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Lydia Mullan // Seamanship & the Sinking of Alliance
20 August 2024 · 1h 23m · 380 views
What this video covers
Lydia Mullan, managing editor at Sail Magazine, recounts striking an unidentified submerged object aboard the J/122 Alliance during the Newport to Bermuda race and the crew's subsequent abandonment and rescue in the Gulf Stream.4:44 The impact — described as a violent metallic screech that crew below mistook for a dismasting — forced an immediate damage assessment.Watch Alliance carried 4,000 gallons-per-hour pumping capacity, some mandated by the race organization, and the crew had practiced deploying those pumps during a flooding incident the previous year's Annapolis to Newport race.41:23 That prior experience directly accelerated their response.29:08 The crew stayed aboard as long as rescue was close, retrieved passports and credit cards from the ditch bag, then transferred to the racing yacht Kaylee via its open transom stern.56:01 A Kaylee crew member named RJ made the call not to re-inflate the life raft for a second transfer, keeping all survivors aboard one vessel.57:11 Kaylee continued racing and finished third.1:06:03 Lydia also discusses her background in offshore sailing, her role managing social media for Cole Brower's Global Solo Challenge campaign, and the psychological arc of processing a sinking — including the moment the loss registered not as personal danger but as grief for crewmates.4:41 Andy Schell's intro covers a helm-leveling platform refit on Falcon at Vindo Marine in Sweden, modeled on Volvo 70 designs, and an upcoming appearance at the Halberg Rassi Epitvarv boat show on the island of Orus.0:55
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