Having recently learned of a stranded boat on South Boston’s Carson Beach, I figured that I would have to check it out myself, which I did today. It appears that the vessel broke free from a mooring off the South Boston Yacht Club during Hurricane Sandy and has been marooned on Carson Beach ever since!
Perhaps the vessel was not insured, as insurance will usually pay for a haul. But I am most surprised that the owner has not salvaged the boat given the fear of fines (a boat owner is viewed as a golden goose to the tax assessors, collectors, leviers and treasurers of our waterfront municipalities). Having spent many a hot summer saturday at Carson Beach, I know how crowded this beach can get, so I would hope the boat is removed by then. For now, here is my attempt at the nautical equivalent of an autopsy:
1) This boat was clearly distressed while still in the water for quite a long time, with the hull submerged to a point well above the blue bottom paint (the water line is clearly visible in the photo below- and is not a great testament to the purity of South Boston’s water!) I think this can be explained by water weight: An unattended boat without a cover to the area below deck can accumulate rain water as was the case here. Looking through the opening revealed that the boat was totally flooded below deck.
2) A mooring sticker for 2012 was attached indicating that someone who owned the boat did renew last year to get their mooring off the yacht club (these are necessary to obtain at the beginning of every season, as harbormasters and police will levy fines early and often against unpermitted boats).
3) Often times, a boat will break free from its mooring during a storm due to simple physics. The tension a boat applies to its mooring is a function of drag (wind force, current, etc) and scope (the ratio between line length and water depth…i.e. the more line you let out at a given depth, the greater the scope). As we saw during hurricane Irene, the combination of a storm surge and high winds can be fatal to a boat on a mooring without enough scope. The storm surge increases the depth and therefore declines scope, while at the same time, the force increases due to wind speed.
Here was a picture I took at Carson Beach back in August 2011 after Hurricane Irene. Many moored sailboats fell victim to lacking scope that day:
