[SystemSafety] Approaching Cape Town

Les Chambers les at chambers.com.au
Wed Apr 5 01:38:47 CEST 2017


Hi

An update on Lisa Blair.

 

This from her blog - 0300 AST Tuesday 4 April 2017 (1900 SAST)

"At approximately 0300 (AET) Australian sailor Lisa Blair issued a PAN PAN
895nm south of Cape Town when in 40 knot winds and seven (7) metre swell her
boat Climate Action Now was dismasted after the port shroud broke in a knock
down.

Search and Rescue in Cape Town have been notified and will provide
assistance if required.

Lisa is well and uninjured."

 

I feel for Lisa, it was a gutsy exploit but a large component of the success
of these adventures is luck, and on 4 April, her luck ran out. I hope she's
got 895nm worth of diesel in her tanks to make it to Cape Town but I doubt
it. Most yachts carry less than half that and she is more than 50 percent
through her voyage. Also, yachts are not designed to travel long distances
under power. The powered cruising speed of the yacht I crossed the Atlantic
on (a Swan 51 footer) was six knots. We cruised at nine knots under sail and
surfed waves at 13 knots. She will get close enough to Cape Town for a tow
or a rescue so , wind and waves permitting, she should be okay.

It's worth reflecting on why people do these things. Balsa cored fibreglass
yachts really don't belong in the Southern Ocean. Most sane people go down
there in warships or icebreakers. Fibreglass construction does not withstand
a wave breaking on the deck. The weight of water crushes them. In 1972 David
Lewis attempted a circumnavigation of Antarctica single-handed in a small
steel yacht, named Ice Bird. Facing treacherous conditions in the Southern
Ocean, Lewis was not heard from for 13 weeks but eventually managed to sail
Ice Bird to the Antarctic Peninsula under a jury rig after dismasting. He
was pitchpoled (picked up and thrown stern over bow) by a large wave. 

You can't help admiring the courage of this lady though - pitting herself
against the forces of nature in a boat that should be doing a racing season
in St Tropez. And to be fair the only life she's risking is her own. We tend
to admire risktakers and it's true that nothing much advances without risk.
How many people had to die to make aviation as safe as it is today. Right
now Lisa is probably learning stuff that will find its way into future yacht
design.

 

I guess the only people we need to be wary of are the risktakers (the
'entrepreneurs') who want to roll the dice on other people's lives.

 

Lisa's blog has stopped. I guess she's fully occupied at the moment. There
will be more news though. Stay tuned.

 

Les

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who came in late:

Right now there is a compelling case study unfolding in the Southern Ocean.
Lisa Blair, a solo yachtswoman intent on being the first woman to
circumnavigate Antarctica, is rolling the dice, approaching Cape Horn  from
the west in a 50 footer. What could go wrong? Her blogs make interesting
reading here: https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/blog/ 

You can track her progress here: https://gis.ee/lb/

 

-------------------------------------------------
Les Chambers
Director
Chambers & Associates Pty Ltd
 <http://www.chambers.com.au> www.chambers.com.au

Blog:  <http://www.systemsengineeringblog.com/>
www.systemsengineeringblog.com

Twitter:  <http://www.twitter.com/chambersles> @ChambersLes
M: 0412 648 992
Intl M: +61 412 648 992
Ph: +61 7 3870 4199
Fax: +61 7 3870 4220
 <mailto:les at chambers.com.au> les at chambers.com.au
-------------------------------------------------

 

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