Luxury yacht sinks

Oh no

Well at least they weren't compacted to death in a mini sub.

[quote]Lynch, one of the U.K.’s most celebrated tech entrepreneurs, was recently acquitted in the U.S. over allegations he fraudulently inflated the value of the company he sold to Hewlett Packard for $11 billion. Many of the guests on board the boat had gathered to celebrate Lynch’s freedom following around a year of house arrest in the U.S. Bloomer previously headed the audit committee at Autonomy, the company that Lynch founded and sold to Hewlett Packard. Morvillo, a senior partner at law firm Clifford Chance and a former assistant U.S. attorney in New York, represented the British entrepreneur during his U.S. trial.

From a tornado??

Lynch’s former business partner was hit by a car on August 17th and just died from his injuries.

White Gladis, you go girl!

A few parasitic crooks have died, but we still have plenty of them to keep destroying the world. Oh well, such is life.

Moving on, is anyone watching any interesting films today? I'm thinking that Overboard sounds like an interesting choice.

I hope Peter Thiel has a boat.

Good.

Murder.

Murder most foul.

R5 ok now I'm intrigued

How many yacht girls and yacht boys were onboard?

I would be glad if all yachts were sunk. No one needs a yacht.

Yes, R10, The Ocean did it.

What a weird coincidence Lynch’s business partner hit by a car just a week ago. Now Lynch dies in a freak storm

Sad.

I’m glad all the crew—except for the chef, sadly—got off okay. I think their familiarity with the boat was instrumental. Being woken up at 5 AM when the boat was knocked down would be very disorienting. It’s like your bedroom being tipped over 90°and dropped in a split second. In the dark. The guests staying in larger cabins had farther to fall. Crew quarters are pretty narrow.

This isn’t supposed to happen to us!

Touch nothing!

If the crew failed to close the hatches in a storm they are responsible .

Them feels.

Picture it: Sicily, 2024 . . .

Remember Betsy DeVos's ginormous family yacht? Does it look sinkable?

R20, it wasn’t a storm, it was a waterspout. It happened very fast. Probably that’s how the crew got out so fast, a forward hatch. Passengers headed for the main companionway but fighting against water rushing in as the yacht capsized. (Anyway that amount of water would bust it open if it were closed). I’ve not heard anything about a security guard or a night watch on deck which I think would be standard.

Do they have ANY connection to the Trump family and all of their drama.

It was a waterspout during a storm.

Amateur.

[quote]What a weird coincidence Lynch’s business partner hit by a car just a week ago. Now Lynch dies in a freak storm…

Even if they’d survived, I imagine they’d both be constantly paranoid to the point of mental breakdown because of the many alpha predators seeking their wealth. Maybe it’s for the best.

R19, Mon ami, Hercule Poirot is not Sherlock Holmes. Poirot cares about the psychology, the cui bono, the "coincidences."

Look to Hewlett Packard.

Allegedly Neptune owns big stock in HP....

Oh, the humanity...

It had a centerboard keel?? With a mast that size? Holy moly. The keel was lifted so they could anchor in shallow waters. It just toppled over in the storm with nothing to counterbalance it. Just…wow.

R32 can you please elaborate? Was the yacht poorly designed?

I second r33.

I’ll try. Sailboats can have full keels or fin keels. Full keels have a shitton of ballast—lead—which makes them very heavy but stable. The weight of the lead means if the boat ever gets knocked down, ie it heels over so far that the mast touches the water, it can right itself. A fin keel sailboat has a narrower keel and is faster and more maneuverable. Anyway, some kind of keel is necessary to stabilize a single hull boat. A centerboard is a fin keel that can be raised into the hull, ie become flatter on the bottom to go into shallower water. I’ve only heard of it on day sailors. That this yacht had a very very tall mast which made it top heavy with the keel raised and it wasn’t able to right itself when the water spout hit…that’s what might have happened.

Supposedly at one point it had the tallest aluminum mast in the world.

Thanks r35

Not as sexy as orcas sinking your boat.

Best video I've seen so far of this yacht and what might have happened, with spectacular views of it operating on choppy seas.

