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• Sailboat Reviews

This slightly odd 30-footer, with its wishbone rig and catboat looks, is easily sailed and comfortable.

The Nonsuch 30 is an oddity. She is a fin keeled, spade ruddered boat with an unstayed wishbone cat rig. Weird.

She was built in Canada, whose main boatbuilding export has been C&C sailboats. Come to think of it, all her construction details look very much like those of C&C boats. This isn’t unusual, since George Hinterhoeller, the builder, was formerly the president of C&C, and one of the founders of the three company merger that created C&C Yachts.

When Hinterhoeller left C&C to recreate Hinterhoeller Yachts Ltd., he took with him those characteristics that have given C&C a reputation for quality: good attention to finish detail and high-quality balsa-cored hull construction.

The Nonsuch 30 is the concept of retired ocean racer Gordon Fisher, the design of Mark Ellis, and the created child of Hinterhoeller, who is one of the few production boatbuilders with the legitimate title Master Boatbuilder, earned the hard way through apprenticeship in Europe.

The Nonsuch 30 was originally a Great Lakes phenomenon, which is to be expected considering her origins. She proved quite popular elsewhere, however. This is not surprising considering the amount of boat that has somehow been slipped into an LOA of less than 31′.

Production of the Nonsuch line ceased in 1989.

Construction

George Hinterhoeller’s reputation as a builder is not unearned. His balsa-cored hulls are known for being light and strong. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that he knows as much about cored construction as any boatbuilder around.

Both hull and deck of the Nonsuch 30 are balsa cored. The hull and deck are joined by a through-bolted butyl-bedded joint capped with an aluminum toerail. The butyl tape used for this purpose has no real structural properties, but does create a good watertight seal. A sealant such as 3M 5200 provides equivalent sealant properties with greater structural properties, and we prefer its use in hull-to-deck joints. It is hard to quibble with the Nonsuch’s strongly through-bolted joint, however.

The external lead keel is bolted on with stainless steel bolts. These pass through floor timbers of unidirectional roving, transferring keel loading from the garboard section to a greater area of the hull.

The cockpit seats and coamings contain a surprisingly large number of sharply-radiused turns. Gelcoat cracks are likely to develop here earlier than anywhere else in the hull.

The freestanding mast requires modification of normal construction methods. While no chainplates are required, substantial bulkheading is required in the area of the mast to absorb the considerable forces generated by the unstayed mast. The forward six feet of the hull is strongly bulkheaded for this purpose, and no sign of undue strain could be detected.

Because there is no rigging to hold the mast in the boat should she capsize, alternative means must be found. This is accomplished by lagging a cast aluminum, hexagonally-shaped female mast step to the hull. The butt of the mast is fitted with a hexagonal male counterpart which is strongly joined to the mast step by stainless steel hex-head set screws. The mast is further connected to the hull by a deck-level pin which passes through the mast and the cast aluminum deck collar. Deck hardware is properly backed for load distribution.

There are a few surprising shortcomings. The aluminum rudder quadrant stops have sharp edges which could easily cut into the exhaust line inside the cockpit lockers. This could happen—it had happened on the boat we sailed—if the upper rudder retaining nut is loose, allowing the rudder to drop down slightly. Gate valves are used on most through hull fittings below the waterline, rather than seacocks or ball valves, and no valves at all are fitted on drains and exhaust lines at the bottom of the transom, despite the fact that they could be submerged in a heavily loaded boat.

Despite these deficiencies, construction is generally to very high standards, well above average for the industry.

Handling Under Sail

The Nonsuch 30 is one of the most boring boats we have ever sailed. Tacking requires no yelling, releasing of sheets, cranking, tailing, or trimming. The helmsman simply says “I think we’ll tack” and gives the wheel a quarter turn, being careful not to upset his Mt. Gay and tonic. Nonsuch quietly slides through about 85 degrees and settles on the other tack with a minimum of fuss. Beating up a narrow channel simply requires repeating the above process.

The person who learns to sail on a Nonsuch 30 will receive a rude awakening when switching to a more athletic boat—which means almost any other 30 foot sailboat. The Nonsuch 30 is simply one of the easiest boats to sail we’ve seen.

This doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily easy to sail well. Getting the most out of the boat upwind definitely requires some practice. The aluminum mast is quite flexible, allowing the top of the mast to fall off as the wind increases. The sail’s draft will shift, changing its efficiency. In about 10 knots of breeze, the top of the mast falls to leeward about a foot. This can be a little disconcerting to those used to a fairly rigid stayed mast.

Sail shape is controlled by the “choker,” a line which controls the fore and aft trim of the wishbone and functions as a clew outhaul. Tensioning the choker pulls the wishbone aft, flattening the sail. The sail is slab reefed pretty much the same as a conventional mainsail.

The Nonsuch mainsail is 540 square feet, with a hoist of 45 feet and a foot of 24 feet. By way of comparison the mainsail of the Irwin 52 is 525 square feet, and that of the Cal 31 210 square feet. The sail does not handle like a sail of 540 square feet, fortunately. The wishbone is rigged with permanent lazy jacks which hold the sail as it is dropped.

Furling merely involves putting ties around the neatly cradled sail for the sake of aesthetics. Dousing the main or reefing is easily accomplished by one person, as all of the sail controls lead back to the cockpit.

The Nonsuch does not suffer from “catboat disease”—the tendency to develop monstrous weather helm as the breeze pipes up. She is, rather, remarkably well mannered, with a surprisingly light helm in the light to moderate winds in which we sailed her. Downwind she held course with the wheel brake off and hands off the wheel. Her performance was almost as good upwind at moderate angles of heel.

She is a stiff boat. The flexible mast allows a substantial amount of air to be spilled from the main as the wind pipes up, removing much heeling force. We found that the boat went better upwind with a reef in the main even at moderate angles of heel once the upper mast began to fall off. Getting sail off the more flexible upper part of the mast allows better draft control as the wind increases.

Having only one sail can be a real nail-chewer to the uncured racer. Whether it blows five knots or 25, the maximum amount of sail you can have is already up. Some unreconstructed racers have equipped the Nonsuch 30 with a blooper for light air downwind performance.

The Nonsuch 30 is no Cape Cod catboat under the water. She has a moderate aspect ratio fin keel, low wetted surface, and a freestanding semi-balanced spade rudder. These characteristics greatly add to her performance.

With all sail controls led back to the cockpit, she is a natural candidate for singlehanding. We strongly recommend the optional self-tailing winches for all functions if shorthanded sailing is contemplated.

The Nonsuch 30 is not the boat for the hard-core grand prix racer. Her entire sail inventory consists of that one big sail, with perhaps, but not necessarily, a single downwind sail. You will not become the bosom buddy of any racing sailmaker by owning a Nonsuch. Then again, no sailmaker will ever have a second mortgage on your boat, either.

Handling Under Power

The Nonsuch 30 was originally equipped with a 23 horsepower Volvo MD 11C diesel with saildrive. This basically eliminated engine installation and alignment problems for the builder, saving both time and money.

These units have an integral cast zinc to protect the vulnerable aluminum lower unit from galvanic corrosion. A special Volvo-supplied zinc is required—not an item that you can pick up in any boatyard. About hull number 125, this installation was changed to a more conventional engine and shaft arrangement, utilizing a new 27 horsepower Westerbeke diesel.

Either engine will drive the boat to hull speed. We greatly prefer the conventional engine installation, which is understood and can be worked on by most boatyards. It is less vulnerable to corrosion, and runs quietly and smoothly.

Because of her high freeboard the Nonsuch 30 will be susceptible to crosswinds when docking. With most of her windage forward she will have a tendency to blow bow downwind. A good hand on the throttle and gearshift will be a real plus in tight docking situations. Without the complication of wind we found her easy to back down into a slip once a sharp burst of throttle was given to activate the folding prop with which our test boat was equipped.

Deck Layout

Because the Nonsuch 30 has no standing rigging, her side decks are devoid of obstacles. Because she has no headsails there are no sheeting angles to be concerned with.

For cruising the optional bowsprit/anchor roller with hawsepipe to the otherwise unusable forepeak is highly desirable. Otherwise, anchor and rode must be stored in one of the cockpit lockers and dragged forward every time you wish to anchor. We also recommend the installation of a bow pulpit. With no shrouds to hold when forward there is a great feeling of vulnerability on the bow. These things may make the Nonsuch 30 un-catboatlike in appearance, but they will greatly add to the safety and convenience of both sailing and anchoring.

The cockpit of the Nonsuch 30 is large and deep. It is not particularly comfortable, and without four inch or thicker cockpit cushions it is impossible for a person of average height to see forward over the cabin. The helmsman’s position is elevated above that of the other seats, but visibility even from that position is only fair.

With the standard white-on-white gelcoat scheme the cockpit of the Nonsuch 30 is sterile and generates a lot of glare on sunny days. The optional contrasting nonskid and teak cockpit grate alleviates part of this problem.

The large cockpit creates other problems. First, you should never raft up with other boats at anchor. A friendly crowd of eight could easily fit in the cockpit.

