobies.



IMHO YMMV
 

Well to be fair, they did warn everyone that it's "The Race of Your Life".

And that video looks like a completely miserable time all around even in mild conditions.

Certainly the category of vest she was wearing could play into things. If for some reason she was wearing a class III, that may allow her to end up in a face down orientation. People don't always go into the water while conscious.

When I was teaching various types of boating at a summer camp, I always very clearly said that there is no such thing as a life vest. There are personal flotation devices that will keep your body afloat, but don't count on them to keep you alive. I know that's a bit of a semantics game, but I really wanted to drive home a point.

I worked on these boats prepping them for their new owners as a part time job when I was in high school...they are seriously stout little boats
http://sailingmagazine.net/article-1056-flicka.html

Pushing a lot of water.   Need to get some of that weight to the back......prob not even getting 20mpg like that.    Dum.

Side question, when S does HTF but the person is alive, who comes out in the open ocean? I'm taking the nearest naval asset from the nearest country?

BTW, this is the SECOND PERSON TO GET DEAD ON THIS SAME BOAT IN THIS SAME RACE!

Whoever is closest be it military or a commercial cargo ship. There is a whole system called GMDSS that networks every ship carrying it into a worldwide SAR center. All vessels over 300 gross tons are now required to have it. And unless you have a damn good reason you are required to assist.


GMDSS

That's pretty bad ass, thanks.

Always loved the notion of the CG. I do something stupid or run into bad luck and there are people who will risk life to come get me. This GMDSS is kinda the same, makes the open ocean not quite so desolate. But still, either or a cruise ship or a carrier -- fuck a sailboat.

that's why I suggested captain or weather....or both...  maybe even deck boss if there is one.....  might be lax rules or heavy wx on that boat in particular...  

May their souls rest in the bosom of La Mar

You'd be surprised how many commercial and private vessels do rescues.  Outside of US waters, that's often your only option.  The USCG monitors satellite beacons such as ePIRBs or PLBs, but often they'll simply contact nearby vessels with your lat/lon and ask them to locate you.  When we venture in to isolated or remote areas, the ability to rescue someone is something we talk about a bit.  There are some interesting scenarios that come up when you consider bringing strangers in distress onto your boat.  We travel with a significant amount of medical supplies, extra provisions and more for such scenarios.