• Welcome to this website/forum for people interested in the Morgan 38 Sailboat. Many of our members are 'owners' of Morgan 38s, but you don't need to be an owner to Register/Join.

1979 Morgan 382 caught in Hurricane Irma Offshore

Happy to hear Pamela and Sebastian are safe, looks like they were getting tossed around hard. Is there more to the story, did the boat survive? They lost steering, was it a rudder failure or steering mechanism? We can all learn form these type of encounters so love to hear more about their experience. The important part of the story is they are safe.
 
Yes, very glad to see all are well. After David's comment above, I re-watched the video, could see the rudder as the boat pitched. I think it would be impossible to steer the boat in those conditions without some sail.
Great job by the Coast Guard, again glad all are well.

Dick
 
They are lucky the coast guard is both courageous and competent. I feel sorry for them. Must have been terrifying. The conditions, however, do not look that bad. With a stormsail or two, or even a deeply reefed main, they should have been okay. Those are NOT 30 foot swells. If they lost steering gear, I understand why they called CG. Otherwise, perhaps something else went wrong. The main is In tatters. Were they trying to power? Sailboats need sails in tough conditions. looks to me as if the boat will survive unless the full force of Irma found it later. Maybe they abandoned ship because they we about to be overwhelmed by much worse conditions
 
That looks pretty rough. Does anyone have an update on what failed onboard that caused them to lose sailing and steering ability? I could hear the coast guard saying in the video, "this would be a whole lot easier if they had some of that front sail up." Did they ever locate the boat with the radio beacon or was she lost? Amazing effort by the coast guard for sure, that looks like a super scary rescue. Im glad they got out ok, I hope they found their boat. Its awesome they actually put forth the effort to rescue the dog too. Amazing!
 
I always wonder why folks decide to go sailing in hurricanes. Whether a M-38 or a windjammer. Seems reckless. I was in upstate NY when the weather gurus predicted Irma would hit somewhere in Florida. I had time to drive to down to Jacksonville and batten down the hatches here at home.
Seems like our boaters in question might have made better decisions. Especially given as Terry said the boat doesn't appear set up for wind over 40mph.
The Coasties are the best !
 
Interestingly, I met this couple soon after the Hurricane. They were visiting a WM in Biloxi. Small world. I understand that they bought a 31 footer in Mississippi, then sailed it to Fla., then sold the 31, and bought the Morgan and was running from the storm when this happened. Not sure if they had owned the boat long.

I heard from a WM sales person that after the rescue, the boat was found still floating.
 
John, did they say what happened to cause the steering to sail. how bad was the damage when they found the boat floating?
 
At the time I saw them in the store and heard their summary account of the event, I was unaware that they we the couple with Morgan. They were trying to cancel an order that they had made there at WM and were saying that that were rescued and had a complete lost of the boat. I made the connection that they were the couple in the Coast Guard video after my friend who had sold them the 31 footer called me to tell me about them and that they had been rescued on the Morgan 38 and that it was on youtube. But in the store, they did not say they lost steerage. It was more that they were in 30 to 40 footers and had to abandon the boat because of that. I can't remember where I heard that the boat did not sink and was recovered.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top