There are more serious problems associated with the cockpit design. The Nonsuch 30 is promoted as a “new offshore concept.” We think this is an unfortunate choice of words, because the standard cockpit is not suited to offshore use. There is no bridgedeck. The companionway goes almost to the level of the cockpit sole—about three feet below the level of the lowest point in the cockpit coamings. Coupled with the huge cockpit volume, this creates a situation that cannot in any good conscience be called an offshore configuration. If this boat is to be called an offshore sailboat, we think there should be an optional cockpit arrangement—a large bridgedeck which could incorporate life raft storage, two more large cockpit drains, and perhaps a raised cockpit sole to further reduce the cockpit’s volume.

There are three cockpit lockers; deep port and starboard lockers, and a lazarette propane locker set up to hold two ten-pound gas bottles. The large side locker should incorporate some form of easily-removed retainer system to prevent items there from rolling under the cockpit.

On the boat we sailed the drain line from the propane locker overboard was too long. At the low point in the loop water had collected in the hose, which exits through the transom and is underwater in many sailing conditions. This water prevents any propane leakage from draining overboard as designed. The hose should be shortened to remedy a potentially hazardous situation.

When tacking or jibing it is easy for the helmsman to get caught by the mainsheet as the boom comes over. A better lead would be welcome here, perhaps having the mainsheet system incorporated into the stern rail.

The interior volume of the Nonsuch 30 is an eye opener, even to those used to the modern trend toward maximum interior volume on minimum overall length. To anyone used only to the interior space of an older boat, the interior of the Nonsuch 30 is absolutely stunning.

The waterline and beam of the Nonsuch 30 are about the same as that of a modern 36 foot cruiser-racer, and that beam is carried quite a bit further forward. Coupled with high topsides and a highly-crowned deck house, this yields a boat with tremendous interior volume for her overall length.

The interior layout is unusual but practical. There is no forward cabin in the conventional sense. This isn’t a real drawback. The forward cabin on the typical 30 footer is only useful for sleeping or sail stowage, and frequently has berths which narrow so much forward that an all-night game of footsie for the occupants is a necessity rather than a pleasure.

The forwardmost six feet of the boat is given over to two huge hanging lockers and a great deal of storage space which has been created by the three transverse and two fore and aft bulkheads that stiffen the hull in the way of the mast. This storage space is not readily accessible, and will probably end up as the boat’s attic, collecting little-used piles of gear until the day when it must be all removed to get at the mast step to remove the mast.

The rest of the boat is basically one large cabin. What would be considered the main cabin occupies the forward third of the interior. At the forward end are the aforementioned hanging lockers and a bureau. There are shelves and bins outboard of the two long settees that face each other at a comfortable distance across the cabin, with a dropleaf table on centerline. Varnished pine ceiling behind the settees is a welcome note in an otherwise dark teak interior.

The galley is to port midships. The cook is out of the traffic flow yet located in the center of activity if there are people both below and topsides. The galley has a gimballed propane stove with oven, a well-insulated icebox with (hurrah!) an insulated, gasketed lid, and a deep sink nearly on centerline which will easily drain on either tack. The icebox melt water is pumped into the galley sink. For the sake of aesthetics the icebox drain should tee into the sink drain below the sink, relieving the cook of the dubious pleasure of watching the things which dribble to the bottom of the icebox flow through the sink.

The head is opposite the galley. Because of the pronounced deckhouse camber, headroom there decreases rapidly as you move outboard.

An unusual option was a demand propane-fired hot water heater. This compact unit mounts on a head bulkhead, and has electric ignition. When a hot water faucet is turned on the heater fires, and will heat steaming hot water as fast as the water pressure system will deliver it. This is much less complicated than the normal engine water heat exchanger/110 volt powered water heaters found on most boats. Since the boat is already plumbed for propane, installation of this heater is straightforward.

There are quarterberths port and starboard aft of the galley and head. The standard berth starboard is a double, with a single to port. An option provides doubles on both sides, although filling all the berths on the boat requires an open mind and no highlydeveloped sense of privacy.

Despite the open interior of the boat, privacy can be attained through another unusual interior option. A hidden slide-up partition can be installed between the galley and the forward/main cabin, and a bifold louvered teak door which folds up against the head bulkhead. When closed, the door and partition divide the boat into two large compartments for sleeping, with reasonable separation between them.

The occupants of the thus-created forward cabin must enter the aft cabin either to go on deck or to use the head, an inconvenience.

Like the cockpit, the huge interior invites company. In the event of a sudden rainstorm, the eight people who previously occupied your cockpit could easily move below to continue their revelry. If there were already eight below—a not unlikely circumstance—you may be in trouble. Sixteen people is too many belowdecks even in the Nonsuch 30.

Ventilation of the interior is excellent, with seven opening ports, two hatches, and two dorade boxes. The propane heater vents overboard through its own exhaust stack.

Conclusions

The Nonsuch 30 is an unusual boat by any standards. The unstayed wishbone cat rig is becoming increasingly popular. It does greatly reduce the cost of sails, spars, and rigging.

The general appearance of the boat is similar to a traditional catboat, although she will never be taken to be a product of the Crosby yard. Her generally catboatlike hull dimensions produce the maximum hull volume on a minimum overall length.

Despite her billing we do not consider her an offshore cruiser with her standard cockpit arrangement. She will make an excellent coastal cruiser for a couple or family with up to three small children or two older children.

Because she is easy to sail and rig, has a big cockpit and a roomy, well-ventilated interior, she should make a good Caribbean charter boat for two couples, although head access is a minor problem from the forward cabin. Surprisingly, none have entered the southern charter business.

The Nonsuch 30 is not a traditionalist’s catboat. She lacks the sweeping sheer, low freeboard, gaff rig, and barndoor rudder of the Cape Cod catboat. She also lacks that boat’s infamous sailing characteristics—ferocious weather helm, inability to go to windward, and a man-killing mainsail.

She is a relatively simple, easily sailed boat for the convivial sailor who doesn’t mind being seen in what many might consider an oddball boat with an oddball interior and an oddball rig, The more you look at it, the less oddball it seems.

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• By Gregg Nestor
• Updated: December 8, 2009

The Nonsuch 30 was the idea of Canadian yachtsman Gordon Fisher. He and yacht designer Mark Ellis approached George Hinterhoeller to build this unique cruising catboat. Introduced in 1978, it gained wide acceptance in Canada and was soon popularized in the United States. Production ceased in 1994, with more than 500 hulls produced.

Ellis modified the traditional catboat hull, giving it a finer entry and carrying the maximum beam farther aft. Underwater, the fin keel and partially balanced spade rudder largely eliminate the considerable weather helm common to most catboats. And while the plumb bow and stern, distinctive sheer, and highly cambered coachroof also characterize the Nonsuch 30, its most prominent feature is the tall, tapered, unstayed mast with a wishbone boom.

Both the hull and deck are fiberglass composites cored with end-grain balsa. The deck lands on an inward-facing flange on the hull. The joint is through-bolted, sealed with butyl tape, and capped with an aluminum toerail. The external lead keel is attached with stainless-steel bolts that pass through floor timbers to distribute the loads throughout the boat’s hull.

Since there’s no mast in the cabin and the nearly 12-foot beam is carried well toward both ends, the Nonsuch 30 has much more interior volume than its length would suggest. For the first five years of the boat’s production, the cabin was laid out with opposing settees forward with a drop-leaf table between, a workable L-shaped galley, a large head compartment with shower, and quarter berths aft; the starboard one is a double. From around 1983, an optional cabin layout, called the “Ultra,” offered a stateroom with a double berth forward. The galley was to port, and the head compartment to starboard and the quarter berths were eliminated.

The sail is handled from the safety of the large cockpit. Running rigging consists of a main halyard, a mainsheet, and a choker line, which controls the fullness or flatness of the sail by adjusting the fore-and-aft position of the wishbone boom. The mast tends to bend to leeward when the wind freshens, which spills the wind from the sail and keeps the boat from being overpowered. Along with the wide beam and a 39-percent ballast-to-displacement ratio, this makes for a stable and forgiving boat.

The Nonsuch 30 won’t point as well as a sloop, but allowed to fall off a bit, it will make up for that with much greater speed: 7 to 8 knots in 15 to 20 knots of wind. The boat’s best point of sail is a beam to broad reach. Up to about hull number 125, a 23-horsepower Volvo MD11C diesel and saildrive provided auxiliary power. Later hulls received a 27-horsepower Westerbeke diesel and a conventional prop shaft. While both engines deliver adequate power, the later installation runs quieter, smoother, and is less prone to corrosion.

The Nonsuch 30 is a coastal cruiser. The generous cockpit and lack of a proper bridgedeck could cause some concern when a skipper considers extended offshore sailing, but its shallow draft and well-ventilated interior make it an ideal thin-water cruiser.

The rig is very simple, and there are few things to break. In addition to age-related problems typical in older boats, some areas to watch out for include the gate valves used as seacocks and cracks in the aluminum mast fitting where it passes through the deck.

Asking prices for Nonsuch 30s range from $35,000 to $85,000. With one sail, one halyard, and one sheet, it’s one easy boat to sail, especially for a shorthanded crew or a singlehander.

