450 Passage Goes Down

01-29-2003, 11:21 pm

Today I received information that"on 18th Janurary a Hunter 450 Passage went down 948nm NE of Hawaii. She was taking on water. All functions were dependant on her electrical system.After a two day gale, seas eight meters, ......began taking water on .... like she was opening up."Does anyone have more information on this incident?

*Rick D* · 01-30-2003, 12:29 pm

If you check here, there was an individual making a delivery passage of his 450 to HW some weeks ago. RD

01-30-2003, 02:53 pm

I have searched the Coast Guard site to no avail. However something may come up in the next few days and wanted to give all a possible source for reliable maritime information for that region. Click "Public Affairs" and then News releases to see list of current articles.http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/index.html

*Rick D* · 01-31-2003, 03:34 am

...it looks as if it couldn't be him since the timing seems too tight. Rick D.

01-31-2003, 03:48 am

Hopefully Jim has made it to Hawaii safely, it sounds like he was planning on making the trip at about the same time if I'm reading it right. He seemed to have a very tight schedule.I can't imagine there are too many Passage 450s way out in the North Pacific this time of year...Strange that this wasn't reported anywhere else, I can't find any mention of it except the first email here. What was the source?

01-31-2003, 06:33 am

To settle this once and for all, I have sent an email to the Public Affairs of the USCG 11th District on this issue. I did emphasize that this inquiry by me is not a request for action but simply a request for information on the incident by an interested forum particpant. If I hear anything, I will post ASAP.

*Rick D* · 01-31-2003, 11:01 am

Interesting. Jim was out of Newport Beach... Guess we'll find out more later. I checked a couple of sites, but no news. Rick D.

*henkmeuzelaar* · 02-01-2003, 01:11 am

This is a potentially serious matter for this board and several of us are spending time and effort to try and find out more.Therefore, like Rick, I kindly request to know the source of your information (if that is not too troublesome or embarrassing to you).Flying Dutchman

02-01-2003, 02:35 am

Hi Henk, I think we've got two threads going on this subject. If you haven't already found it the link below should take you to the other one. It looks like something did happen but we need more details. Paul did a nice job tracking things down!

02-01-2003, 02:42 am

What kind of a question is that? " too troublesome or embarrassing "If I felt it was necessary for you to know the source I would tell you. It was not first hand information and if you read my post you would see that I was requesting confirmation.

*John Nantz* · 02-01-2003, 05:45 am

To be this far "north-east" of Hawaii one would be traveling from Hawaii to North America, not from North America to Hawaii as Jim was (unless his navigation got really messed up).No one I know would want to be in this area during this time of year. Even during good times this area can get really rough, and this is January!! However, who knows, maybe someone thought they found a good weather window and decided to make run for it???Unless *David* (no last name or location) can provide more information, because it is so unrealistic that someone would be making this trip this time of year, I would assume this is a bogus post.

02-01-2003, 06:01 am

...based on the Hawaii paper. The Honolulu paper said that the rescue by the M/V Statendam was on it's voyage from San Diego to Hawaii when it was diverted by the USCG.It was in another thread on this topic.Fair Winds.Clyde

*John Nantz* · 02-01-2003, 06:52 am

So it seems someone was actually making the trip this time of year? Wow.Does anybody have a copy of Jimmy Cornell World Cruising Routes? Wonder what he as to say about taking this route this time of year?Wonder if the boat was insured for this trip?

02-01-2003, 07:19 am

Jeez, I'm getting slammed here for making the initial report of a vessel down and rescue made when all I was doing is trying to find out if it was true.I didn't have a first hand report and so what if I don't post my last name. How do I know you are John Nantz and why would I care anyway. How about a little more civility here! Haven't we had enough tragedy for one day?

*Rick D* · 02-01-2003, 07:56 am

.. what's the Enchantment doing 1000 mn north WEST of HI?? For that matter, odd the liner was there too. Maybe a misquote? Maybe it was NE? (See the link to a Pacific map). The MS Statendam sails from San Diego, CA, so the described location is weird. The description also said they abandoned ship into a "smaller sailboat", which sounds odd also. I think we'll just have to await something more definitive to figure out what happened, where, to whom and if it was a 450. I have found two other reports; they appear to be from the same source, but are absent the location information. David, all you can tell from this board's participants is that the incident cannot be confirmed at this time on the site. Rick D.

*henkmeuzelaar* · 02-01-2003, 08:18 am

Please give us some more examples of real "civility". I am sure we will all be able to catch on, eventually. :o)Flying Dutchman

02-01-2003, 08:37 am

that wasn't one of them.

02-01-2003, 08:40 am

The first notice I received was that the vessel was 948NM Northeast of Hawaii. Again, this was second hand info.

*John Nantz* · 02-01-2003, 11:23 am

There has been a bit of, what one might call, trouble making/creating posts on the ‘net which tend to, you might say, “target” certain boat manufacturers. Some of these posts tend to snowball and take on a life of their own based on what someone wrote. With regard to your post, David, since it was fairly vague – except for the part about the Hunter 450 – and considering the location and time of year, it left me very suspect. I’ve been to the Aleutians and had a number of construction projects up there and this is not the place one wants to be. The wind blows continuously and 75mph is not uncommon. Moving westward from the area where the incident is supposed to have had trouble is an area off the Charlottes where the worlds tallest waves have been measured, in excess of 100 feet. There are many accounts of people who have cruised the south pacific and met their fate or other significant problems in the return passage from Hawaii to Alaska or the Pacific Northwest – and this is during the “good” times, not in January. Considering this is definitely not the “opportune” time to make this passage, and considering the other questionable points such as location (the standard route is to travel due north from Oahu, not NW) and the lack of other information in the post, I couldn’t help questioning the basically unbelievable post. But, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction and apparently it’s for real. This really blows me away!It’ll be interesting to hear more about this story.

02-01-2003, 12:30 pm

On a previous post to this web site a guy named Jim Bartch said that he had just bought a Hunter 450 and was going to sail it from California to Hawaii as stated earlier in this thread. In the Honolulu paper they identified the owner of the yacht as a Mr. Jim Bartch from Portland, OR. In the article they said that the sailboat had lost power and steering and was taking on water. The article stated the sailboat was found 1,000 miles Northwest of Hawaii. Link.http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jan/21/ln/ln24a.htmlFair Winds.Clyde