Incredibly another sailboat has sunk.

A yacht participating in a race in the Irish sea sank last week after a mechanical malfunction caused a punctured hull. A complete account by the owner is at the Howth Yacht Club and Irish Sailing Association websites.

Fortunately there were other boats nearby and all were rescued without any serious injuries. Apparently the broken rudderstock poked a hole in the hull, causing the flooding. Even more disturbing is that their liferaft, which was serviced less then 6 months ago, failed to inflate.

As the owner, Philip Watson, puts it; "To have a "disaster" you need three things to go wrong, we had two ... the sinking itself, and the lack of an inflated liferaft...". This is a common theme in sailing and mountaineering tragedies. One thing goes wrong, then another, then..."

There is a complete photo sequence of the sinking on the
Howth Yacht Club website.