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Susan Hoffman / NewportBeach.Patch.com via Reute
A member of the yacht Aegean waves at the camera at the start of the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race off the waters of Newport Beach, California on April 27.
ENSENADA, Mexico - Eric Lamb was doing safety patrol on a 124-mile yacht race when he spotted a boat that appeared too close to Mexico's Coronado Islands. He never got there.
As his twin-engine boat neared the uninhabited islands just south of San Diego, he stumbled on sailboat shards that were mostly no more than six inches long strewn over about two square miles. He saw a small refrigerator, a white seat cushion and empty containers of yogurt and soy milk.
Over several hours, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter directed him in his search and led him to two dead bodies floating with their backs up, badly scraped and bruised. The Coast Guard recovered a third body and the fourth member of the crew was missing early Monday in California's second deadly accident this month involving an ocean race.
Lamb, 62, said the 37-foot yacht looked like it "had gone through a blender."
"It was real obvious it had been hit just because the debris was so small," he said Sunday.
Three sailors were killed in the accident and a fourth was missing, officials said. The Coast Guard, Mexican navy and civilian vessels scoured the waters off the shore of both countries for the fourth sailor before suspending their search Sunday evening.
Hundreds of race participants held a moment of silence at the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's award ceremony, many of them stunned and puzzled. Skies were clear and winds were light when the boat went missing on the course from Newport Beach, Calif., to Ensenada.
3 dead, 1 missing in accident during Newport-Ensenada sailing race
A GPS race tracking system indicated the Aegean disappeared about 1:30 a.m. PT (4:30 a.m. ET) Saturday, said Rich Roberts, a spokesman for the race organizer. Race organizers weren't closely monitoring the race at that hour but a disappearing signal is no cause for alarm because receivers occasionally suffer glitches, he said.
"Somebody may have thought the thing was broken," Roberts said.
Lamb, who has been patrolling the race for eight years as captain for a private company, saw the debris nine hours later, called the Coast Guard, and searched for identifying information. He and a partner found a life raft with a registration number and a panel with the ship's name.
'Horrified'
The Coast Guard said conditions were fine for sailing, with good visibility and moderate ocean swells of 6-to-8 feet. Officials have not determined the cause of the accident, and would not speculate on what ship, if any, might have collided with the sailboat.
Race officials said they had few explanations for what may have happened to the Aegean other than it must have collided with a ship like a freighter or tanker that did not see the smaller vessel.
The episode immediately sparked a debate over safety of ocean races.
"Quite honestly, I'm amazed it hasn't happened before," said Lamb. "You get 200 boats out there, they lose their way, and they're just bobbing around."
Gary Jobson, president of the U.S. Sailing Association, said his group will appoint an independent panel to investigate.
"I'm horrified. I've done a lot of sailboat racing and I've hit logs in the water, and I've seen a man go overboard, but this takes the whole thing to a new level," Jobson said. "We need to take a step back and take a deep breath with what we're doing. Something is going wrong here."
Chuck Iverson, commodore of the sailing association, said the collision was a "fluke," noting how common night races are along Mexico's Baja California coast.
Shipping lanes crossed
The race goes through shipping lanes and it's possible for a large ship to hit a sailboat and not even know it, especially at night, said Roberts, the race spokesman. Two race participants who were in the area at the time the Aegean vanished told The Associated Press they saw or heard a freighter.
The deaths are the first fatalities in the race's 65 years. The race attracted 675 boats at its peak in 1983 before falling on hard times several years ago amid fears of Mexico's drug-fueled violence.
Participation has picked up recently, reaching 213 boats this year. The winner, Robert Lane of Long Beach Yacht Club, finished Saturday in 23 hours, 26 minutes, 40 seconds.
The race attracts sailors of all skills, including some who are new to long distances. The Aegean competed in one of the lower categories, which allows participants to use their motors when winds drop to a certain level.
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Two of the dead were William Reed Johnson Jr., 57, of Torrance, Calif., and Joseph Lester Stewart, 64, of Bradenton, Fla. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's office was withholding the name of the third sailor pending notification of relatives.
The Aegean is registered to Theo Mavromatis, 49, of Redondo Beach, Calif. The race sponsor didn't know if he was aboard but Gary Gilpin at Marina Sailing, which rents out the Aegean when Mavromatis isn't using it, said the 49-year-old skipper took the yacht out earlier in the week for the competition.
Gilpin said Mavromatis, an engineer, was an experienced sailor who had won the Newport to Ensenada race in the past.
