OUCH......

[JABIII]

[JABIII]

Breached hull lists to port, shoving running gear inside


By Lucy Chabot Reed


A brand new 116-foot Azimut, the M/Y TV, grounded on the rocks at the entrance to Port Everglades on Wednesday, March 16, breaching its hull in about a dozen places.

It took environmental agencies and three salvage companies about 42 hours to pull the yacht free, then two hours more to patch it enough to haul it to Mega Marine, the closest yard to the inlet.

Once there, TV was hauled out, given 48 “permanent” patches of plywood and epoxy, put back in the water and taken to Bradford Marine for inspection and analysis, according to Capt. Kevin Collins, general manager of Offshore Marine Towing/TowBoat US, the contracted towing company that coordinated the salvage.

The yacht suffered three major holes in its fiberglass hull, including an 8-foot gash below the waterline on the starboard bow where it apparently hit the rocks, Collins said.

But the worst damage was to the port side, midship and stern, he said. Once breached, the hull took on water and began to list to port, causing the port strut and propeller to come through the hull, flooding the engine room, Collins said. The port engine was completely submerged at high tide, he said.

Crews spent much of March 17 assessing the situation and taking environmental precautions to minimize damage. Cliff Berry Inc. removed about 5,000 gallons of diesel before the yacht was pulled free at high tide March 18.

“There were about a dozen actual breaches in the hull,” he said.

Tugs, equipment and staff from Sea Tow and Cape Ann Towing were also on the scene.


Three tow companies and their dewatering pumps aided in the salvage. PHOTO/LUCY REED


It was unclear how the accident occured. The megayacht’s captain, an experienced master new to the yacht, declined to comment.

Greg Poulos, general manager of Rolly Marine Service where TV had last been docked, said the yacht left the yard under tow by Cape Ann Towing at about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday and “turned loose” at about 8 p.m. for a sea trial.

The yacht was scheduled to leave that evening for the Dominican Republic. The accident appears to have occurred shortly before 9 p.m.

“We begged the guy not to go out,” Poulos said. “It was a new crew, a new captain, a new system and it was night time. The owner was insistent that they be in Puerto Plata on such-and-such a date.

“That’s what happens with an impatient owner,” he said. “A 12-hour delay would have saved this owner his boat and this captain his job. It was just a big bad mistake to take a new boat with a new captain and a new crew out at night.”

[Kirk]

Sorry to hear about your boat, JAB. Did you fire your captain?

[JABIII]

Yeah Offshore Duck is now working in a Kroger in Des Moines, Iowa.

[B.S.D.]

[img]graemlins/lol.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lol.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lol.gif[/img]

[choco-lab]

Some salvage company will probably buy it for about $10,000 and leave the plywood patches on it and him and all his redneck friends will start running it in the waterway. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Swamp Rat]

That sucker'd look good in MOBU and with a grass blind...

[GBelly]

and it would prolly hold all your "gear" too, SR.

[Johnny Reb]

Probably belongs to some [img]graemlins/afro.gif[/img] Rapper like "P-Diddy"

[dukhntr]

Hey Reb, thats why he was staying so close to the rocks......you know, since his [img]graemlins/afro.gif[/img] ass can't swim!