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Falling Yacht Photos

kari

Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-07-20

I'm a former cops reporter now working as an editor for TV Web sites and Mad Mariner, so I admit I miss chasing stories.

But when Mad Mariner's publisher, Glen, asked to me to track down the source of those amazing pictures accompanying today's story about a million-dollar Carver taking a freefall, I was pretty skeptical.

The pictures were so stunning they reminded me of those fake wave pics that made the inbox rounds after the 2004 tsunami. I doubted they were real.

When a quick check of Google turned up a whole lot of nothing, I got determined. Those pictures had to come from somewhere, Photoshopped or not.

I spent a good hour Googling every key word in the email that got passed to us. Finally, typing in something obscure like "turnbuckle yacht fall" led to Cargolaw.com's rendition of the incident, which finally led to Carver Yachts and spokesman Dick Nocenti.

He was impressed we'd called to ask, outlined the story and gave us a few more leads. But they all fell through. Emails to folks claiming insider knowledge on Yachtforums.com went unanswered. Seeking out the forum's publisher earned me a terse email and no follow up replies. Tracking down the boat's owner, the dealer and insurance company proved fruitless.

I guess when such an expensive debacle is caught on camera, no one involved really wants to talk about it.

Submitted by kari on Tue, 10/02/2007 - 16:30.

mermaid

Posts: 5
Joined: 2007-08-13

great photos and terrific story! what a pleasure to see real reporting and real FACTS on something that seemed too weird to be true. looking forward to more fine reporting from the mad mariner crew...

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 16:58

Anarchy

Posts: 9
Joined: 2007-07-17

What incredible photos! It's so cool to get the backstory behind what looked like, at first, images that were too good to be true.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 17:06

dswroan

Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-07-12

how bizarre that this was actually caught on film - that guy is lucky he didnt die

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 17:15

jcrain

Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-08-13

It would be interesting to see who is ultimately held responsible for this since there is some speculation as to what actually happened and whether or not the boat was even being off loaded or put onto a cargo vessel. Luckily everyone is ok.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 17:45

kari

Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-07-20

Glad you enjoyed the story. I think the insurance company is still sorting out the story, judging by what Nocenti said. But I'm certain the boat was being off-loaded. I ran that by Nocenti a couple of times since Snopes and Cargolaw had it the other way around. He said that was the whole reason the two reps were aboard.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 18:06

Josh

Posts: 250
Joined: 2007-06-20

I never would have believed it was a real photo...

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 18:28

Alan_Hugenot

Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-06-21

Kari:

Great detective work. One problem with the internet is that everyone can upload and so the photos often get separated from the story. Professional journalism is the art of getting the real story straight. Good show.

Capt. ALAN HUGENOT, AMS®, NAVAL ARCHITECT - MARINE SURVEYOR, Chairman, SNAME Motor Yachts & Service Craft Committee, ASA Sailing Instructor, Alanhugenot@madmariner.com

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 19:33

BIGtwins

Posts: 11
Joined: 2007-08-13

These pics are wild!

Did anybody figure out what the weather conditions were? To move a boat that big, they had to be bad. But the pictures don't really indicate foul weather (hard to tell). I have to think there was some human error. Did you hear anything about that?

Also, what's the story on the owner? Who was it? Whoever it was had a very bad day. I'd love to hear what he had to say.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 19:44

kari

Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-07-20

Thanks Alan! We don't know who the owner is, but we do know he bought a new yacht. He really wanted a Carver, despite the fall.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 19:49

BIGtwins

Posts: 11
Joined: 2007-08-13

That's crazy.

If those guys dropped my boat, there's no way I'd buy another from them.

Then again, the boat's not exactly a passagemaker. It's a cocktail hour craft, as they say. So maybe it was just the thing to do in that particular situation. If that happened to me, I 'd just be thinking "I want my boat back!"

I'd hold a vigil by the dock. Then again, I dunno if I could stand to see it hauled up!

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 20:16

nbrown

Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-08-13

Great research to get to the truth of the matter. The photos are totally wild - and hard to believe they are for real!

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 20:24

highseas

Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-08-13

This is a great story with amazing photos. If I just saw these pictures I'd never believe they were real. Reading the story behind the pictures made them really brought them to life. Keep up the great work and keep the interesting stories coming!

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 21:41

Boner4Boats

Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-08-13

Kari, excellent story and great research, really made looking at the pics more interseting.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 21:44

Anarchy

Posts: 9
Joined: 2007-07-17

Context takes an incredible photo and makes it worth caring about on so many more levels.

Yay 4 Kari!

I've never used a messageboard that had the author of a post dropping in to participate in the discussion - but why not? Kari's participation brings even more to the table than a static article. I'll be coming back.

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 23:13

kari

Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-07-20

Thanks everybody. Anarchy, the Washington Post has their writers post on forums, so why not us? So I'd like to know ... how bad does everyone really feel for the yacht owner? After all, he could afford a boat worth more than most of us will make in a lifetime.

Tue, 08/14/2007 - 10:32

Bruce_Dillahunty

Posts: 71
Joined: 2007-06-22

Well, I feel bad for him due to the disappointment... whether it was a financial "drain" or not, I'm betting he looked forward to his new boat the same as the rest of us do... then it got delayed (at best), plus the pain of dealing with insurance, etc.

I guess some are "so big" that it just wouldn't affect them at all, but I'm betting it was still a pain/hassle/disappointment.

Bruce

Tue, 08/14/2007 - 10:49

kari

Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-07-20

This story has earned Mad Mariner a whole lotta hits today. I hope some of the people reading will stop by and comment!

Tue, 08/14/2007 - 15:41

madmariner

Posts: 153
Joined: 2007-06-05

Just an update: this story was seen more than 100,000 times on Tuesday alone.

Wed, 08/15/2007 - 03:23

madmariner

Posts: 153
Joined: 2007-06-05

The numbers have continued to climb. Roughly 60,000 people have now visited the site and the story has been viewed almost 140,000 times. See our Room13 Blog for more details.

Thu, 08/16/2007 - 18:47

Jam

Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-08-25

I'm surprised no one has questioned the integrety of the boat. The shafts and rudders are pulled out, and the bottom of the boat forward of the shaft logs outboard appears to be split open. Did the shaft get pulled back and the motor mounts pull the stringers and bottom out of the boat? The machinery should have come apart, not the bottom of the boat. If this boat had hit a rock with its running gear she would have gone down quickly. Hitting rocks with running gear should not tear out the bottom of the boat if it is engineered properly.

Jam

Sat, 08/25/2007 - 14:24