The deaths come two weeks after five sailors died in the waters off Northern California when their 38-foot yacht was hit by powerful waves, smashed into rocks and capsized during a race. Three sailors survived the wreck and the body of another was quickly recovered. Four remained missing until one body was recovered Thursday.
The accident near the Farallon Islands, about 27 miles west of San Francisco, prompted the Coast Guard to temporarily stop races in ocean waters outside San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard said the suspension will allow it and the offshore racing community to study the accident and race procedures to determine whether changes are needed to improve safety. U.S. Sailing, the governing body of yacht racing, is leading the safety review, which is expected to be completed within the next month.
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Leave a Comment:
R.I.P. fellow sailors. Condolences to all family and friends. The sea is non forgiving. Look for any container ships or freighters in the area at the time. Hubby and I sailed from Hong Kong to Australia on a 55 ft boat and several times at night we saw lots of container ships and coastal freighters inside our 1km mark on the radar,those ships take a long time to stop and if one did hit this yacht they probably never even knew they did.
They hit a mine...
a 37 foot sloop is built very strong; must have been run over by a large ship in the dark, the sea is unforgiving.Navy Hymn (HEAR OUR PRAYERS WE CRY TO THEE, FOR THOSE IN PERIL ON THE SEA )
I can tell you being a sail boat owner in Newport Beach CA, one of things you definitely watch out for are the shipping lanes. Even if they seen the ship those sail boats cannot maneuver fast enough to move out of the way. Those container ships cannot see these boats especially in the dead of night so they also wont be able to veer out of the way. Those last seconds must've been extremely terrifying. RIP for those sailors.
this was not a large ship, this was an explosion at sea, pieces no larger than six inches??? The Sailboat should have had some type of lights on the top of mast to let others know there was a boat out there??? Flashing lights, red lights, something???
Fiberglass and wood don't show up well on most radars. Neither do sails.
They probably did not maintain a lookout at night and got his by a freighter. Not a fun way to go, but at least a quick one. They had enough people on board to keep an eye on the sea - especially since they were close to shipping lanes. Still, as a sailor, I feel for them. Condolences to their families... peace...
Something does not make sense with this story. Even if hit by a freighter you would expect to find larger pieces of wreckage. Most sailboats this size would not get sucked under water and into the props of the ship and unless it was a dead hit with the bow of the freighter hitting the sailboat near midships, you would expect the sailboat to scrape and slide along the side of the ship. The odds on this going completely unnoticed on board the freighter is doubtful unless the freighter was not maintaining a proper lookout. It is also highly unlikely that the crew of the freighter would completely miss seeing the boat's navigation lights if they had a proper lookout posted. These sailboats carry masthead navigation lights that would be ell above the water and easy to spot, even from a freighter. I think they need to look to other causes like many the tank for a propane stove on board exploding. While many sailboats use alcohol stove to avoid this danger, some do use pressurized propane systems. This would explain the small pieces of wreckage a lot better then the boat being hit by a freighter.
Sailboats should be banned, just like firearms.
Thanks for the laugh this morning dodger!
@Dodger: that's a very insensitive remark. Certainly the anonymity of the internet allows you to make such a stupid comment...one that you would never make to the family of the deceased in person.
taxpayer,
No different than message boards filling up with gun control comments after someone is shot and killed right?
I think the post was intended for humor in the first place.
They probably did not maintain a lookout at night and got his by a freighter. Not a fun way to go, but at least a quick one. They had enough people on board to keep an eye on the sea - especially since they were close to shipping lanes. Still, as a sailor, I feel for them. Condolences to their families... peace...
They hit a mine...
There sure have been a lot of boat related incidents lately. Maybe TPTB want it to be top of mind that boat incidents happen and why the Titanic story must be real. A sub meme is that there is danger and death and there should be more rules and authorities to keep things like this from happening. Also, if drones were monitoring the skies they could have seen and prevented the incident from happening.
If the boat had exploded, they would have found evidence of that on the bodies that they recovered. You cannot be on a boat that exploded and not have shrapnel or powder burns in your clothing and flesh. If you have ever been on a small sailboat within 100 yards of a freighter going at cruising speed, you would be amazed at how big and potentially destructive that thing is.
splintered? That boat was not hit by a freighter - it was exploded. An accident on board? Stumble on a smuggler moving around? We may never know. But a freighter would break a boat into several pieces, not 6 in. pieces.
Freighters have big propellers like a blender. Sailboats don't have a lot of gasoline on board.
Being on the water at night is sketchy in a small boat that can't maneuver.
I'm sure the experienced captain who found the boat could tell the difference between a boat splintered by being hit by a much larger ship, and the smoldering wreckage of a boat that had been blown up (besides, do you realize how much explosive would have to be used to blow a sailboat into 6" pieces?). They were in a shipping lane. Much more likely that they were hit by a freighter or container ship than ran afoul of smugglers.
