/tritonnews | www.The-Triton.com | July 2018
30 Crew News Gasping at the top of the world Yacht captain’s training on land and sea culminate on summit of Mount Everest 8 GETTING UNDERWAY Crew of M/Y Hospitality, a Westport 164, open the 35th edition of the Newport Charter Yacht Show in Rhode Island with smiles and welcomes to visitors in June. For more see Page 24. PHOTO/BILLY BLACK
Social media: It’s a joke until it’s on you, your job From the Bridge Dorie Cox
Word of a yacht on the rocks spread quickly on social media when a photo of it was posted in June. Hundreds of people judged the presumed captain as drunk, ignorant, inexperienced or, now, out of a job. It looked like a good topic for this month’s yacht captains discussion group at The Triton’s From the Bridge lunch, so we shared the photo to talk about social media’s impact on the industry. Most of the seven captains had already seen it and reacted with grimaces – and a few slight grins – as it was passed around the table. “Captains like a good boat wreck, as
See BRIDGE, Page 36
From dancing to darkness: Training pays after lightning By Dorie Cox It was 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. A yacht cruised into Fort Lauderdale from the Atlantic Ocean. The lights were bright inside the salon and the music was loud. The yacht owner and three longtime friends danced as the captain navigated through Port Everglades. Weather had been intermittent clouds and sun all day. There had been no rain until a squall hit the yacht outside the port. The sky was clear and dark as the yacht turned northbound under the 17th Street Causeway bridge. Suddenly there was “an unmistakable, sharp, hard crack,” the captain said. “Bam!” “It was instantly clear to me – I saw the light, I saw the bolt,” he said.
Lightning had struck the boat. “Every system shut down except the fire alarms, which went off like crazy,” he said. The lights, music, engine, generator and all of the instruments on the bridge were dead. Now it was really dark. The captain, the sole crew member on board, asked not to be named until after the insurance investigation. But he shared his experience now to offer lessons for others in lightning areas. On board, through the blackness, the captain called out to the passengers for a verbal confirmation they were safe. Then he felt down to the electrical control panel and used the side of his hand to shut down five or six breakers at a time until all 30 or so
See LIGHTING, Page 34
Engineer’s Angle Plug in with our new columnist, former Chief Engineer JD Anson
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Where in the World
Up the inland rivers of America with M/Y Sensation
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Write to Be Heard Young stew’s lessons on board not lost on older newcomer.
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Obituaries Captain dies in Vancouver Friends around the gobe honor Capt. Kerry “KP” Piesch with flowers at sea. 6