h boat yacht

Saare H-Boat

The fascination of h-boats: tradition, quality and limitless sailing pleasure.

For over 50 years, H-Boats have symbolized an unparalleled sailing experience supported by a vibrant community. With their well-defined regulations and proven design, they’ve cemented their status as Europe’s largest and most captivating keelboat class. But what sets these vessels apart?

H-boats epitomize stability, endurance, and safety. Their sturdy build not only ensures longevity but also guarantees a dependable partner on the water. Even in adverse weather conditions, they provide a secure and straightforward sailing experience, catering to both seasoned skippers and sailing novices.

However, H-boats aren’t just resilient leisure companions; they’re also compelling regatta contenders. Their intricate trim dynamics and strategic versatility pose a challenge to seasoned sailors. In expansive regatta arenas, sailors encounter luminaries from across the globe, serving as fountains of inspiration and learning. The thrill of competition is palpable, making each regatta an unforgettable experience.

Beyond competitions, H-boats are ideal for family outings, post-work jaunts, or extensive sailing escapades. Aptly dubbed “Daysailors,” they offer simplicity, adaptability, and spontaneity. Their minimal maintenance needs and trailerability provide utmost flexibility, enabling sailors to venture into new territories far from conventional coastlines.

The admiration for H-boats has endured for decades, with their value nearly unrivaled. Even vintage models fetch premium prices in the used boat market, underscoring their enduring popularity. This sustained allure is evident in the multitude of regattas, where seasoned boats vie for top honors.

With over 5,000 units constructed, H-boats boast an impressive legacy. Ongoing refinement and production by esteemed shipyards like Saare Yachts OÜ in Estonia ensure top-tier quality and cutting-edge sailing technology in the years ahead. Helmed by Thomas Nielsen, Yachtsport Eckernförde Nielsen GmbH & Co. KG has emerged as a premier purveyor of sailing yachts, contributing significantly to the advancement and proliferation of H-boats.

Thomas Nielsen himself is not just a seasoned sailor but also an ardent advocate for the allure of H-boats. His firsthand experiences and triumphs in regattas worldwide serve as a testament to the sailing prowess these vessels possess. From epic voyages to exhilarating regatta showdowns, H-boats have bestowed unforgettable moments upon sailors of all ages and skill levels.

Engage a former H-Boat sailor in conversation about these remarkable vessels, and prepare to be regaled with tales of excitement and admiration. The timeless fascination of H-boats continues to quicken the pulse of sailors worldwide, ensuring their enduring appeal for generations to come.

Please contact us for more information about the H-Boat

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Saare H-Boat: A modern classic

• February 8th, 2023
• Sailing Yacht

As my second boat I bring back from this year´s edition of Boot boat show Duesseldorf I have another small boat for you. With pleasure I noticed that Estonian boat builder Saare was showcasing not only the well known high quality Scandinavian-style cruising yachts but also a small boat on a trailer. And not only that – this 27-footer came with irresistibly classic looks …

Well, at least for me (and many, many others) because I just adore the classy lines of sailboats, more so now because I sometimes kind of feel saturated by all those modern wide-sterned wild planning winged foilers made of exotic and expensive materials. Sometimes, and I mean it, the sheer line of a 40 years old design, the long fin keel or a deep V-shaped hull and the appearance of a classic yacht is pure bliss. Just like this one: The H-Boat by Saare.

Candy for the Eyes

For many of you, dearest readers, the H-Boat may be a very familiar design. Designed and launched more than 30 years ago in the year 1967 by Hans Groop, the H-Boat is indeed the second largest sailboat one-design class in the world. It is stated that more than 5.000 units had been produced so far by various boat builders over time, lastly by famous German power boat builder Frauscher. Sailors “who know” comment with love and hate on this boat, well, she certainly has her history.

Now it´s Saare Yachts of Estonia in cooperation with a German shareholder keeping the legacy of the H-Boat alive. Not only that: After I walked by the trade fair stand and the boat for many days and finally checking out the boat in a detailed manner, I can say that the finishing quality of this boat is absolutely outstanding. So, let´s dive into the boat and see what this 8.31 meters long boat has for us.

A sporty Tourer?

I´d like to start my tour inside the boat. Most of the use cases of the H-Boat will be daysailing and coastal or inshore cruising as the size of the boat is perfect for a couple and even a young/small family. Just like my First 27 SE or even the smaller First 24 SE which are quite edgy performing racing boats, the H-Boat was a very popular touring boat.

Thus the interior of this little classic is surprisingly nice: The hull has a waterline length of 6.30 meters and a maximum width of 2.19 meters, which is long and narrow. But the interior space feels nice. The coach roof windows will allow a maximum of natural light to float about inside, much bare white Gelcoat makes the appearance light and welcoming.

In the “saloon” there are to side bunks which are long enough for an adult to be used as sleeping place. One is walking on the deep bilge which can be used for stowage, I am sure that there are solutions for a small table to enjoy a simple meal or an evening drink. The bulkheads are veneered with nicely finished (Oak?) which gives the whole interior a classy look took.

I quite liked the forward stowage which are two identical worktops with drawers underneath. Massive wooden nice joinery. This can be used for a small galley, drawer for navigational equipment, board-cash and such. The forward bow section features a nice cozy V-berth, I´d say of nearly the same size as that on the First 27 SE. All in all, four adults can find a nice good night sleep here.

Underneath the entryway a small compartment for fitting a portable toilet (port-a-potty) is situated, which honestly would be a dealbreaker for me in the H-Boat since many couples or families insist in “real” privacy for the delicate matters. Nevertheless, if this isn´t a problem, the H-Boat surely can serve as a great little sturdy and fast touring boat for sure: I´ve read some blogs about young couples using this type of boat for longer trips in the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean, I´ve even read about an H-Boat crossing the Atlantic Ocean .

