Experimental investigation on capsizing and sinking of a cruising yacht in wind

Abstract

This paper describes the main finding of the investigation of the sinking accident of a 6.45 metre-long cruising yacht in September 2003 in Japan. Responding to the request from Japan's Marine Accident Inquiry Agency, the authors executed a model experiment in beam wind for identifying the time-to-sink as well as stability calculations with and without water inside the yacht. The results indicate it could capsize when the wind velocity exceeds a threshold. Because of an opened hatch on the deck, water initially enters into the cabin. After capsizing, the water ingress process stops. However, if wind is strong enough to incline the capsized yacht, the yacht starts to return to upright condition but this transition stage provides an opportunity to further flooding. By systematically changing wind velocity in the experiment, the time to sink was recorded. In conclusion, the critical wind velocities for capsizing and sinking were estimated, and reasonably well explain the reason of this accident. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.