Even the wildlife around Farallon Island sounded mournful as a helicopter readied the ill-fated sailing boat, “Low Speed Chase,” to be lifted to Half Moon Bay Airport after what’s been called the worst sailing accident in recent memory, where one of the eight-man crew died and four are still missing.
Perhaps riding the ocean swells in a sailboat isn’t your idea of a relaxing day on the water, but as survivor Bryan Chong – who has bravely stepped forward to make sure the true story of what happened on April 14 is told – noted, danger doesn’t stop sports lovers from pursuing their healthy addiction to adventure. In the aftermath of the accident, though, he hopes that from now on, discussions of safety will feature more prominently in sailing circles everywhere.
The story of the Low Speed Chase actually started off at a frustratingly slow pace, the crew unable to catch enough wind to maneuver through the starting gate until plenty of other boats had passed them by. As Chong described the scene after they finally cleared the Golden Gate Bridge and headed toward the rocky Farallon Islands:
The mood on the boat is relaxed. We chat about which of our three kites will be safest for the ride home. We’ve accepted our place in the back of the pack now, so there is no need to risk equipment or safety. Our mindset is definitely not aggressive.
With their most highly skilled crew member on the wheel, the boat started encountering far rougher conditions, though, as they came around the islands. This video was taken in calmer conditions by Deception, another boat in the race that took a similar course to Low Speed Chase:
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That’s when trouble hit, according to Chong:
I see another wave approaching in the distance. It’s coming from the same direction as the other swells but it’s massive. I’ve seen large waves before but this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen outside of big-wave surf videos.
As the wave approaches it begins to face up, its front flattening as it crests. By the time our boat meets it, there’s no escape route. Alan steers the boat into the wave and the bow of Low Speed Chase ascends the breaking wave, which seconds sooner would have been a giant swell and seconds later would have already broken. Instead, we’re heading into a crashing wall of water with 9-10 knots of boat-speed and it breaks directly on us. I lock my right arm to the bottom lifeline and brace for the impact. The last thing I see is the boat tipping toward vertical with a band of water still above it. A single thought races through my head: “This is going to be bad.”
Unfortunately, Chong was correct. A second wave ripped him off the boat, tossing him into the churning waters that eventually deposited him on low rocks with his two fellow survivors, Jay and Nick.
Nick, who broke his leg while it was wrapped around a stanchion and had a better view, tells me the boat surfed backwards with the wave for a stretch then rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise before the wave finally barrel rolled it.
A memorial flotilla was launched by the sailing community to mourn its loss and Chong says that the most important lesson he takes away from this tragic experience is one of taking responsibility for his personal safety. Would they have been rescued had the tracking device’s batteries not been checked? Should they have been tethered to avoid being ripped from the boat even though conditions initially seemed calm?
Painful questions to ask, but food for thought.
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Full story at Latitude 38.
A sad time for sailing.
