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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:
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.
Dodger 891678
If only we could ban idiots like you. Get a freaking lobotomy you need one
rumor has it OJ an casey anthony were aboard
I would like to suggest that there be, in addition to the place where you can indicate agreement with a post (indicated by the up arrow), a place where you can disagree, with a down arrow. There are such rude and arrogant comments posted already. There is no reason in this world to call people idiots and worse. If you want a place to post your comments, then learn to tolerate other people's comments. No one knows what happened, this is all speculation. Some make more sense than others, of course. Some of you have had the privelege of sailing in the area and your explanations probaly are more likely. But regardless, truth IS stranger than fiction..... let's wait until there is more news. Meanwhile, if someone makes a weird suggestion that you regard rather unlikely, just use it for your morning laugh and move on.
Where's Gilligan?
How does a freighters radar not see a yacht?
Sailboats because of their shape and materials of construction usually show up very poorly on radar. That is why almost all of the ones that go off shore on a regular basis have additional radar reflectors which do show up fine. If this boat was going out in the dark, off shore and thru shippling lanes I'm sure the experienced shipper had one in his rigging. Large cargo ships are required by law to both monitor the radio and radar at all times. The ships travel on autopilot and take a really long time to turn or stop. It is my experience that many of these ships when they get outside the harbor ignore the requirments for extended periods of time.
I find it interesting that no matter what the story, in the end, the comments funnel down to nothing more then insults and counter insults. Bottom line is that several men lost thier lives, why? We may never know, but my prayers and good thoughts go out to the famlies and to the other racers who may have known the sailors.
TGFD here.
This accident has the earmarks of a propane-gas explosion. For all you non-sailors/boaters, propane is the most commonly used cooking fuel for the galley stoves on boats. There are many mechanical/electrical safeties in place for propane use, but leaks sometimes (but rarely) do occur. Since propane is heavier than air, it settles to a low point. When enough builds-up, one small spark can cause a catastrophic explosion, a spark that could be due to a crewmember turning-on the stove.
Also, most sailboats of any larger size have inboard diesel auxillary engines, and diesel fuel is very difficult to ignite. Gasoline is almost never used on sailboats because it is so flamable. It is doubtful that a liquid fuel leak caused the explosion.
Below decks propane explosions leave the hull mostly intact and blows the deck off. Plus there would be evidence of fire. Propane or gas explosions do not shred the fiberglass as occurred here.
Who cares. More rich people with nothing better to do.
TGFD here.
Willy...You are a clueless moron.
Willy needs a hobby. He obviously doesn't have one or he would understand why people do things like sailing or other pursuits.
Willy...I betcha you'll join illegals, grave yards, dead folks, and unregistered voters and vote for OBAMA, and 5 more TRILLIONS in USA DEBT. LOL
Aw, c'mon boys, leave 'Villy' alone... He's in the middle of a 'movement' right now.
A radar transponder would probably have prevented this accident!
Freighter sounds like a good theory. I'm not familiar with yachts, but isn't there some type of sonar technology that could avoid a collision at night? I can't believe the technology isn't available for both a freighter and a yacht...
I mean radar, not sonar......
looks like Capt'N Crunch was behind the wheel !!
"Life without risks is no life at all !" Quote from Will Rodgers (I think) As an experienced sailor who has dodged many freighters and lived to tell about it, that doesn't seem nearly as dangerous as driving on I-5 at big city rush hour time or late Fri. nights surrounded by drunk or stoned drivers. Or walking around in inner city neighborhoods at night.
Bush's fault again. Why won't he stop it already? He is destroying Obama.
HA HA...naaaaa !!....it's probably Rove or Halliburton's fault. Or, maybe it's Rumsfeld, Dr Condi, or Cheney's fault. Or, maybe it.....oh never mind. LOL
A freighter would of been required to have an "AIS" automatic identification system. I don't know if this boat had an AIS receiver but if it did and it was functioning the helmsman would they have known the position of any large commercial vessels in their vicinity. Also any size boat can install an AIS transmitter a well as a receiver. If installed the freighter would have seen their position and would have either contacted them via radio or tried to take an evasive course change. If the race organizers didn't require participants to have AIS receivers as a minimum I hope the will in any future races.
