The Fleet's Logbook.
A searchable, public reference of documented sailing emergencies. Every entry is one incident — what happened, where, when, to whom, why — with sources, lessons, and links to the related SeaWise procedures. Catalogued and kept on behalf of the fleet, because individual logbooks are no longer kept.
Before dawn on 19 August 2024 the sailing yacht Bayesian was knocked down and foundered in a sudden, violent windstorm half a nautical mile off Porticello, Sicily. Of the 22 people aboard, seven died. The MAIB's interim report found the yacht was vulnerable to high winds and that, once heeled past about 70 degrees, recovery was impossible.
Anchor dragged during a sleeping watch with no alarm set; the boat grounded gently on a sandy beach overnight and was recovered undamaged at high water.
A Moody 54 dragged anchor at 03:00 during a Maltemi wind shift, slipping toward a moored Greek caïque before the anchor alarm woke the skipper.
On the evening of 25 May 2019 the motor yacht Vision attempted a fast, close pass of the anchored motor yacht Minx off Île Sainte-Marguerite, near Cannes. Vision struck Minx's bow, killing a crewman standing on Minx's foredeck. Vision was travelling at more than six times the anchorage's 5-knot limit, and her skipper had used cannabis, impairing his judgement.
Two charter yachts tied alongside dragged a combined anchor in a 40 kt bora gust, drifting 200 m before the inside boat fendered off a rock outcrop.
The Bavaria 47 Essence was abandoned and sank in 7.5-metre seas 25 nautical miles N-NE of Cape Brett; three of four crew survived.
In thick fog on 21 October 2018 the ro-ro ferry Red Falcon lost orientation in Cowes Harbour, left the channel and spun through 220°. Disorientated, her master drove the ferry the wrong way and collided with the moored yacht Greylag, sinking it on its mooring. The MAIB found the master became fixated on his electronic chart and cognitively overloaded, and that the risk to people sleeping aboard moored yachts had not been adequately managed.
Charter yacht dragged at 02:00 in a downburst and contacted a moored wooden trader; bow roller damage, caïque holed, both insured.
Forestay failure under reduced sail in 38 kt of wind; the crew of three cut the wreckage clear and made Brest under jury rig over three days.
The 42 ft monohull Rauruahine was abandoned 80 nm WNW of Cape Reinga after a chainplate failure flooded the saloon; crew of two recovered by container ship.
The 40 ft Beneteau First Cheeki Rafiki lost its keel and capsized 720 nm SE of Nova Scotia during a delivery passage; four British crew lost.
Italian-built 54 ft carbon racer; keel fastenings gave way en route Maldives → Red Sea, the yacht inverted in under 30 seconds — the couple drifted nine days in a leaking liferaft before a Belgian tug spotted them.
David Cottle was washed overboard during gale-force conditions and recovered by a Liberian-registered tanker after 70 minutes in the water.
On 21 June 2006, during a sailing-club race off Holyhead, the skipper of the 8-metre yacht Huw Jars fell overboard. He was not wearing a lifejacket. The crew recovered him within about ten minutes, but he had drowned. The MAIB urged the club to require lifejackets, ensure a competent backup crew member can take over if the skipper goes over or is incapacitated, and establish man-overboard procedures and equipment.
On 2 July 2005 the small sailing dinghy Mollyanna capsized off Puffin Island, North Wales, in force 5–6 winds and 1.5-metre seas. It inverted and could not be held upright. The owner died within about ten minutes; his son and two grandsons clung to the hull for over an hour until a charter fishing boat found them. The youngest child also died. The dinghy failed the buoyancy and stability standard for its design category.
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