Compac 23 fell off the trailer during storm

[HeaveToo]

So I got a scary text from a friend the other night.  Colonial Beach got hit by a horrible storm.  My friend told me that my boat had fallen off of the trailer during the storm.

Now here is the good and bad news.  Good news is that my boat wasn't at the marina and it is at my parents' home in Colonial Beach and it is just fine.  The bad news is that the boat is another Compac 23 and I am not sure who owns the boat.  I haven't heard of another Compac 23 at my marina so they are a new guest.  I can't wait to meet them and I hope that their boat is okay.  Hopefully they will join our ranks if he isn't already on here.

That is a scary thing to happen.  A storm that is so strong that it blew a 3500lb boat off of its trailer.  The only thing that I do know is that the rig was up on the boat.  I don't know the extent of the damage and I have no idea how they will get the boat in the water this year.  The weather channel claimed that it wasn't a tornado, it was a straight line wind gust (I have never really heard of that before but it makes me think of the movie White Squall).

I am launching May 1.  Hopefully it goes smoothly.

[HeaveToo]

http://wtvr.com/2017/04/22/colonial-beach-damage-straight-line-winds/

There is the news story.  Scary stuff. 

[relamb]

My son was a test engineer for a company that does crash testing on buses, ambulances, military vehicles, etc.
I was jacking up my Compac 27 one day to get it up off the trailer for bottom painting.
He watched and mentioned that when they roll an ambulance or a vehicle like that, they call one of the big truck towing companies that have a boom similar to a low crane, and they put on a sling and lift the vehicle right up onto a trailer or wherever he wants them to set it.  He said it costs $200 and is cheaper than hiring a crane, and they would have no problem hoisting my Compac 27 on and off the trailer.
I'd have to investigate what they would use for a sling, but I used a couple of 20,000lb ratchet tiedown straps and a forklift to lift my compac 23.

[HeaveToo]

A friend of mine just sent me a picture of the boat.  She looks to be newer than mine and in excellent shape.  I feel bad for the owner and I hope that they get this fixed soon.

[Mas]

Ouch! It's why we get insurance. Hopefully the fenders were there and cushioned the blow. Maybe were placed there afterwards.

Heave, know you said you had not heard of Straight Line Cells, but you may remember the Derecho we had several years ago. It absolutely was the worst storm i ever witnessed. No power here for over a week, still much damage evident in many areas. Happened the week before July 4th probably 5 years or so ago. That was a wide spread, regional version of the storm there.

Might wanna reach out to the owner of the 23. A new sailing companion! Definatly a Mk3 with the oval ports.

[HeaveToo]

Oh, I intend to meet that guy this summer!  I want to get him on this board if possible.  It will be so cool having another Compac 23 in the area.

His may look better than mine, mine may be older, but I bet you that I have a better cruising layout

Anyone else going around with 100 watts solar, cockpit shower, AIS showing on the GPS from the VHF, etc.?  LOL....Oh, and I have Mr. Yuck, my cruising spinnaker.  I am to the point where I will say that my boat is about as good as it can get for a small cruiser.

[Mas]

Might not be a guy, girls are out there sailing too!

Yeah it was kinda too little too late for me to wanna keep No Mas, but literally coming in from her last trip before i pulled her out and sent her on her way to New England, I met a 23d coming out of our little creek. No idea she was up there as i always headed out and not up creek. We both kinda looked a little surprised to see each other. Only about 50 or so 23d's out there in the world.

We are holding off on any electronic adds till we are sure what we want and can afford. Gotta relatively new GPS/VHS but need a new Ram mic. Other than paper charts will be using a $39 app on my iPhone for nav. Heck it got us down from Annapolis and we have used it since. Would like a better screen as the iPhone is kinda small and hard to see in direct sun, but for now..........

So pleased to hear ya got a 23 nearby!

[MacGyver]

Had some storms hit a small boat marina near the marina I worked at years ago. Got a bit of work from that.
It was straight line winds and they say the boats just lifted off the trailers. Really crazy, and took a bit of effort to get em cleaned up.

Even totaled around 2 out.

Nature is a beast!!!!

Mac

[tmw]

Sad.  I am curious if the blue tarp contributed to the incident, giving the wind something to catch and help pull the boat over.  Looks like it remained attached, and was there before it went down (or they did a horrible job installing it after the fact).

[HeaveToo]

I agree with the blue tarp theory.  I think that was definitely part of the issue.  It is a wonder that the tarp wasn't destroyed!

I will be down there Monday.

[brackish]

Wish there was a picture from the other side.  Very hard to imagine the wind, even at the capacity mentioned, lifting the 3500 # boat straight up out of the keel guides and over the bunk.  Seems to me more likely a bunk collapsed.  Otherwise the thousand pound trailer would have gone over with the boat. 

Now if you tell me that the wind driven water/high tide got up on the land and lifted the boat, I can easily believe that.  Hurricane Camille and Katrina and all minor blows in between made me a believer.  But even with 200MPH sustained they did not lift heavy boats out of trailers.

[HeaveToo]

You are also probably right about the bunk collapsing.  The seas didn't come up that high either.  It was the wind that probably put pressure on the boat and then the bunk collapsed allowing the boat to fall off of the trailer.  I wonder how much damage it has.   

[Mas]

Ya know i was also just wondering what could have caused 3,500 lb of relatively streamlined shape like a sailboat to fall off of it's trailer and i think the answer may be attached to the boat in the photo. The big blue tarp has clearly been blown to same side the boat went. My newest theory, Mr Holmes, is that the wind got under the tarp and the additional windage was simply too much. There had to be lift involved or the trailer would have simply pivoted with the pressure and possibly headed up. Wheel chocks could stop that movement but they would have to have been both fore and aft of the wheels. Whether it was the tarp or no, tarps should be carefully deployed on a boat. A flogging tarp can cause much headache! A boat in our yard suffered some pretty nasty gel coat damage compliments of an unattended tarp coming apart.   

You contacted the owner yet Heave? Wouldn't that be cool if ya got a built in cruising companion with the same boat!

[HeaveToo]

I am going down there this evening and launching tomorrow.  I don't know if they boat is still there or what.  Friends at the marina took the pictures.

It is pretty cool because I have had boats at the marina for the past 12 or so years.  I know a lot of the sailors there and I try to meet the new sailboat owners there.  Heck, I even know some of the power boaters.  I get intel all of the time and I usually know what is going on.

I will keep you guys posted on what I find.  I sure would like to meet the guy and get him on here and in with the rest of the group.

[Tom L.]

My guess is the boat began rocking severely from the wind which would cause the bunks to colapse. I doubt if the wind actually picked the boat up.

Our sailing club at Lake Eustice, Florida everyone is required to put storm anchors in the ground on all four corners of the boat. They are like big augers that our screwed into the ground. Then the boat is strapped down to its trailer. We are suppose to do that year around but especially in the summer hurricane season.

I had a C-380 which I stored in Indiantown for three hurricanes. The yard put really big anchors in the ground and strapped the boat down with 4" wide nylon straps. It was on the hard but after each hurricanes the boat rocked causing it to sink a little and the yard tighten the straps. The danger is the rocking caused by the wind and will kick out the jack stands. All the covers and canvas was removed and the mast was taken down. Because the boat sunk in the sand the yard had dug a little trench under the rudder. It was Hurricane Charley, Francis and one other that hit us. The point is with a good yard that knows what they are doing a boat will survive a direct hit.

Tom L.