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Displaying items by tag: capsize

Dramatic footage has emerged of a container ship slowing sinking at a port in Indonesia over the weekend.

The video shows the cargo vessel Mentari Crystal capsizing alongside the pier at Teluk Lamong Terminal in the city of Surabaya — and taking with it its payload of 137 containers.

According to Marine Insight, all crew members were reported to be safe and unharmed by the incident, which is believed to have been caused by faulty ballasting that affected the ship’s stability.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#Rowing: Athlunkard Boat Club has set up a gofundme page for their young rower, Amy Mulcahy, and her family. The 12-year-old was involved in a capsize on Saturday in Limerick and had to be cut free as her hair caught in rigging. The gofundme page here has drawn thousands in support, though only set up for a single day. Amy has been in a serious condition in Temple Street Hospital in Dublin.

Published in Rowing
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#MalinHead - The local man who died after a boat capsize off Malin Head in Donegal on Tuesday afternoon (17 July) lost his father in the same area four decades ago, it has emerged.

According to the Irish Independent, Gerry ‘Malin’ Doherty drowned close to where his father Paddy ‘Malin’ Doherty perished after slipping into the water from rocks in 1979.

Gerry Doherty and 16-year-old Thomas Weir died on Tuesday after Doherty’s 16ft cabin cruiser lost power and capsized less than 1,000 metres from shore.

Rescuers recovered a third individual in his late 40s — Dessie Keenan, a relative of Weir — who has since been released from hospital.

The Irish Independent has much more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update
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#Donegal - A man in his 60s and a teenage boy have died after the fishing boat they were on capsized off Malin Head in Donegal yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 17 July).

As Independent.ie reports, it’s believed the vessel got into difficulty just minutes after setting off from Malin Pier, with three on board, around midday.

Tourists staying locally raised the alarm around 4pm after hearing cries for help, and a major search and rescue operation was launched immediately.

The teenager and a man in his 50s — both believed to be from Derry — were swiftly recovered, though the 16-year-old boy later died in hospital. The man in his 50s was also hospitalised and was said to be in a stable condition last night.

The body of the third person, a man in his 60s, was recovered on the shoreline before 6pm. He has been named locally as Gerry Doherty of nearby Carndonagh.

Independent.ie has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update
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#Rowing: Damian Browne twice capsized and suffered facial injuries but has continued to row in the Atlantic Challenge race. The Galway man, who competes as Gullivers Travels, posted a remarkable video on his Facebook page below telling of how he had been woken by his face “getting smashed off the side of the cabin”. He made light of the cut, which bled profusely, and the other injuries. The hours following brought another capsize and sighting of a whale which circled his boat and made eye contact with him. Browne and the two other boats from Ireland in the race, Relentless and Home to Portrush, are two weeks into the race from the Canary Islands to Antigua.

Published in Rowing

RTÉ News reports that an investigation has begun into the death of an Irish boy in a boating incident in the United States last week.

Harry O’Connor, 8, died on Saturday (29 July) three days after he was involved in a boat capsize in the Cape Cod Canal near Boston.

According to TheJournal.ie, the boy — who was on a day trip with his parents — was trapped under the capsized vessel for more than 20 minutes.

O’Connor had moved to Boston with his family from Clonmel and also had ties to Duleek in Co Meath, where his funeral will take place this Thursday (3 August).

In other news, a post-mortem was set to take place yesterday (Monday 31 July) after a 57-year-old man died in a diving accident off Donegal last Friday (28 July)

John Alwright’s oxygen mask was dislodged after he was swept into a cave by an underwater current, as Independent.ie reportss Independent.ie reports.

Despite the best efforts of his diving companions, Alwright was unresponsive when he came to the surface.

Published in News Update
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#CheekiRafiki - The director of a yachting company has been charged with manslaughter after the loss of four British sailors when their vessel capsized in the Atlantic two years ago.

As Sky News reports, Douglas Innes of Stormforce Coaching Ltd faces four counts over the deaths of James Male, Andrew Bridge, Steve Warren and Paul Goslin when the Cheeki Rafiki lost its keel some 700 miles off Nova Scotia in May 2014.

The four experiences offshore sailors had been returning to Britain from a regatta in Antigua when the tragedy occurred, as previously reported on Afloat.ie. None of the four were recovered.

Now the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has brought charges against Innes, head of the company responsible for maintaining the 40ft yacht, following an extensive investigation into the incident by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch report is available online, and Sky News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Offshore

For many Afloat.ie readers, he was just a silhouetted figure sitting atop a boat waiting to be rescued when Afloat.ie published the story about a solo sailor's rescue off the Wexford coast. Like so many rescue video clips, there was little detail on what had caused the boat to capsize but French skipper Jean Conchaudron's subsequent thank you comment on Afloat.ie to the Irish rescue services shed a lot more light on his remarkable rescue from the Irish Sea.

Conchaudron was voyaging from Newlin, Cornwall to Dublin. His goal was to meet a friend who was coming to Dublin from Iceland. After a few days holidaying in Dublin they would come back with the two boats to Brittany (Perros Guirec).

mini 6.50 Jean conchaudron Jean Conchaudron's Mini 6.50 in happier times

But as we now know, none of this ever happened. As a result of 'mechanical failure' Conchaudron's keel fell off and he was capsized in seconds.

'Conditions were quite good, I was on deck, wind was about 15 knots, some swell. The boat capsized in about five seconds'.

