[Rhodes22-list] More on MaGregor safety

[David Huckabee]

This was posted on the New England Trailer Sailors Page
(http://www.ne-ts.com/) from an incident some time ago.  (Bolding and
font changes in original posting.)
 
I'm not sure how many folks in MOANE are aware of the MacGregor
disaster which occurred on the 4th of July on Lake Champlain. I haven't
seen any email or anything about it in our group, so if I'm the first to
bring it up, good, if not, forgive me for letting you know about old
news. 

Two kids drowned in the hull of a capsized Mac26X on the 4th of July at
10 PM. An acquaintance of mine was powering up, at night, with 8 adults
and 3 kids on board. The three kids were below when the boat flipped.
Desperate attempts to rescue the kids from the over turned Mac, left two
dead. (they were caught up in lines below). One child and a dog were
rescued. 
The grizzly event seemed to be the result of not following the WARNING
that should be more boldly communicated to Mac 26 operators. I'm writing
this as a follow up to all Mac 26 water-ballasted boat owners to try and
make sure everyone understands how serious the conditions are. 
The WARNING I have states, "The Ballast tank should be full when under
sail in rough conditions. It is a good idea to have the tank full when
there are more that 4 Adults on the boat. 
When powering over 6 MPH, the rudders and centerboard must be fully up.
Lower sails. 
When operating at any speed without a full water ballast tank, no one
should be on the cabin top or foredeck, and crew weight should be low
and toward the rear of the boat."
I have a number of lengthy articles written on the disaster which
unfortunately do not shed a great amount of light on the particular
technical issues which may have actually caused the rolling moment which
flipped the 26X in relatively calm conditions. The Burlington Free Press
article suggests that the ballast was empty, the Captain was powering up
after having been rafted up with another boat for the fireworks. There
were 11 total people on the boat and at least one person on the forward
deck of the boat. To sum up one description, the boat just started to
roll and within 30 seconds after they left the other boat, before any
one knew what happened, the boat had thrown all occupants into the
water, or trapped them below and then capsized. 
>From my perspective, the rolling seems to have been caused by the
torque of the motor in combination with other forces (possibly the
rudders or center board which may have been left down) in combination
with the high center of gravity caused by not having water in the
ballast tanks and the increased mass of the people on deck. The sails
were down and the wind was relatively calm as I said before. 
I'll stop here in case you have this info already. I believe we should
make this warning available on the web site and that we should put it
out to everyone in the group so that even those riding on other 26
water-ballasted boats will know what the WARNINGs are, for their own
safety. 
According to the Paper, the warning tag is apparently supposed to be on
the steering pedestal but my tag was inside the 3 ring binder I received
with the boat. I'm sure we will hear more about this later. 
From:  July 2002 Burlington VT Free Press
Actual articles available at: 
http://www.ne-ts.com/ar/ar-407capsize.html
Improper use of boat seen in fatal accident 
By Emily Stone 
Free Press Staff Writer 
The boat that capsized on the Fourth of July and killed two children
was overloaded and was being used incorrectly, according to the boat's
manufacturer. 
The 26-foot MacGregor, which is a cross between a sailboat and a power
boat, is designed to hold up to six people, according to Roger
MacGregor, the boat company's owner. The boat carried 11 people the
night of July 4. 
The boat's hybrid design uses a water tank on the bottom to provide
stability. The tank should be filled when there are more than four
people on board, MacGregor said. The tank on the boat driven July 4 by
George Dean Martin was empty, according to the prosecutor in the case. 
The boat has no visible warning about needing to fill the tank, said
the driver's lawyer, Richard Rubin. Martin does not own the boat and has
driven it only three or four times, Rubin said. Martin's brother-in-law
owns the boat and keeps it at Martin's home, Rubin said. 
The boat capsized about 10 p.m. on Lake Champlain in Ferrisburgh.
Nine-year-old Melissa Mack and her 4-year-old brother, Trevor, drowned.
The accident left the community wondering what caused a boat on calm
waters to suddenly capsize. 
Martin, 46, of Charlotte, pleaded innocent last week to a misdemeanor
charge of boating while intoxicated. He has not been charged in
connection with the children's deaths. Addison County State's Attorney
John Quinn said the investigation is ongoing to determine if Martin's
alleged intoxication contributed to the accident. 
The MacGregor 26 does not have a heavy, permanent keel like many large
sailboats. The lack of a keel allows the boat to move quickly when used
as a power boat and makes the boat light enough to be towed behind a
car. 
Instead of a keel, the boat has a large water tank that can be filled
to stabilize the boat. When the tank is empty, the boat will not right
itself if it tips over. With the tank filled, the water acts as ballast
and is designed to pull the boat upright if it starts to tip, just like
boats with conventional keels. 
The MacGregor company, based in Costa Mesa, Calif., and a number of
MacGregor owners in Vermont doggedly defend the boat as completely safe
if used correctly. 
"As long as you're doing what you're supposed to be, you're safe," said
MacGregor owner John Gaudette of Post Mills. "It's like anything. If you
don't know what you're doing, something is going to happen." The boat
The water ballast tanks on the boat Martin was driving were empty when
the boat was brought back to shore, Quinn said. 
Boats need ballast on the bottom to keep them from tipping over.
Ballast balances the weight at the top of the boat and forces the bottom
of a boat back into the water. 
