As the spray settles on the events surrounding the sinking of our J/120 off the coast of Baja, we have had time to start sorting thru the details and piece together what led to the loss of the boat, the abandoning of the vessel, and the swift rescue of her crew. There have been a tremendous amount of rumors and speculation which range from insightful to nutty, and there has been some mis-information…

I am guilty of a bit of the latter in that I initially reported that the boat sank in about 7 minutes. This came from a phone conversation with the skipper who was at the USCG base in San Diego after their helicopter rice, and she was still pretty amped. Anyone who knows Eugenie knows that she can fire off sentences like a gatling gun, and when she said the boat sank in seven minutes, what she meant and clarified later was that from the time they determined that there was no chance that they could save the vessel and that the water ingress was not to be diminished (essentially EPIRB on) until the time she saw the Windex slide by a couple of feet from her face, it was 5-7 minutes. The entire ordeal was more in the neighborhood of 45 minutes. So I stand corrected…

But now I am going to let Eugenie tell the incredible story:

Part I

At 10am we spotted as pod of whales. At first they appeared as action on the surface, bubble feeding or mating or other atypical activity. There was a weird feeling about their presence. Barry was driving, he was about to get off his shift (we all drove for an hour at a time). Winds 15 to 20knots, gusting 25 to 30, white caps top of the waves breaking, some pretty big. We were sailing on a broad reach, with a reefed main and small 90% jib. Seas 15 to 20 feet, with large swells, and we were surfing down the waves fast, at about 9-10 knots. I think Ray first said whale, as he spotted the initial one about 200 feet to port. We could see one, then down in the trough, and not and on top of wave, we saw another on our starboard.

Barry suddenly saw another in front of him, so he tried to head up, but because of the conditions and speed, he rounded-up. He said, “I am hard over, I have no steerage,” with the sails luffing momentarily. He recovered the boat, bore away and accelerated on course again, and as he surfed down the next wave, we all saw two whales about fifty feet away, and coming towards us. They were crossing on the port bow, and they dove down. Barry screamed something and I heard a big BANG, felt the boat stop and shake, like the keel had run aground. Another BANG and the boat rose up out of the water and shook sideways. The next blow was at the stern, lifting it, but I heard a crack and a tearing sound of fiberglass coming apart.

The wheel turned completely under Barry’s hands and I saw the engine control panel face plate (mounted on the bulkhead behind the wheel at knee level, just in front of the rudder post) hanging inside the cockpit. The cockpit shower compartment (underneath the engine panel) had been blown out towards the wheel as well. I could see the rudder shaft moving back and forth. The plastic inspection port cover for access to the upper rudder bearing had been literally blown off, and hit Barry in the back. I could see all of this from where I was standing in the companionway. I saw the whale’s fin or tail behind Barry, and somebody said, “Oh no, there’s blood in the water.”

Continued in Part II…

All of you out there have a safe watch, will you?

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Hey All –

So it was an eventful day yesterday. In a brief, our J/120 has sunk, but everyone is safe and sound.

The boat was heading south in the Baja-Ha-Ha with two instructors (Eugenie and Barry) and three students on our annual cruise south to our Puerto Vallarta location. They put into Ensenada briefly for some minor repairs (a loose wire in the wiring harness seems to have been the culprit), then headed back out Tuesday morning. You can see their posts below, and they seemed to be aclimating well to shipboard life. I got an email from them in the evening reporting that all was fine and they were making good time. They made the scheduled roll call in the morning at 9am, and all was fine…

Here is what I know from the brief conversations I have had with the crew: about 10am, they came across a pod of whales. Their behavior was described as ‘erratic.’ One or more of the whales struck the boat multiple times, and the boat began taking on water at a rapid pace. It sounds like, not surprisingly, most of the damage was around the rudder. They made an attempt to bail the boat and get a distress call out on SSB, but it was clear very quickly that the boat was a loss. They activated the EPIRB (emergency beacon), boarded the liferaft, and the boat was reportedly gone within 7 minutes of the strike.

