The Sinking of the Sea Mar III

[RWS]

F-32 Trojan

http://michiganshipwrecks.org/shipwreck ... seamar-iii

apparently there is a book coming out in 2014 about the incident.....

SEA MAR III (Working Title)
The True Story of the Tragic Loss of a Yacht and her Crew
on Lake Michigan

By Craig Rich

Non-Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-

Coming in2014Soft cover|

here's the link to the upcoming book:

http://www.in-deptheditions.com/ComingSoon.html

=================================================================================

another fascinating wooden Brand X read.....

http://michiganshipwrecks.org/shipwreck ... nd/pizzazz

(I may have posted the Pizazz story a few years ago)

Pizzazz October 2008 (3 months after sinking)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzxuWEIWmbc

Pizzazz in 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMZ34cNyzFY

And just for entertainment value:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J6TTeL-wNs




RWS

[prowlersfish]

Thanks , If I could order it today I would

[lawyerdave71]

OMG

Yesterday, The Charlie got hit by a massive rouge wave in Lake Michigan - this thing had to be 10 to 14 feet high and I thought we were all GONNA DIE!!! Happened less than 400 feet from harbor entrance and hit us broadside on the starboard side - thank god I had all the windows closed!!!

You know you are in serious crap when you are lying on the floor yelling "come on baby upright baby upright baby" and your fellow captain is yelling is this thing gonna right itself??? - whew - there would have been no time for a mayday.

When I finally docked, I said that is it - season is over for me!!

I have heard others tell stories about F32s and F36s getting swamped due to this vent issue.

[aaronbocknek]

dave, i'm glad you and your pal are okay. i bet the 'pucker * factor' was off the charts!! does this happen on lake michigan often? i understand that your particular body of water can be worse than the atlantic. again, glad you're okay.
aaron

[Away On Busine$$]

Dave!!!! Sorry to here, can you give a brief account of weather conditions, why this may have happened, what was your conditions prior to this incident. Glad you made it through. Had a tornado just north of here on the weekend. We need to keep an eye on the sky!

[Away On Busine$$]

Mine is a 1976 F32, front vents point to the rear and back vents point forward. Does anyone know, was there a recall, are these backwards. No problem to change. Always thought they should be reversed.

[aaronbocknek]

F-32 Trojan

And just for entertainment value:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J6TTeL-wNs


RWS

this was like watching something from the benny hill show. the run a way outboards was the best.

[larryeddington]

Ugh those films were ughly but a reminder to think ahead when possible.

[aaronbocknek]

RE: the chris craft that sank................ what in heavens name caused her hull to come apart in the waves? chris crafts of that era were virtually battleships. i know that mother nature can destroy even the strongest structure, but, to have a yacht virtually disintegrate right underneath you is astounding to me. could it be that the planks were rotten? that would explain the rapid decomposition at the dive site. the detroits were quite visible as was her genset. eventually i gather they will be the only things left.

as a kid, i remember reading in dad's boating magazine the tale of a yacht that sank, i believe, in the gulf of mexico or the pacific. her name was FOLLOWING SEA. i've tried to google the story but no such luck. (any help would be greatly appreciated on that on... time frame 1969-1974) i remember that she was a sport fisherman, the hull was wood with fiberglass over it, and it was at night. i also remember the authors final sentence...... ''the last thing i remember was seeing FOLLOWING SEA's transom disappear (or vanish) into 10,000 fathoms of cold gray ocean.''

[RWS]

RE: the chris craft that sank................ what in heavens name caused her hull to come apart in the waves? chris crafts of that era were virtually battleships. i know that mother nature can destroy even the strongest structure, but, to have a yacht virtually disintegrate right underneath you is astounding to me.

It was determined that a waterline bow plank, popped, and that caused her demise.

There was a home video taken from the beach on the local TV news website.

It clearly showed the props spinning as she went down.

Now THAT is damned fast !

I was fascinated by this story.

here is PIZZAZZ before the sinking.

http://www.onestopmotors.com/vehicles/U ... sale-20477

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/ ... &imc=pg-fs



RWS

[RWS]

By Bob VandeVusse
Holland Sentinel columnist
Posted Jul 26, 2008 @ 07:39 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holland, MI — The original “Requiem for a Heavyweight” was an award-winning television drama. Today, I have a requiem for a heavyweight of a different kind. This heavyweight was a wooden boat, a 1966, 65-foot Chris Craft Constellation named Pizzazz. It was one of only eleven such models built by Chris Craft between 1964 and 1968, three of them in 1966.



The 65-foot “Connies” were only one foot shorter than the largest wooden boats built by Chris Craft. This one had spent most of its life in Florida, but this spring it was brought to the Great Lakes by way of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.



A little more than a month ago, it arrived in Saugatuck to begin a new career as a Great Lakes charter vessel. I saw it there a few weeks ago, and it was a diamond in the rough.



Those familiar with the vessel said that it had encountered a significant storm in northern Lake Michigan last month and sustained some damage to the bow but was repaired. It appeared to need a little tender loving care but still was striking in appearance. Then last Tuesday, while on a cruise to Charlevoix, it sank about a half-mile west of Little Point Sable in Oceana County. The incident was caught on home video and shown on a local television news program. The reporter said the “bow snapped off” and it went down quickly. The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter and rescue boats from Ludington and Muskegon. Fortunately, the two people aboard were rescued by a passing boater shortly after they abandoned ship. Two days later the Lake Express ferry encountered debris from the wreck floating in the lake while on its run from Milwaukee to Muskegon. What a sad end to a beautiful vessel.

[RWS]

another PIZZAZZ link titled

HOW TO MAKE A CHRIS CRAFT LOVER CRY



http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1888272

RWS

[todd brinkerhoff]

dave, i'm glad you and your pal are okay. i bet the 'pucker * factor' was off the charts!! does this happen on lake michigan often? i understand that your particular body of water can be worse than the atlantic. again, glad you're okay.
aaron

All the Great Lakes have taken thousands of ships. I had a map of all the sunken ships in Lake Ontario and I couldn't believe the number, literally thousands. The Great Lakes have a reputation of having some of the worst sea conditions. Lake Michigan is one of the worst because its' length runs North and South. Lake Erie is also hellish because it is less than 100 feet deep and is massive. The entire lake is like running through surf conditions. The theory that it is so treacherous is that you have a massive area of water that the wind has an effect on, yet the frequency of the waves are very short compared to the ocean.

I find these stories fascinating.

[aaronbocknek]

i hear ya todd. i've been mesmerized by this thread too. one one of the videos, a year after she sank, you can see what is left of the transom, laying name side down. what is still recognizable are the huge holes cut for those big detroits.

[summer storm]

I remember that boat. She used to make runs to Nassau from time to time. The condition I remember her in was Bristol, she looked pretty seaworthy.