Gregg Nestor, who’s had a lifelong interest in all things aquatic, is the author of three books about sailboats.

LOA 30′ 4″ (9.24 m.) LWL 28′ 9″ (8.76 m.) Beam 11′ 10″ (3.61 m.) Draft 5′ 0″ (1.52 m.) Sail Area (100%) 540 sq. ft. (50.16 sq. m.) Ballast 4,500 lb. (1,372 kg.) Displacement 11,500 lb. (5,215 kg.) Ballast/D .39 D/L 216 SA/D 17.0 Water 80 gal. (302 l.) Fuel 30 gal. (113 l.) Engine 23-hp. Volvo w/ saildrive or 27-hp. Westerbeke Designer Mark Ellis Designer Ted Irwin

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NONSUCH 30: A Modern-Day Catboat With a Wishbone Rig

The Nonsuch 30 was the first and most successful of the Nonsuch line of una-rigged cruising catboats built by Hinterhoeller Yachts of Ontario, Canada, from 1978 to 1994. Designed by Mark Ellis at the instigation of Gordon Fisher, a famous Canadian racing sailor who wanted a fast, easy-to-handle cruising boat for his retirement, this boat in particular and its four siblings (the Nonsuch 22, 26, 33, and 36) are among the most popular alternative-rigged production boats ever built. In all a total of 975 Nonsuchs were launched over the years; of these 522 were 30-footers. The Nonsuch remains a popular cult boat and its very active owners’ organization, the International Nonsuch Association (INA), has over 700 current Nonsuch owners enrolled on its lists.

The most distinctive feature of any Nonsuch is its sail plan. A freestanding tapered aluminum mast, situated all the way forward in the bow of the boat, supports a loose-footed mainsail that is hoisted inside a wishbone boom, the end of which is sheeted to the boat’s transom. The boom, because it is canted downwards, acts as a vang and keeps the clew of the sail from riding up as it is eased.

Sail shape otherwise is controlled with a single line called the “choker,” which when tightened pulls the boom aft in relation to the mast, thus flattening the sail. When eased the choker allows the boom to shift forward, thus increasing draft. The only other controls (aside from the one halyard) are slab-reefing lines for the tack and clew. The reefed portion of the sail (or the entire sail when doused) falls unassisted into a set of permanently rigged lazyjacks hanging under the boom.

The great advantage of this rig is its simplicity. Tacking the boat involves no line-handling whatsoever (just turn the wheel), though jibing is more challenging, as the sail is very large and like a conventional main is unbalanced, with no area forward of the mast to dampen momentum as it swings across the boat. The rig automatically spills air when pressed, as the head of the unstayed mast is flexible. Reportedly, it falls off as much as a foot in just 10 knots of wind. The crew therefore need not work a sheet or traveler to keep the boat on its feet when gusts come barreling through. The lack of shrouds also makes it possible to set the sail square to wind when running off. Not having any standing rigging to worry about is also a big maintenance bonus.

The downside to the rig is there is no headsail slot to improve windward performance. Nor is there any way to increase sail area when running off in light air, though more zealous owners do sometimes try to fly bloopers to help things along.

There may be questions, too, as to the aluminum mast’s structural integrity when sailing in rough conditions. One Nonsuch 36 I was familiar with was twice dismasted during different offshore passages, and I’ve heard other stories secondhand about Nonsuchs losing their rigs. It is worth noting that boats with more contemporary unstayed wishbone rigs, like the much sleeker Wyliecat, have stiffer carbon-fiber masts. There was in fact a carbon-rigged version of the Nonsuch 30, known as the Nonsuch 324, but only a handful were built before Hinterhoeller folded in 1996.

The other distinctive feature of any Nonsuch is its hull form. Like a classic Cape Cod catboat, which it deliberately mimics, a Nonsuch hull is very beamy and carries a lot of extra volume into its ends. The underbody, however, is modern, with a fin keel and a semi-balanced spade rudder right aft. This keeps the boat from developing a heavy helm like a classic catboat and helps windward performance. The boats reportedly can sail just under 45 degrees off the wind when closehauled.

All that beam also creates a lot of initial stability and allows for an enormous interior. The Nonsuch 30 certainly has about the roomiest accommodation plan of any boat its size. The so-called “classic” layout, with single and double quarterberths aft and a saloon with two full-length settees all the way forward, can honestly sleep five people if necessary. The more conventional “ultra” layout, offered as an option beginning in 1983, with a Pullman double forward and a large saloon aft, makes a very comfortable long-term liveaboard space for a couple and even includes a head with a separate shower. The great sense of space aboard is accentuated in both layouts by the generous headroom (well over 6 feet) afforded by the crowned coachroof and, in the classic layout, by the lack of bulkheads aft of the forepeak.

To save weight the fiberglass decks and hulls on all Nonsuchs, including much of the area below the waterline, have balsa cores. Both Hinterhoeller and its near-sister firm C&C Yachts were well practiced in this sort of construction–solid laminate, for example, is used around all through-hull fittings–but still the structure of any Nonsuch should be carefully examined for moisture intrusion. The deck joint is an inward flange bedded with non-adhesive butyl sealant and through-bolted at regular intervals; the ballast is external lead hanging on stainless-steel keel bolts. All structural bulkheads are right up forward, running both laterally and transversely, to support the area around the base of the unstayed mast and are well bonded to the hull.

The quality of construction generally on any Nonsuch is very high, as is reflected in the superb interior joinery. The most commonly reported problems–such as poorly designed propane locker drains, slipping rudder quadrants, and gate valves on through-hulls–are relatively minor and easily remedied. There have also been some bigger problems with corroding aluminum water tanks, but it is now possible to buy custom replacement plastic tanks through the INA.

Though Nonsuchs are strong and well built, I hesitate to recommend them as bluewater cruisers. Aside from the mast concerns mentioned above, the cockpits have no bridgedeck and open on to a large companionway with a low sill. If the companionway is not closed, there is little to stop boarding waves from jumping below. I wonder, too, about the motion of a Nonsuch in a seaway, as they are light and very beamy with flat bottoms, a combination that is likely to be uncomfortable in a steep chop. These factors are what give the boat it’s relatively high capsize screening value (over 2).

Nonsuchs do, however, make excellent coastal cruisers, as they are fast, easy to sail, and have extremely comfortable interiors. They are expensive compared to other used boats in their size range, but this reflects both the quality of construction and the fact that interior space is comparable to that seen on much larger vessels.

Specifications

LOA: 30’4″

LWL: 28’9″

Beam: 11’10”

–Standard keel: 5’0″

–Shoal keel: 3’11”

Ballast: 4,500 lbs.

Displacement: 11,500 lbs.

Sail area: 540 sq.ft.

Fuel: 28 gal.

Water: 80 gal.

D/L ratio: 216

SA/D ratio: 16.93

Comfort ratio: 22.47

Capsize screening: 2.09

Nominal hull speed: 8.3 knots

Typical asking prices: $45K – $80K

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This indicates cored deck and partially cored hull, both possible problems for moisture entrapment

another attempt

In reply almost a year later, HOW RIGHT YOU WERE, soft sides and decks have been a major issue for anyone who bought w/o a survey.

Hey I bought something that someone was selling and did zero inspection and now I am mad that I bought a POS, lol what a fucking moron

I have a 26 and the hull has no core, only the deck.

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• Sailboat Guide

Nonsuch 30 is a 30 ′ 3 ″ / 9.2 m monohull sailboat designed by Mark Ellis and built by Hinterhoeller Yachts Ltd. between 1978 and 1989.

• 2 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 3 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 4 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 5 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 6 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 7 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 8 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 9 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 10 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 11 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 12 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 13 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View
• 14 / 14 Melbourne, FL, US 1987 Nonsuch 30 $39,000 USD View

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Shallow draft: 3.96’.

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I was out this PM with a novice sailor and her new to her Nonsuch 33. This is the boat with one large main sail, no stays and a wishbone boom. The way she sailed it was with the topping lift tight. This made the sail belly enough so the roach would flip past the topping lift on tacks. I thought the sail shape would be improved if the topping lift was released which indeed did happen. With the topping lift loose however the roach would not flip past. It wasn't too bad but it did deform the leach a little on one tack. Is this normal on this boat? Any info on best rig setup?  

Hi David, I am more familiar with the Sunfish then the Nonesuch 33' but I have seen them and know the boat you are asking about. I can understand using the topping lift with this one massive sail to add belly as you described, in light winds. I can also understand your desire to release the topping lift to eliminate some of the draft or belly of the sail in bigger winds. I wonder if simply removing the topping lift from the boom end and attaching it to the mast base while sailing would be simpler and give the roach all the freedom it needs to tack? Constantly trimming the topping lift for tacks and letting it out once around sounds like a fairly dubious idea to me, especially in any kind of blow. Having the roach hang up on the topping lift sounds bad for the sail due to chafing. Is there a boom vang on this boat as well? If so I'd guess you'd use the topping lift only at anchor or in light air and otherwise not at all and it could be detached from the boom while sailing. The boom vang, traveler and main sheet could be used to keep the sail flatter for higher winds. No need for a topping lift in higher winds. My $.02.  

Nonesuch boats have a wishbone boom and are essentially self-vanging due to the weight of the boom. Not slacking the topping lift on a Nonesuch leads to lousy sail shape and poor performance. Easing the topping lift sufficiently so that it doesn't affect the shape of the sail should also allow the sail to tack or gybe with little issue. The topping lift shouldn't have to flip from side to side on each tack or gybe.  

sailingdog said: Easing the topping lift sufficiently so that it doesn't affect the shape of the sail should also allow the sail to tack or gybe with little issue. Click to expand...

I had a Nonsuch 30 for a number of years and just left the topping lift lose enough so it did not chafe on the mainsail. I felt that it was there to hold the wishbone when the sail was down. The whole idea of the Nonsuch is to reduce the string pulling to the absolute minimum. Other than standard reefing all you have are the halyard, the sheet and the outhaul to play with.  

Thanks, that what I came up with but since it is not what I'm used to I thought I would ask.  

BearAway said: Toppinglift always WELL EASED after sail is hoisted. Topping lift is for boom support and NEVER comes off when sailing a Nonsuch. I'm 6'2" / 1.8 m and the booms and foot of the sail easily clear above my head on any Nonsuch model . . . 22 through the 40 . . . when I'm standing in the cockpit. Click to expand...

Can A Small Bow Sprit Be Added To A Nonsuch 33 iam new to sailing this type of boat nonsuch 33-- wonder if anyone would know if adding a bow spirt with a self tacking arm would work--- like the ones on island pocket boats--- it would give a lift to the bow which i feel sits low in the water at times and also downwind would increase speed any advice would aprrec. from any nonsuch owners of any size on this manner i have a fabracation shop to make it but need to know if the design of the small self tacking jib would things better or worse???????? dok  

DOKERBOHM said: iam new to sailing this type of boat nonsuch 33-- wonder if anyone would know if adding a bow spirt with a self tacking arm would work--- like the ones on island pocket boats--- it would give a lift to the bow which i feel sits low in the water at times and also downwind would increase speed any advice would aprrec. from any nonsuch owners of any size on this manner i have a fabracation shop to make it but need to know if the design of the small self tacking jib would things better or worse???????? dok Click to expand...

Nonsuch bowsprit & headsail = NO Don't try to fix what ain't broke. If you want a headsail, buy another boat.  

Re: Nonsuch sail trim Hello, I am very interested in purchasing a nonsuch 33 but wanted your opinion on the carbon fiber masts/booms as opposed to original equipment aluminum mast/boom. Is the carbon fiber an improvement over the aluminum, will it still spill the air sufficiently in gusts, etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks........Brock  

Brocklee said: Hello, I am very interested in purchasing a nonsuch 33 but wanted your opinion on the carbon fiber masts/booms as opposed to original equipment aluminum mast/boom. Is the carbon fiber an improvement over the aluminum, will it still spill the air sufficiently in gusts, etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks........Brock Click to expand...

I think the carbon masts would be a definite upgrade but there were not many made this way. Are you looking at a N33 or N324 (think that is the designation)? The latter is a newer iteration of a N30 with carbon mast. It is not a 33.  

I came to the conclusion that you just can't motor sail to windward with the boom sheeted in hard and the main luffing like you can in some other boats if you are 6' tall. That combination with the bendy mast means that the end of the boom is bobbing up and down about an inch from your head.  

If you are motoring to windward with the sail luffing you are not motor sailing, you are motoring with the sail up. I don't know of any sailboat that can motor sail directly into the wind W/O luffing. Am I missing something?  

New to this forum. Can ANYBODY tell me if they have a stern-mounted barbecue on a NONSUCH sailboat? Is there a way to do it without interfering with the mainsheet?  

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What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the wishbone boom? What about the vang and reefing?  

They work great for cat boats with masts that don't have shrouds. Given that the wishbone sticks froward of the mast it does not seem like a doable mod to an existing boat however.  

A wishbone boom on a free standing mast is a fantastic design. All the sail controls are available to this design as they are in conventional rigs. One huge advantage to this rig is minimizing the need to reef. As the wind increases the top of the mast bends off to leeward effectively 'reefing' the sail. I've sailed on a Wyliecat 30 in 35kts with a full sail up with no worries. Their 44 is an awesome boat that has real speed potential.  

I don't have a problem with a wishbone so much ; but the long boom on say, a Nonsuch 30, sailing downwind will dip in the water when the boat rolls to leeward in waves. When you roll the other way ... the boom comes out of the water, the wind catches the sail and the rig slams forward causing the boat to shake. Again and again. Count me in the "..Boom is too damn long" party! Jibes in wind are adventurous. The weight of the rig on the bow forces some design accomodatiions. The Wyliecat is a different animal. But the boom is still "...too damn long!" Just my opinion.  

shemandr, what you describe is the fault of the helmsman not the boat. Driving down wind in waves is not a simple matter of pointing in one direction and holding course. Scalloped driving and surfing off the wave as it passes under will prevent this and give an exhilarating turn of speed as the boat rides down the face of the wave. I've been able to get my boat over 15kts doing this. Gybing is just like any other boat in big wind. You need to haul in the main sheet prior to gybing the boom to reduce the force on the gear.  

If you are seriously looking at a wishbone rig, I suggest you read DANGEROUS WATERS by David Philpott. Dave s/v ARIEL  

I chartered one for a week and did not like it. I found the sail very hard to raise and gibing was a real chore. The charter company advised me not to gibe. This was a Nonsuch. Comfortable boat, tracked great, but I never got used to that huge main and the problems of the jibe. I would suppose that if one owned one, one would learn to get around the problems just as most of us get around the problems associated with a Marconi rig.  

Quoddy said: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the wishbone boom? What about the vang and reefing? Click to expand

The Nonsuch was very sea-kindly and I did sail her in quartering 8 foot swells no problem.  

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Baltimore bridge collapse: What happened and what is the death toll?

What is the death toll so far, when did the baltimore bridge collapse, why did the bridge collapse, who will pay for the damage and how much will the bridge cost.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO REBUILD THE BRIDGE?

What ship hit the baltimore bridge, what do we know about the bridge that collapsed.

HOW WILL THE BRIDGE COLLAPSE IMPACT THE BALTIMORE PORT?

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Lisa's journalism career spans two decades, and she currently serves as the Americas Day Editor for the Global News Desk. She played a pivotal role in tracking the COVID pandemic and leading initiatives in speed, headline writing and multimedia. She has worked closely with the finance and company news teams on major stories, such as the departures of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and significant developments at Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and Tesla. Her dedication and hard work have been recognized with the 2010 Desk Editor of the Year award and a Journalist of the Year nomination in 2020. Lisa is passionate about visual and long-form storytelling. She holds a degree in both psychology and journalism from Penn State University.

Israeli PM Netanyahu to leave hospital on Tuesday

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be released from hospital on Tuesday afternoon following a hernia procedure, his office said, citing advice from his doctors.

Baltimore bridge crash brings scrutiny to contaminated fuel, an 'open secret' in shipping

Shortly after midnight on Feb. 6, the Dali cargo ship spent five hours fueling up at the Port of Zhangzhou in China. It refueled in the Chinese city of Zhoushan three days later, and again in Busan, South Korea, on Feb. 20, according to transponder and satellite tracking data reviewed by NBC News. 

Fuel is one of the areas of inquiry for investigators probing the cause of the power failure that preceded the Dali crashing into and toppling the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore this week, according to federal safety investigators.

Contaminated fuel is believed to cause scores of ships to lose power and propulsion every year, but the incidents rarely come to light, experts say. That’s because the ship malfunctions almost always occur in the open sea, where crews can deal with them without incident.

The data reviewed by NBC News provides a snapshot of the Dali’s fueling activity before it reached the East Coast. The data did not register any fuel stops on the boat’s journey through the Panama Canal, to New York, Virginia and Baltimore — though some experts who spoke to NBC News believed that it would have had to fuel in one of those places.

The Dali’s fuel stops in Asia were confirmed using data from the United Nations’ Long-Range Identification and Tracking system (LRIT), which tracks ships based on satellites and other reports. That data, restricted from release to the public, was provided by a source with access to the system who shared it on the condition that they not be identified. NBC News also confirmed the Dali’s route and fueling stops using Automatic Identification System data reported by the ship and provided by MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics company.

The LRIT and MarineTraffic data does not include details on the type of fuel the Dali received, its origins or its quality, but it does provide the first information on where the Dali picked up the fuel it may have been using as it left Baltimore, according to experts who reviewed the data on NBC News’ behalf. The fuel it received before February likely would have been gone by the time it reached Baltimore, the experts said. 

To be sure, other factors could have caused the system failures ahead of the March 26 crash, and the National Transportation Safety Board has said it’s just beginning its investigation. But the incident has in general focused attention on a little-known problem that falls into a gray area where oversight is limited and the purveyors of faulty fuel rarely face accountability, legal and maritime experts say.

“It’s an open secret that fuel contamination issues plague the industry with most of the incidents going unreported or not resulting in any substantial damage to the vessel or property or life,” said James Power, a New York maritime lawyer and former merchant marine and engineering officer on American ships.