R36, that’s right. It’s the 2nd tallest now. A yacht called M5 has the record now. It also has a lifting keel. 😳

R32, I watched an animation of this a few days ago, & I was blown away. It was just there, like a tall, thin tree, waiting to be snapped or completely toppled.

I’m actually surprised people made it out alive at all.

I feel most sorry for the teenage girl whose body they just found.

Stay off boats, motorcycles, and helicopters, people.

It's very rare--almost unheard of--for a luxury yacht like this one to sink.

So maybe the people not in their cabins made it out? The mother holding her kid in the storm and climbing into a life raft is impressive. If they only had one minute before it sank, it is miraculous people survived.

I think the captain screwed up big time.

Well he is the final authority but unsurprisingly, no one on board is talking. The ship’s builder is happy to blame “hatches left open” though. The captain of the nearby boat had started the engine to point her into the wind but if the wind spout/tornado was a direct hit that caused a knockdown and dismast, I’m not sure much could be done. The most amazing thing is that anyone survived.

Authorities in Italy have opened a manslaughter investigation into the sinking of a superyacht, which killed British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others off the coast of Sicily earlier this week.

Announcing the probe, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said investigators found it was not the weather that caused the ship to sink, but was a result of the behavior of the crew and the way the boat was handled.

He said the investigation was not aimed at any individual.

“There are many possibilities for culpability. It could be just the captain. It could be the whole crew. It could be the guard. We are evaluating all of the factors to see whose behavior fault can be assigned to,” Cartosio said.

He added that the prosecutor’s office had “filed a dossier, at present against unknown persons, alleging the crime of negligent shipwreck and manslaughter.”

All their money and still too stupid to provide lifeboats.

Reminds me of the Italian captain who rammed his cruise ship into the rocks and quickly abandoned ship. More than 30 people died but the captain claimed he slipped and fell off the deck into a lifeboat which failed to carry him back to the ship.

[quote] “This tragedy would be even more heart-wrenching if our investigations were to prove that the sinking of the vessel was caused by actions not in accordance with the maritime code,” Cartosio said.

IF. He’s already blaming the crew and the possibility of one open hatch. Not the Italian shipyard responsible for building it with a massive open salon on the top deck. If the passengers were asleep, surely the storm would’ve woken them, the movement of the boat in rough seas. Would you stay in your cabin? Or put on your life vest and make your way, not directly to the outside deck, but to a place near enough to it to evacuate if necessary. Too many stories about commercial ferries (North Sea, Korea) after some accident at sea, urging passengers to stay in their cabins and ultimately drowning.

The raised centerboard. I’ve read that that type of keel, when the ship is not under sail but anchored out, shifts and rattles if it is down. The noise and vibration could be annoying to passengers who aren’t sailors so the captain raises it.

This guy has several videos describing the event and describes the design and engineering of the boat.

Basically, the crew were on deck during the storm, securing all the stuff when a microburst hit and they were all blown overboard. A life raft automatically launched and that’s how they were saved. One guest survivor had gone up on deck when the boat started to list. The other woman with the daughter might have been sleeping on deck (maybe in that giant sunken lounge?)

There was a crew member doing night security but it would’ve taken one of the three trained and licensed officers to read the radar to determine the conditions were right for a downburst. Not surprisingly, most billionaire boat owners place a higher value on having a comfortable cruise. Fire and safety drills like they have on cruise ships aren’t required and rarely happen.

But the boat listed for three reasons - 1) portholes open. 2) play deck door open 3) keel not fully down. All of that was preventable with an approaching storm.

That’s really lovely

r51 I'd stay in my cabin because I'd assume they were in safe waters and that a yacht of that size had advanced technology to avoid real danger.

They thought their money would protect them.

No they didn't. They died due to gross negligence by the captain and crew. The storm was not a surprise. That boat was NOT secured.

Same difference.

I don't see that as the same at all. but carry on being a random cunting troll.

Fuck off, R59.

R53. 1) The yacht did not have portholes. It had sealed windows. 3) the center board keel was designed to mostly be up and only lowered if the boat was 60 miles offshore. Basically this was a motor yacht with a dick-measuring mast. The keel had plenty of ballast and the centerboard had ballast as well but it’s undetermined whether lowering it would’ve saved the boat. It was dragged a fair distance, not sure if the anchor dragged or if the chain broke.

