There is a story behind this boat on the slip just next to us. It was motoring across Bass Straight when it hit some bad weather.
A wave caught the boat on the side and one of these windows was punched out. The man in the wheel house was knocked down and fractured a leg.
One of these side windows was knocked out
The crew radioed for assistance and the rescue helicopter arrived on the scene and winched all 3 crew off the boat.
The boat was left moving slowly ahead on auto pilot, and about a week later ran into a rocky headland about 200 nm further north. After pounding against the rocks for several days it was salvaged and towed down to the local port.
It sat on the slip there for a few weeks, was written off by the insurance company and eventually sold to the boatyard for $1.
The interesting thing is how well the steel hull stood up to being pounded against the rocks. Sure if has a few holes and some dings and the rudder support it a bit bent, but imagine a wooden or fibreglass boat subject to similar treatment.
You would be lucky to salvage matchwood. Maybe we should have built in steel ….
The bow is a bit dinged up and the anchor is history
So is the rudder
And a few dings on the sides
The timber did not fare so well ...
The other interesting thing is that the window was knocked out in the first place. Everyone always stresses the need to keep glass areas small and well protected. I guess this incident makes the point.