Racing hard style?

Speaking of “fast sailing”: This is what an H-Boat is originally designed for. Sure, by today´s standards many skippers consider the H-Boat “slow” and bulky, no match for the high-tech racers. But she still has her qualities. And besides, the H-Boat class is still a vivid with many hundreds of active units. In many Wednesday regattas H-Boats are frequently seen. With prices starting at 15.000 Euros for used boats the entry level for this boat is comparatively low and – as stated – the use case if not only all-out racing but also coastal cruising.

In this, the cockpit of the H-Boat is far from being “cruising proof”, I´d say. Thinking of my girlfriend , who fancied the fast sailing mode of my First 27 SE very much but at the same time appreciated the wide open cockpit for sunbathing and enjoying boating life when in harbour, this is something that simply cannot be done on the H-Boat.

The cockpit is not only significantly narrower (due to the shape of the hull) with high coamings and I´d say less than 20 per cent of space than in the wide-sterned First 27 SE, but also partitioned by the mainsheet “arch” in the middle. There is a front section (for the sheet trimmers) and an aft section for mainsheet/helmsman. Sailing leisurely along the coast with cozy sunbathing is impossible.

Also, straps for the feet are mounted as the H-Boats will sail with much heeling when pressed hard upwind. This is certainly needed for a 2- or 3-man crew in racing, but also hindering a nice cruising day. I guess everything can be removed for the vocational use and re-attached for the race. I´ve watched some videos and spoke to my fellow sailor-friends, many of whom had active sailing experience on this boat. And again: Not one of them completely rejected the boat nor uncompromisingly loved her. She is polarizing and uniting at once. Strange and interesting.

One of the guys I talked to stated that on his lake used to be one of the largest H-Boat fleets of Germany, some 50 units. The numbers went down over the years and now only 3 or 4 would be actively racing their boats. Nevertheless, as oldies have their comebacks and simplicity, conservatism and sepia-tinted mementos of the “good old times” have their revivals from time to time, the H-Boat may still find its buyers and keen skippers.

The Price for Class.

In this, the little boat comes of course with a price tag. Base boat starts at around 70.000 Euros and including everything, trailer, a small outboard engine and fully specced she will scratch at the 100.000 Euros-limit in the end. The boat can be taken over in Estonia at Saare yard on the Island of Saaremaa, which I would absolutely fancy, or in Germany´s North in Flensburg. Deliveries to other countries are possible, I guess.

So is this little sailboat your boat? Well, if you love the lines and adore her simple, beautiful curves, she may be on your shortlist. She is easy to transport by road, set up manually fast and a no-brainer to operate. Her cruising capabilities are minimal, but that has become a trend anyways, she is seaworthy, sturdy and for her size still a fairly fast boat. For true regatta-freaks there may be better choices, even for the microcruising purists, but she certainly has something unexplainable …

Maybe this is the reason why there is always someone taking the moulds and re-starting the production when the predecessor ceased to make boats. That´s perhaps the greatest aspect of her story: That a boat conceived almost 60 years ago still finds her buyers and above all, yards and boat builders who decide not to let them rot away but to have new hulls laminated in them. Very few designs achieve such a long and vivid life.

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

H-Boat – Yachting Monthly review

• Theo Stocker
• March 19, 2014

Alastair McLean takes Theo Stocker for a brisk but bumpy ride aboard his 27ft Baltic keelboat Eider

Product Overview

Manufacturer:, price as reviewed:.

What’s she like to sail? Alastair’s face was plastered with a grin as he gripped the tiller and stared at the log reading. ‘Seven and a half, come on!’ he yelled as we surfed another wave. There’s little doubt that this is a really fun boat to sail. Her racer-cruiser pedigree has been well proven over the past five decades, with a rare combination of elegance, excitement and the sea-keeping ability of a much larger boat.

That said, she isn’t big enough to offer ‘caravanning at the coast’, tending more towards the ‘camping’ end of the spectrum, and not everyone will enjoy feeling quite so close to the grey wobbly stuff. Eider has been out in 50 knots, with three reefs and a storm jib. ‘She was fine.’ said Alastair. But with her large main and powerful battened jib, she’ll get going in as little as 5 knots of breeze and show a clean wake to larger contenders. Her large foredeck and wide sidedecks make deck work a pleasure and the cockpit feels safe, even at steep angles. There are a few foibles such as the operation of the outboard, the lack of a furling headsail and the wet ride, but all could be rectified with a moderate investment.

What’s she like in port and at anchor? Eider is easy to handle in port, her deep fin and short waterline helping her to spin quickly in response to the helm, though the current engine arrangements don’t make it easy to control. The large Danforth anchor is stowed in the lazarette aft and the chain is kept in the bilge for weight distribution, so anchoring is a bit of a faff. She does have deck mouldings for a windlass and hawse pipe which could be reinstated for those wanting easier anchoring. Below decks, Eider could be described as spartan, though on closer inspection, there is everything needed for a comfortable short cruise. The small coachroof and low freeboard mean that there is sitting headroom, but not standing. Generous cabin lights and a large forehatch make the interior feel bright and airy. The fit-out isn’t up to modern new-boat standards, but this could be updated if desired – she is, after all, more than 30 years old. The ‘bucket and chuck-it’ heads with modesty curtain requires a certain amount of intimacy between crewmates.

Would she suit you and your crew? Alastair usually enjoys sailing by himself or with a crewman of similar ilk. A more spacious 27-footer might do more to entice his wife, who isn’t a sailor, on board from time to time. With a metre and half of draught, Eider is not going to get up the shallowest creeks or be able to take the mud – unless it’s very soft mud indeed. But this little boat has much more to offer than that. If you don’t have a bulging bank account but love sailing that you can get your teeth into – be it competitive club racing or fast, enjoyable passage-making – then you could not ask for much more from a boat, particularly if you don’t mind going ashore for a bite to eat. For a couple or a posse of mates, there is enough space for a comfortable weekend away and a hot meal at the end of the day. A rainy weekend at anchor with a crew of four might push your patience, though, as you would have to take turns to move around. If you want a boat that will shoot along in light airs, put a grin on your face when the breeze picks up, and will still look after you in the rough stuff, all for less than £10,000, then this secretive Baltic beauty could be the boat for you.

