Superyacht 'Bayesian' reportedly sunk by tornado

From The Times (Irish edition), 20th August 2024:
Superyacht saluted as an engineering marvel


Ben Clatworthy

Transport Correspondent


The superyacht Bayesian was celebrated as a masterpiece of engineering and opulence.

Built in Italy by Perini Navi, one of the world's leading yacht makers, the 56-metre vessel was launched in 2008 under the name Salute, which translates as "health" in Italian.

It is thought that the boat cost at least £14 million when new, and was available to charter for £166,000 a week.

By the time the vessel was refitted in 202, it was sailing under the name Bayesian and was no longer available for private hire.

The design, by the prominent yacht architect Ron Holland, featured the world's tallest aluminium mast, which towered 72 metres above the deck and carried almost 3,000 square metres of sail.

Bayesian's interiors were the brainchild of Rémi Tessier, who has also designed vessels for the Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli as well as suites for Claridge's hotel in London.

Fifteen guests could sleep in six beautiful cabins, while up to 12 staff attended to their every whim. Much of the design of the ship focused on outdoor areas for alfresco dining entertaining and drinks on deck.

The lower deck was separated into three distinct sections: an area for crew accommodation towards the bow, guest staterooms in the middle and the owner's cabin at the aft.

Tessier's brief was to create a superyacht with a familiar, pure and natural atmosphere. He looked to Japanese interiors for inspiration, settling on whitened sycamore and teak surfaces in the communal areas.

Stainless steel, ebony and leather were employed for the cabins.

Yet the real fun was had aft, where the watercraft and toys were stored in a garage. A jet ski, doughnuts, banana boat, water skis, wakeboards and sea kayaks were all on offer to those lucky enough to embark on a voyage. Here was also the tender to take guests into ports and secluded bays.

The captains of the ship were understood to rotate depending on the season. One former staff member described it as a "very creative job with a young, active crew".

She said that entertaining friends and their two daughters was of the "utmost importance" to the owners, and the crew would create games on board, ashore and in the water.

A former captain of the yacht said the "main technical achievement on this boat was taming the world's tallest aluminium mast, transforming its dynamic behaviour and stability when sailing and mooring".

The ship had a clean safety record, with the mast and rigging assessed before the summer.

A former member of staff for Mike Lynch, the billionaire businessman and owner, said he "clearly had a lot of pride" in the ship, and adorned the walls of his home in Chelsea, west London, with pictures of the boat.

Those pictures — and a miniature model of the yacht — are now all that remain.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/superyacht-sinking-waterspout-tornado-downburst/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...7ft-mast-role-sinking-experts-lynch-bayesian/
God rest their souls. :(
 
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Justo Miranda said:
It had a mast that was too long
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Maybe not. They found the mast intact on the wreck. At the moment the captain and crew are facing some rather tough questions from the authorities and other interested parties, such as why there was apparently no weather watch set, especially despite adverse weather warnings from the Italian meteorological agency; even with automated security systems and the like there should at least been a skeleton watch at anchor, if only to ensure against unwanted guests coming aboard (pirate attacks on yachts have been on the increase in the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere).

The head of the yard that originally built the yacht is perhaps understandably not very impressed by the crew's seeming conduct before and during the disaster:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/22/mike-lynch-superyacht-sink-sicily-crew-tragedy-bayesian/
In other news:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ike-lynch-missing-daughter-superyacht-sicily/
 
Reports suggest the keel was retracted at the time the storm struck, also, apparently hatches were left open.

Any kind of yacht in that event would struggle without an effective keel.

Mind you, the builders are doing everything they can to point the finger of blame elsewhere so perhaps there is smoke somewhere?
 
Grey Havoc said:
Maybe not. They found the mast intact on the wreck. At the moment the captain and crew are facing some rather tough questions from the authorities and other interested parties, such as why there was apparently no weather watch set, especially despite adverse weather warnings from the Italian meteorological agency; even with automated security systems and the like there should at least been a skeleton watch at anchor, if only to ensure against unwanted guests coming aboard (pirate attacks on yachts have been on the increase in the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere).

The head of the yard that originally built the yacht is perhaps understandably not very impressed by the crew's seeming conduct before and during the disaster:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/22/mike-lynch-superyacht-sink-sicily-crew-tragedy-bayesian/
In other news:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ike-lynch-missing-daughter-superyacht-sicily/
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJsYHFFLUQc
 
I was born in a town on the North Sea coast. Over the years, as I grew up, dozens of eminently seaworthy fishing vessels of comparable displacement to Bayesian went down in the North Sea weather, with all their crew.

I can sort of understand people's need to blame somebody for tragic events, but sometimes the sea deals you killer weather.
 
If the keel was retracted and hatches left open during a weather alert, ignorance caused unnecessary deaths.

Being a professional should mean more than taking the money and running, folk put their lives in the hands of a crew/captain with their heads hidden somewhere worse than "In the sand".

We have to learn the lessons there are to be learned here and if necessary, put some people behind bars hiding the soap for a loooong time.

https://news.sky.com/story/superyac...were-not-in-state-of-alert-for-storm-13201151
 
If the lifting keel was raised, stability would be impaired, easy knock-down would have been a sinkex due prompt. massive flooding,

Been a long, long time since I did capsize-drill for dayboat certificate, but those fast-forward moments stick in your memory...
FWIW, being the smallest, slightest on team, my rôle was to proceed to bow and play 'sea-anchor'.
Team swore I ran across the water. No, I was so skinny, I just scampered along the buoyant boom...
 
BlackBat242 said:
Interesting that his co-defendant (who was also acquitted) was killed in a car crash just days before.
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I also think this is a strange coincidence, but I must admit that I have a certain inclination towards conspiracy theories that often damages my credibility as a writer.

In fact, we were all so interested in the technical causes of the accident that no one has considered the possibility of lamenting the death of several innocent people, nor has the media or public opinion been particularly sensitive to this.:confused:
 
 
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PMN1 said:
I think he has said she was practically unsinkable.....
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I am a natural born pessimist (spoiler alert - as a true pessimist, you'll only ever have pleasant surprises in your life!) and skeptic, which I honestly believe is one of the reasons why I've had a pretty good career run as a bi-continental aerospace engineer, so to me there is no truth whatsoever in breathless advertising hype absolutes like invincible, unsinkable, undestroyable, undetectable, etc., and events like Oceangate and Bayesian (LordyLord, I hate that abomination shares the first four letters of its moniker with my family name!) only serve to further solidify that attitude.
 
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martinbayer said:
I am a natural born pessimist (spoiler alert - as a true pessimist, you'll only ever have pleasant surprises in your life!) and skeptic, which I honestly believe is one of the reasons why I've had a pretty good career run as a bi-continental aerospace engineer, so to me there is no truth whatsoever in breathless advertising hype absolutes like invincible, unsinkable, undestroyable, undetectable, etc., and events like Oceangate and Bayesian (LordyLord, I hate that abomination shares the first four letters of its moniker with my family name!) only serve to further solidify that attitude.
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I, on the other hand, am an optimist who believes that technology is a solution. Well, Martin maybe if one day we decided to join forces we wouldn't get anywhere.;)
 
Justo Miranda said:
I, on the other hand, am an optimist who believes that technology is a solution. Well, Martin maybe if one day we decided to join forces we wouldn't get anywhere.;)
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Justo, thanks for your kind suggestion, but as I'm reminded almost daily, I'm perfectly able to get nowhere at all whatsoever all by my lonesome self.
 
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