Elvis needs boats.
Surely these sailboats could be fitted with some type or radar so there could be a alarm sound off in this situation. I would think the large ships already had this. If so, someone was taking a nap.
R.I.P., my fellow sailors... but the accident, if indeed you were run down by a freighter, was made by your mid-watch helmsman. Experience as a young lad in the navy proved that commercial freighters NEVER post a look-out. Hell, even during daylight, we used to have freighters come right at our US Navy vessal, within a 1/4 mile before our skipper would start blasting away at them... THEN you'd see the bridge crew of the freighter suddenly wake up from their auto-pilot doze, poke their startled head out a hatch and look around. Every sailor I've ever trained, I have warned them about freighters "Assume they will ram you!" In this sad case, however, it was the individual on the sailboat, who was SUPPOSED to be awake... who obviously went to sleep, never saw the freighter approach. Why the sailboat's radar reflectors didn't work is beyond me... or did they, but the freighter bridge watch was also asleep (quite likely, honest). No sailboat can be run down by a freighter on the ocean unless the individual on the helm was asleep. At night, a freighter can be seen coming while it is still WELL over the horizon, no part of the ship yet visible. The freighter casts a huge 'Lume' (i.e. illumination) in the night sky if working lights are on, visible even from 20-30 miles away, well before the ship itself appears in your line of sight. Even were it only riunning with its RUNNING LIGHTS on... anyone AWAKE on the sailboat would have seen it. A sailboat, even without a motor running, has AMPLE time to get out of a freighters way. How terrible that one sailor, whoever was on watch, fell asleep, knowing s/he shouldn't... and cost the rest of them their lives. RIP, guys. Compounded fault: sleeping sailor on watch, and likely asleep on the freighter as well. Always remember: the law of gross tonnage ALWAYS prevails!
It is good to see that someone out there understands that the incident is a failure of the watch standing crew.
Not necessarily. They were racing so they probably had two on, two off so both would have had to have fallen asleep. If they sailed into a wind hole and the engine wouldn't start, that would have left them sitting ducks.
Aliens hijacked these human beings in an attempt to disguise themselves and then went sailing! God hates aliens!
Never allow aliens to hijack your body, your temple!
Frogs in a blender!
This is really sad. We are praying for those lost, the families and loved ones.
This sounds like the reporter is talking about space junk and there being too much. It's just a matter of time before all the junk from Japan starts landing on our shores and it's not just the little things. Are we going to need to start marking and monitoring the junk in the ocean better so we can direct boats around or through it? A little to the right we are coming up on a house, but not to far
there is 1000 more to the left! It would be safer to have the races in Japan; all the junk has left their shores, just stay out of the NO LIVE ZONE. We really need to stop dumping our trash in the ground and in our seas. I'm not saying this is what happened it could have been a lot of things including an attack from the Mexican drug cartels or smugglers or even if you want to go way out there an attack from Iran. It's hard to say with the ship being so close to an island I think someone should check out the island and see who is occupying it.
No, Confussed... the safety officer discovered the destroyed boat remains on his way to investigate a DIFFERENT sailboat that seemed close ashore the islands.
The "badly scraped and bruised" quote? They were under a freighters hull, at least for a few moments, after their boat initiall broke up from impact. I cannot image this... from a sound sleep. This is the reason why I always have two awake at night, crew size permitting. You know, keep each other awake? Such a sad thing.
Gary, the night sail is a major feature of the N2E race; it's a race, most folks stay up most of the night. Of the four crew it was more than likely the three were on deck and the fourth was asleep in the v-berth. Any large well lighted ship would have been seen miles away in the clear visibilty; seen by other sailboats in the area; seen by the crew of the Aegean. Because of the border the US Government does operate large, fast black op boats; ships that run without lights capable of speeds of over thirty knots. As the AIS system would have already identified commercial traffic operating at that time, the question turns to government vessels.