'I had my PLB in my trousers, and my life jacket on. I triggered the PLB I have in my pocket. It then took to me about half an hour to be able to make a web of ropes to climb on to the hull, I was pushed up and down by the waves, and it took me a while to secure myself with the rope (the web of rope can be seen on the video). It was not possible to start my boat beacon because it was in the cabin and not accessible.

'I then waited to be rescued. The Rescue 117 Helicopter from Waterford saved me and I spent four days in Waterford Regional Hospital due to hypothermia. Thanks to the Irish recsue services, these guys are heroes'.

Conchaudron says he loves Mini 6.50 type sailing and prefers sailing alone. Despite what happened off Wexford, he believes his boat is 'very safe' and well equipped, as are all the boats of this class with a radio beacon and other safety measures. He participated in the "Mini Transat" in 1987, and other races in France. 

lifejacket Rescue 117Jean Conchaudron's all important lifejacket signed by his rescuers

As far as he knows, the boat is still adrift in the Irish Sea. Conchaudron says the Coastguard is 'keeping an eye on it.' It is his intention to try to get it back, depending on what his insurers say.

'I hope this experience will help other sailors', he wrote on the Rescue 117 Facebook page.

Conchaudron says he has learned an important lesson from the experience and wants to pass it on to other sailors in the hope that it can save other lives at sea: 'Have a PLB in your trousers's pocket, wear your life–jacket, stay afloat, don't sleep and be a warrior to survive'.

Published in Solo Sailing

Following the capsize of Musandam-Oman Sail early Sunday morning, the five sailors have been safely transferred to a cargo ship and are in transit back to Canada.

The capsize happened in the early hours of Sunday approximately 450 nautical miles east of St Pierre and Miquelon while racing the Transat Quebec-St Malo.

The team is currently assessing solutions for recovering the MOD70.

Published in Offshore
Tagged under

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Musandam-Oman Sail capsized approximately 450 nautical miles east of St Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Canada, while racing the Transat Quebec-St Malo. All five crew, including County Kerry's Damian Foxall are reported to be safe and secure.

The Transat Quebec-St Malo race committee and Oman Sail’s immediate priority is to evacuate the crew and bring them ashore safely, and this operation is well underway.

Oman Sail shore crew received a call this morning at 0305 UTC on Sunday 17 July from the boat. 

As Afloat.ie reported five days ago, fresh from setting a stunning new Round Ireland record in June, Foxall and his Musandam-Oman Sail team had set their sights on another milestone record in the Transat Quebec-St Malo (TQSM) with a match against the world’s largest trimaran Spindrift 2 expected to push them to the limit.

Updates as more information is received.

Published in Offshore
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Ferry & Car Ferry News The ferry industry on the Irish Sea, is just like any other sector of the shipping industry, in that it is made up of a myriad of ship operators, owners, managers, charterers all contributing to providing a network of routes carried out by a variety of ships designed for different albeit similar purposes.

All this ferry activity involves conventional ferry tonnage, 'ro-pax', where the vessel's primary design is to carry more freight capacity rather than passengers. This is in some cases though, is in complete variance to the fast ferry craft where they carry many more passengers and charging a premium.

In reporting the ferry scene, we examine the constantly changing trends of this sector, as rival ferry operators are competing in an intensive environment, battling out for market share following the fallout of the economic crisis. All this has consequences some immediately felt, while at times, the effects can be drawn out over time, leading to the expense of others, through reduced competition or takeover or even face complete removal from the marketplace, as witnessed in recent years.

Arising from these challenging times, there are of course winners and losers, as exemplified in the trend to run high-speed ferry craft only during the peak-season summer months and on shorter distance routes. In addition, where fastcraft had once dominated the ferry scene, during the heady days from the mid-90's onwards, they have been replaced by recent newcomers in the form of the 'fast ferry' and with increased levels of luxury, yet seeming to form as a cost-effective alternative.

Irish Sea Ferry Routes

Irrespective of the type of vessel deployed on Irish Sea routes (between 2-9 hours), it is the ferry companies that keep the wheels of industry moving as freight vehicles literally (roll-on and roll-off) ships coupled with motoring tourists and the humble 'foot' passenger transported 363 days a year.

As such the exclusive freight-only operators provide important trading routes between Ireland and the UK, where the freight haulage customer is 'king' to generating year-round revenue to the ferry operator. However, custom built tonnage entering service in recent years has exceeded the level of capacity of the Irish Sea in certain quarters of the freight market.

A prime example of the necessity for trade in which we consumers often expect daily, though arguably question how it reached our shores, is the delivery of just in time perishable products to fill our supermarket shelves.

A visual manifestation of this is the arrival every morning and evening into our main ports, where a combination of ferries, ro-pax vessels and fast-craft all descend at the same time. In essence this a marine version to our road-based rush hour traffic going in and out along the commuter belts.

Across the Celtic Sea, the ferry scene coverage is also about those overnight direct ferry routes from Ireland connecting the north-western French ports in Brittany and Normandy.

Due to the seasonality of these routes to Europe, the ferry scene may be in the majority running between February to November, however by no means does this lessen operator competition.

Noting there have been plans over the years to run a direct Irish –Iberian ferry service, which would open up existing and develop new freight markets. Should a direct service open, it would bring new opportunities also for holidaymakers, where Spain is the most visited country in the EU visited by Irish holidaymakers ... heading for the sun!