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Proteksan-Turquoise YOGI superyacht sinking investigation

Discussion in 'Turquoise Yacht' started by Marmot, Sep 9, 2012.

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  1. Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

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    The French International Registry of ships had a statutory requirement to submit the report of its investigation into the sinking of M/Y YOGI to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) within 6 months of the sinking.

    The deadline passed without notice or comment on August 17th and as of today, the IMO database of shipping accidents does not include mention of the YOGI.

    Do some flag states not take the loss of a 1000+ ton yacht as seriously as they do a 500 ton coastal freighter or were they on holiday and just forgot to drop the report in the post?
  2. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    I might save that little nugget for a PSC in France if pulled up will say: You don't comply so why should I?
  3. Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

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    For some reason I don't think they would be amused.

    They don't seem to mind if a yacht mysteriously sinks but Heaven forbid one should have a paperwork error ...
  4. C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    Hayati Kamhi of Proteksan Turquoise was found dead with a self inflicted gun shot wound just shortly after Yogi sinking. Would you really want to add more insult to injury?

    Who are any of us to feel a sense of entitlement to sensitive legal information that we are not involved with? That is there business.

    RIP Mr. Kamhi
  5. Felipe

    Felipe Senior Member

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  6. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Would you like to explain what you actually mean by that?
  7. Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

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    You might learn a bit about the rules pertaining to large yachts by reading maritime regulations instead of the newspapers.

    Yogi was a commercial yacht over 500 GT and subject to SOLAS and MARPOL. The flag state is required to report its investigation of the loss of that ship.

    http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Safety/Implementation/Casualties/Pages/Default.aspx

    http://www.imo.org/blast/blastDataHelper.asp?data_id=30432&filename=MSC-MEPC.3-Circ.3.pdf

    Your comment about theory and reality does hold water though. The GISIS system assigned a record number for YOGI very shortly after its loss but that record is now blocked by the French maritime authorities from public viewing.

    There is also a little "out" for them to avoid reporting their findings;

    "The new regulations, entered into force on 1 January 2010 and expand on SOLAS Regulation I/21, which requires Administrations to undertake to conduct an investigation of any casualty occurring to any of its ships "when it judges that such an investigation may assist in determining what changes in the present regulations might be desirable".

    This could be interpreted to mean that France couldn't find any mechanical or design related factors in the sinking but perhaps found something to do with its crew training or certification standards and simply doesn't want to talk about it.
  8. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    It's late and I'm wondering out loud.
    If Yogi was the first French Flagged vessel of this kind in a long time (ever?), Is/Was the French counsel prepared to investigate anything?
    Or, Are they really staying tight lipped about the crew and exercising time & NO comment.
  9. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Well, the other question is. Is the boat in shallow enough water that they have found it? Or has the boat vanished? If they don't have an actual boat to investigate, it's a little hard to investigate the situation if the the crew isn't talking and are represented by Attorney's.

    The crew was on the light side for this size vessel but enough to meet the safe manning requirements, I believe 9. The entire crew as far as I know was completely new to the vessel and it had just launched from an extended warranty period in the yard. Also, at Yogi's size, you don't just learn all of the systems, quarks, and how to operate everything on board in a few hours.....it would take weeks.
  10. Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

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    The French found a beer can sized flight data recorder in 12800 feet (3900 meters) of water. They have some of the best deep water hardware in the world and the Yogi is shallow enough for a common ordinary oil field ROV to reach easily and relatively inexpensively.

    All it would take is a spin around the wreck to see if any of the doors are open or the windows show signs of wave damage. This might seem like exotic stuff but it is not rocket science and deep water observation and forensics have been a fact for many years. Capable ROVs are now as common as metal detectors in the garages of treasure hunters and diving companies.

    All it takes is the will to find out how and why this happened but I suspect they already know and simply don't want to talk about it.
  11. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Actually the French looked for that data recorder for 2 years before Americans found it for them...

