* Surviving to tell the story of RAMBLER 100- Peter Isler's harrowing account
of what took place when George David's 100 footer, RAMBLER 100,
capsized after losing it's enormous canting-keel is a riveting read.
Local Newporters aboard were Jerry Kirby and Mick Harvey who also
survived to tell the tale- see George David's Interview on YouTube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnbsFI6BZrw
RAMBLER 100 navigator "Pedro" shares his story- "In 23 knots of wind, we were headed upwind after rounding Fastnet, and heard the big bang. The boat immediately flipped to 90 degrees, and within 30 seconds it turned turtle. Five people got separated from the boat. They luckily all had life jackets and were able to stay together. The remaining 16 crew were able to stay with the boat, three of which did the dry walk onto the overturned hull. Everyone had their own harrowing story to get up on the hull.
We
then waited almost three hours, during which time we saw the Farr 100
Leopard go by maddeningly close and the Volvo 70s pass by at a little
greater distance. Then a lifeboat came out, which was responding to one
of the two personal EPIRBs that Mick Harvey and I had carried in our
pockets. But they came maddeningly close but did not see us. After they
did a search pattern for about 45 minutes they found us.We then notified the rescue team of the five crew that were separated from the boat, which a second rescue boat then located. Everyone was extremely cold, which included owner George David and his partner Wendy Touton, who was hypothermic and was airlifted for treatment.
The
remaining twenty of us were then taken to the incredible Baltimore
Sailing Club where in very short order the club members had put together
a dinner, a stack of dry clothes, and two nice big houses to
accommodate us, and the most incredible small town welcome you could
ever hope to get.On determining the problem...
It was immediately apparent what happened. Despite being in the nav station, I could easily tell that the boat was on its side. It couldn’t be anything else but a keel issue. Luckily I had all my gear on, including my lifejacket. I immediately called mayday on the main ship’s radio, but I didn’t get a response, so I picked up the handheld and started calling. The sails and rig had helped to keep the hull on its side, but during this second call the boat turtled…." Read more about Pedro's account here on Scuttlebutt.