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

HH Catamarans – a new range of performance cruisers from China

• Elaine Bunting
• January 15, 2016

A range of fast-paced, sleek and modern-looking boats from Hudson Yacht & Marine based in south-west China will include cats from 55ft to 115ft, reports Elaine Bunting

HH Catamarans is a name you may not have heard of (yet), but behind this new brand is one of the largest-scale investments and boldest thinking in some years. The plans are ambitious, with a range of big, fast, luxurious catamarans up to superyacht scale.

The company is Hudson Yacht & Marine, based in south-west China, which sees its main market in Europe and the US, hence its appearance in Annapolis.

At the new facility in Xiamen, an island city lying between Hong Kong and Shanghai, the first is being built of what is to be a range of catamarans from 55ft to 115ft: the HH55, HH66, HH77, HH88 and HH115.

Rendering of the HH88

Four HH66s have been sold and are already in production. The first is due to launch in February for an Asian owner, and tooling for the HH55 is underway.

If the appearance of these resembles the Gunboat range more than the average production cruising cat, that is hardly surprising: the designs are the work of Morrelli & Melvin, the design team responsible for 18 Gunboats, and whose expertise in performance multihulls over the years spans A Class and Nacra catamarans to the late Steve Fossett’s PlayStation and, more recently, BMW Oracle Racing.

All will be fast-paced, sleek and modern-looking boats aimed at fast passagemaking and comfortable open plan ‘indoor/outdoor’ living. The HH55 and HH66 are styled as ‘a light and strong raceboat in disguise’. The HH66 is in composite construction, primarily aimed at cruising but, according to Morrelli & Melvin, “able to kick it up a notch”. So it is ultra light, and has C-shape daggerboards and T-foil rudders.

The HH55 is available in two configurations: forward cockpit and centre steering or dual aft steering and either in full-on performance-mode carbon composite construction or a less costly epoxy/E-Glass alternative. It, too, features C-shape daggerboards and T-foil rudders.

NZ builder brought in

Besides commissioning Morrelli & Melvin for the designs, owner Hudson Wang brought in New Zealand boatbuilder Paul Hakes four years ago. Hakes, a well known racing boat builder very experienced in building in pre-preg carbon, admits that he was “quite taken aback” by the scale of the company’s commitment to building boats – to date it has spent US$50m on building a boatyard. In that time Hakes has built several of the Judel Vrojlik-designed HH42, the best known example of which is Richard Matthews’s Oystercatcher XXX .

Hudson sees yacht manufacture as part of a serial manufacturing operation. The company’s products are wide-ranging. It produces around 20 per cent of baseball bats bought in the US, makes aircraft escape slides, barbecues and coolers, and employs some 4,000 people, of which 400 are in the boatyard. Its history in boats goes back to building J/80s and RIBs.

Tooling for the HH55 is also well underway. Paul Hakes tells us that the yard has finished a new fit-out hall and now has capability to have four or five HH66s and five to six HH55s in build at a time.

Preliminary drawings for the HH88 have been done and sufficient structural detail to allow price estimates. Designer Gino Morrelli says that the company is in talks with two potential owners.

Morrelli emphasises that the range could also go beyond the 115-footer currently planned. “We think the yard has capability to go to 150ft and they’ve built their new building to get that out the door, as that is where we think we will be in five to six years.”

Each of these boats can be highly customised, and renderings show very modern interiors. The zingy hull colours illustrated emphasise the message that Hudson is aiming to appeal to owners not hidebound by tradition, and perhaps migrating from motorboats.

The fact that the business has put its weight so strongly behind multihull production is yet another indication of growing interest in this area of sailing. “As far as the sailing market is concerned, the share of multihulls is growing, and bigger boats are coming out [of the downturn] faster than smaller boats,” says Morrelli.

www.hhcatamarans.com and www.morrellimelvin.com

YACHT test : The new H-boat from Estonia

Fridtjof Gunkel

 ·  22.12.2020

With a total of around 5300 units, the design by the Finn Hans Groop is one of the most built keel series boats in the world; only the US American J/24, with around 5500 units, has an even higher figure. No wonder: the H-boat is just as suitable for sporty cruising with the family as it is for regattas. The calendar is well filled, with events taking place throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as in Scandinavia. The boats are identical in construction and organised as a standard class. What's more, the H-boat is solid, stable in value and trailerable.

Nevertheless, the H-boat was ultimately only manufactured by the Austrian Frauscher shipyard, which also stopped producing sailing yachts. Thomas Nielsen from Eckernförde, former H-boat sailor and current owner of Saare Yachts from Estonia, has bought the Frauscher moulds and is now building the boats at its shipyard, which usually produces solid mid- and aft-cockpit yachts.

YACHT has travelled with Saare's prototype and compared it with an older model. The report can be read in YACHT, issue 25/2020. You can find out how to obtain the magazine in print or digitally here.

Or you can download the test directly via the link below..

H-Boat (pdf)

Most read in category Yachts

H Motor yacht for sale

The 35.3m (115.7ft) GRANDE 36M features a highly efficient displacement-to-planing hull form, reducing fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30 percent compared to standard hull designs. She is of GRP and carbon fibre construction and built to RINA classification by the Italian shipyard Azimut. Her exterior design is by Alberto Mancini and Achille Salvagni styled her interiors, giving her all-Italian flair.

