As everyone should know by now the Cheekee Monkee capsized in the
2007 Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race. Hopefully this summary will
provide some facts about the boat, the owners, the conditions and
what went wrong.
Cheekee Monkee, a highly modified 1995 Corsair F-31 was purchased by
Bob Kirsten and I (Ron White) about 1 year ago from original owner,
Kim Alfreds. Bob and I have been sailing and racing multihulls for
a combined 26 years and Bob was the builder of his prior F-25C,
Accipiter. Kim Alfreds was the brain child and financier of all of
the original mods to Cheekee Monkee including:
• 45' canting carbon rig w/masthead spinnaker and screacher
• hull extension to 33' with addition of 85 gal water ballast
tank
• custom carbon racing interior (incl carbon fiber toilet)
• Lifting foils in amas and modified daggerboard and rudder
(the Monkee will fly two hulls)
• Custom replacement crossbeams to handle the lifting loads
After purchasing the boat Bob and I spent several months making
changes of our own, including a complete electrical re-fit,
converting to a tacktic wireless instrument system, all LED
lighting, new plotters and XM weather system, removal of built in
fuel tank, numerous cosmetic repairs and changes, removal of propane
heater, new lighter motor, major structural upgrades, and on and on
and on.
Also thanks to a lunching mishap due to yours truly, we built a new
carbon mast that is about 40 lbs lighter than the original Forespar
mast. The mast construction was completed with Ed Wheatly's Wahoo
Composites in Dexter Michigan supplying the shop and the technology
and knowledge, and Bob and I supplying about 85% of the labor. The
new rig came out beautiful and includes many concepts not previously
used in North America. The mast was designed and engineered by
Stuart Bloomfield. In total since all of the changes we have made
the boat now weighs in at about 3600 lbs with main, boom, battery
and motor. Our first opportunity to sail the boat with the new rig
was in the couple of days prior to the race and virtually all of our
time was spent rig tuning. Suffice it to say that we have had
precious little time sailing the boat since purchasing it.
We decided to invite Kim and one of his regular crew members, Mike
McGarry to join us for the race, hoping to go to school and learn
from the masters. They enthusiastically accepted our invitation.
I have read a great deal of speculation/observation of conditions at
the start of the race. Prior to the start we observed 18 to 25 knot
winds (we have a masthead wind speed indicator) and 4 to 5 foot
seas. The starting area was a little over 1 nm offshore. Bob and I
intended to do most of the driving during the race, in order to take
advantage of the expert advice available to us, but elected to have
Kim drive at the start to best deal with the congested starting
area. We crossed the line within about 8 to 10 seconds of the gun,
fully powered up with spinnaker, small jib and main, about 1700 sq
ft of total sail area. McGarry was on the spin sheet and Bob and I
were in the stern of the main hull sharing main sail duties, all
sheets were in hand. After our late start we immediately passed
several other multihulls, the last of which I recall was the C-36.
Between two and three miles down the course I had observed speeds of
20 to 23 knots, and we were flying the center hull regularly, also
having to aggressively play the main to control rudder ventilation.
I was starting to think, although I didn't say it, that I couldn't
take 8 to 10 hours of this. Shortly after having that thought, we
started to round up, rudder ventilating, and were unable to release
the main. The boat rolled on it's side and immediately turned
turtle.
I hung on to one of the **** rails and was gently dropped into
the water, the trapped air in my drysuit lifting me like a cork, and
I was on the nets in about 10 to 15 seconds. Bob's inflatable
deployed and he was also quickly on the nets. Mike scrambled up the
raising ama and climbed over the top, landing on the bottom of the
net, only getting his feet wet. When the boat was at about 90
degrees, Kim launched himself clear from the high side and was also
quickly on board. Everyone on board was wearing a 33+ lb buoyancy
inflatable vest. Mine auto inflated about 10 minutes before the
capsize, and was deflated before we went over, Bob's inflated in the
water and Mike and Kim's were manual and were not needed. We
snagged a floating bag of apples and some bottles of water that had
escaped the main cabin, opened the crash compartment and retrieved a
handheld VHF and GPS and radioed the CG with our position and
requested that they summon a commercial tow boat.
When we went over I would estimate that we were in about 60 feet of
water. Very soon, after being blown closer to shore, the mast
started hitting the bottom, and we had to cut the PBO headstay and
pull the capshroud pins, so the mast would float free. The boom is
deck stepped and the mainsheet was still attached . We discussed
and dismissed the notion of someone swimming below to cut the clew
free, fearing entanglement with the rigging in the surging
conditions. The committee boat came along side and threw us a line
to hold us offshore until assistance arrived. Several commercial
towers showed up about 45 minutes after the capsize, circling like
sharks on the hunt, its quite an interesting perspective watching
them compete for the business. We chose one of them and I then had
to get on the tow boat to verify insurance and sign a contract
before they would begin operations. They were very professional and
asked our advice every step of the way.
