Legacy on the Hard

I'm going to Key West at the end of the week, I'm gonna try to find Legacy, anyone know the mile-marker?

updates ?

Have they begun constructing the coffer-dam to float legacy again ?

This should be well underway by now since the permits are in place-- anyone have an update ?

i was there throught the huricane, this picture is 2 days after, i kited up to the boat......we got an f-1 tornado that day s well, then it hit and the surge was huge, why they waited i have no idea, there was 5 days before it hit. Boats were everywhere.

aloha Paul

I was there at the begining of March and was flying an ultra light around the island and went and checked it out. they had started to build the ****s all the way around it when I was there. I didnt read every single post in here so sorry if this is repeated.. They were going to build up the **** move it a little then move the ****, move the boat. and on and on. If you are down there check out the guy that flies the ultra light. right when you get into key west where the road t's off and you go right to go into duval. at the end of the lagoon on the right youll see the orange and yellow ultralight there, right by where you can rent jet skis. The guy is real cool and hell take you out there if you ask, he knows right where its at. But from the air you can see the trench that it dug out when it went in there. I am going back this weekend, dont know if I will do the ultralights but I might try to get out there on a jet ski. Ill try to update on monday

Thanks for the update: This will be an interesting piece of salvage and engineering.

Keep us posted.

Thanks!
Yeah, I got no ill feelings and not trying to second guess the accident.

Rather I used to be a full time live-aboard on a 44 feet sailboat with no insurance in the Caribbean years ago and have a healthy respect for good anchors and hurricane warnings.
Therefore scratching my noggin on this one..How could it happen? How could the anchors "come apart", etc..etc..

On present boat I put an anchor system in place that would in theory let me ride out a 'cane.
Thet anchor system came to 10 % of the value of the boat.
(Used boat, picture on the avatar to the left)

I realize all bets are off if ya are in the path of a major 'cane, but at least start with good gear.
(Like an anchor with the holding power equal to the displacement of the boat..Easy on a small boat, but is there any rule of thumb for big yachts like the Leagacy?)

Are these big yachts designed and built to stay in marinas all the time and not ride out storms at anchor? Ever?

Anchors and rode sized for near-gales only..?

I think a yacht like this has about 200 meters of anchor chain which should help the anchors to sustain even a hurricane. But if it is shallow and you just have half or less of the chain out, it could be harder for the anchors when the yacht is bouncing on the surface and lifting all of the chain.

And if one goes, the other will soon go as well...

Okay thanks.

So is that 200 meters chain divided into 2 rodes, with 2 anchors?

That would be 100 meters each.

Plenty for the shallow waters in Florida and the Bahamas for sure.

What about the anchors?
Design, construction and holding power?

(I don't have any experience with the class of yacht we are talking about: The biggest yacht I ever skippered was a Johnson 70 and the anchors that came with that boat was more fit for a Boston Whaler: Told the owner to get a least a 110 lbs Delta. He agreed if I could get one that was shiny...As in Stainless Steel. The biggest they made in SS then was 88 lbs..40 KGs..Not quite big enough in my book)

Just curious about the anchor logic on big yachts as I seem to remember the Mirabella V dragged anhor and hit the rocks in a gale...In a hurricane, all bets are off, but a gale..?

I have no idea what anchors or length of chain Legacy had, but many 50 meter yachts has 2 x 200 meter chain. 100 meter is what you find on 25 meter yachts.

Okay thanks.

So the industry standards is chain lenght based on yacht lenght?

The kind of boats I deal with these days, sailboats 35 to 40 feet usually sport 33 meter chain spliced to 66 meter 3/4 inch 3 strand nylon.

The offshore/around the world guys sometimes have 100 meters of chain...3/8 inch or 5/16 High Test (G4)

Every boat is different however depending on the owner and how good he wants to sleep at night.

Just curious if the big yachts have a set standard..Or is it up to the designer, or the owner or the yard or whatever.?
Again, this is a subject that interest me as I almost lost my boat 21 years ago due to inadequate anchoring gear and my inexperience:

Dragging towards the rocks in Lindbergh Bay in St. Thomas in a gale and could not get the engine started due to bad batteries...Had one and only one shot disconnecting the battery cables and cleaning corrosion of the terminals while the boat was dragging up on the rocks..
The engine started last minutte and we motored out of there on a wing and a prayer..
Never again....

Soo, any updates of refloating/salvaging Legacy...?

Last heard was that the coffer dam idea did not work out. There are some thoughts (not sure how serious, but thoughts nonetheless) about pulling her out. Perhaps they should cut the keel off first, pull the yacht out, then go back with some gear and retrieve the keel (or leave it there as a monument).
And hurriance season is right on us. The saga continues...

What about having a RIB collar manufactured to fit the hull below the waterline. Once it had been fitted it could be inflated and just float her out.

Either that or a string of inflatable fenders bound tightly together along her length below the waterline, same effect as above but cheaper and quicker to implement?

Either solution wouldn't need to be that big.

40 of these, 20 down each side with suitable line through the apertures would probably do the job. These are NATO stores righting bags for RIBS.

Any thoughts?

Based on my experience with floating small vessels grounded and sunk, the tough part is getting the float bags to stay low enough. It sounds stupid but they really do want to come to the top and there just aren't many options and none at the correct angles fro keeping them low.
Since this was a longer term salvage than most though, surely a custom solution such as you suggest could be worked out, maybe in conjunction with cutting off the bulk of the keel?

I like the idea of stringing fenders or other inflatables along the port/starboard sides of the hull. Why not string them up BEFORE inflating them so that they would not float to the top before their installation is completed?

Has anyone found Legacy on Google Maps or something? Seeing as she's been so long out there I'd assume shes already been pictured by some sats?

I have no idea where she is since I dont know the area, but maybe someone can post a pic or instructions or coordinates (I think GMaps allows coordinates, right?)

Back on Page 3 of this thread I'd posted THIS PIC which was taken from Google and the coords are on it. Looking on Google Maps doesn't help much though (LINK), it's an older low-res pic. Google Earth (the application) is what you need... that's where the pic came from.

Wow... i missed your link... this picture is probably the most impressive imho!!!

Ahem....

A new salvage effort begins this week??

Should be interesting to see how it goes, no quick easy fix this time like Fas-Dam.

Any news about the Legacy refloat?

Anyone know how the refloat ops are proceeding?