On the sun deck is a wet bar and U-shaped bench seating beneath the hardtop with a sun lounge aft. The upper deck aft has two lounging areas, one beneath the overhang and another in full sun, as well as a buffet bar. To port the sidedeck leads to a foredeck lounge with seating, a large sunpad and a glass jacuzzi.

The main deck aft has an al fresco lounge with a sofa and chaise longue seating that is served by a wet bar. Steps aft lead down to the large swim platform and beach club with rain shower, while the starboard sidedeck leads up to the foredeck lounge.

An open-plan main saloon has two lounge areas, one with sofa seating the other with armchairs and huge picture windows combining with cut-down bulwarks to deliver exceptional views. The upper deck has the wheelhouse forward with a formal dining area aft surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass that slides away to open the space on three sides.

The 36M TRIDECK welcomes 10 guests in five cabins. There are four en suite guest cabins on the lower deck; two double VIP suites aft and two twin cabins forward of them. Forward of the guest suites is the crew mess and accommodation for five crew.

Forward on the main deck is the owner's suite, with huge picture windows either side. It features an island king-sized double berth, a lounge area, and en suite with shower room forward. Aft of the owner's suite, the galley and dayhead are off the lobby.

View all yachts for sale

Key features

• Brand new Azimut 36 Grande, under full warranty
• Highly efficient displacement-to-planing hull form, reducing fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30 percent
• Oversized glass jacuzzi on the foredeck
• Accommodation for 10 guests in five spacious cabins
• Large tender garage with starboard side access

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CUSTOM LINE NAVETTA 33, 2018

EUR 10,250,000

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• Built: 2018, Custom Line (Ferretti), Italy

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Inside the shocking Sicily yacht tragedy that left 7 people dead

There was a violent storm, but even then, luxury yachts are built to weather such events. so why did this boat sink off the coast of sicily, leaving seven people dead, by natalie finn | e news • published august 24, 2024 • updated on august 24, 2024 at 9:34 am.

Originally appeared on E! Online

Nobody was trying to reach the lowest depths of the ocean or otherwise test the boundaries of human endurance .

Streaming 24/7: Watch NBC 5 local news and weather for free wherever you are

But what was supposed to be a routine pleasure cruise aboard a superyacht turned deadly all the same on the morning of Aug. 19 when the 184-foot Bayesian got caught in a storm and sank off the coast of Sicily .

"I can't remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that," Stephen Richter of SAR Marine Consulting told NBC News . "You know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size."

Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.

Of the 22 people onboard, including crew, seven people died. The last of the bodies was recovered Aug. 23, an expectedly sad coda to what had already been a tragic week as the search for answers as to how this happened got underway.

And to be sure, every minute of the Bayesian's ill-fated outing is being fiercely scrutinized, starting with the general seaworthiness of the vessel itself.

Because, frankly, this was a freak occurrence.

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"Boats of this size, they’re taking passengers on an excursion or a holiday," Richter explained. "They are not going to put them in situations where it may be dangerous or it may be uncomfortable, so this storm that popped up was obviously an anomaly. These vessels that carry passengers, they’re typically very well-maintained, very well-appointed."

But in this case, a $40 million yacht sank, seven people are dead—including a billionaire tech mogul and his 18-year-old daughter—and morbid fascination doesn't need a second wind.

Here is how the story of the Sicily yacht tragedy has unfolded so far:

What happened to the yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily?

The Bayesian had set off from the Sicilian port of Milazzo on Aug. 14 at capacity with 12 guests and 10 crewmembers aboard.

The aluminum-hulled vessel was built in 2008 by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi and registered in the U.K. Cruise sites listed it as available for charter at $215,000 per week, per the Associated Press.

On the morning of Aug. 19, the superyacht was anchored off the coast of Porticello, a small fishing village in the Sicilian province of Palermo (also the name of Sicily's capital city), when a violent storm hit.

The vessel "suddenly sank" at around 5 a.m. local time, seemingly due to "the terrible weather conditions," the City Council of Bagheria announced shortly afterward, per NBC News .

At the time, only one person was confirmed dead—the ship's chef—but six others were said to be missing. The 15 survivors—who managed to make it onto an inflatable life boat, according to emergency officials—were rescued that morning by the crew of another yacht that had been nearby when the storm hit.

"Fifteen people inside," Karsten Borner, the Dutch captain of the ship that was able to help (the Sir Robert Baden Powell), told reporters afterward, per Reuters. "Four people were injured, three heavily injured, and we brought them to our ship. Then we communicated with the coast guard, and after some time, the coast guard came and later picked up injured people."

When the storm hit, his boat ran into "a strong hurricane gust," Borner said, "and we had to start the engine to keep the ship in an angled position."

They "managed to keep the ship in position," he continued, but once the storm died down, they realized the other boat that had been behind them—the Bayesian—was gone.

The wreck ended up settling 165 feet below the surface, according to Italy's national fire department.

Fire officials said that divers, a motorboat and a helicopter were deployed to search for the missing.

Meanwhile, footage was captured of the ship capsizing on closed-circuit TV about a half-mile away from where it was anchored.

In the video obtained by NBC News, the illuminated 250-foot aluminum mast of the ship appears to list severely to one side before disappearing completely. Survivors recalled having just a few minutes to literally abandon ship.

Who were the seven people who died when the yacht Bayesian sank?

The tragedy initially became headline news because billionaire tech mogul Mike Lynch—"Britain's Bill Gates," some U.K. media called him—was among the missing. His body was ultimately recovered Aug. 22 .

"They told me that suddenly they found themselves catapulted into the water without even understanding how they had got there," Dr. Fabio Genco, head of the Palermo Emergency Medical Services, told NBC News Aug. 22. "And that the whole thing seems to have lasted from 3 to 5 minutes."

Genco said he got to Porticello about an hour after the Bayesian capsized.