Power has represented several ship owners whose vessels were damaged by contaminated fuel. The vast majority of such incidents don’t result in catastrophic harm to property or the vessel itself, he noted. 

“Those situations are rare, but are foreseeable results when an industry lacks self-regulating mechanisms to identify contaminated fuel before it is sold, put on board the vessel and consumed in the vessel’s engines,” Power said.

Fuel contamination not only puts ship crew members at risk, but also can cause pollution and damage the reputations of shipping companies, said Steve Bee, group commercial and business development director for VPS, a testing service that provides information to more than 12,000 vessels around the world and issues alerts on contaminated fuel. The Dali, he said, was not a client.

Contamination isn’t confined to any geographic region or supplier, Bee said: “It can happen anywhere, anytime.” 

He said VPS hadn’t issued any recent fuel contamination alerts in China or South Korea. 

A spokesman for the Danish shipping giant Maersk, which chartered the Dali, declined to comment on whether fuel may have been a factor in the accident.

“Regarding fueling, we are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and the vessel operator as well as conducting our own investigation,” the spokesperson, Kevin Doell, said in an email. 

Synergy Marine Group, which operates and manages the ship, and Grace Ocean Private, which owns it, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, said at a news conference Wednesday that investigators would take a sample of the fuel and test it for contaminants, as authorities work to determine the cause of the crash. 

The U.S. Coast Guard referred questions to the group of agencies handling the response to the crash, which did not respond.

Port officials in Zhangzhou and Zhoushan did not immediately respond to questions. 

Busan port authorities said they wouldn’t have information about issues with fuel. The Korea Coast Guard’s Southern Sea Division told NBC News it had received no reports of fueling-related incidents this year. 

The LRIT system that showed the Dali’s movements tracks all commercial vessels over 3,000 gross tons. The details on fuel delivery come from a report that is signed by both the delivery ship and the receiving ship, which goes to the government of the country where the transfer took place, as well as the flag state of the ship that received the fuel, and is then automatically added to the LRIT system.

A spokeswoman for the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency that regulates international shipping and runs the LRIT, declined to comment on specifics of the Dali investigation.

She said fuel oil quality is regulated under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, also known as MARPOL, which states that fuel should not include harmful added substances or chemical waste. It also covers fuel oil sampling, she added. 

Member states are required to notify the International Maritime Organization of incidents, she said.

But the system has major gaps, experts say. 

“What constitutes an incident is murky,” said Jonathan Arneault, the CEO of FuelTrust, a Houston-based company that uses artificial intelligence to trace the provenance of marine fuel.

“It’s usually defined as harm or risk to safety or environment,” he said. “If the ship doesn’t meet that threshold, it’s not reported. So the member state has nothing to report.”

Arneault said the supply chain for ship fuel, also known as bunker fuel, is maddeningly opaque and few countries have strong laws on fuel management.

While water is a common contaminant in fuel, it is rarely enough to cause a major system failure. Heavier, more corrosive particulates are a more likely culprit, experts say.

Fuel contamination is often unintentional, but there have been cases of unscrupulous fuel providers diluting their product with cheaper substances to increase supply and maximize profits. 

“They can do a lot of weird things for money,” said Thomas Roth-Roffy, a former NTSB marine investigator who retired in 2016. 

But he said the power failure on the Dali could very well have had nothing to do with the fuel or fuel system. 

“As the diesel engine has hundreds of components subject to failure, there are many possible scenarios that could cause the engine to malfunction,” he said.

Arneault suspects that the Dali may have been running on fuel at the bottom of its tank — where a heavier contaminant would have settled — when the power went out. He believes the fuel is to blame because security video captured the lights on the Dali flicking off and on a couple of times, and black smoke billowing from its stack, or chimney, before the Singaporean vessel slammed into a bridge support.

“It’s likely not just an engine problem because the generators go out,” Arneault said, noting that the generators likely would have been using the same fuel. “That indicates it’s probably a fuel issue.”

What caused the ship to lose power isn’t the only open question. According to some experts, the Dali would have needed more fuel to make it to Sri Lanka, its planned destination when it hit the Key Bridge, but the available tracking data does not confirm any fuel deliveries in New York or Baltimore.

When fuel is delivered to a ship, a sample is sent for lab testing before it is supposed to be used to fire an engine. However, those tests don’t examine all of the possible contaminants. Arneault said he thinks the tests should be expanded, but they are already costly and there is little enthusiasm among ship operators for such a change.

Although most incidents involving bad fuel go unreported, they do occasionally spark industry warnings, investigations and legal battles.

In 2018, about 200 ships were affected by fuel contaminated with a chemical used to make epoxy. Some experienced power loss. Testing companies traced the fuel to Houston, Panama and Singapore. Researchers said at the time that the contamination was a symptom of an opaque supply chain that allowed a “witch’s brew” of additives — a sign of a looming crisis. 

Four years later, in 2022, Singapore authorities reported an outbreak that affected nearly three dozen ships, 14 of which suffered loss of power and engine problems, according to researchers. An investigation later named two suppliers, one in Singapore and the other in China, as the source. One had its license suspended.

Last year, the U.S. Gulf Coast was stricken with contaminated fuel that disrupted the engines of 14 vessels, some of which lost power and propulsion while at sea. VPS traced the dirty fuel to Houston and Singapore.

Arneault said the contaminated fuel incidents that get media attention represent only a fraction of those that actually occur. He tallied more than 120 such cases last year and at least 460 in 2022 based on private incident databases and information he received from fleet managers. 

“For more than 50 years, people in the ship fuel market have tolerated small losses,” Arneault said, “or even small-scale fraud, thinking these issues were too minor to worry about. But the last five years have taught us that even these ‘minor’ problems can lead to huge risks and big costs.”

Rich Schapiro is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Jon Schuppe is an enterprise reporter for NBC News, based in New York. 

Susan Carroll is the senior enterprise editor for NBC News, based in Houston. 

Watch CBS News

What caused the Dali to slam into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge? What we know about what led up to the collapse

By Kerry Breen

Updated on: March 27, 2024 / 7:43 PM EDT / CBS News

Shocking video showed the moment a massive cargo ship collided with Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning, sending parts of the decades-old suspension bridge, along with people and vehicles, into the Patapsco River. 

Six people who were on the bridge are missing and presumed dead , officials said late Tuesday. Two others were rescued from the water. All eight were construction workers who were repairing potholes on the bridge, officials said. There were 22 Indian nationals, including two pilots, aboard the cargo ship. 

Investigators and officials are now crafting a timeline of events, including what caused the Singapore-owned vessel , called the Dali, to hit the bridge just minutes after leaving port . Here's what we know so far. 

What caused the Dali to slam into the Francis Scott Key Bridge? 

The Dali, which was chartered by shipping giant Maersk and operated by Synergy Marine Group, hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore. 

An unclassified memo issued by CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the ship reported losing propulsion . Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the ship's crew reported a "power issue." A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, said the agency still needs to verify that the Dali lost power before striking the bridge column. 

Two U.S. officials told CBS News multiple alarms rang out on the ship, alerting pilots and crew to an issue on board. The crew ran several system tests to attempt to remedy the loss of propulsion from the motor, but the tests proved unsuccessful. At that point, the ship's pilots alerted the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Maryland Transit Authority. 

That alert allowed local officials to stop traffic on the bridge and likely saved lives , officials said. 

The ship's crew tried to deploy the anchor, though it remains unclear how much progress was made, multiple officials said. The massive ship is over 900 feet long and was moving at about 8 knots, or just over 9 miles per hour. Authorities said that speed is considered "very rapid." 

Captain Michael Burns, executive director of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy's Maritime Center for Responsible Energy, told CBS Boston  that stopping a cargo ship is difficult, especially in such a short time. 

"It's extremely challenging, and takes years of experience and training in order to be able to do this safely," he said. "It can take up to a mile for some of these ships to get stopped, depending on the circumstances, so we really need to think well out, miles ahead of the ship."

Why did the Dali lose propulsion? 

It's not clear what caused the vessel to lose propulsion, officials said. 

A spokesperson for the NTSB told CBS Baltimore that it had collected the ship's data recorder, and would review and analyze the material there to determine what happened aboard the vessel in the moments before the collision. 

That data recorder will also be used to establish a timeline of events. 

What happens when a ship loses propulsion? 

James Mercante, the president of the New York Board of Pilot Commissioners, told CBS News that a ship that has lost steering and power is essentially "a dead ship just being carried by the current or its own momentum." 

He highlighted a moment in the video of the crash that appears to show a "big, big puff of black, real dark black smoke" which might indicate that the vessel's power was "restored at the last minute" and that the pilot was "attempting to make an emergency maneuver" to avoid hitting the bridge. However, he emphasized that it would be difficult to stop the massive cargo ship, especially in such a short time. 

"It would take quite a while — probably the length of five [or] six football fields — to bring that ship to a stop, even after dropping the anchors, because of its power and momentum," said Mercante. "This is a behemoth." 

• Francis Scott Key Bridge
• Bridge Collapse

Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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The Five Minutes That Brought Down the Francis Scott Key Bridge

When a massive cargo ship lost power in Baltimore, crews scrambled to control the ship and to evacuate the bridge lying ahead. But it was too late.