I was in contact with the the USCG from the time the EPIRB went off. They did an absolutely stellar job. Within four hours of receiving the initial distress call, they reported that they had safely lifted all five sailors into the helicopter and were returning to San Diego. Eugenie has a bruised hand, but there were no other injuries. I personally am in shock… this is the stuff you read about but you think will never really happen. You can make all the preparations in the world, load boat with experienced sailors, and still have unexpected consequences. A bit humbling, to be sure. We all need to remember that when we go sailing, we really go to sea in every sense.

I know we will get a good debrief from the crew, and we’ll be sure to post more info and some ‘lessons learned,’ but I am tremendously relieved that everyone is safe. All of us here at J World are in deep gratitude to the folks of the USCG. Man, they run a great operation. And my appreciation goes out to Eugenie and Barry for a job well done, and to the crew who ended up with a lot more than they bargained for…

Anyway, that’s the latest report from here… the boat was a great boat. She was hull #9, the ex-Gannett, ex-Crosswave, now known simply as “J World.” She had a very sucessfull racing career on both coasts, and we sailed her some 10,000+ open ocean miles per year – not to mention subjecting her to all the abuses that students can dish out – and she took it in stride.

Anyway, thanks again to all of you out there for the support…

All the best,

Wayne Zittel

At 10/26/2009 10:36 PM (utc) our position was 32°13.86’N 117°18.97’W
Our course(COG) was 191T, and our speed was 4.9.
Wind was 9.3.

Flying Fish, Catching Fish, Eating Fish….

All aboard are doing great… As I write, we are about 10 NM S of the Coronado Islands. After a light air start, we were kite reaching towards the islands. After enjoying a fresh salad, I hoisted a second kite – my yellow fish kite, not yet named. While flying about 60 ft off the stern, a real fish chomped on the the pink lure we were trailing. FISH ON! Eugenie pulled it aboard, said a bunch of nasty things to it. We sailed through the middle islands and she put the finishing touches on the filets. The wind picked up, we were able to turn south a bit, and time for some fresh Skip Jack sashimi. Judy prepared a wasabi inferno soy sauce!

Wind is lightening… a bit more swell…

Hopefully it will freshen a bit, but doesn’t seem likely at the moment.

Hi to our family and friends from Judy, Mark, Ray, Eugenie and me – The J/World Baja Ha-Ha Crew.

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The following is the latest report from J World, nearing the California coast… sounds like they have been at sea way too long!

We would like to introduce the new people onboard so you are familiar with them when we arrive… You already know Simon, the autopilot who has been lazier than ever, only drove about half a day. Since then we have added Eddy the wheel, and Ray the chart plotter (always reliable tells us where we are and where we are going, even how fast and how long). Now our applause goes out to Bill the bilge pump who always works and never complains…. Walter the water-maker has also been a great help in our water consumption, and last but not least Lucy the head… this is a funny one: the head toilet seat has been loose, and everytime we went to the bathroom we would wiggle around. A couple of days out, Polly, with her british accent asks, “Have you always had problems with the loose seat?” but we all heard, “Have you always had problems with Lucy?” so we all wondered if there was someone else onboard we didn’t know about. Either way, we now go visit Lucy instead of going to the head. As for Rick, he keeps asking for Ruthie, and talks about Ruthie, Ruthie this and Ruthie that, she might as well be onboard.

So here’s a toast to everyone on the boat, off the boat and around the world! It’s a big ocean!

Capt. Eugenie and The J World crew…

Thursday Update from the Crew of J/World…

We are at 38.10N and 143.09W. Winds are out of the north at 8-12, and it’s overcast today, and colder – for the first time I have long pants on. We have arrived in these northern latitudes. We are heading NE, but on a port tack now! After 1,000 or so miles on starboard tack, we did a few readjustments, and off we go…

We’ll be heading up this way for another day, and as I see on the gribs [weather charts], we will be getting a nice northerly around latitude 40, across the beam, and we should be off towards land and arrive in no time… sounds like a plan!

We are doing well. Lots of discussions and good communicating… as a great crew should!

Cheers, Capt. Eugenie and Team