The effect of 2) the sunken lounge flooding is still in question. The glass doors were known to slide open if the boat heeled over a certain amount. According to the divers reports so far, the glass windows surrounding that area did not break. If by “playdeck” you mean the lazarette hatch where the tender was tied up and the garage where the jet skis were stored, the watertight bulkhead door to that area would be closed at night simply for security reasons to prevent criminals from coming aboard. Yachts are an easy target. At any rate, it was on the port side and the boat heeled to starboard and sank. This one had a crew member on patrol duty at night.

A more crucial factor will be the Downflooding Angle for ventilation ducts. If the boat heeled more than 44°, water would come in. That’s…not a forgiving angle. Also ocean racing yachts which are designed to react in very stressful situations can heel over with the tip of the mast 30°underwater! and still recover upright. On this boat, it was more like 70° (with the center board up). The only reason the crew lived is they were on deck stowing gear when it hit. Since the chef’s body was found in the water, he was probably helping but couldn’t make it to the life raft which launched automatically.

The yacht is actually owned by a company owned by Lynch’s wife who survived. I’m guessing but maybe he stayed behind to try to get the other guests out and ran out of time.

R61 thanks for the specific information but I was informed divers found the "hatch" open, and also "windows" "open". Must not have been accurate reports, or shoddily written. Others have argued the keel fully lowered would have righted the ship. What about the sister ship that did right itself?

The nearby boat? Totally different. Was hit by the storm but not the microburst with was very localized. I think a lot of misinformation is reported due to language differences and not being familiar with naval architecture and engineering. There is an informative entry on the Scuttlebutt blog by a former captain of the boat.

They made a lot of money, they ate a low carb diet, they grabbed life by the testicles and then they died.

I guess I should update my info.

The crew member (deckhand) who was on watch that night has given testimony which was published in the Italian news. He woke the captain when the wind picked up—he said “20” whether that’s mph, kph, or knots, I’m not sure but whichever, that’s not a severe wind. The captain told him to rouse the crew to stow the cushions and plants, so far totally SOP. While they were doing so, the ship started to heel. The story gets a bit confused here but one thing he specifically said was that when they were thrown in the water, the captain climbed back on board and pulled out the woman with the child.

So far no mention about the ship dragging anchor, or if they lost the anchor, if one of the officers closed the watertight doors, if they tried to start the engine to head into the wind. The boat would take on water if heeled over 45°—a normal sailing tack! if the vents were open.

How very “Triangle of Sadness.” Have they checked nearby islands for additional survivors?

Although different circumstances with a known hurricane, this reminded me of Winjammer’s Fantone sinking. Former luxury sailing yacht of royalty and Onassis.

Shit Happens

God that’s awful r68. Looks like the captain did everything he could to outmaneuver the hurricane but it kept changing course. Beautiful ship.

The ocean doesn’t give a fuck who you are

L'avventura, indeed.

Tragically fascinating

I am inclined to believe it was some kind of planned attack meant to look like an accident, considering the recent lawsuit and “accidental” death of his partner. Too coincidental.

It was the electric motor that caused it to sink. And then the sharks came. Maybe it was the late, great HANNIBAL LECTER! My uncle was a boat scientist at MIT and they'd come up to me and say "Sir, how could this happen?" I am much better looking than Kamabla, hotter than ever!

[quote] The ocean doesn’t give a fuck who you are

Are you paraphrasing James Baldwin?

Good job ocean! Now do one of Elon Musk's yachts, but make sure he's on it.

Not to worry, HP made copies.

R76, Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" preceded anything generic James Baldwin had to say.

Lynch was in legal hot water before he died, and the heat's not going away now that he's dead.

He looks fat that would be a good shark meal

This is a strange story. The 2 big guy frauds dying like that. It’s also weird they call a giant sailing ship a yacht. I thought yachts were just giant motorboats. It’s easier to understand it sinking so fast as a sailing ship.

Eek. The ocean don’t play

Oops, R83!

Yachts have escape hatches. They are concealed behind paneling and may not have signage. Most mega yacht owners do not ask and are not required to receive safety drills. They don’t want to be reminded about bad things that could happen at sea. Those poor people knew what was happening but in the dark? Chaos.

Photos taken that night by passengers returning to the other yacht, the Baden Powell, show that the big door in the hull was closed (as it should’ve been at night in port). Meanwhile the owner of the shipyard has gone on Italian tv again saying that the sinking was the crew’s fault and the hatch was left open.

R86 thanks for the update.

Horrifying. 50 meters is also too deep to survive outside the ship. crushhhhhhh

Well, wow. This is an interesting twist.

[QUOTE]Italian Prosecutors who have opened up a criminal probe into multiple charges of manslaughter and negligent shipwreck think the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht, the Bayesian, may contain highly sensitive data tied to a number of Western intelligence services, four sources familiar with the investigation and salvage operation said.

There were a couple VIP crooks on that boat so it's ZERO surprise there is info on that boat governments might want. Is this supposed to be a scoop?

Oh yes. The owner (who died) had encrypted hard drives of his business and rescue divers recovered them. The day before they’d pulled the drives that dealt with the boat itself—there’s no “black box” but these hard drives will provide the status of all the systems before sinking. But the business-related data, sure maybe it’s sensitive stuff, maybe not.

[quote]Luxury yacht sinks

As well it should.

More drama. A lawyer for the The Italian Shipping Group (the company that owns the company that built the yacht) announced in an Italian newspaper they were going to sue the crew for sinking the boat and damaging the company’s reputation . This announcement was quickly recalled by wiser heads. Apparently three clients had pulled orders for yachts.

A couple more details about the design. It did *not* have escape hatches. Escape hatches go through the ceiling to the deck above but if your side of the boat is underwater, I don’t see that it would help much esp as it was completely dark. (Emergency lighting would seem a better option). The vents in the hull that were open (required for the air con as well as other systems) that flood at 45° could only be closed at their location and at another station (maybe the bridge). Auto dampers are risky but if they were linked to when the boat heels too much and only on that side… Anyway, the saloon doors that slide open seem to be a bigger factor. That’s a lot more water ingress a lot faster.

Finally it seems that the Top Secret hard drives are still in the safe on board and that the wreck is guarded by divers. This is so silly..

goops

Did they pay attention to the weather reports?

The weather reported a storm moving in but did not predict the microburst. I think (but don’t know for sure) it would show up on radar but maybe it would take a trained officer to interpret and the crew member on night watch—at anchor in a harbor— was a deckhand. At any rate, once the storm kicked up so no one was watching the radar, they were too busy securing the boat. No one expected a microburst.

The microburst almost seems like a punishment for the shady tech guy and his minions, with collateral damage too.

In 2004, there was a similar microburst in Baltimore that sank an Inner Harbor water taxi, killing five passengers. I lived there at the time and remember the storm well - it was sunny, then pouring rain for about 5-10 minutes, then sunny again.

Different, non-paywalled link.

[quote]Remember Betsy DeVos's ginormous family yacht? Does it look sinkable?

Anything's sinkable with the application of enough water in wave or iceberg form.

Check these waves out:

That wave video is foreshortened or compressed or whatever it’s called.

The lawyer who filed the lawsuit against the surviving owner, the three crew and the company that hired the crew, has been sacked and the lawsuit, which was filed by him without permission by the board, was withdrawn. He’d worked there for eight years. So I’m thinking the hothead CEO wanted to force the issue and the board was holding him back. Wouldn’t be surprised if he is removed as well.

Tomorrow an inquest will be held in the UK re the deaths (since it was a British flagged vessel). Also the British Maritime Safety something something Board (forget exact name) is involved in the investigation. Which is good because so far all the Italian media are using handouts from The Italian Sea Group which are incomplete and misleading.

Surface vessels and divers are continuing to provide security on the site until the boat can be raised. The “watertight safe with 2 encrypted hard drives” has excited a lot of people as well as safes “full of jewelry”. Rolling my eyes about this. Expect a movie to come out in a few months with the same plot: Navy SEALS vs Putin’s henchmen in a daring underwater race to secure blah blah blah.

Thanks for the update. It’s an intriguing drama.