Survivors "told me that it was all dark, that the yacht hoisted itself up and then went down," he said. "All the objects were falling on them. That’s why I immediately made sure, by asking them questions, if they had any internal injuries."

Why did the yacht sink?

Italian prosecutors are investigating to determine what transpired before the boat went down, according to NBC News.

Meanwhile, the CEO of shipbuilder Perini's parent company The Italian Sea Group defended the vessel itself as "unsinkable."

Perini boats "are the safest in the most absolute sense," Giovanni Costantino told Sky News Aug. 22 . What happened to the Bayesian "put me in a state of sadness on one side and of disbelief on the other," he continued. "This incident sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact."

Costantino said it had to have been human error that led to the boat sinking, declaring, "Mistakes were made."

"Everything that was done reveals a very long summation of errors," he told newspaper Corriere della Sera Aug. 21, in an interview translated from Italian. "The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor."

The weather was "all predictable," he continued, adding that the storm "was fully legible in all the weather charts. It couldn't have been ignored."

The yacht's captain, identified as James Cutfield of New Zealand, was taken to Termini Imerese hospital for treatment. From there, he told La Repubblica, per Sky News , that he didn't see the storm coming.

Borner, the captain of the ship that rescued the 15 Bayesian survivors, told NBC News that he noticed the storm come in at 4 a.m. local time, and saw what looked to him like a waterspout, a type of tornado that forms above water.

The International Centre for Waterspout Research posted on X Aug. 19 that it had "confirmed 18 waterspouts today off the coasts of Italy. Some were powerful waterspouts, one of which may have been responsible for the sinking of a large yacht off of Sicily."

Borner said he didn't know why the Bayesian sank so quickly, guessing "it may have something to do with the mast, which was incredibly long." (A tall mast, even with its sails down, means there's more surface area exposed to wind, which can result in tipping.)

Confirming that one person was dead and six unaccounted for immediately following the wreck on Aug. 19, Salvo Cocina of Sicily's civil protection agency told reporters that a waterspout had struck the area overnight.

"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

The 59-year-old founder of software firm Autonomy had been on the trip with his wife Angela Bacares and their 18-year-old, Oxford-bound daughter Hannah to celebrate his recent acquittal in the U.S. on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the $11.7 billion purchase of his company by Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

In a bizarre turn of events, Lynch's co-defendant at trial, Stephen Chamberlain, the former vice president of finance at Autonomy, died after being taken off life support following a road accident on Aug. 17. Chamberlain's attorney told Reuters Aug. 20 that his friend and client had been out for a run when he was "fatally struck" by a car.

Meanwhile, multiple people who contributed to Lynch's defense were on the cruise with him and his family.

The bodies of Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer—who testified on Lynch's behalf—and his wife Judy Bloomer, as well as lawyer Chris Morvillo, a partner at the U.S. firm Clifford Chance, and his wife Neda Morvillo, a jewelry designer, were recovered on Aug. 21 .

In a LinkedIn post thanking the team that successfully defended Lynch, Morvillo wrote, per Sky News , "And, finally, a huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant, and beautiful daughters, Sabrina Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo. None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home. And they all lived happily ever after…"

The first casualty confirmed Aug. 19 was the ship's Canadian-Antiguan chef, later identified as Recaldo Thomas.

"He was a one-of-a-kind special human being," a friend of Thomas told The Independent . "Incredibly talented, contagious smile and laugh, an incredible voice with a deep love of the ocean and the moon. I spoke to him nearly every day. He loved his life his friends and his job."

Hannah's body was the last of the missing six to be found , with divers bringing her remains ashore on Aug. 23.

Lynch and Bacares, who was rescued, also shared a 21-year-old daughter, according to The Times.

While awaiting trial, Lynch—who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings—had spent 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco. Back home in London afterward, he admitted to The Times in July that he'd been afraid of dying in prison if he'd been found guilty. (He faced a possible 25-year sentence.)

"It's bizarre, but now you have a second life," he reflected. "The question is, what do you want to do with it?"

(E!, NBC News and Sky News are all members of the Comcast family.)

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Everything We Know About the Final Moments of the Passengers Who Died in the Sicily Yacht Tragedy

Five of the seven victims had been "searching for air pockets" as the luxury yacht sank on Aug. 19, authorities said

PERINI NAVI PRESS OFFICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The luxury yacht Bayesian that sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday, Aug. 19, resulted in the deaths of six passengers and one crew member.

Less than a week later, on Saturday, Aug. 24, Ambrogio Cartosio, the Chief Prosecutor of Termini Imerese, announced that Italian authorities were launching a manslaughter investigation into the sinking , and he identified all of the victims.

The seven victims who died in the tragic sinking were yacht chef Recaldo Thomas; British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter, Hannah Lynch; Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda ; and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy .

As authorities attempt to answer questions about what exactly led to the sinking of the 183-foot British-flagged vessel — which went down during a "violent storm,” the Italian Coast Guard previously told PEOPLE in a statement — here is what we currently know about the victims’ final moments.

FAMILY HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

During the Aug. 24 press conference, Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra, head of the Palermo Fire Brigade, revealed that as the Bayesian began going down early Monday morning, “It was quite clear that people were trying to hide in the cabins.”

“In the left-hand side, we found the first 5 bodies in the left-hand side cabins, and the final body on the right-hand side,” Fiandra said. “We found them on the highest part of the ship, which was closer to the surface. The vessel had three cabins on each side.”

The five victims, who "took refuge” on the luxury yacht’s left side, had been "searching for air pockets" in a final attempt at survival," he added.

HANDOUT/Vigili del Fuoco/AFP via Getty

As for why the victims were in the cabins in the first place, Giovanni Costantino — who leads The Italian Sea Group, the company that now owns Perini Navi, which built the Bayesian back in 2008 — told CNN it was due to a “very long sum of errors."

