Dear Friend of CHARIAD:

CHARIAD was seriously damaged when she was struck by another sailboat on July 4. I have been scrambling to get her repaired and dealing with injuries myself. Sorry for the long delay in getting an update to you.

July 4 Collision  – What Happened

The Eastern Yacht Club sponsored a July 4th race and CHARIAD was sailing on port below the starting line about a minute before the start. A boat named Pleione owned by Bruce Dyson and helmed by Mark Lindsay, owner of Boston Boat Works, was on starboard traveling about parallel to CHARIAD and closer to the starting line. When the two boats were about bow to bow but separated to windward, Pleione suddenly turned towards CHARIAD and struck us at the stern. Her bow came into the cockpit where I was standing. My head ended up on the bow of Pleione. The two boats were pulled apart with some difficulty.

The boat on starboard has the right of way over a port boat, but the turn towards CHARIAD was so sudden that there was no time or opportunity to stay clear. Whatever your rights as a sailboat, you cannot just slam into another boat causing serious damage and injury to the crew as happened in this case.

Pictures and Video

We had a Gopro mounted on the stern of the boat that recorded the position of the boats before the incident and the impact. This is difficult for me to watch but the incident is recorded with amazing clarity.

Here is CHARIAD’s deck after the collision

racing sailboat CHARIAD after collision with Pleione

You can see where Pleione’s bow smashed into CHARIAD’s hull and cracked the deck and side of the hull.

Repairs Are Almost Complete

Marblehead Trading has done a very good job getting the boat out of the water and getting the repairs underway.

CHARIAD sailboat in for collision repairs at Greaves Marine in Marblehead, MA

The damaged area is cut away. The team doing the fiberglass repairs posted a number of pictures on their Facebook page – Greaves Marine & Finishes.

I visited the boat on Wednesday and the fiberglass repairs are almost finished.

CHARIAD collision repairs nearly complete at Greaves Marine in Marblehead, MA

There is a real art to rebuilding a hull like this. Carpentry and re-assembly work needs to be done, but the major repairs are mostly completed.

What Now?

CHARIAD has lost a month of sailing. I spent much of two days at Mass General getting X rayed and poked. I still have a lot of swelling in my hip from the impact but I hope there will be no long term injuries.

I filed a protest with the Eastern Yacht Club race committee. The committee said both boats are somewhat at fault so no one is really at fault. Bruce Dyson is a prominent Eastern member and Mark Lindsay owns a major boat building firm. View the video and decide for yourself where the fault lies. I am appealing the EYC decision to US Sailing.

The boat is scheduled to go back in the water next week. We will miss the Buzzards Bay Regatta but will get the sailing back underway.

Revere Mass has a superb sand sculpture event each summer. Here is one of the sand sculptures this year. Remember, this all made from sand

Griffen sand sculpture at Revere Beach, MA

I could say that this is how I feel when boarding the mighty CHARIAD. “Please let me come back on board”

Or you may have a caption for the picture. (italic sentence)

I hope you are enjoying the summer. Let’s get together soon.

Rick