The Draken woke up hungry?
Kraken, you mean. That was my thought.
Kraken, yes. Early morning caffeine deficit. Probably props of a tanker though.
Maybe they were making meth?
Glad to see we have an expert like Mark here to offer his educated opinions. Has the coast guard or media contacted you for your help yet?
Not only are your conclusions moronic, but the level of conceit needed to not only think you know better than the actual experts, but to post those same lowly opinions, is extraordinary.
Idiotic arm-chair experts are as bad as people who use text while driving or talk at the theatre.
Feel better now, Bowen?
Got some anger issues, there?
Perceive your post as more insightful than Mark's?
Well, isn't that special?
:-)
Good call on the explosion Mark, makes a lot more sense than a collision. Just a thought for the race monitors, I realize that GPS can fade in and out, but shouldn't all loss of signals be investigated after a reasonable amount of time? Nine hours seems a little too long to me.
And just what are your professional qualifications to make the comments you made Bowen?? I believe this is a forum for anyone's thoughts and opinions, not professional or expert comment only.
The true story is, it was sunk by a China submarine lookin to drop off drugs on the coast of California.
Sorry, but wouldn't an explosion be obvious? You know, burned and charred materials? A flame and smoke cloud? If it had been an explosion, I am pretty sure someone would have figured that one out.
Not when you consider the time that it faded out, 1 AM. You would figure they were asleep when it failed and it would wait until morning to try and contact them.
Being on a small craft at night in waters traversed frequently by large commercial freighters and tankers is one of the more scary things you can do. If you get T-boned by one, there is a possibility that you can get sucked into the prop wash and ground to shreds by the big ship's propellers. In the US Navy, I heard of a guy who fell overboard, and was rendered into chum by the props.
Yacht race huh? Must be nice....
And the entitlement posts begin...
Many of these yachts don't even have the "entitled" owners on them during a race. Many of the crew are payed middle class race enthusiasts, no different than a job position of a pit crew member at a NASCAR race. Sponsors and many of the owners may have money to enjoy but implying everyone involved in yacht racing is entitled sounds like more like unnecessary immature jealousy.
Actually the vast majority of the people involved in this race are unpaid sailing enthusiasts. For most of them, racing is more of a monthly social event out of Newport, Long Beach, Marina Del Rey, etc. The 'teams' usually rent a boat for the day from the registered owner.
K is right in that most of the sailors (and captains for that matter) are average, middle class people who enjoy sailing.
Really? Try paid. The little icon with ABC above a check mark is called s-p-e-l-l c-h-e-c-k. Try it sometime.
scales67...while incorrect spelling annoys me as much as it seems to annoy you, you have a history of calling people out on typographical errors. All that does it make you sound like a condescending snob. You have also stated that people need to get a life for taking part in texting and other activities. Some could turn that on you and state that you need to get a life instead of lecturing people on spell check. Did you understand the intent of the word? These posts are done quickly, to communicate thoughts or opinions.
a 38 foot sail boat is hardly a "yacht". This sounds like it was more the race for the average race enthusiast, not the 1%
Every sport has a certain level of inherit risk and most of those who practice it are well aware. In this case many factors like rough seas, freighters etc. will always be at play. Nevertheless thanks to these mavericks we have a better world. These guys don't hesitate to go the extra mile and that will always takes us to the next frontier.
Godspeed brave Sailors!!!!
Life does not come with a guarantee. Likely as not, some reading this post will be dead by this time tomorrow, maybe me.
Not unusual to loose tracking information, equipment assumed faulty...... W O W ! Since when was life and safety expendable because of passive thinking?
How about trying to establish communication by other means... like Satellite phone. I don't know if they even had one or two on board, if those people where not reachable within 15 minutes of disappearing on monitor, a search could have been conducted and maybe hope of different outcome for the crew.
In this case it wouldn't have helped. By the time the signal was lost they were almost certainly already dead. The same thing that chewed them into six inch pieces no doubt contributed to the loss of signal. Although a quick response might have helped determine the cause.
For years, my parents had a place on Lake Erie, Marblehead. In my smaller craft, I'd gotten caught in a few storms and my father, obviously more experienced, got caught on longer hauls in his 30 footer coming in and when younger it did indeed drive respect into me for the Lake. Weather is noteabley unpredictable out there... and, when around 16, I did ignore some and saw being out in the big chop as a 'rush'. Got lucky more than once.