True, that, JonC... but still rather hard to swallow that theory. Any fast Op military vessal WILL have lookouts posted about. No-one is going to run at 30+ knots, knowingly with their lights off, and not look. The sailboat's lights would have been visible for a quite a few minutes, even if the Ops boat had been running that fast. True, the entire crew SHOULD not all fall asleep during a short 24 hour race... but I usually see them all dozed off while I'm on the helm/tiller, especially that time of the morning. When doing the Queen's Cup, see it all the time, but then pretty much all awake with a second wind an hour or two later. Anyway, while your thought is possible (no disrespect), I don't buy it. Had to many freighters try to kill me through the years, with the one (1!) individual on the bridge sleeping, while auto-pilot is engaged.
Yes, I agree, it is the least satisfying of the theories. I'm just considering the evidence that has been reported in context with personal familiarity with sailing a thirty foot boat at night, more than once in or about that exact location. The Cruising class starts late - about 1:15 pm on Friday and if the winds are easy, come midnight you often find yourself riding along at 2 or 3 knots somewhere west of the Coronados. It was a nice night, lots of visibility, fairly comfortable I've been told. Compared to LA/Long Beach, this area does not have a lot of freighter traffic. Also, because of the border, all vessel traffic is closely monitored; there are often helicopters on patrol as well as patrol boats. The evidence; hull in many small pieces, bodies show wounds - one a major head trauma; boat fragments show no sign of fire or flash burn. USCG has yet to report data from the AIS system; no evidence of actual commercial traffic has been offered. Also other boats were around the Aegean; within a radius of a few miles perhaps thirty other boats. Plus could a large fast ship transit the border area unnoticed by Homeland Security? Hypothesis - large, over 140 feet, steel or hardened hull, fast, highspeed props, running dark, surprised the crew; the three crew recovered were likely in the cockpit; the fourth, still missing, likely was below and went down with the keel section. To explain how a surface ship could go through a fleet unnoticed, a submarine has been suggested.
they should get some advice from nascar.
Whoever created this event originally did not know what they were doing.
It was only a matter of time.
What did they not know what they were doing? What do you think an ocean race is? This is one of the baby races. It is only 125 miles. Have you ever heard of the Mazatlan race or the Cabo race or the Porto Vearta race or the Accapoco race or the TransPac race or the SF to Tahiti race or on and on and on.
As far as your concerned, cars, whoever invented cars should be drawn and quartered. It was only a matter of time before someone died in a trafffic accident. What a waste of time making your fingers hit the keyboard for a comment like that.
I have been in this race 4 times many years ago and at that time, we didn't have all the electronic stuff that they have now. But as others have said, you need to have a lookout AT ALL TIMES. Plus, all the boats are near the coast and that is where the ships would be more concentrated before getting out into the wide ocean.
Sounds like the cartels are now using sail boats.
It goes to the credibility of the Coast Guard. As a sailor in San Diego, this is too close to home for jokes. Four fellow sailors were killed, murdered. As civilians can see on (Marinetraffic.com) the USCG knew at the moment the Aegean disappeared if any tankers, freighters or large fishing boats were operating in the area. Why have they encouraged speculation? Smugglers use small boats, no, this killing required a sizable ship capable of putting a 37 foot yacht through a blender and fast enough to overcome the crew before they could use their VHF radio. If not commercial traffic then we are left the other likely explanation; a government vessel. In San Diego, besides the Navy, it could be Homeland Security, ICE, DEA, or the USCG. This happened at the border where the US Government has infrared scanning abilities to see even a small ponga on the darkest nights yet Media Officer Seth Johnson of USCG is playing dumb, claiming ignorance of such abilities.
JonC, help me understand. If people who can afford yachts (I am very much not one of them) choose to participate in these ocean races, who is to pay for their search and rescue? I am very saddened by the loss of life, but I am not sure I want my tax dollars to pay to search and rescue people I could never afford to be. Isn't there a place for self-responsibility??
Actually, the USCG charges for a rescue. Unlike Mexico where rescues are free. Most of the time if you call for help the USCG will direct you to a private outfit like Vessel Assist or SeaTow. Sometimes thru insurance. This was not a rescue; this is a crime scene. Four people have been murdered by a hit and run. IN California that's homicide. But to clarify - boats pay property taxes, fuel taxes, and more - and the USCG still charges. Also, most boat owners aren't rich; know anyone with a bass boat?