After several failed attempts the final righting was accomplished by
attaching two bridals, one to the forward beams and the other to the
rear beams. The boat was towed astern first by the rear bridal to
get it moving to windward and against the waves. As the stern
started to dig in the load was transferred to the forward bridal
which pulled the bow up and the boat came bow over stern and was
righted. The boat used to do this was a large tow boat with inboard
diesels. There were two other inflatables with 200 HP twin
outboards to render assistance. There would have been no way to
right the boat without the powerful inboard that was on site. We
followed behind and collected debris, recovering nearly all of our
gear. Each person had a short list of lost items.
We were taken to shore and dropped off at Lauderdale Yacht Club at
about 6:00 pm, where our vehicle was parked and we immediately
headed to the 15th street launch ramp where the boat was being
towed. We were greeted by several news crews with cameras rolling.
I believe one writer suggested that we were mugging for the cameras,
but actually they were there regardless, and we could either be
interviewed and demonstrate the same good humor that we never lost
or be pissed off grumps, something that's just not in any of our
nature.
The boat arrived at about 7:00pm (capsize was at about 1:45 pm).
The mast was hanging half off of the stern with all sails still
attached and dragging. Several sails that had been stored inside
the boat were also dragging astern including an additional spinnaker
and a code zero. All but the code zero were destroyed. The bow
sprit was broken, boom ripped from the deck leaving a substantial
hole, numerous other abrasions to the hull, destroyed pulpit and
pushpit etc, etc. The new mast survived, not unscathed but appears
to be repairable. Several sections of the mainsail track were
damaged, two spreader bases broken free and lots of cosmetic
abrasions. Rod rigging will likely be replaced. The process of
cleaning up the mess, loading the boat and getting it on the trailer
took about 4 to 5 hours. Cheekee Monkee will be back in Michigan
soon and we will begin the process of repairs and putting it back
together.
Conclusions:
After months of working on the boat and missing the Great Lakes
season, Bob and I were simply not ready to race in these types of
conditions, lacking familiarity with our high performance boat and
its characteristics, due to virtually no time on the water. While
we both have extensive experience in much more difficult conditions
than we saw, we weren't able to anticipate and react quickly enough
to balance Kim's aggressive driving and Cheekee Monkee's unique
characteristics. Conversely, Kim was focused on driving in a manor
that he has been able to do with his regular crew with much
success. As the four of us discussed the event after the fact, we
all agreed that we had mismanaged the situation, Kim in failing to
recognize our limits, and Bob and I didn't act like owners and put
the brakes on when we first felt uncomfortable, which was about a
mile before we capsized. We simply assumed Kim was in control. Bob
and I both agreed that neither of us had ever allowed another
individual to drive our own boats beyond our own comfort levels
before.
I want to emphasize that this is not finger pointing and assessing
blame. Kim, Mike, Bob and I have become friends and I assume we
will be for a very long time. I love Kim's positive upbeat attitude
and Mike is a sheer pleasure to sail with. I hope we all have an
opportunity to race together again in the future. We all maintained
our sense of humor throughout and made the best of a bad day of
sailing. We earned entry into a club that none of us intended to
join. We simply lacked the time necessary to function as a unit.
If the boat has a flaw, it is mostly that it needs a deeper rudder
to compensate for the lifting of the center hull. I don't believe
today that I would ever be comfortable driving the way Kim does,
with the main trimmer having to constantly dump to compensate for
rudder ventilation. We will consult with the experts, but I believe
Cheekee Monkee is in for a new rudder, one to two feet longer. The
current rudder is already deeper than a stock rudder or a 31 1D
rudder. We may never achieve Kim's level of performance with the
boat, but that's ok. We will improve and we will challenge
ourselves as we always have, but we will also keep it "sunny side
up" and within our comfort zone, which may require us to us to use a
little lower octane. We'll have lots of practice before the first
race of our season.
I have been very outspoken on safety issues and managing the
multihull capsize problem, and my views on the issue haven't changed
now that I'm a member of the fraternity. I am relieved that we
didn't stuff up anyone else's race that would be required to render
assistance, which likely would have been the case had we been
further down the course.
The safety systems worked fabulously well. All wore offshore PFD's,
two of us were wearing drysuits, and we had ample safety gear and
food stores in the crash box. Some added things that we will do in
the future is add closures to the built in cooler and nav table and
net closures to other open storage areas. All personal gear will be
carried in dry-bags and tied down.
Heartfelt thanks to all of the friends who called and sent e-mails.
What I love about this sport is the way that it personally
challenges me, the personal fulfillment it brings to push myself
toward goals that are not easily achieved nor guaranteed, and most
importantly the friendships that I have made in the process of
living a dream.
What an adventure!
Ron White
Cheekee Monkee