• Share full article

By Annie Correal ,  Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs ,  Campbell Robertson ,  Michael Forsythe and Mike Baker

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Campbell Robertson reported from Baltimore, Annie Correal and Michael Forsythe from New York, and Mike Baker from Seattle.

Follow our live coverage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore .

“Hold all traffic on the Key Bridge.”

The terse command from an officer in Baltimore’s busy commercial shipping port was one of the first warnings of a disaster that experts now predict will transform shipping on the Eastern Seaboard and change how ships and bridges function around the world. But after the cargo ship Dali lost power early Tuesday, there were precious few minutes to act.

In those minutes, many people — from the ship’s crew, who sent out a mayday signal, to the transportation authority police officers, who stopped traffic heading onto the Francis Scott Key Bridge — did what they could to avert catastrophe, most likely saving many lives.

And yet — no matter what anyone did — several factors made catastrophe all but inevitable. When a ship of this size loses engine power, there is little to be done to correct its course, even dropping an anchor down. And the Key Bridge was particularly vulnerable. As long ago as 1980, engineers had warned that the bridge, because of its design, would never be able to survive a direct hit from a container ship.

The collision and subsequent collapse of the bridge swallowed up seven road workers and an inspector who could not be alerted and pulled off the bridge in time; two were pulled alive out of the water, but four others are still missing and presumed dead. Two bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, authorities said.

Also caught up in the disaster were the ship’s 21 crew members, all from India, who had prepared for a long journey to Sri Lanka on the Dali. While none of them were hurt, they would be held on board for more than a day as the ship sat in the harbor, the ruins of the bridge tangled around it, as authorities began their investigation.

The accident, the deadliest bridge collapse in the United States in more than a decade, will have a lasting impact on the Port of Baltimore, with its 8,000 workers, and industries that rely on the port, which is the leading American hub for auto and other wheeled equipment, said Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary, on Wednesday.

“It’s difficult to overstate the impact of this collision,” Mr. Buttigieg said.

He compared the Dali, roughly as long a city block, to the size of an American aircraft carrier.

“A hundred thousand tons, all going into this pier all at once,” he said of the impact on the bridge support structure.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the accident, boarded the Dali on Tuesday night to gather documentation. They obtained data from the voyage data recorder, the equivalent of an aircraft’s black box, hoping that it could help investigators determine what led to the accident.

Mr. Buttigieg said that any private party found liable in the accident “will be held responsible.”

The ship left the Port

of Baltimore around

1 a.m. on Tuesday.

Ship called for

tugboats to return

Francis Scott

Alarms sounded on ship

Traffic onto bridge was halted

The ship hit

at 1:28 a.m.

Alarms sounded

Traffic onto bridge

Sources: MarineTraffic, Google Earth

By Agnes Chang, Weiyi Cai, and Leanne Abraham

It was about half an hour past midnight on Tuesday when the Dali, loaded with cargo containers, departed its dock, guided by two tugboats, as is customary. On board was a local harbor pilot with more than 10 years of experience and deep familiarity with Baltimore’s port, as well as an apprentice pilot in training.

The sky above the Patapsco River was clear and still, lit by a full moon.

At 1:25 a.m., after the two tugboats detached and turned back, the Dali had accelerated to about 10 miles per hour as it approached the Key Bridge. But just then, according to a timeline released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday, “numerous audible alarms” started sounding on the ship.

For reasons still being investigated, the ship’s powerful propulsion system stopped. The lights flickered out.

The ship had a “complete blackout,” according to Clay Diamond, head of the American Pilots’ Association, who was briefed on the account of the pilot of the Dali. (The chair of the N.T.S.B., Jennifer Homendy, said officials were still trying to determine whether the power failure was complete.)

The harbor pilot noticed the ship starting to swing right, in the direction of one of the piers holding up the Key Bridge. At 1:26, he called for the tugs to return; he urged the captain to try to get the engine back up and directed the crew to steer hard left. As a last ditch measure, at 1:27, he ordered the crew to throw down the port anchor.

One of the tugboats, the Eric McAllister, turned around and raced back toward the ship.

But the failures onboard were cascading. The emergency generator had kicked on, sending a puff of thick smoke belching from the ship’s exhaust stack and briefly restoring the lights, radar and steering. It did not help. With no effective propulsion, the 95,000-ton ship had become an unstoppable object, drifting toward one of the most heavily traveled bridges in Baltimore.

On land, officers with the Maryland Transportation Authority moved swiftly into action. “I need one of you guys on the South side, one of you guys on the North side, hold all traffic on the Key Bridge,” someone is heard saying on the audio recording of emergency radio traffic that night. “There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering. So until they get that under control, we’ve got to stop all traffic.”

Vehicles were held on either side of the bridge as the ship continued its inexorable drift toward the 1.6-mile-long span.

A minute later, the officers turned their attention to several workers, some of them immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico, who were still laboring on the bridge in the chilly darkness, taking advantage of the light traffic at night to fix potholes.

“There’s a crew up there,” one officer is heard saying on the audio recording of the radio exchange between officers. “You might want to notify whoever the foreman is, see if we could get them off the bridge temporarily.”

But even then, the ship was striking the bridge. Almost at once, the pier buckled and collapsed, twisting over the ship, with its cargo containers stacked high on the deck. Then the rest of the bridge went, breaking into sections as it plummeted and splashed into the dark river waters below.

“The size and weight of these ships make them really difficult, even with propulsion, to stop them,” said Stash Pelkowski, a professor at State University of New York Maritime College and a retired Coast Guard rear admiral. With no power, he said, “There was very little the pilot or the crew on the Dali could do.”

The collapse had happened in seconds. Except for the stumps of the piers, the central span of the bridge had plunged into the frigid river — where divers would spend the whole day searching amid twisted metal for survivors — by 1:29 a.m.

“Dispatch, the whole bridge just fell down!” an officer called out. “Whoever, everybody, the whole bridge just collapsed.”

Stray ships had long been seen as a risk to the Key Bridge. Just a few years after the Baltimore structure was constructed in 1977, a vessel crash knocked down the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay, Fla., killing 35 people.

Officials acknowledged that the Key Bridge would not be able to withstand that kind of direct hit from a heavy cargo vessel. “I would have to say if that ship hit the Bay Bridge or the Key Bridge — I’m talking about the main supports, a direct hit — it would knock it down,” John Snyder, the director of engineering for the state Toll Facilities Administration told the Baltimore Sun at the time.

But building a bridge that could withstand such an impact was simply not economically feasible, he said. When the bridge was built, cargo ships were not the size they are today. A much smaller freighter did hit the bridge in 1980 , but the bridge stood strong.

Minutes after the bridge collapsed on Tuesday, both tugboats that had accompanied the Dali arrived on scene, followed soon by the Coast Guard and the Baltimore City Fire Department.

Two of the workers who had been on the bridge were rescued from the water. The others could not be found.

Jack Murphy, who owns Brawner Builders, the company whose workers had been on the bridge, got a phone call about the collapse and raced to the area, about a 30-minute drive away. He stayed by the bridge all night, and eventually began making calls to the men’s families.

Two workers’ bodies were discovered in a red pickup truck found near the bridge debris, police said Wednesday. They were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, an immigrant from Mexico, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, a native of Guatemala.

About two miles from the bridge, Andrew Middleton had been lying awake when he heard the crash. He first thought it was thunder, maybe a low-flying jet.

It was only when he awoke a few hours later that he saw the news of the collapsed bridge. “I thought to myself, I was just with those guys yesterday,” he said.

Mr. Middleton, who runs Apostleship of the Sea, a program that ministers to sailors coming through the port, had driven the ship’s captain and a few crew members to Walmart on Monday to stock up on goods for the 28-day voyage ahead — toothpaste, snacks, clothes, Bluetooth speakers.

He recalled the captain telling him their next port was Sri Lanka, but that they were taking a longer route, down around South Africa, in order to avoid recent Houthi attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

Mr. Middleton immediately messaged the crew on WhatsApp after hearing the news on Tuesday, he said, and “they responded within a few minutes saying that everyone was OK,” he said.

Around the site of the bridge collapse, firefighters and rescuers in diving gear were swarming around the shore, followed by news crews. John McAvoy, who owns a nearby restaurant, had driven over with hot meals — chicken, crab balls and pretzel bites — to hand out to the crews.

But by nightfall on Tuesday, officials had called off the rescue efforts and said they would switch to searching for bodies. “The water’s deep, visibility’s low, it’s cold as I-don’t-know-what,” said Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the Fire Department.

The signs of all that had changed were only starting to become clear on Wednesday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it was mobilizing more than 1,100 specialists to clear the wreckage of the bridge and unblock the Port of Baltimore’s shipping lane. In the meantime, Mr. Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, said the East Coast would have to rely more heavily on ports outside Baltimore.

Mr. McAvoy said the tragedy would ripple over the port for years.

Fishing crews always have found their way home following the Key Bridge, he said. “It’s going to change a lot of things for a lot of people.”

