56M Perini S/Y Bayesian Sinks During Palermo Storm

I was thinking about the 15 year long prosecution of the Williams F1 team after the death of Ayrton Senna… and a few other cases. As to our justice system, integrity is being restored but i distress

the criminal investigation into the crew of Baysean before any evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever is outrageous.

In reverse order:

Investigation is a legal requirement in Italian law, in an accident like this. You may not like that, but a whim of the moment it was not, by any stretch of imagination.
Regardless, I would call outrageous not investigating at all. How would you like police not making an alcohol test to a driver involved in an accident where some relatives of yours were killed?

Ref. US justice, I suppose you actually meant digress rather than distress, because the latter gives a weird meaning to your sentence.
Anyhow, if you think integrity of US justice is being restored, that's your opinion, and as such respectable.
But FWIW, anyone involved with the US that I occasionally speak with (both around EU and in the US) think exactly the opposite, i.e. that it's going from bad to worse.
Just other opinions obviously - but less biased than yours, I reckon.

Last but not least, ref. Senna, blaming the prosecution length instead of the Williams attitude to hide and/or destroy all evidence of the true accident reason (eventually proved beyond any reasonable doubt) is sort of funny.
If it weren't tragic, that is.

An investigation is absolutely necessary but launching a criminal investigation before any facts are known just smells like a coverup. If anything based on what is known so far the crew was the victim of an unstable design which the builder is desperate to cover up.

I always a good laugh when I see European coverage of US politics… the media over there makes CNN looks neutral.

Not sure of what your distinction between a "plain" investigation and a criminal investigation means, but according to our law whenever there are casualties (or even just injuries) involved in an accident, the legally required investigation is classified as criminal no matter what.
If to you that smells of a coverup, again, that's your opinion.
But one thing I'm sure of is that the LACK of a criminal investigation would have smelled of negligence - to the point that the competent authorities could have been charged of that, if they wouldn't have started it.

Ref. US politics, far from be willing to dig deeper, also because I'm well aware that it's a topic that Carl doesn't fancy seeing discussed on the forum.
But as I said, I was actually referring to personal contacts with persons directly involved with (and some of them actually citizens of) the US.
Anyhow, if European media coverage of US politics makes you laugh, well, I could argue that to many people it's the actual US politics that is laughable, not its media coverage...

That couldn't be more far from the truth.
The presumption of innocence principle was well established in Roman law well before common law even existed.
And fast forward to present days, it's even stated in the Constitution of the Italian Republic.

So, what? Your previous statement remains 100% false anyway.
And obviously, criminal prosecutors are fully entitled to appoint technical consultants whenever they see fit, at least in our system.

Regardless, I wasn't interested at all in a detailed comparison between legal systems and their pros and cons, which would be well beyond the forum scope.
And neither I was pretending that "mine is better than yours", whatever meaning you can give to "better".

FWIW, I'd rather live in any of the Countries ruled with either common or Roman law than in Russia, or several other Countries, for that matter.
But fearing the justice depending on which authority is leading the investigation is somewhat weird, and arguably smells of guilty conscience.

According to the timeline video put together by that annoying Esysguy the deckhand on watch videoed the approaching squall and posted it to social media BEFORE alerting the captain.

If correct previous minutes were lost during which the captain could have gotten the boat ready.

another issue is the fact the anchor was dragging. Fast. I wonder if that didn’t contribute by keeping the boat beam to the wind. I understand the wind age on that rigging is huge but can’t help wondering if the anchor wasn’t undersized. Something pretty common.

Agreed 100%, that's a thought that crossed also my mind.

I have to wander, does not that class and/or flag inspect the specs and condition of anchor tackle?
Maybe insurance underwriters or surveyors?
Enough scope? Did the anchors (two deployed?) foul on each other?
The Baden Powell drug anchor also. Are bottom conditions real poor for holding a wall against 70+kt winds?

Or, when were done Arm Chair Quarterbacking, could it all just be a freak of nature and resolve ship happens..

I would probably fire the crew anyway but that just me in the Lazy-Boy.

While my experience is with boats smaller than this, pretty much every boat I took over had anchors that were undersized. The last one, a 110 footer had a pair of 200 pounders that were useless in good holding anchorages I ve been using for years. Ended up putting a 400 pounder. Problem solved

I sympathize with your train of thoughts.
I mean, pretty sure there were things that could have been built and/or handled differently/better, and probably their overall contribution to the outcome was relevant enough to make the difference between life and death.
Hindsight is a great thing.

But let's face it, who in his right mind would have bet one dollar against a thousand that a boat like this could be capsized while anchored, in the peak of the Med summer, and in a reasonably sheltered area?
I've been cruising in the Med for most of my life, and if anyone would have asked me beforehand to estimate the chances of this happening, I would have just laughed at the question, without even bothering to answer.

This doesn't mean it's pointless to investigate and understand exactly what happened and why, of course.
But at the end of the day, we are all well aware that there's always a degree of risk in boating, no matter how low.
And before this event, raise your hand, those who would have chosen to be out there in a storm onboard his own boat rather than a big Perini like this, if given the choice. Not me, that's for sure.
And I'd be very curious to hear, from anyone who would pick their own boat instead, what such boat is...

The boom seems to be the first major piece of the yacht to be raised from the sea floor.

I understand your point and question. Big boats should not have any issues....
Brother, I can not compare our lil 58 Bertram with this big asp & tall yacht.
But we have survive many gales and awakening with our stern on a beach once.
I have assisted the next morning on larger and smaller rescues and salvaging.
Yep, ship has happen to us and we are going out in 2 days to test it again.
If you don't mind my answer, Yep, my boat any time.
BTW, I have preformed my Lt Dan act a few times now.
God does have a crappy sense of humor, I'm still vertical..

Oh, the recently loosened part that killed the diver last week?

yes.

All reports indicate winds in that squall were around 60-70kts. This is something pretty much any boat can survive with minimal preparation. Even if they got hit by a freak brief microburst, and say 100kts gust, the boat should have survived. The Sir Baden schooner did survive with no issue. That alone is telling.

over the years I have been on the receiving end of some nasty squalls, thunderstorms and even a derecho sometimes with winds reaching over 70kts. While no fun, such events are not life threatening and I find it hard to believe that a 150 Perini Navi wasn’t designed for this. Obviously it wasn’t.

I haven’t cruised in the med (yet) but I have seen dozens of reports of squalls and wind events from the baléares to Greece.

Looking at the chart, I have to disagree about the accident location calling it a “reasonably sheltered area” being wide open to north and easterlies. It may offer some protection from prevailing winds but we all know that when a squall hits, wind is likely to shift 180 degrees.

Was the crew actions a contributing factor ? Probably Starting with the captain who had an unqualified deckhand standing watch, who thought filming an approaching squall and posting it on SM was more important than waking him up.

But that doesn’t excuse the stability issue. There should have been a big red placard “warning, boat may capsize in strong winds if the center board is up”