I'd read his Motor Boat and Sailing magazines often, especially stories of the seas, these races, and harrowing tales at night before going to sleep; I've always had an affinity for the waters, and the thought of being out in the large, oceanic swells and seas.... it was something I was sure I'd do. Bucket list, I suppose; never did make the bank to, but understand the grip the waters and boating have over some. Remember a few vacations to the ocean and could've stayed, easily. Lake Erie would do for home, too, but would prefer along the Atlantic.
Given the class these people were in, though likely experienced some, one way or another they got caught either off guard or found themselves in a situation they couldn't correct in time. Some may need to change but people are going to do what they love to do... good radar and radio, heads up on vessel location in shipping lanes; don't know what will be changed yet but seems this was avoidable moreso than the crash off northern Cali.
In all major shipping companies there are tracking devices. i see no reference to making an attempt to find out how many large ships were in the area.
An 800 foot cargo ship could run over a 37 foot yacht and not even notice. same as a tank running over a car.
In a tank, you know when you run over a car. Bad analogy. Common here today.
Ok ,Tank over match box or model car:-) better?????
Good point about the GPS tracking device thomas. With some time and investigation they'll figure out who it was.
As for the shredded boat. It was no explosion because everything would have been charred. The hull of the boat was ground up by the screws of the larger ship. The heavy keel would have sunk.
Yeah, you would notice a car if you ran over it in a tank.. It would lift the tank a lot and make a good amount of noise.
I ran over an empty 55 gallon trash barrel and that was enough to make me decide to park it and call it a day.
How about a dung beatle (the 6 legged kind) run over by a VW Beatle car at 60 mph.
You wouldn't see it, feel it, nor even hear the "crunch" as the beatle turned to goo...
I once owned a 38 foot ketch and sailed all over the gulf of Mexico at night when at the helm all you have is your cump. for your guide you can not see anything unless there is a full noon, once i was at the helm and a barge went by me and i had just minutes to navigate out of his way very scary, and once at night i was going through some canals in ft Lauderdale fl. and was coming up on a draw bridge half way through it, it started to come down i started to blow my air horn and my mast got a hit as we cleared the bridge, IT IS not a safe place out there in the waters of the world, trust me on this one.
Hitting a boat off of the coast of California, makes me wonder if the boat it hit was a drug smuggler running without lights, or perhaps one of the semi-submersible drug runners.
Thank you , also, for your insight, moron.
I was wondering the same thing David, not exactly sure but I think they could have been struck by a fast running vessel or like you said, a submersible. Lots of drugs coming into this country. Prayers are for the families.
more likely a freighter with very large props. A small drug runner would not have produced 6-inch shards
They ran afoul of a Mexican drug smuggling submarine. Once spotted there's no way the Mexicans could let them live.
Thanks for your insight, moron.
nobsartist...you like to post the same thing over and over, don't you? Who is the moron? Someone who posts their opinion (and believe me, I don't think UDunnoBro's comment makes much sense) or a person who has the same response to just about everyone else? For someone as intelligent and worldly as I assume you are, I would have thought you would have more imagination regarding how you insult people.
There is only one winner in a match up between a 1000' ship with a beam twice the length of the boat and it is not in the favor of the boat. There is nothing more frightening than being in the shipping channel of Lake Huron at night and hearing the fog horn and prop wash of a freaking big ship coming your way.
Those guys got run over by one of those, end of story.
Thanks for your insight, moron.
They were TEXTING
OK, in the end this is a tragedy for some families and I wanted these comments to reflect just that. But I have to admit that your comment was really funny.
No, it wasn't funny. It has been stated by others, is un-original and has nothing to do with anything. It is a person's lack of common human decency at a time of multiple deaths.
I used to want to sail, but stories like this and the reality that I am no longer the young man I was four years ago keeps me from it. Sad that we've lost so many in the last month, maybe too many people are getting where they can afford these luxury's that its became unsafe...
I certainly hope you don't drive, fly in airplanes, ride a bike or walk anywhere!
I've sailed a lot. It's safe if you're reasonably careful and respect the ocean. Accidents can happen walking across the street.
"Two race participants".............."saw or heard a freighter". If they don't know the diffenrence between seeing and hearing should they really be sailing?
"Eric Lamb was doing safety patrol on a 124-mile yacht race when he spotted a boat that appeared too close to Mexico's Coronado Islands. He never got there."
Is it just me or does it seem like people are losing the ability to write properly? The "He never got there" makes absolutely no sense in context to the rest of the story. I see these articles with words spelled incorrectly, grammatical errors etc... With all of the tools we have at our disposal, writers should be able to create articles that make sense, and without blatant errors.
