Legacy on the Hard

Saw a clip on the local news last night. If the footage was current, she's still sitting hard. Unfortunately, I was on a business call and was unable to turn up the volume. Not sure what the segment was about.

Does anyone know if they are going to dredge and drag her out? Intersting engineering problem.

Maybe it's time to call this guy. http://www.freddevinedivingandsalvage.com/company_files/The Salvage Chief web brochure pdf.pdf

Should have gone down with the ship

Wow, when I read the earlier entries in this blog, I cannot understand how so many people can feel remorseful for this guy? Halmos placed the lives of his crew in jeopardy when he made them stay on board to ride out a Category 5 Hurricane. Halmos claims that no port from Key West to Georgia could accommodate his yacht, when there are in fact two between Miami and West Palm Beach. The projected storm track for Wilma remained the same for nearly seven days. We all knew where the storm was headed. There was plenty of opportunity to relocate the vessel away from the path of the storm. Even if there was insufficient time to relocate the vessel, Halmos never should have asked or 'required' his crew to stay aboard and risk their lives to save his possessions. It's not as much a matter of what happened to his mega-toy as much as it is what could have happened to those seven souls aboard.
I keep reading about the government’s intolerance with Halmos. Why wouldn't they be upset? Of the four major hurricanes in 2004 and Wilma that exited Florida over my old home in Martin County, how many other mega-yachts are still stranded? There are none. There were many yachts tossed around in Palm Beach County in 2004. Some were pushed into their docks and partially sunk; some pushed aground and had be raised and recovered. But they all were in protected waters in the intracoastal. This is an area with up to 35' depth just inside the Lake Worth Inlet that this vessel has passed through in prior years to have repair work in a local ship yard. Halmos had options that he chose to ignore, just like the safety of his crew.
Halmos’s stuff means more to him than people. According to his own tale of accounts, his mega-toy means more to him that his wife who 'rarely visits' his floating armada.
The only shame here is that the captain didn't have the courtesy to let the crew go home while he went down with the ship.

I can't find any messages in this thread where anyone expresses support for the owner, what's your point?

Basically,
the newsclip was a feel sorry for the owner and his problems segment.
He's removed all the fasdam materials from the site but has a flotilla of about 8 houseboats rafted together a couple miles away in man-o-war harbor where he's got a telescope trained on Legacy 24-7... Pays no rent or mooring fees . I guess he's trying to figure out next plan. been thru a few salvagers. I think he;s his own worst enemy.
I know a way to get it out with NO enviromental damage, but want NOTHING to do with owner and I'm sure there's a few more out there as well.
It's a shame really nice boat.. The state wants it out of there, but the owner has threatened ligitation and they keep backing down.
I caint figure out why the insurance company hasn't cut him loose yet.
2 years and more than 2 salavage contracts kicked off the job has to be costing them a bit of $$$
at least it's a nice bird rookery and I caught a almost legal Gag grouper hanging out under where her keel sits.
It's kind of interesting, but appears as though the outgoing tidal flow is creating a channel out the same path she drug coming in.
maybe if enough time goes by she'll be able to float back out the same way.
that Keel must be at least 6 ft down in the sand bottom .

Anchors

Having worked on two of Legacy's sister ships, I can confirm that the anchors are a Perini Navi design and are custom made to recess into the hull when underway.

They are Stainless steel and have a pivoting pair of flukes.

The chain locker usually had 5 shackles of chain each side.

I know we had troubles on both yachts with dragging anchors,
Skippers sleep better with 2 set in a nice wide V.

Why not share with the rest of the class?

If it were me, I would hang 4 sloan pumps off the aft sections of the boat, and route the slurry discharge to deeper water. Put some kedge anchors on her winches, and apply tension.

Voila.

Why not weld drag plates to her side, soup up around the keel and drag her out sideways the way she came in. Hope for a high tide, full moon, and a good {little} storm to get her home. About that environmental damage, it looks like it did a bit on the way in, and the damage on the way out...well that's what attorneys are for...

It is sitting in a federal wildlife refuge and any salvage plan has to be approved by the powers before any work is done. any damage done to remove her has to be repaired. the keel is setting burried 6' in the hard sand.
she had 8' of water over high tide when she came in on her side. she will have to go up 8' before she is moved. its pretty complicated in a refuge area.
I've got a idea that'll work, but would like to get something for it and this guy is not one to deal with.

Congrats on your idea that will work:
Do us all a favor and haul the hulk away.

You are know by the company you keep.....nuf said.


"Who is
Peter Halmos?

Newspapers call him “litigious,” a modest understatement for a man who is always involved in one lawsuit or another. He once sued the IRS for $40 million. Another suit involved a consultant who, Halmos charged, got him fired from his own company, SafeCard, in 1992. The consultant became CEO of SafeCard and named Jeb Bush and two Bush supporters as directors of the company. Halmos sued for $78 million, and won. The Tampa Tribune called the affair “an embarrassing episode for Florida Governor Jeb Bush.”



By his own admission, Halmos has spent over $35 million on lawyers. His best-known counsel is Stanley S. Arkin, who has worked on the IRS suit with Halmos’s in-house lawyer and now business partner, Robert Arnold. Arkin represents Raúl Salinas, the brother of ex-President Carlos Salinas, now serving a lengthy prison sentence for murder and still under investigation for using Citibank accounts to launder millions in alleged Gulf cartel money. Arkin also defended a former vice president of Citibank who worked in the private banking division that handled the accounts of Raúl Salinas and Carlos Hank Rhon.

