The world's media is discussing the disaster off the coast of Sicily. On August 19, early in the morning, a luxury sailing yacht Bayesian sank in the area of the town of Porticello about half a mile from the shore. There were 22 people on board the ship, one is dead, and six more are considered missing. Among them are the owner of the yacht, British businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter. How did it happen that a yacht with a huge margin of safety sank in a quiet place in the Mediterranean Sea? An experienced yachtsman and traveler, a member of the RGS, Oskar Konyukhov, spoke specifically for the website of the Russian Geographical Society about the reasons for what happened.
Oskar Konyukhov is the son and associate of the legendary traveler Fyodor Konyukhov. In the recent past, he was the executive director of the All-Russian Sailing Federation, crossed the Atlantic Ocean seven times under sail. He was a participant in the voyage across the Pacific Ocean around Cape Horn on a maxi-yacht.
“I must say that actually the Bayesian yacht is very sturdy and reliable. It was built at the famous Italian shipyard Perini Navi. It is a well-known company among professionals that has existed on the market for more than half a century," said Oskar Konyukhov. “The yacht is gigantic: its length is about 50 m, the height of the mast is 75 m. At the time of the disaster, the ship was in the roadstead, at a designated anchorage off the northern coast of Sicily. As they say, no one saw it coming. However, this year, according to meteorologists, the Mediterranean Sea is overheated: the water temperature is 4 degrees above the average. This contributes to the emergence of powerful tornadoes, inside which wind speeds can reach 200 miles per hour.”
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Oskar Konyukhov noted that the yacht's captain is from New Zealand, and New Zealanders are known as "very cool sailors":
“Becoming the captain of a superyacht such as Bayesian was is about the same as becoming the crew commander of the world's largest passenger airbus A380. There are no random people here. Therefore, I do not doubt his competence. The only omission, and the captain admits it, is that the crew noticed the impending tornado late. And imagine: summer, everyone is a little relaxed, the weather is good, the yacht is anchored in a comfortable place – this is not Antarctica or the Arctic. And then a tornado hits, spins the yacht and breaks the 75-meter aluminum mast.”
Konyukhov Jr. suggested that when the mast fell, it was very likely that it pierced both the side and the deck, and probably injured people.
"It's easy to imagine what happened next," our expert said. “The yacht falls on its side. Water begins to flow into residential and technical rooms through the entrance hatch and portholes. If the yacht was sailing in the open ocean, and even in a storm, all the portholes would be tightly closed. And here it's summer, the resort, the portholes are open for ventilation. In addition, the doorways themselves in the luxury yacht are large, made for maximum passenger comfort. As a result, the water rushed inside in a powerful stream and very quickly filled the cavities of this huge yacht. It is now lying at a depth of 55 m.”
According to Oskar Konyukhov, a tornado for yachts is about the same as a Cumulonimbus cloud cover for airplanes. Passenger liners fly around thunderstorm cumulus clouds. The aircraft, once inside, can receive critical mechanical damage due to the impact of powerful air mass flows moving vertically at high speed.
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“During ocean crossings, we never got into a tornado,” Oskar Konyukhov shared his memories. “But we saw them coming in the tropics. And when we noticed them, we tried to get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. But when you are in tropical latitudes, somewhere near the equator, then you need to be always on alert: it can always happen there. Powerful tornadoes are also typical for the Gulf of Mexico. Tornadoes also happen in the Mediterranean but not so often and so powerfully. Until now, this has been a rare occurrence. But, apparently, they will happen more often now. Perhaps the reason for this is the climatic changes on the planet. Probably, this factor should now be constantly taken into account not only for extreme travelers, but also for average (and not average) vacationers. In general, one should never forget that the sea and the ocean are a powerful element, compared to which a person is a negligible quantity.”
Aivar Valeev