130’ S/V "My Song" fell off ship deck?

This is going to get interesting and very ugly in all likelihood. Was cradle inadequate for conditions or were conditions too rough for cradle? Did cradle break first or did seas toss boat, breaking cradle in the process? Very quick disavowal of all responsibility by shipper.

I saw this incident on many yacht related sites and was saddened by the loss of the yacht, especially for such a passionate owner who organizes regattas all 0ver the world. How typical for shipper to completely put the blame on the owner and the yacht crew. I would also prefer ship transportation for super long crossings but I would choose a transporter that takes full responsibility of the yacht, and wouldn't require the yacht owner to provide parts such as cradle etc as it creates liability. Dockwise seems to be the better option in my honest opinion.

I can’t comment on shipping options, however especially for racing sailboats by me (50-70’ carbon fiber boats) it seems they do have their own custom cradles etc built specifically for their boats. While I always try and minimize my personal liability, assuming it was engineered properly, I would think that using the boat’s cradle would be a safer and more cost effective option than having the shipping company provide one. Either way I feel terrible for the owner losing that beautiful boat and will be curious to see if the actual cause ever comes to light.

Max

I too have seen many of the very deep draft sailboats, having their own keel. The issue when putting them on the deck of a ship is the very high center of gravity, due to the keel length/draft. Who knows at this point what the real story is, BUT if the shipping company strapped the yacht properly and the cradle collapsed, then it's the liability of whoever built and whoever provided the cradle.

Deck and cradle inspection on the MV Brattinsborg after the fact.

I'd be very hesitant to call that a cradle. To me, a cradle is something a boat fits down into and rests secured on all sides. This set up seems little more beneficial than stands used all the time on boats without cradles. In fact, well placed stands would seem to me to provide more protection against shifting side to side and flipping over. I'm not that knowledgeable about all the setups used but this wasn't at all what I was expecting when talking about cradles.

When I read assembled then seen the stand, warnings starting 30 years back popped into my brain from OSHA, ASME, SAE, and NIST, oh the FAA too about FAKE bolts that don't have the tensile and shear strength as per engineering standards. If you can get a pretty good fake Rolex for a hundred bucks, bolts are easy to fake. IIRC they where even found on Air Force One. I'm not implying anything, just another thing for forum readers to be aware of.

Key words, "for use in a boat yard." I'd expect much more for shipping across the Atlantic.

I see a lot of them come across the Atlantic to Palm Beach in cradles very similar to that one. But, who knows.

I load lots and lots of yachts on freighters. Well I don't actually load them, but I run the yachts to the freighters. The straps are what I commonly see all of the time on sailboats that are sitting so high above deck, because there isn't enough room to get more scope. Almost all of the time, the yachts are inches away from each other on the sides and such. I'm not sure why someone would be shipping a 130' sailboat anyways. A motoryacht I can understand, but a sailing yacht?

I have been told by an Italian shipwright that the original cradle, that has moved the boat many times, was built in Italy by a well renowned boatyard. Must have got a bit tired.