Were Raúl Salinas and Arkin the conduits who brought the Hanks and Peter Halmos together? Is there more to Halmos’s relationship with the Hanks than meets the eye?

One thing is sure — the multimillionaire seems a strange choice for multinational bankers to hire as an investigator. I called the state licensing boards of Florida and New York to check if Halmos or his Intelligence Services Corp. were licensed for private investigation — both boards said no. The question is, then, did Halmos break the law by investigating Whalen in those states?

—Julia Reynolds"

http://www.elandar.com/back/spring01/stories/story_entrapment.html

So Legacy is still on the hard...?

Guess the owner could sue God for the hurricane that put his expensive toy-boat on the hard..

Or sue the US Coast Guard because they went to Disney-Land instead of saving his arse, as per the Vanity Fair article.?

We all make mistakes once in a while, including serious and expensive mistakes.
Most of us admit having screwed up.
Others don't have a clue.

Suck it up and clean up after you Mr. Halmos.

Legacy

I was just out to Legacy yesterday with Capt Tom, and there s definately progress being made. Capt Tom writes for the Triton and will be posting the
info in the next edition as well as here . We were unable to meet with Helmos
though, possibly later.

One of the great things about the YachtForums site is that you can network with others with like interests, but also you can help each other out. When I noticed Conchwood's location, I reached out to him via private message and he offered his services of riding me out to Legacy. Not only that, he gave me the tour of Key West, including a boat ride around the island, complete with colorful and historic commentary regarding many local spots, brought a couple of fishing poles along so my son could catch a couple of...whatever (cool to see the fish swim to the jig in crystal clear water), and was ready to give the tour of Duval St (should of left my son back at the hotel, lol) but the skies opened up and we were rained out. Conchwood, thank you again for your time and hospitality.
Anyway, was able to get lots of information on Legacy's situation, and want to share but not just yet (my editor gets first rights). But here is a little teaser shot to show we were there (had to put a copyright on it, going through a situation where I recently found one of my photos in an ad).
More to come. Thanks for your patience.

Okay Capt. Tom, looking forward to the latest info on Legacy.

This case should be a text-book accident where everybody could learn a lot of what went wrong including naval designers, anchor manufactors, owners, captains, etc., etc.

My primary job is flying airlplanes, not driving boats.

In my business we have a few accidents that pops up again and again in every training class because they are so easy to avoid and therefore so much to learn:

The first one that pops up in my head is the Air Florida B-737 in Washington DC: Bad weather, iced up, not enough power on the engines due to iced up EPR probes on the engines, captain failed to realize all the snow-balling factors untill it was too late. Then they hit that bridge.
Step by step, that one was pretty **** avoidable without even playing Monday Morning Quarterback: Snow on the wings made for less light.
Snow on the runway made for more drag. Ice on the primary power-probes made for less power. Poor procedures in the cockpit made for poor quality control..Etc.

Plenty other high-profile accidents we can all learn from: AA in Little Rock, ValueJet over the Everglades, SwissAir in Halifax, etc, etc.

Legacy on the hard should be a good lesson for all of us.
(not rolling my eyes or pointing fingers, just learing and remembering)

Norseman,
I also feel that there are many lessons learned that can help other captains in some of their decision making, and perhaps avoid another situation like this, or worse.
I was fortunate to hook up with one of the Legacy crew and leave my contact information for the owner. Hopefully when this thing is over (at least the recovery part, I'm not thinking of any litigation as that may go on for years), then Mr Halmos would afford me a little time for som einsights. Would also like to hook up with some of the crew that were on board, but heard that Capt Ed has left the scene and gone back to his family.
Through my day job I'm a disaster planner, and have done numerous post mortem analysis reports, lesson learned, change requests, etc, including risk analysis. And this situation is just (not trying to minimize it) another disaster that we can all learn something from.
Thanks for your comments.
Tom

PS Here is another shot as we approached. The stillness of the bay and heat of the tropical sun gave a mirror-like image. Almost seemed like we were approaching a ghost ship.

We have our story out, so I can post a few more pictures. You can see The Triton website for the details now (*************.com), or wait for the print version to be in the October issue (which will also have updates and latest efforts).
Cut/paste this link for story: **************/*************/index.php?news=1951

The following are various photos from around the vessel. Bow shot shows rigging. Notice how shallow the water is, maybe two feet. The exterior damage looks like it can be fixed.

Thanks again conchwood for your help.

More shots.

You will see that the work boat that will be doing the pulling is situated about a mile away, with cable running back to Legacy.
The houseboats are where the crew/owner have been residing for most of the time. Be warned that you most likely will not be welcome of you cruise up to the houseboats. And whatever you do don't even think about going on Legacy. Private property and no trespassing signs are posted and that boat is being watched.
Let's see it get out of there, the flats restored and Legacy once again cruising.
I have much more respect for the situation now that I have seen it first hand, but can't imagine what someone thinks when they see their yacht sitting helpless for all this time. Perhaps one day I will write a lessons learned piece for us all to take something away from this situation.