The Night I Almost Lost the Keel (and Why I Quit Deliveries)
Water adventures near Boston
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In 2014, I delivered a Beneteau First 47.7 from the Bahamas to Cartagena. Somewhere in the Caribbean, 150 miles offshore, I found myself ankle-deep in water, crew vacuuming the bilge in the dark, batteries dead, no GPS, no autopilot. I didn't know at the time how close we were to losing the keel entirely.
When we hauled the boat in Cartagena, I understood what had happened — and I understood something else. That boat had a sister ship. The Cheeky Rafiki.
This video is about how production boats are built, why this specific failure mode exists, how to spot it on your own boat, and why the conversation about it has stayed too quiet for too long.
📖 Be The Captain — the last signed First Edition copies ship FREE for 2 more days: https://bethecaptain.com
If you own a production boat — especially a fin-keel racer-cruiser built between the '70s and now — pull up your floorboards and watch this first.
🔗 Official Cheeky Rafiki MAIB Report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/55408664e5274a157200005b/MAIBInvReport_8_2015.pdf
Sailing Zingaro | James Evenson
85,000+ offshore miles | U.S. Navy Submarine veteran | Author, Be The Captain
Chapters
0:00 The night I almost lost the keel
1:17 The delivery: Bahamas to Cartagena
2:24 Wind builds — and so does the water
4:02 Last night at sea: ankle deep, batteries dead
5:35 We make it — emergency haul out in Cartagena
6:27 How production boats are actually built
8:04 The grid, the glue, and what holds it together
9:43 Why fin-keel race boats stress this bond to failure
11:18 What I found when the boat came out of the water
13:44 The Cheeky Rafiki — a sister ship, four souls lost
15:23 This isn't about bashing Beneteau
16:12 Who's responsible when a boat fails offshore?
17:01 What actually happened to Cheeky Rafiki
19:20 Why I quit doing deliveries
20:57 What you need to do — pull up your floorboards
#sailing #sailinglife #offshore #sailboat #boatsafety #beneteau #cheekyrafiki #keelfailure #bluewatersailing #passagemaking #sailingyoutube #learntosail #boatlife #productionboat #sailingzingaro
Sailing Zingaro
Join James Evenson of Sailing Zingaro as he documents his 2026 technical refit of his Crowther Spindrift 38 in Colombia and his 'Sailing Truth' mission.
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