Boats with large, heavy keels cannot be driven fast. The MacGregor
compromises by having a flat-bottom that can be filled with 1,400 pounds
of water. The owners can choose a fast boat with an empty tank or a
slower, more stable boat with a full tank, depending upon their activity
for the day. 
The front page of the MacGregor 26 instruction manual says the boat can
capsize if the ballast tank is empty. The manual also says the boat's
capacity is six people. 
"With more than this, the weight of the crew becomes very large in
relation to the weight of the boat, and the stability of the boat might
be compromised," the manual says. 
There is supposed to be a safety sticker on the side of the steering
column warning the driver to fill the tank if more than four people are
on board. The sticker urges people to stay toward the rear of the boat
and to avoid sitting on the deck when the tank is empty. Passengers on
the boat Martin was driving were sitting on the deck when it tipped,
according to passengers on the boat. 
Roger MacGregor said all MacGregors made after 1997 should have that
sticker on the steering column, along with other safety stickers. His
inspection records for the boat Martin was driving show that the sticker
was on the steering column when it left the plant. The boat is a 2000
model. 
That sticker was not on the steering column of the boat as it sat in a
Charlotte marina Thursday. In its place was a sticker warning the driver
not to put the boat on the trailer unless the ballast tank is empty.
MacGregor said he did not know why the sticker about filling the ballast
tank was not next to the steering wheel. 
Because the stickers are not permanent, MacGregor said he stresses the
safety instructions in the manual over the stickers. 
Martin's lawyer, Rubin, said the absence of a warning about the ballast
tanks posted on the boat is significant. 
"There's nothing on the boat that warns the operator that the boat is
unstable without ballast with more than four or five people on board,"
he said. Loyal owners MacGregor owners in Vermont raced to defend their
crafts when news of the accident spread. 
"The boat, when operated properly, is absolutely safe," said Dave Hill
of Grand Isle, who owns two MacGregor boats. He keeps one in Florida and
another moored by his home. 
Keeping the water tank filled is the difference between sailing safely
and disaster, he said. 
He said he was once in high winds on Lake Champlain with his full sails
up. A gust brought the boat over 90 degrees so the main sail was in the
water. 
"It popped right back up," he said. His ballast tank was full on that
trip. 
"If you turn it on its side and the ballast tank is empty, it's gone,"
said Hill, 63. "There's no kidding around about that." 
Hill said he sees the water ballast as a safety feature. If he's
sailing and is caught in bad weather, he said he'll lower the sails and
empty the tank to motor home as quickly as possible. 
The MacGregor's water ballast system is the key component in the boats'
appeal, according to the company and boat owners. The option of draining
the ballast means the boat can move much more quickly than boats with
keels. 
The MacGregor 26 can handle up to a 50 horsepower engine, giving the
boat just enough speed to pull a water-skier. The company says the boat
can move at more than 20 miles per hour. 
An empty ballast tank also makes the boat light enough to pull on a
trailer behind a car. The owner can save money on dock space by keeping
the boat in a trailer all season, or can move the boat easily from one
lake to another. Criminal case Police who responded to the scene of the
Fourth of July accident wrote in court papers that Martin was acting
intoxicated and failed a number of sobriety tests. 
Vermont State Police Senior Trooper Christopher J. Campbell wrote that
Martin took a breath test that showed his blood alcohol level was .217,
which is more than twice the legal limit of .08 for driving a boat.
Martin later refused to take another breath test at the police barracks,
the court papers said. 
Police cited Martin that night for boating while intoxicated with death
resulting. The charge was reduced by Quinn to boating while intoxicated.
Quinn said he has no evidence to connect the accident or the children's
deaths with Martin's alleged drunkenness. 
"You can be perfectly sober and overload the boat," Quinn said. "You
can be perfectly sober and not load the ballast tank. You can be
perfectly sober and do something stupid." 
Police are continuing to investigate the accident, he said. Martin
could be charged with the children's deaths or with negligence,
depending on what the police find. 
Witnesses to the accident said they do not know what tipped the boat
over so suddenly. 
Martin had tied the MacGregor to a friend's boat to watch the fireworks
at the Basin Harbor Club on the Fourth. When the show ended, the
11-person crew and their two dogs spread out across the boat and settled
in for a ride back to shore. 
Martin started moving the MacGregor away from the other boat while the
two were still attached, according to the other boat's owner, Julie
Welch, of Shelburne. She told him to stop, they unhooked their lines,
and Martin motored away, she said. She is sure their lines were
completely off each other's boat when he left. 
"The next thing I know, my kids were screaming that the boat was going
over," she said. "It was just bottom up." 
Adults from the MacGregor searched the water and were joined by rescue
workers and other boaters. They found Melissa and Trevor wearing their
life jackets, tangled underwater in the boat's lines. Their sister,
8-year-old Dallas, was in the boat's cabin when it capsized. She was
found floating in an air pocket inside and was pulled to safety. 
All the adults onboard swam safely to other boats. 
Welch said she thought Martin had been drinking, but couldn't tell by
talking to him how much he'd had to drink. 
Welch said she is devastated by what happened. 
"I haven't been down to my boat since," she said. "I probably will
never go on my boat again on the Fourth of July."