Reporting was contributed by Daniel Victor , Jacey Fortin , Zach Montague , Eduardo Medina , Miriam Jordan and Judson Jones . Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

Annie Correal reports from the U.S. and Latin America for The Times. More about Annie Correal

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice. He is from upstate New York. More about Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Campbell Robertson reports on Delaware, the District Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, for The Times. More about Campbell Robertson

Michael Forsythe a reporter on the investigations team at The Times, based in New York. He has written extensively about, and from, China. More about Michael Forsythe

Mike Baker is a national reporter for The Times, based in Seattle. More about Mike Baker

The Dali, the ship that brought down the Baltimore bridge, ran into a problem with its propulsion system months before the crash

• The ship that struck a key bridge on Tuesday was reported to have an issue with its propulsion in June.
• Records don't say exactly what the problem was, but a note mentioned gauges and thermometers.
• The Dali lost propulsion on Tuesday, but it's unclear if this was related to the June issue.

The 984-foot container vessel that lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday had issues with its propulsion system just months before, records show.

The Singapore-flagged Dali suffered a power outage as it bore down on the I-695 bridge, before ramming into a vital support beam that gave way and caused part of the structure to collapse into the Patapsco River in Baltimore.

"We can confirm that the crew notified authorities of a power issue," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a press conference on Tuesday.

During the blackout, the Dali "experienced momentary loss of propulsion," the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a statement , citing a report from Synergy Marine, the ship's manager.

The same ship was flagged in June for an issue related to its propulsion system, according to records from an international database of port controls in Asia Pacific.

However, it's still unclear if the deficiency found in June was at all related to what caused the crash on Tuesday.

The issue was reported in San Antonio, Chile on June 27, and listed as a propulsion and auxiliary system deficiency. An attached note reads: "Gauges, thermometers, etc."

Per the records, this problem was not deemed as grounds for the ship to be detained in Chile.

Clay Diamond, the executive director of the American Pilots' Association, told The Washington Post that the Dali lost power at around 1:20 a.m., around eight minutes before the crash.

Pilots on board tried to start an emergency diesel generator to repower the ship and restart electrical systems, he said.

Related stories

But Diamond told USA TODAY that the propulsion didn't appear to kick back in.

"There was still some steerage left when they initially lost power," he said, per the outlet. "We've been told the ship never recovered propulsion."

Authorities and Synergy Marine, headquartered in Singapore, are investigating the cause of the power failure and allision.

The Dali was previously involved in a separate mishap. In 2016, it scraped its hull against a quay in Antwerp , an incident that was attributed to a pilot error.

On Wednesday, Singapore's maritime officials said the Dali had passed previous port inspections and that the June incident was "a faulty monitor gauge for fuel pressure," which was fixed before the ship left port.

When reached for comment, a representative for Synergy Marine referred Business Insider to the Singapore authorities' statement.

The bridge's collapse has triggered a state of emergency in Baltimore, and six members of a small construction crew working on the bridge during the crash are presumed dead. Authorities say officials managed to stop traffic on the bridge before it collapsed.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was Baltimore's biggest bridge, and the loss of such critical infrastructure will likely cause supply chain issues across multiple industries. Around 11.3 million vehicles use the bridge annually, per the Maryland Transport Authority.

The nearby Port of Baltimore has also been closed to vessels until further notice, with experts telling BI's Dominic Reuter that the closure could halt about $15 million worth of economic activity daily .

This port is also particularly important for the automotive industry because it's a special terminal for wheeled cargo like vehicles and heavy farming equipment.

Coal, gypsum, sugar, paper, chocolate, and ice cream are commonly moved through the Port of Baltimore, BI's Erin Snodgrass reported.

Meanwhile, shares of Maersk , the Danish shipping company that chartered the Dali, dropped as much as 8% in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The firm has declared that its lanes through Baltimore are closed, for now.

March 27, 2023: This story was updated to reflect a response from Synergy Marine and a new MPA statement on the Dali's reported issue with its propulsion system in June.

Watch: The container ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge has crashed before

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What is the '3 Body Problem'? Astrophysicist explains concept behind hit Netflix show

by Cody Mello-Klein, Northeastern University

"3 Body Problem," Netflix's new big-budget adaptation of Liu Cixin's book series helmed by the creators behind "Game of Thrones," puts the science in science fiction.

The series focuses on scientists as they attempt to solve a mystery that spans decades, continents and even galaxies. That means "3 Body Problem" throws some pretty complicated quantum mechanics and astrophysics concepts at the audience as it, sometimes literally, tries to bring these ideas down to earth.

However, at the core of the series is the three-body problem, a question that has stumped scientists for centuries.

What exactly is the three-body problem, and why is it still unsolvable? Jonathan Blazek, an assistant professor of physics at Northeastern University, explains that systems with two objects exerting gravitational force on one another, whether they're particles or stars and planets, are predictable. Scientists have been able to solve this two-body problem and predict the orbits of objects since the days of Isaac Newton. But as soon as a third body enters the mix, the whole system gets thrown into chaos.

"The three-body problem is the statement that if you have three bodies gravitating toward each other under Newton's law of gravitation, there is no general closed-form solution for that situation," Blazek says. "Little differences get amplified and can lead to wildly unpredictable behavior in the future."

In "3 Body Problem," like in Cixin's book, this is a reality for aliens that live in a solar system with three suns. Since all three stars are exerting gravitational forces on each other, they end up throwing the solar system into chaos as they fling each other back and forth. For the Trisolarans, the name for these aliens, it means that when a sun is jettisoned far away, their planet freezes, and when a sun is thrown extremely close to their planet, it gets torched. Worse, because of the three-body problem, these movements are completely unpredictable.

For centuries, scientists have pondered the question of how to determine a stable starting point for three gravitational bodies that would result in predictable orbits. There is still no generalizable solution that can be taken out of theory and modeled in reality, although recently scientists have started to find some potentially creative solutions, including with models based on the movements of drunk people.

"If you want to [predict] what the solar system's going to do, we can put all the planets and as many asteroids as we know into a computer code and basically say we're going to calculate the force between everything and move everything forward a little bit," Blazek says. "This works, but to the extent that you're making some approximations … all of these things will eventually break down and your prediction is going to become inaccurate."

Blazek says the three-body problem has captivated scientific minds because it's a seemingly simple problem. Most high school physics students learn Newton's law of gravity and can reasonably calculate and predict the movement of two bodies.

Three-body systems, and more than three-body systems, also show up throughout the universe, so the question is incredibly relevant. Look no further than our solar system.

The relationship between the sun, Earth and our moon is a three-body system. But Blazek says since the sun exerts a stronger gravitational force on Earth and Earth does the same on the moon, it creates a pair of two-body systems with stable, predictable orbits—for now.

Blazek says that although our solar system appears stable, there's no guarantee that it will stay that way in the far future because there are still multi-body systems at play. Small changes like an asteroid hitting one of Jupiter's moons and altering its orbit ever so slightly could eventually spiral into larger changes.

That doesn't mean humanity will face a crisis like the one the Trisolarans face in "3 Body Problem." These changes happen extremely slowly, but Blazek says it's another reminder of why these concepts are interesting and important to think about in both science and science fiction.

"I don't think anything is going to happen on the time scale of our week or even probably our species—we have bigger problems than the instability of orbits in our solar system," Blazek says. "But, that said, if you think about billions of years, during that period we don't know that the orbits will stay as they currently are. There's a good chance there will be some instability that changes how things look in the solar system."

Provided by Northeastern University

This story is republished courtesy of Northeastern Global News news.northeastern.edu .

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The Boat Races 2024: Cambridge do the double over Oxford, again – as it happened

• Cambridge dominate both races to claim victory
• Light blues win double for second year in a row
• Pulling together: Tom Jenkins’ Boat Race photo essay
• 2d ago Oxford men's boat reaction
• 2d ago Cambridge men's boat reaction
• 2d ago Cambridge win the men's Boat Race!
• 2d ago Men’s race crews
• 2d ago We're underway in the men's Boat Race!
• 2d ago Oxford women's boat reaction
• 2d ago Cambridge women's boat reaction
• 2d ago We have a red flag
• 2d ago Cambridge win seven in a row in the women’s Boat Race!
• 2d ago We're away!
• 2d ago Women’s race crews
• 2d ago Preamble

Luke McLaughlin’s piece from Mortlake has dropped, read the report here:

I’ll drop the full report in when it goes live, but that is it for the live coverage today. Thanks for following along with me.

Now it’s the turn of the Cambridge men. We’re unlikely to see the traditional cox dunk due to the pollution levels, so that will that be that for the boat race.

The presentations now taking place on the riverbank, first the Cambridge women collect their trophy and Jenna Armstrong is drinking the ‘British sparking wine’ out of the cup!

Oxford men's boat reaction

Lenny Jenkins, Oxford seven seat, tells the BBC: “I don’t really have any words. We had a really clear plan of what we wanted to do and we had a really good setup for that – the last couple of days have been amazing. The boys have taken another step on and then for some reason it just didn’t come together on the day. That’s really diappointing.

“It’s been a great battle with the guys, everybody’s put everything into it and I couldn’t be prouder of them. It’s a shame the results didn’t show that, but Cambridge showed their class, they’re a top group of athletes. They did to us what we wanted to do to them.