The article says he "spotted a boat", made no mention that he was on his way anywhere. So where exactly did he "not make it" to?
Jesus help us.
LovePaws, it is not just you!!!!
I read that sentence three times. I still have no clue what the writer was trying to say. Journalism is non-existent.
To me, it means that he was going after another boat that was where it was not supposed to be, saw the wreckage and never got where he was intending to go.
It is unbelievable. And it is my generation and those younger than me that are losing this battle. I am only 31, yet I read these articles every day and cannot help but to wonder how it is going to be in the future. I am no scholar, and make mistakes constantly. However, if I had an item that needed to go to "print", I would make sure that things were correct.
While I do agree that there are more than a fair share of articles out there that are poorly written, there are a couple of explanations that I believe are accurate:
1) The publics "need" for information IMMEDIATELY does not allow for thorough, accurate or well-composed articles.
2) The reading public is getting less and less educated, less imaginative and less able to comprehend what is being written.
I actually read the lines you stated once, and believe I can understand the meaning. You might want to look at your own capabilities of understanding and think that there might, just might, be the possibility that the problem lies on your end.
STFU!
Dear Grammar Police.
I don't care.
Agreed, the sentence makes no sense.
I have a Journalism degree and the first paragraph left me embarrassed. Writers like this are one of the reasons others ridicule journalists. Saying "he never got there" means Mr. Lamb didn't return. What a poorly written article.
I've spent most of my adult life out there. 30 Years, 1 lap around the rock, and more trans ocean deliveries than I can count, some 50,000 miles. Someone feel asleep on watch and they got run down, pulled under and went through a prop that is probably 30' tip to tip and turning at 700 rpm. They never had a chance.
Obviously this is a coastal race, not blue water in the true sense. Port authority San Diego should have radar images just like air traffic controllers do. Back up the time line and you'll know who, when and where. It's not rocket science. God bless boys I'll have a rum for ya at the Whitehorse.
CBR, just asking, but if indeed the prop destroyed their boat, how would the bodies have been intact? Wouldn't the prop have left nothing of them, too?
Pen, hard to say, but the bodies could have been thrown clear during the initial impact and slintering of the vessel. Doon't know I wasn't there so it is specualtion at best.
CBR...does having 30 years at sea also make you clairvoyant? You were able to mke statements of fact that are not possible to make sitting at a desk somewhere. Unless you are the missing man. While you may BELIEVE what you state is the case, you stated them as fact, which is arrogant at best. "Someone fell asleep on watch"? How do you know this? How do you know the watch did not have a heart attack? How do you know that the crew hadn't eaten some bad seafood and were all dead before the accident occured? How do you know a rogue band of very lost and soggy ninjas didn't pull themselves aboard and Vulcan Nerve Pinched them all into oblivion?
I have sailed the Great Lakes and the open ocean. Never take anything for granted,electronics that everyone depends on GPS,depth sounders,epirbs,radar,collosion avoidance systems are only as good as the person on watch.Salt water environment is merciless to electronics especially on smaller craft. The majority of sailboats are fiberglass and present a very small radar target and it takes a large frieghter miles to come to a stop and in most cases as others have mentioned a boat this sized wouldnt even be noticed when hit. I am skeptical about the boat being broken into small pieces. If it was built of carbon fiber composites rather than kevlar,aramid or s glass this might be more credible.But if was traditional construction there would be large sections. Although as was pointed out few sailboats use gasoline power anymore a lot use propane which,like gasoline vapors can sink into the bilges.A forensic investigation of the wreck and remains will clearly indicate if this was the case. In any case the world is filled with danger moreso on the highways.Each day is a gift and my sympathy to those families of the deceased.At least they went doing what they loved to do.
Go to :
and do the detective work !
Sorry, it did not register:
www.marinetraffic.com
Although I understand some sailboats can be a pain for commercial captains, I've had an experience sailing at night, with an unexpected strong storm,sails tangled and outboard wouldn't stay started, we had drifted into the shipping channel, made radio contact with freighter, he pretty much said too bad for you very rudely and barely missed us. He did have a vulgar rant against sailboats.We worked very hard with what sails we could get up to get out of his way. We actually believed he purposely tried to steer closer. But that was just one captain, right? My condolences to the families.
I blame the soy milk.
Sad story. Funny comment.
one voter - Sounds like you encountered one of the "truckers of the sea". Some of them act just like truckers on land.
Stupid comment. Leads me to assume that you are stupid.
they hit an iceberg cause ole leo was to busy drawing kate winslet naked
really? an iceberg? in southern california?
Always good to see the deaths of others being used for cheap laughs.