An almost-new 60-meter super yacht sinks in the Aegean sea
but why did this new 40 million-dollar technologically advanced super yacht sank?
Why did she continue sailing in force eight wins despite weather warnings?
Why was she sailing at almost maximum speed in these conditions?
Why was the yacht allowed to turn her stern to the seas?
There are many unanswered questions.
Super yacht Yogi was built as hull number NB 49 a Proteksan Turquoise now known as
Turquoise Yachts and delivered in April 2011. She took 3 years to build.
Yogi was the second super yacht built coming after the earlier launch of
M/Y Turquoise. She measured 60.2 meters or 197.5 feet with a gross tonnage of 1,028.
She was built MCA rules and also the French Registry Safety
standards and was classed by the American Bureau of shipping as A1 and
AMS standards. In order to avoid dirt and exhaust gas bellowing out to the
top of the vessel the main exhaust outlet of each engine was under water
known as a wet exhaust. To avoid back pressure the exhaust had sea water
injection. The exhaust was designed to prevent the seawater to flood the
exhaust when the vessel was reversing. Yogi was described as a voluminous yacht
with an impressive nine point four meter or 30 feet beam providing plenty of
communal public spaces and private areas for the guests to enjoy.
M/Y Yogi will be able to accommodate up to 12 chatter guests, a charter
website said in 6 luxurious cabins including a master suite located on the
main deck with a private lounge area offers dressing room, and his and hers
bathrooms, the VIP cabin, three double cabins and one twin cabin.
M/Y Yogi was the first super yacht to be registered under a new RIF French flag system, the
French international register. Most yachts are commonly registered in Cayman
Islands, Isle of Man, Madeira and so on but to try and encourage owners France
had just built up dedicated regulations for pleasure vessels engaged in trade
more than 24 meters in length with a load line of under 3,000 gross tons
Yogi's case was given as special importance being the first to be examined.
On 31st of March 2011 Yogi was inspected by four members of the
French Flag State Authority and a navigation license issued. The vessel had no VDR.
VDR is a voyage data recorder similar to that found on commercial aircraft as it
was not compulsory for a vessel of this size. The insured value of M/Y Yogi
was 39 million USD. Yogi would be available for luxury Mediterranean
yacht charters at a rate of between 357,000 euros per week
in the low season and up to 378,000 euros per week in the high season.
On 15th of February 2012 Yogi sailed from
Tuzla in Turkey to Istanbul for bunkering with eight crew on board
the vessel was not fitted with stability analysis software so the captain carried
out stability calculations on paper. It bunkered 25,000 liters of fuel.
On the 16th of February at 06:15 hrs. they set sail for Cannes, France with a pilot on board.
The captain's weather report stated wind north-northwest 5 to 6 knots
with 35 knot gusts swells 2 to 2.5 metres high. At 18:30 hrs. they've
finished navigating the Dardanelles straits and dropped off the pilot. The
vessel was operating normally at this time. The following is based on the
recollections of the captain as told to the CEO of the shipbuilders shortly
after his rescue. The captain said they were navigating at 14 knots. After having
a southwesterly Route, the vessel was heading at 185 degrees. Speed made close
to 14 knots. Note the top speed of Yogi was 16 knots. According to the crew the
engines were running at 60 % of the maximum load. There was strong winds and
3 meter waves. Suddenly the starboard engine exhaust bellows
punctured due to heat and they stopped the engine.
The engine got overheated because they were going in and out of the waves. Must
have been air that blocked the cooling water to the engine so what's the
engineers investigated the issues, the starboard engine
the boat was running on one engine and still making way but at reduced speed.
Then the port engine overheated and I stopped that engine too so now the boat
was adrift in 30-knot winds and 3 meter waves. Captain said the yacht
turned aft into the waves while we were busy with the engines. The aft starboard
side watertight beach Club door blew open and a lot of water entered. In a
different conversation he told another person from the build shipyard that the
port side watertight door blew open, so which was it? They took the filter
off the second engine and restarted it and began navigating with one engine. The
captain could get no response from the rudder. The crew went to investigate the
rudder compartments and found them flooded. He said they couldn't go to the
emergency rudder compartments either on the port side, the beach club above the
rudder compartments, since it was also full of water. This is where they should
have been able to control the rudders manually. Then the storm got stronger and
bigger waves started. Water invaded the lower beach club and even the main deck.
At 04:28 hrs. a mayday call was made by the captain as they could no longer
steer the vessel and they could not stop the flooding they were ready to abandon
the vessel. What follows is dramatic footage of the
crew being rescued by a Greek search-and-rescue helicopter.
After the first person was rescued the search and rescue team deemed it too
dangerous to land a man on the vessel. So they rescued the rest of the crew from
the water.
The captain's story left many unanswered questions such as; how did the boat get
turned around so the stern was facing the waves? Did the captain leave the
bridge unattended to help investigate the issues with the engines? With
generators he could have engaged bow and stern thrusters to try to keep the boat
facing the waves. How can a dogged watertight hatch or
door blow open. Why was Yogi travelling at near top speed in force seven conditions?
What about the redundant pumping system on board? Why couldn't it be used to
empty the emergency rudder compartment and, how could such a brand new
sophisticated vessel with eight watertight compartments and lots of
watertight doors which were inspected tested and approved by the ABS continue
to flood for hours when the crew had those hours and resources at hand? and
What of the owner? What did he think of the sinking?
Yogi was owned by Stéphane Courbit, a wealthy Frenchman who made big news in France because of a
controversial sum of 143 million euros he borrowed from the L'Oreal heiress
Liliane Bettencourt. French authorities had ruled the aging
Ms Betancourt who was suffering from Alzheimer's incapable of making such a
major investment decision. A finding that had put Courbit under highly publicized pressure to give the money back.
In part II we will look to answer these questions
and we will look at the official report produced by the Flag State
to see what answers or maybe more questions it provides. What do you think
happened here? Let's discuss in the comments. If you have information about
this incident, maybe you know someone who was on board, maybe it was you who was
on board and you want to talk, gets in touch. As always if you enjoyed this video
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