They lost power, and was unable to deploy the anchor, according to internet gossip. It should be off by now.
If hydraulic windlass, no power = no windlass but still should have released. Now of course pretty much all SF have ridiculously small anchors so considering the conditions it would have helped much.
Previously named Sweet Tuna and now called Pastime, she is hull #10 of the Viking 92 series and the first in the Convertible (open bridge) delivered in the fall of 2016. She sold in 2022, asking at the time 8,750,000 US$. Other internet gossip is saying she was displayed at the Fort Lauderdale 2023 boat show as brokerage, and has also just sold.
I always found the reasons for NOT having bow rails in sportfish boats a bit unplausible, if not even laughable. But eventually, I just had a brainwave and understood the one and only true reason, that obviously nobody mention: Knowing how unreliable these things are, it's convenient not to have rails in the way, when leaving a beached boat from the bow due to power loss...
Imagine having to go to the bow without rails in. 8-10 foot seas to manually release the anchor…. Or to attach a tow line.
A video showing the rescue , looks a bit rough, but nothing extraordinary.. I have always thought it was nutty not having proper railings and handholds all the way around these sport fishers, or any boats, as anchor handing could be compromised in challenging conditions. (I sure don’t think it looks good or sexy with a naked foredeck, is there a reason, like a fishing reason for it?)
How bad is your day when you write a $10m + check (or whatever sale price was), then the engines and gen fail and your just acquired boat ends up on the beach. curious why they were trying to pull it off the beach from the bow? Looked like stern was floating when waves came in. Seems like it would pull easier from stern? Maybe they were worried about waves swamping over the transom?
More that the transom will dig deeper for a few reasons, first for its vertical shape, also with the pulling the stern will dig lower and ultimately create a larger problem, with the propellers and rudders buried further in sand. An idea would be to try to lift a bit the stern with some air balloons and pull her from that way, creating a serious of balloons to keep her lifted. They need to be huge cause the video and photos do not actually picture the real size of a 92 feet sized vessel.
By what I hear and see they are usually quite reliable and have a higher standard of engineering. We cannot not agree that there engine rooms, hardware, and systems are of top standard. I never managed one, but that is what I keep hearing, especially from owners who own or owned one in the past. The railing thing is look thing, I think is called the Pompano look, which was brought over from the custom builds, with Viking being the most of the production folks who followed this. Also if you Billfish going forward is not needed. This case is one in a thousand, that someone needed to go forward in stormy seas without power and the boat rolling as mad. Viking offer railings as option and the units sold/delivered in the West coast are usually fitted with railings. I think with the flush deck and without railing they look gorgeous. Again once you start seeing the custom builds (Bayliss, Jarrett Bay, Spencer, Merritt, Rybovich etc) this gets a bit into your head, and may be for some its like wanting a Ferrari with 2+2 seats. 456 anyone?
Yeah, I'm aware of that, and my previous post was obviously ironic in this respect. Then again, a supposedly top construction 92 feet vessel, only 6 years old, completely losing power? And leaving the crew unable to even deploy the anchor? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Ref. flush deck with no rails, I'm aware of the somewhat "technical" reasons linked to rails getting in the way when fishing. They are the ones I called "a bit unplausible". What you define gorgeous flush deck look is instead exactly the reason that I called "laughable"... Not that sportfish boats are alone in this respect - we all know of several toy sportboats, popular also in the Med, with the same flush deck arrangement. But toy boats they are, and they don't pretend to be anything else. Christ, this Viking thing is supposedly capable of hundreds of miles passages, and there are folks (also here in the forum!) suggesting that they could be as good for that purpose as true trawlers, go figure!
Nope, the towing attempt by Towboat US failed, now she is High and dry on the beach. Salvage next, but thinking the rudders and running gear may be damaged and even pushed up into the hull?
One possible explanation I read elsewhere was a malfunction with the fire system. It s pretty much the only thing that can kill both engines and gens. I have to assume the captain knew where the override switch was located… is it possible for the shutdown box to fail in a way that would prevent the override switch to do its job? We test our shutdown and override every year during the fire equipment inspection. First time around the gens and blower shutdown was working but not the MTUs. It took a while for an MTU electronic specialist to figure it out as apparently the MTU electronics make it pretty complex. Looking at the overhead drone shot, there appears to be an escape hatch at the bow. WTH isn’t there a short low profile rail, just a couple of inches off the deck that could be used to secure a tether line to make it possible to get to the anchor or secure a tow line. Amazing how insurers and ABYC nitpick about little details but ignore things like this. the running gear has to be toast. Who ever gets her off the beach better have a couple of crash pumps on stand by.
just a feeling here, i sense more a mechanical issue than human error in this freak occurrence, intense review of ALL the maintenance records to determine what really happened and whom the blame will be ultimately placed on in due time
Here is video with VHF traffic taken right before the actual grounding. Surprised that BIG centerconsole wasn’t able to pass a line and the rolling doesn’t seem bad enough to prevent a crew to pop thru the fwd hatch to release the anchor. Sorry it s a FB link… https://www.facebook.com/reel/356906626848272?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&mibextid=0NULKw
She is off the beach now. Anyway, the photo credit for the pics goes to Ole Parker from Parker Yachts.