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LIONHEART DISMASTED

This is a late addition to the news ledda that has just been sent out. It happened before I could finish the last letter but it didn't seem appropriate to send with the everyday news.

It saddens me to tell you that the good ship Lionheart was dismasted whilst on a routine sail coming back from Anegada. What follows is the report that I submitted to the authorities, give or take a few sentences.

On the 19th of July 2005 lionheart was on charter with a fun loving group of repeat guests. At approximately 11:30 am. Lionheart departed Anegada and headed towards Bitter End on Virgin Gorda.
Prior to leaving Anegada, I decided to haul up full genoa and mainsail. The seas were only slightly choppy with very little ground swell and the wind was from the S.E. at around 10 to 15knts. I had watched almost all of the fleet before me also hoist full sails as they headed back to Tortola or Virgin Gorda. Once we were on our way, everyone onboard went forward to sunbathe in the nets and on the front deck. At that stage the trip was smooth, moving along at a pleasant 5 to 6 knts.

A short time out of Anegada we were confronted by a squall. There was the characteristic flickering of the water under the wind so I checked my sail configuration, which was a close reach. I thought if the wind did get too strong, I could first ease out my mainsheet, then I still had the option to ease out my Genoa and finally if it got too strong for the sails I would simply turn up into the wind to slow the boat down. As this first squall went through I didn't need to do anything. My guests remained on the front deck and our top speed didn't go over 7knts.

At approximately 1pm, another squall approached and once again I thought through the process of what to do if the wind became too strong. This squall approached in the same manner as the first. You could clearly see into it and see that this one was also going to be short lived. Fifty feet from Lionheart the wind suddenly displayed a white frothy foam, the same sort of foam you see spewing out of a wave that has just collapsed. It instantly cut visibility down to zero.

I tried to round the boat up into the wind. My guests, on the front deck, were hit with the full force of the wind and a second later the mast crumpled down onto the bimini before falling over the starboard aft side of the boat.

A couple of the guys up the front got injured by the falling rigging, but I knew that there was nothing too serious. I got everyone back into the salon and had a quick check of their injuries. The worse was a young guy by the name of Justin who had some cervical trauma a couple of nasty lacerations and a chipped tooth. Everyone else has minor cuts and bruises. Everyone was shaking but not stirred. I assessed the damage to the boat and decided that all of the rigging had fallen and had come to rest securely, there were no further immediate dangers.

I contacted the local volunteer rescue group, VISAR through 911-fire service and activated a salvage crew, giving them the scenario and our GPS coordinates. We were in 50' of water so I laid out my anchor and all the chain, she held firm.

VISAR arrived & we stabilised Justin. They then took everyone off the boat, which was quite a task due to the increasing swell conditions and transported them back to Virgin Gorda. By then it became too rough for them to take them to Tortola, so the guests took a ferry to Tortola and Justin to Peebles hospital in Tortola for assessment. I stayed on Lionheart and waited for the salvage crew to arrive, which took another half hour or so.

A quick assessment was made and it appeared that all the rigging was still attached. We decided to try and save as much as possible and so didn't want to cut any rigging unless necessary. Having stabilised all the moving pieces on deck we sent a diver down to the top of the mast. He unbolted the top of the forestay. We then hauled the whole of the roller furling genoa and rigging aboard. The diver then tied a line to the top of the mast and we hauled it up onto the side of Lionheart and secured it.


The salvage crew returned to Tortola. At this stage the seas had become rougher, with waves occasionally breaking over the side. More and more squalls were coming through and darkness was soon approaching. Once everything was secure I hauled the anchor and motored to the nearest safe harbour of Drakes anchorage on Virgin Gorda. I stayed on board throughout the night, the next morning at dawn I motored back to Road Town, Tortola to my homeport of Village Cay.

When I finally got home I walked around the boat to get a better look of the damages.This is some of the stuff I first noticed.


This old fella walks away with a very sore back, and a greater respect for the wonders of mother nature. When you think you are ready for just about anything, the unexpected happens. I guess that's the learning curve that makes us cleverer.

It seems that this particular storm which eventually turned into Tropical Storm Franklin took out other boats as well. Yes, lionheart lost her rigging, but she never lost her heart and she will bounce back bigger and better than before.

Thanks to all those people who supported us in our time of need.

Mobbsie