“I really didn’t expect it to be such a big difference [between the two teams]. I will also say – and this is in no way to take away from Cambridge – that we’ve had a few guys go down pretty badly with E coli strain. This morning I was throwing up and I wasn’t sure if there was going to be chance of me being in the boat, but I ultimately kept that quiet and that’s on my shoulders. I’m not sure if that was the right choice as I really didn’t have much to give. It would have been taking one of the top guys out of Isis [the Oxford reserve boat] and ruining their chances. It would have been ideal to not have so much poo in the water.

“That’s not to take away from Cambridge. They are a talented crew and I don’t know if we would have had a chance to get them even if we were on form. So it’s in no way to make excuses.”

Cambridge men's boat reaction

Cambridge University Boat Club president, Seb Benzecry, tells the BBC: “That was my last race with the club, it’s been four unbelievable years. Going into it, this was the biggest challenge we’ve had, that Oxford crew is a really, really classy unit – really good guys – so we knew we had to put a lot into and push ourselves to a place where we very rarely go. That was just the most unbelievable feeling. I’m so proud of the guys.

“Credit to Matt [Edge] to go that deep. I’m sure a lot of that margin we took early in the race was him. He was putting down such a dynamic rhythm and that takes a lot out of you in the stroke seat. So proud of him.”

Matt Edge is carried out of the boat, he left it all out there.

So that’s another double for Cambridge, a repeat of last year’s results. What have Oxford got to do to end the light blue dominance?

Doesn’t look like the Oxford cox Will Denegri will appeal, so the result will be officially confirmed shortly.

Cambridge win the men's Boat Race!

They effectively finished with seven rowers but the light blues still won by several lengths.

When I think there is not much left to say about this race the ambridge stroke seat Matt Edge begins really struggling, so the light blue boat is effectively rowing with seven crew. Oxford are too far behind at this stage to make that count.

This is over, we’re headed for a fifth Cambridge win in the last six races.

The gap is now over 10 seconds for Cambridge.

We could be on for another upset here. Oxford, if anything, are now falling further behind. Cambridge are rowing away.

Cambridge now have clear water to the Oxford boat and are moving across the line of their rivals.

Cambridge still have the lead going under the Hammersmith Bridge, the light blues lead by about a second and a half. Oxford struggling to make use of the bend advantage.

Oxford have come back a bit but Cambridge have a good lead going into the Surrey bend.

Cambridge have pulled ahead in the early running and umpire Pinsent has been busy with the white warning flag with oars nearly clashing.

Men’s race crews

Oxford: Jelmer Bennema (Exeter), Harry Glenister (Keble), Saxon Stacey (St John’s), James Doran (Oriel), Elias Kun (Green Templeton), Frederick Roper (Somerville), Leonard Jenkins (Mansfield), Elliot Kemp (Oriel)

Cox: William Denegri (Oriel)

Cambridge: Sebastian Benzecry (Jesus) Noam Mouelle (Hughes Hall), Thomas Marsh (Wolfson), Augustus John (Wolfson), Kenneth Coplan (Hughes Hall), Thomas Lynch (Hughes Hall), Luca Ferraro (King’s), Matt Edge (St Catharine’s

Cox: Ed Bracey (Wolfson)

We're underway in the men's Boat Race!

Matthew Pinsent sets the teams off.

The teams are on the start line.

Boats in the water, not long now until the men’s race.

We’ve had the coin toss for the men’s race, which was won by Oxford who chose the Surrey side of the river – the winning side for Cambridge women’s winning crew.

Oxford women's boat reaction

Oxford cox Joe Gellett: “In my mind [the bump] happened just after Cambridge had been warned and I don’t think they had moved back. Therefore it was happening in our water. Obviously that is might point of view in the heat of the moment. It will be something we look back at somepoint, probably not soon, but having discussed with the unpire and looked at past few years’ races it was a potential move that could lead to disqualification if it had happened with Cambridge in our water. Unfortunately after Richard [Phelps], the umpire conferred again with the rest of the umpires, it didn’t happen in our water. So the race stands.”

Cambridge women's boat reaction

Cambridge cox Hannah Murphy on the collision: “Seeing them [getting] closer and closer, I knew we were on our station. I had even moved slightly off our station, but I was really confident that I was in the right there and I wanted to get right back on our rhythm as soon as possible. You can see there [on the replay], that we immediately take off.”

Jenna Armstrong adds: “I trust Hannah 100%, that’s why she was selected to be the cox for this race. In the four seat my job is to trust and to go. So I just put my head down, listened to what she said and did it – we all did it. That was incredible.”

The result stands, Cambridge confirmed as winners!

Still no final decision, but the replay appears to show Oxford moved over.

Phelps and Gellett are still arguing this out. The umpire does not seem minded to change his mind, saying Oxford moved into Cambridge’s station to bump the other boat.

We have a red flag

The Oxford cox, Joe Gellett has raised his hand in appeal. Richard Phelps, the race umpire has gone over to the dark blue boat and is reminding Gellett of the pre-race briefing regarding being in station.

Cambridge win seven in a row in the women’s Boat Race!

Incredible performance from the light blues to come back and overhaul their rivals.

Oxford now trail by nearly 15 seconds. This race all turned on that incident.

Cambridge have almost certainly won this now, as they power away towards Barnes Bridge.

That has really cost Oxford, who are now well behind Cambridge, at least a full boat’s length. Oxford look like they were playing to try and get Cambridge disqualified but it massively backfired. Big error from Oxford cox Joe Gellett.

Big drama! Cambridge move in front of the Oxford boat and there’s nearly a collision as the dark blues move right up behind them.

This is high quality stuff, Cambridge almost back on terms and they nudging in front? The light blues have rowed this bend so well and look to have got in front.

Cambridge continue to claw back the deficit as they go under the Hammersmith Bridge. Now at half a length.

There is a little bit of overlap between the two boats with two thirds of race left. Cambridge not out of it yet, but have a lot to do.

Oxford were heavy favourites going into the race and we’re seeing why now. The bend is about to come into Cambridge’s favour as we near Hammersmith Bridge.

The teams are coming past Craven Cottage and Oxford look like they are pulling away again and almost breaking clear water.

Cambridge have recovered after that big early dark blue push and are sticking gamely to the task.

We're away!

And Oxford have got off well, nearly half a length up already

A lot of international interest in the Boat Race this year – the New York Times, Fox News, ABC, CNN and numerous other international media have run stories in the buildup – but not for the reasons you might want.

River Action said testing showed E. coli levels up to 10 times higher than the level the country’s Environment Agency considers to be ‘poor’, the bottom of four categories it has for rating bathing water areas.

Right then, the boats are coming out on to the water. The race gets underway in 10 minutes.

Women’s race crews

Oxford: Lucy Edmunds (Pembroke), Ella Stadler (Exeter), Tessa Haining (Balliol), Claire Aitken (Oriel), Sarah Marshall (Jesus), Annie Sharp (St Antony’s), Julia Lindsay (St Cross), Annie Anezakis (Pembroke)

Cox: Joe Gellett (St Peter’s)

Cambridge: Gemma King (St John’s), Joanna Matthews (St John’s), Iris Powell (Churchill), Jenna Armstrong (Jesus), Carina Graf (Emmanuel), Carys Earl (Gonville and Caius), Clare Hole (St Catharine’s), Megan Lee (Lucy Cavendish)

Cox: Hannah Murphy (Girton)

So today’s order of business is the 78th running of the women’s race begins at 2.46pm, while the 169th men’s race gets underway an hour later at 3.46pm (both GMT).

Guardian photographer Tom Jenkins has been spending time with the Cambridge University Boat Club over the past few months as they prepare for 2024’s races. His photo essay is well worth checking out for an insider look at the hard work and dedication that goes into taking on Oxford.

Will Thames Water’s failures know no bounds? The latest calamity of the UK privatised water industry is that the Boat Races – one of the most British of fascinations – will not feature the winners’ traditional post-race cox dunk into the river. Alas, decades of neglect and sewage dumping by the local water company have led to race organisers issuing tough new safety guidelines to combat the dangerously high levels of E coli in the Thames. At least the rowers are smart enough to know better than ignore them.

Welcome to the annual battle of the boats between Cambridge v Oxford, this year with added excrement excitement.

Cambridge won both the women’s and men’s race last year, continuing Oxford’s win-less run in the women’s race that dates back to 2016. It is a similar story of light blue dominance in the men’s race, with Cambridge having taken victory in four of the past five men’s races. In the all-time standings, Cambridge’s men lead their series 86-81, with one recorded dead heat, and have a 47-30 advantage in the women’s series.

However, the bookmakers have Oxford are favourites in both events this year. The dark blue men’s crew, which features GB rowers Harry Glenister and Lenny Jenkins, has enjoyed positive results so far this year, albeit Cambridge boasts more experience on the Championship Course.

Oxford are banking on experience in the women’s race, with six of the crew having previously featured before. Cambridge, on the otherhand, count just two rowers - Jenna Armstrong and Carina Graf - among their crew from last year’s triumph.

• The Boat Race
• University of Cambridge
• University of Oxford

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