‘Defiant’s West Coast Tour Meets Rocky Conclusion
Captain Donald Lawson has spent the past several months sailing up and down the West Coast raising awareness of diversity and inclusion in sailing through aiming to break 35 world sailing records aboard his ORMA 60 trimaran Defiant (formerly Mighty Merloe). After completing his last stop of the tour in Half Moon Bay, Lawson headed to L.A., where he was scheduled to haul the boat for some maintenance and upgrades. Last week, on the last night before reaching its waiting dock at the Los Angeles Yacht Club, Defiant was grounded on a rocky shoal some 12nm off the Southern California coastline.
We spoke with Capt. Lawson about the situation that occurred in the dark hours of Wednesday night. “It was around midnight,” Lawson told us over the phone. “We’d motorsailed through some dead spots coming out of Half Moon Bay, and around Point Conception we got some breeze.” Although the wind allowed Lawson and his crew, his wife, also an accomplished and experienced sailor, to pick up speed on their southbound journey, they still had several miles to go when they decided to drop anchor and get some rest before making their way into LAYC the next morning.
“Not everyone has dock space for us,” Lawson said, “and there was a lot of traffic.” They dropped anchor at Anacapa Island, part of the Channel Islands group. While it initially seemed like a safe place, Defiant dragged anchor, bringing the boat perilously close to the shoal. Lawson raised the anchor but quickly realized they were destined to meet the ground. “We were smashing onto the shoal, bouncing around.” That was when they decided to call for a tow, rather than risk further damage by trying to sail or motor out of the cove. During the 90 or so minutes that it took for TowBoatUS to arrive, Lawson lowered the daggerboard to try to stave off some of the damage to the outer hulls. “It took the brunt,” he added. The boat was eventually pushed up against the rock wall, which he said actually steadied the boat and helped stop it from slamming further against the wall and the shoal.
TowBoatUS Ventura and Channel Islands reported on social media, “Along with the US Coast Guard, Captains Paul and Carson responded to Defiant‘s distress call. A large kelp bed and shallow waters prevented resources from getting too close. To get the victims out of harm’s way and to act as quickly as possible to preserve the value of the vessel and before pollution could have occurred within the Channel Islands National Park and NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Captain Carson was placed in the water to bring a towing hawser through the kelp and make an attachment to the vessel. The vessel, and the two people on board, were safely removed from the island and towed back to Ventura Harbor where they were brought to the launch ramp because of their size.”
Capt. Lawson reports that both he and his wife, and the vessel, are fine. Defiant was scheduled to be hauled out and have reinforcements made to her hulls. So some of the damage will be taken care of in this way. But regardless, she is currently being surveyed to determine the full damage, which includes some damage to her port bow, the rudders and the daggerboard.
In response to an article posted by Scuttlebutt, Capt. Lawson wrote the following:
“Those who have sailed with us and been following us have seen how difficult it has been to anchor or moor the boat as she tends to sail right over her anchor or mooring. We have tried a bridle system off the beams, the bow and even found some success at stern anchoring her.
“Ultimately, the boat with her wing mast tends to catch the wind and tries to sail.
“That evening as we were placing the anchor, a giant Danforth, with 50ft of line and chain out, the anchor wouldn’t catch and we drifted. We let out more line but still no catch.
“The new anchor we have is a giant plow anchor, which I didn’t want to need for this type of boat because it will be tough to raise up but at this point, the need for a reliable anchor is most important.”
The coming weeks will be filled with scheduled maintenance and upgrades, and now necessary repairs, as Lawson prepares to undertake his first record sail this coming fall. In the meantime, he is grateful for the assistance he received in bringing his boat and crew to safe shores. “I just want to say a big ‘Thank you’ to the TowBoatUS crew who came out to help us,” he concluded.
You can learn more about Captain Donald Lawson and his plans here.
“They dropped anchor at Anacapa Island.”
With Scorpion, Little Scorps, Smugglers or Yellowbanks nearby, why would Rocky, kelp strewn Anacapa be the choice? And anchoring an ORMA 60? Maybe slow down, to time arrival or bring extra crew? Always easy to second guess, but with this program, the hits keep coming.
The Coast Guard and professional rescuers do an awesome job every day rescuing sailors and boats that are in harm’s way. A big thank you to them for all that they do! I hope Captain Lawson can repair his boat and continue on his adventures – best of luck!
Would a stern anchor helped? Or two stern anchors? I am guessing as she sailed towards the bow anchor it was unable to hold and turn the boat towards the anchor point? Would it have been safer to just stay out in open water? I am not criticizing but asking, I am planning to get down to the Islands sometime later this year. Seems here are very unusual weather events happening this year all over.
Anacapa isn’t usually thought of as having very good overnight anchorages. For other boaters coming through the area, the east end of Santa Cruz Island has generally better anchorages (Smuggler’s Cove, Little Scorpion) and is only about 5 miles away
There is a lot to be said about how strong modern boats are today. I watch the SailGP boats hit and instead of sailors being crushed mid torso the foils completely fend off the other boat. SailGP boats are big heavy things and to see the foils stop them is amazing. I doubt marine grade plywood would have taken being in that cove as well. In this case he actually lowered the daggerboard to try to stave off some of the damage!
Brad Smith, like a spud on a spud barge, but carbon fiber & epoxy, not steel.
In my experience the twin flukes of a danforth style anchor tend to snag a wad of kelp preventing them from digging into the bottom. A plow is much better at cutting thru’ to the ground. If the lighter weight anchor is preferred, avoid anchoring around kelp. I have a horror story myself on that subject.
To avoid the yawing and lunging of a race-horse kind of boat you almost have to have 2 bow anchors at at least a 60° angle. But to avoid doing a complete flip, which is sounds like this boat might want to do, you would probably need a 3rd stern anchor (with short scope so it can drag if the wind shifts). A lot of work. Maybe a stern sea anchor/drogue would do it?
Marc Hughston of Newport has made studies of these anchoring quirks.
Pulling into Anacapa at night I liked south of the lighthouse in 50′ of water; outside the kelp, lots of sand, no rocks. But with a plow if your boat likes to sail circles around the anchor all night. :-}
I heard that he ran out of fuel coming down the coast and since he had no motor, couldn’t recharge his batteries. If you look at historical AIS data, it goes out 12 hours before the accident probably when his batteries died so more than likely ran out of fuel a while before that. This would mean he tried to anchor with no motor which is very stupid. What I find more probable is that he was sailing with no navigation, saw the light on the end of Anacapa thinking it was land, and stayed half a mile offshore of the light, realized it was an island, tried to turn around but got sucked ashore.
I worry about this guy…