"Everything that has been done reveals a very long sum of errors,” he said in his interview, translated from Italian. “The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor. And then why didn't the crew know about the incoming disturbance?”

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Prior to the storm and subsequent sinking, some of the luxury yacht’s passengers were in celebration mode. They had been commemorating the recent acquittal of one of the victims, Lynch, 59, a source close to the survivors previously told PEOPLE.

Two months ago, Lynch was acquitted on all counts of a series of fraud and conspiracy charges he faced in the U.S. after a years-long legal battle dating back to 2018.

Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty 

He celebrated the acquittal on the Bayesian with his daughter and his wife, Angela Bacare, who was rescued along with 14 others on board.

Also celebrating were Morvillo, 59, who represented Lynch in the case, and Bloomer, 70, who was a close friend of the tech entrepreneur.

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Passengers on board doomed Bayesian yacht frantically scrambled for last air pockets as boat sank

• Jonathan Rose
• Juliana Cruz Lima
• Published : 0:51, 25 Aug 2024
• Updated : 0:59, 25 Aug 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

PASSENGERS on board the doomed Bayesian superyacht frantically scrambled for the last air pockets as the boat sank.

British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among six people recovered after the luxury vessel sank near Porticello at about 5am local time on Monday.

The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the superyacht, was recovered at the scene on Monday.

Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were also recovered from the wreckage.

Prosecutors have since opened a manslaughter and shipwreck inquiry without naming any suspects.

On Saturday, they pieced together the horrifying final minutes on board the sinking £30million vessel.

More on Italian yacht sinking

First findings of Bayesian manslaughter probe revealed after 'mistakes made'

Chilling sign that guests on doomed yacht made tragic attempt to escape

And for the first time, emergency service workers and divers also discussed in full the complicated five-day rescue attempt that took place 160 feet below the waters near Porticello, Sicily .

Divers from the specialised fire brigade cave rescue team described in dramatic detail the extraordinary challenges they faced more than 50m below the surface.

The 30 divers were only allowed to visit the seafloor for 12-minute bursts, every day from sunrise until sunset.

A few of the divers were also participating in the doomed Costa Concordia liner's 2012 recovery.

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The head of the Palermo fire department and member of the divers' rescue squad, Bentivoglio Fiandra, described how the Bayesian sank stern-first before rolling onto its right side.

He explained: "As a result, the victims sought refuge on the left side of the boat, where the last air pockets remained as the vessel was sinking."

In the first cabin on the left, the divers discovered five bodies; in the third chamber on the left, they discovered Hannah's.

The fact that everything was on its side in the boat required the divers to "recalibrate," Mr Fiandra said.

Rescuers also had to get used to debris floating around and mirrors reflecting their torch lights back at them.

He explained: "We had to revise the scene from a different angle from the way we'd normally see it, and that made everything more difficult.

"We entered the confined spaces, having already performed evaluations on the safe point to enter inside the yacht .

"We found the safest spot and got inside from there.

"But inside it was a very confusing place, with wardrobes and furniture whirling all around us, and lots of mirrors reflecting back our lights at us.

"The bodies were all wedged in tight spots, with furniture on top or beside them. They were all stuck there."

Giuseppe Frison, Head of the Department of the Fire Fighters' Divers, leading the cave divers, told the Daily Mail :

"It was like visiting someone's house turned at 90 degrees, with everything on its side.

"Since everything was revolving around us, we had to proceed slowly, first securing floating items for safety.

"We operated methodically, whether the spaces were large or small, searching everywhere until we found what we were looking for."

He added: "We were in a room full of debris, with a mixture of wooden furniture and other objects, but there was this new factor, as the space was full of mirrors, making it very disorientating, as you enter with the light on our heads, you seem to see yourself coming toward the boat, so it was very confusing."

YACHT PROBE

It comes as the captain and crew of sunk superyacht Bayesian are facing a manslaughter and homicide probe after seven on board died including Brit tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter.

Chief Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said the victims would have been asleep when the freak weather struck at around 5am local time on Monday last week, leaving them unable to escape.

It was also revealed that the crew and captain were not tested for alcohol or drug use after the sinking and have no legal requirement to stay in  Sicily .

At the Termini Imerese Courthouse in Palermo, Mr Cartosio said there may have been “behaviours that were not perfectly in order with regard to the responsibility everybody had”.

He added: “There could be in fact the question of homicide. But this is the beginning of the inquiry, we cannot exclude anything at all.”

Mr Cartosio added one line of inquiry was whether the crew attempted to raise the alarm with passengers before getting on the lifeboat and escaping.

He vowed to “discover how much they (the crew) knew and to what extent all the people (passengers) were warned.”

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He said: “We will establish each element’s (crew) responsibility. For me, it is probable that offences were committed — that it could be a case of manslaughter.”

The prosecutor added that  Captain James Cutfield  had been “extremely cooperative” during questioning and will be quizzed further.

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Watch: Rescuers find final body in search for Hannah Lynch after Bayesian yacht sinks

Watch as the search continued to find Hannah Lynch after the body of her father, British tech magnate Mike Lynch, was retrieved on Thursday (22 August) following the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht off the coast of Sicily on Monday.

The final body, believed to be that of the 18-year-old, has been found in Italian waters four days after the Bayesian superyacht sank, the Italian Coast Guard has said.

A green body bag was taken to the port of Porticello from the site of the sinking, meaning all missing passengers have now been found.

The British tech entrepreneur’s superyacht, carrying 22 passengers and crew, sank off Sicily earlier this week.

The bodies of Mr Lynch, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, have all been recovered from the wreckage and identified.

Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors who were rescued from a lifeboat after the boat dramatically sank in minutes at around 5am.

The teenager had been due to study English at University of Oxford having recently finished her A-levels, The Times reported.

