Total Loss: A Collection of 45 First-hand Accounts of Yacht Losses at Sea with a Summary of the Lessons to be Learned Paperback – August 4, 1998

These stories were disappointing because they are so old!

good reading

A sobering account of survival at sea. A must read for anyone contemplating sailing. Some will learn from this and some will decide to rather stay ashore.

This is a hugely important book that should be in any personal or organizational (e.g. sail training program) library. It is organized into the following parts: weather (and waves), faulty navigation (poor thinking), failure of gear or rigging, failure of ground tackle or mooring lines, collision (think submerged free floating shipping container), fire or explosion, and towing mishaps.

While some of the short stories go back to years before modern electronics, the fact is that modern electronics can fail (and be wrong or not updated even when working). Each vignette ends with a lessons learned summary.

Here is what I pulled from the book:

Bad -- really bad -- stuff happens even when you have done everything right. Plan for and practice for the worst case. When its catastrophic and not your fault, get over the guilt and move on.

- Weather. Freak weather and freak waves happen. Assume dismasting. Assume loss of steering. Assume capsizing and need to cut access hatch. Assume loss of antennas and installed electronics. Assume broken bilge pumps clogged by tin can labels and such. Now what? Have answers.

- Navigation. When in doubt stand off. Do the azimuths and the chart work. Do not approach at night where there is any doubt. Have someone up the mast (or a webcam?) in hazardous reef areas.

- Rigging/Gear Safety. Stays will snap, double stays are nice, know what's beneath the surface ("10mm" mounts could be on top of 6mm threads). Have the lifeboard accessible and where it won't be holed by pieces of mast flailing about. Think about batteries and bilge pumps and portable options. New batteries for all hand-held emergency beacons and radios. Flourescent strom sails. Consider a flourescent deck or at least foredeck.

- Mooring/Ground Tackle. Corral reefs can cut through steel chains. This I did not know. The right amount of weather stress can snap chains and rip cable mounts off the boat.

Surface Radar/Alarm. They are expensive, but there is so much hazardous debris out there (and pirates when anchored) it might be worth thinking about sonar and surface radar, and if in a fleet, at least one boat so equipped. The whales I could understand -- free-floating mostly submerged containers now scare me.

Fire Avoidance. Will your fire extinguishers actually work in gale conditions? May be a bridge too far but a useful standard by which to test and buy.

Towing. This is hazardous. I had no idea. Some very useful lessons learned, it is a class by itself, including techniques for using deployed anchor as base for your end of the tow line, trailing a drogue to avoid over-running the tow line, weighting the middle of the tow line, having the two line be long enough for multiple waves. Stuff I never learned.

Damage Control Mind-Set. What will it take? Where are the tools? What is the sequence of events? Was the sailing plan filed on both end? Did you do a PAN PAN when you could?

Grag Bags. Passport, credit cards, car keys, knife, light, personal EPIRB properly registered

Short Trips. No difference -- be as ready as if you were crossing the Atlantic.

This is a precious book, most useful, a fine substitute for learning the hard way through mishap and having to abandon ship. Highly recommended.

This book badly needs to be edited by a marine expert. It could also be improved by publishing some statistics on how many such sinkings occur so how likely are some of the events.

Conclusions are from the skippers involved. This leads to errors and even deliberate misinformation.

The story of "Strumpet" is the worst; a father and two young boys spend the night on a yacht. The two boys have a kerosene lamp for light in the forward berth. The boys are called to breakfast and then the boat sets out, and soon the interior is engulfed in flame and smoke.

The skipper's explanation is that the boys put out the lamp, but supposedly the residual heat of the glass set the sleeping bags on fire and the fiberglass ignited with miraculous speed.

Finally the guy states that he will never go cruising in a fiberglass yacht again!

You tell me: Do you think the residual heat of glass ignited the sleeping bags--or do you think maybe two young boys forgot to put out the lamp before coming down to bacon and egg? Here's a clue: The first words out of the submitter's mouth in the conclusion are "Naturally the insurance company required a full explanation." Obviously they got a doozey.

Other stories also have questionable conclusions. One yacht's sinking is blamed on an off center companionway. Then it is noted that the ballast shifted in the yacht, causing her to list over far enough on the same side to allow water in. OK, the cause of this yacht's sinking is the shifting ballast, the companionway location was NOT the cause of the sinking. If your yacht has an off center companionway, don't worry, it's OK.

There are some REALLY GOOD STORIES! The story about the poorly maintained propane system leading to an explosion at dock that lost one sailor his leg should be read by EVERYONE. This stuff is just plain dangerous.

In conclusion, you should get this book and read it because it demonstrates why you need to have an EPIRB, life raft, abandon ship bag, and be ready to use them at any time. Stuff can happen that you have no control over. But be warned that the conclusions are not from experts and may be incorrect or misleading in some cases.

Get the book.

Jack Coote's "Total Loss: A Collection of 45 First-Hand Accounts of Yacht Losses at Sea" is a compendium of short (2-8 pages) accounts of yacht losses, and each story is followed by a short "Lessons Learned."

The stories are a mix of losses in storms, losses due to navigational errors, explosions/fires, and other disasters. Because they were written by participants, the stories are of uneven quality - some are excellent and gripping, others dry and forgettable. Because the stories are so short, none are epic sagas of struggle and survival on the high seas. Also, some photographs/illustrations would have helped bring the boats and people to life and added depth to the book, especially because some readers may not be familiar with all the different types of sailboats in this book.

The "Lessons Learned" from each experience are likewise of uneven quality - some draw important and note-worthy lessons that all sailors should heed, while others simply restate and quote what the reader read just a page or two earlier.

One lesson that I learned is never to sail with the couple who had two (!) accounts of yacht losses in this book!

This is a good read for anyone interested in sailing and a must read for anyone serious about sailing.