    Even if an ROV finds blown windows, we d never now if they were cause or result
  12. mwagner1

    mwagner1 Senior Member

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    How new was the yacht, i.e. launch date?? A new (relatively) yacht just returning from an extended warranty period being so new? I wonder just how many of the new yachts launched in recent years quickly return back to the yard for warranty work and we never hear about that or such an episode simply par for the course with a larger yacht? I bet that extended warranty repairs are not the sort of news one reads in the glossy yachting magazines...

    Still, maybe one day the truth will come out...I am still just glad that nobody got hurt and that the crew got off safely...

    Cheers,
  13. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I am well aware of deep water capabilities. Look at all of the video and things we have on the Titanic and it's sitting in very deep water. I was just wondering if they have even found where the boat is sitting. Look at the Bertram that went down off of SC a year or two ago, they found it after a week and then a week later it dissappeared completely never to be found again and that was only in a little over 100' of water.

    We do know all of the windows on the Port side appeared to be intact from the Youtube video of the rescue.

    To the other poster. The boat was launched that day and was taken out of the yard with it's new crew when it went down.
  14. RVN-BR

    RVN-BR Senior Member

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    Yogi? No, yogi had been launched several months prior to sinking, still brand spanking new in yacht terms....

    EDIT: Yogi launched circa march 2011... sunk feb 2012 (so 11 months later)... she won awards in the meantime (which doesnt mean much at all), and apparently had a successful charter season (which also doesnt mean much)....

    EDIT2: you mean launched from the warranty? I dont think i'd consider that a laUNCH? Launch is when they first put out.... but yes, she was leaving the factory just a couple of days earlier if memory serves... (allegedly it was cosmetic work, which may or not be a cover-up)
  15. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Where did you get that little nugget of information?

    The yacht had already done a successful charter season and had been written up in several magazines.

    I am also pretty sure it had done a Caribbean season as well before returning to the yard for warranty works before setting out on it's ill fated penultimate voyage, the final one being the one to the bottom of the sea.
  16. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Not many that I am aware of, many set out on major voyages straight from the yard and although some might return for warranty works most warranty work on them is carried out in a mutually agreed place and the yard send their people and subbies to the boat - the travel and accommodation is very rarely absorbed by the yard and can run to hundreds of thousands in the first year.

    One of the reasons being is that such a thing doesn't exist in many cases.
  17. RVN-BR

    RVN-BR Senior Member

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    In my experience as an owner (of vessels much smaller than Yogi, admittedly), the amount of warranty work can vary vastly... and it is inversely proportional to how well you inspect the boat and demand corrections BEFORE leaving the factory....

    Issues can and do arise upon use, but the vessel is already "in operation" with systems running, crew on board, etc for quite a while before leaving the shipyard (at least thats how it should be!)... Crews and owners prepare for the long (most often successful) voyages that K1W1 mentions above... and that is an opportunity to catch these problems and have them corrected from the get-go...
  18. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    When I said Launched, I did not mean the first time she was put in the water from the build process. Launched as in she was sitting out of the water getting paint and other warranty work done and was then launched or put in the water immediately prior to this trip. We call it launched when they put a boat in the water from the hard.
  19. RVN-BR

    RVN-BR Senior Member

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    No use arguing semantics... I was also misled by your use of "Launched", as it wasnt really launched.... These boats usually go dry-dock and not picked up and launched as smaller boats...

    in case of yogi i do not recall there being any detail as to it being a bottom paintjob....was it?? most probably in-water work (looking at the interviews from the time, they quote "warranty paint work"... doesnt sound like a bottom paint to me...but mere speculation)
  20. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    No it was cosmetic paint, but also the bottom paint appears new in the youtube video, there is no discoloration, no chips, no growth anywhere on the hull and you can see the entire port side. It was also there for several months from what I heard for many other non-cosmetic warranty repairs/changes.......who knows......