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Mike Lynch, the investor and high-profile founder of U.K. tech firm Autonomy, has been declared missing at sea after the yacht he was on, the Bayesian, capsized in a storm off the coast of Sicily early Monday morning. Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, is one of the 15 who have been rescued. The news is a dramatic, tragic development for one of the more colorful, and sometimes controversial, figures in technology out of the U.K.

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Final Body Is Recovered From Yacht That Sank Off Sicily

Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, was on board a yacht that was hit by a storm and went down in the early hours on Monday.

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By Emma Bubola and Elisabetta Povoledo

Emma Bubola reported from Porticello, Italy, and Elisabetta Povoledo from Pallanza, Italy.

For nearly a week after a violent storm sent a luxury yacht to the bottom of the sea off the coast of Sicily, Italian scuba divers plunged deep underwater, moving through ropes and fallen objects inside the yacht in a desperate search for the six people missing.

On Friday, the recovery of the body of Hannah Lynch, 18, put an end to the wrenching search and to the slim hopes that any of the missing people might have survived.

Ms. Lynch, the daughter of the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who also died in the yacht’s sinking, was the last person to be formally unaccounted for since Monday after tragedy struck a group that had been celebrating her father’s acquittal in a high-profile fraud case.

There were 10 crew members and 12 passengers on board the 180-foot vessel, the Bayesian, when it was hit by a storm and went down about 4.30 a.m. on Monday, the boat’s management company said on Friday.

Fifteen survived.

The body of the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday, a few hours after a downpour hit the northwestern coast of Sicily, near the port of Porticello, where the yacht had been anchored.

But it took several days to recover the bodies of the six passengers who were apparently trapped inside the yacht: Mr. Lynch and Ms. Lynch; Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Christopher J. Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

On Friday, a round of applause could be heard from the firefighter’s tent set up on the dock in Porticello after the last body was pulled out in what the corps described as a “complex” search operation at a depth of about 165 feet. The firefighters said they had made 123 immersions into the sea to try to retrieve the bodies.

The body bag was then loaded onto an ambulance. A local man had left a small wooden cross on the rocks in front of the dock where the bodies were brought ashore.

Mr. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among those who managed to reach the safety of a raft. They were rescued by a sailing schooner that had been bobbing about 150 yards from the yacht.

In a statement, the family thanked the search teams and said that it was enduring a “time of unspeakable grief.”

“The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends,” the statement added.

As prosecutors from the nearby city of Termini Imerese began conducting interviews with the survivors and possible witnesses, the crew and passengers of the Bayesian have been confined to a local hotel, where the news media have been denied access.

Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, said on Thursday that the survivors had turned down the psychological assistance his department had offered to them.

In Porticello, the sprawling presence of rescue services made a haunting backdrop for an otherwise tranquil port town. People sunbathed and ate ricotta-filled pastries, and stores selling sandals and dried fruit opened as normal, while coast guard and firefighting vessels came and went from the shore, taking scuba divers out to the shipwreck.

Other reminders of the tragedy could be seen along the coast, among palm trees and ice cream shops, with groups of onlookers staring out at the sea, now tranquil and flat.

Local and national news organizations have complained that prosecutors have not issued a statement or held a news conference. Prosecutors may shed more light on the yacht’s sinking when they hold a news conference on Saturday.

The marine accident investigation branch of the British transportation ministry was also looking into the shipwreck of the vessel, which was registered in Britain.

One of the major questions is what caused the boat to sink: Was it the fault of the boat maker, of the crew or of a powerful act of nature — or some combination of the three? None of those who were onboard the Bayesian have spoken publicly.

The luxury yacht, built by the Italian manufacturer Perini Navi and launched in 2008, had the second-tallest aluminum mast in the world, according to its makers.

Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought Perini Navi, has been assertive in defending the design and construction of the yacht, saying that the Bayesian would be “unsinkable” if the proper procedures were followed.

But yacht design experts have cautioned that the lesson of the Titanic, the ocean liner that sank on its 1912 maiden voyage, showed that no vessel, no matter how robust, was worthy of that label.

Nautilus International, a maritime-focused labor union, criticized any implication that the crew had been at fault, especially at this stage. In a statement , the union’s general secretary, Mark Dickinson, said, “Experience tells us that maritime tragedies are always the result of multiple, interconnected factors,” and he urged people to refrain from drawing any conclusions until a thorough investigation had been carried out.

The investigation into the causes will take months, prosecutors said.

Michael J. de la Merced contributed reporting.

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome. More about Emma Bubola

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

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Giant masts, moon pools and pole explorer pods: How the world of yachts got supersized

The sinking of mike lynch’s ‘unsinkable’ sailing vessel was not only a heartbreaking tragedy, but also gave us a rare glimpse into the superyachting fraternity. here, boat international’s lucy dunn looks at a group that is both secretive and innovative, and asks how such a high-spec sailing yacht could have sunk at all..., article bookmarked.

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L ast week’s sinking of the 56-metre yacht Bayesian and the tragic deaths of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his guests and boat staff have given the public a glimpse into the rarefied world of superyachts.

From the sheer size of the mast (74 metres, roughly the size of seven two-storey houses stacked on top of each other) to the expense ( Bayesian was put up for sale in 2014 with an asking price of $30m, which is around £23m), to the sheer luxury (the interiors were by Remi Tessier, the designer behind Claridge’s new penthouse), it’s a world few people normally get to see. 

There are currently 12,626 superyachts on the water around the world with 1,166 superyachts in build or on order. If you have been to a Greek island this year, or maybe the Amalfi coast, you may have glimpsed them coming in and out of harbours and wondered who owns a yacht like that. Or who can afford to charter a yacht like that – which have an average price of around £180,000 a week.

While you may think of glossy influencers and A-listers, the superyachting fraternity is where millionaires are sorted from the billionaires from the centi-billionaires; the 0.001 per centers. Rarely will you find a celebrity with the financial clout to afford a yacht owned by Lynch, these are generally under-the-radar industry titans who don’t have household names. 

