Palermo, the naval engineer Cossutti speaks with Business of the shipwreck: “Technical faults but also human errors. Open doors and little attention to forecasts”
The Sinking of the Bayesian Luxury Yachtwhich occurred during the night between August 18th and 19th, continues to be shrouded in mystery. On the one hand, the track AIS has provided new elements to reconstruct the possible dynamics of the tragedy in which six people lost their lives, including the tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah: the vessel was hit by bad weather at 3:50, lost its anchor and was out of control for 360 meters until it sank at 4:06. On the other hand, however, people continue to wonder how it managed such an impressive luxury boat to be sucked into the waters of the Mediterranean without anyone on board (except the survivors, of course) being able to face the waterspout that hit the yacht.
The “real” answers will only come through the examination of the “black box” of the Bayesianalthough for that we will have to wait for the recovery of the wreck, and with the autopsies on the bodies of the victims. But in the meantime we at Affaritaliani.it we talked about the incident – which for some is a real conspiracy – with naval engineer Maurizio Cossutti.
Engineer, what do you think could have happened?
Even though I don’t have a deep knowledge of the dynamics and the boat itself (openings, compartments…) I can say that what happened is a semi-mystery. That such a large sailing boat of 56 meters sank in challenging but not extreme weather conditions is very strange. Especially since even smaller boats nearby did not suffer any damage. Furthermore, the Bayesian was at anchor, not sailing. It is not even a prototype, but a boat and a model tested by the same shipyard, also re-fitted in fairly recent times. For it to have sunk, something really anomalous must have happened.
Remaining in the realm of hypotheses, some suggest that the imposing size of the tree may have contributed to the tragedy.
In my opinion, no, also because although the mast was raised compared to the original, I believe that the engineers and naval architects made the appropriate calculations. Whether the mast was 60 or 70 meters did not make a big difference, even if the center of gravity of the yacht certainly rose, making the boat less stable.
But, I repeat, a boat that has to sail in severe conditions, I don’t see why without sails it should sink.
What information about the sinking can we glean from the condition of the keel attachment to the vessel?
There has been much talk about the raised “keel”, but usually the calculations are made so that the boat has sufficient stability without sails even in such conditions. The keel is an appendage, a keel that the boat has under itself and that allows to increase stability, and to prevent the boat from drifting laterally when sailing in the upwind gait.
Such a large boat often has this keel made in two halves, a fixed part with the hull and a “blade” part that comes out of the upper part, which lifts up. But usually they are calculated so that even without sail the boat has sufficient stability.
It looks like the Bayesian sank suddenly: how could it have taken on so much water so quickly?
From the outside the only explanation I can think of is that there were some open hatches. These boats usually have side openings, either for the tender or to allow some cabin to have access to the water. For some reason one or more of these must have remained open or badly closed, and with the entry of water this created an electrical short circuit which then made it impossible to close them.
Sometimes it is said that the boat sank in 4 minutes, which honestly seems like a short time. Others say it sank in 16 minutes, a time frame that would seem to give the crew and guests time to get to safety.
But shouldn’t a boat like this be equipped to cope with a “common sea tornado”?
Of course, on the masthead there are sensors that detect the intensity and direction of the wind. There is also a radar, but above all the first rule of those who go to sea is to look at what is happening around and evaluate the arrival of bad weather.
Is it easier to talk about mistakes by the commander and the crew in your opinion?
The very strange thing is that the bad weather did not arrive in 30 seconds. There are also photographs in which you can see the boat and the bad weather arriving in the distance. Today, then, there are weather forecasts especially in the short term that are quite precise, with the availability of dedicated weather radar. If the crew was on the bridge, and the passengers themselves as they say were partying on the main deck… they will have seen the bad weather coming! This is a further strange factor, because the captain is someone with vast experience, and therefore able together with the crew to manage the boat in every way without intervention by the guests.
From the open hatches to the warning of bad weather… There were certainly technical problems, but also human ones. What and how many were the first and second, and how they interacted, however, we will be able to say only as the investigations progress.
What do you say to those who are shouting “conspiracy” that the boat was in fact sunk in some way?
Surely everything can be sunk, but I also believe that these things leave traces. Nothing can be ruled out, even if presumably these are fictional hypotheses.
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