So, what exactly makes a superyacht super? According to Boat International , where I work, it can be applied to any boat, motor or sailing yacht which is over 24 metres in length. Size, in the superyacht world, is everything – and yachts are getting bigger all the time. Indeed, our data arm BoatPro shows that the average length of a new-build yacht is now 39.2 metres, up from 38.5 metres last year.

Currently, the largest yacht in the world is the motor yacht Azzam – at 180.6 metres, almost two football fields in length and triple the size of Lynch’s Bayesian . For owners, yachts can be bought “semi-custom” (a bit like a new-build house off-plan but on a much grander scale), or “fully-custom” – meaning they’re built from scratch to the owner’s exact specifications.

And it is not a quick process either: it can take up to four years from design stage to completion, with 300 people or more working on each project. All of which might go some way to explaining the mind-boggling price of them.

While this changes according to market fluctuations and demand, a fully custom 100-metre with all the bells and whistles is around £200m. And that’s just for starters. Depending on the size and age of the yacht you’ll need to spend at least 5-10 per cent of the purchase price every year on the cost of maintaining and operating it (so, in this case, £20m on crew, fuel, tax, insurance, harbour fees). 

Some owners like to recoup some of their running costs by turning their yacht into a mini hotel business and chartering it out. A commercially successful boat (neutral interiors, jacuzzi, lots of executive toys) will pick up several charters a year, covering the traditional charter beats of the Med in summer and the Caribbean in winter.

The 85-metre yacht Bold , for example, is equipped with an outdoor cinema, helipad, teppanyaki grill, inflatables, water skis – a snip at £665,000 a week. 

While many prefer to keep a low profile, other yacht owners like fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger aren't so shy, and love to use their yacht to entertain (in Hilfiger's case, Kris Jenner of Kardashian fame). But more often than not, owners are super-private. (Lynch was one of these owners who liked to keep things low-key.) Often even the building of the yacht can be wrapped in a cloak of secrecy, and the engineers and craftspeople working on them won’t know who the owner is. 

Unlike a car, yachts don’t depreciate in value quite as sharply. The caveat to this is that you need to keep it in pristine condition. This takes work: one thing that is true on Netflix hit Below Deck – crew really do clean cracks between floor tiles with toothpicks.

Keep on top of maintenance and your yacht will last 70 years or more. Christina O , the iconic superyacht once owned by shipping giant Aristotle Onassis and wife Jackie O, is still going strong at 81 years old. She was recently listed for sale for €90m (£68m).

You will need at least a crew of 20 for your 100-metre yacht. Not made-for-TV crews, but ones with professional qualifications, who you would trust to handle your multimillion-pound bit of kit.

Good captains are very sought after and can name their price. Sailing guests to exotic parts of the world is just a tiny part of the job: you have to plan safe routes, book berths in marinas (you’re looking north of €117,000 – around £99,000 – for the Monaco Grand Prix week), manage crew, handle copious paperwork and organise repairs and yard visits.

It’s not just a case of popping it into a local garage for a service – which explains why guests must take off their shoes before stepping on board to protect the precious teak decking. 

And unlike other status symbols like supercars or precious watch collections, you can’t just moor a superyacht and forget about it until your next fancy holiday. They need constant attention – as the US government found to their cost when they seized Amadea , a 106-metre superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch and discovered they needed to pay out $7m (£5m) a year in maintenance. 

This is why superyachts become such passion projects, beyond whether they are worth it or not. Owners don’t just own them, they put their hearts and souls into them. And this is where the fun happens.

Because despite the tacky “gold taps and bling” reputation that blights the industry, many owners are, on the contrary, super-creative with their superyachts: cue underwater “Nemo” lounges, indoor gardens, waterfalls, snow rooms, padel courts, IMAX cinemas… imaginations have no limits. 

Innovation is at the heart of the industry and is very bespoke according to need. Some owners prefer the cut and thrust of sail over motor and a closer experience of the sea.

Some want a vessel that can circumnavigate the globe so they can really see the world. Bayesian , for example, was built to go places and her sistership Rosehearty (an almost identical yacht built by the same yard) has been taken around the globe multiple times in all weathers without a hitch. 

Some owners get their yachts built with sturdy “ice class” hulls so they can visit the Poles. These are called “explorer yachts” and they have laboratories for visiting scientists, personal submersibles, James Bondesque “moon pools”, openings in the hull for subs to dock, and so on.

Sometimes an explorer yacht is not big enough to handle everything an adventurous owner wants to do – which is where support vessels (secondary yachts used to store kit such as seaplanes and snowmobiles) come in. 

Why have one yacht when you can have two?

Some forward-thinking owners put their cash behind investigating greener alternatives to traditional diesel engines. The world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht, Project 821 , which is 119-metres long, reportedly hit the water this June. Project Zero , a “zero fossil fuel” sailing yacht with the ability to harvest wind, thermal and solar energy launches in 2025. 

There has been a lot of speculation about what caused the tragedy with Bayesian . Superyachts have been known to have accidents, but rather than sink in storms, they run aground or catch fire (lithium batteries have been cited as a culprit in some cases). Often, due to the length of time passed and complex technical reports released by investigators, we never find out the cause.

It’s now over to investigators to discover how an “unsinkable” yacht sank last week. The facts are: Bayesian was built by Perini Navi, a respected shipyard specialising in sailing yachts based in Italy, which is the world epicentre of shipbuilding. Day in and day out an army of 30,000 engineers, architects and designers that work in these yards pride themselves on unparalleled craftsmanship, using sophisticated naval architecture technology to push boundaries and produce incredible feats of engineering. 

The world of superyachts may be a world you and I will never be part of, but as this week’s tragic news has shown, there is so much more to it than you think…

Boat International Media is a luxury lifestyle publishing company. Find out more here

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