Motoryacht Yogi, the 60.20m superyacht that was built recently in 2011, sank 19 miles off the coast of the Greek island Skyros, in the Aegean Sea last Friday. Mechanical failure in bad weather is being blamed for the vessel's disaster.

After Yogi's Captain sent out a distress signal Friday morning, two Air Force helicopters and a Navy frigate, as well as Coast Guard vessels and four commercial ships came to the assistance of the yacht. AP Newswire wrote that the captain's distress signal stated that the vessel was taking on water and that he had ordered the ship to be abandoned. All eight people on board were rescued.

All guests and crew were evacuated safely by Hellenic rescue helicopters. Unconfirmed reports put the costs involved with the repairs at a massive $45.7 million on the sea bed.

M/Y Yogi had accommodations for 12 guests, equipped with five double cabins and one twin, a large sundeck with a jacuzzi, two beach clubs, a swimming pool on the aft deck, a multimedia play lounge and a massage room, among other amenities.

Yogi had a steel hull and aluminium superstructure with a beam of 9.40m and a draft of 2.90m.

Yogi was en route from Turkey where she had finished a warranty paint period, to her berth in the Med. All eight French crew aboard were rescued by the Hellenic Air Force. Capt. Jean Louis Carrel told Greek authorities that although the weather was rough, he believed the sinking was a result of a mechanical failure with the exhaust system.

Karabeyoglu comments, “What I find surprising is that [from] the first mayday call to the boat sinking was nearly seven hours.  They had power as you can see lights on [in the video shot by the Hellenic rescue team].”

“What we can see [from the images and the video footage] is that she survived seven hours without turning over. So this is enough reason for us to believe she could have been saved – although we are not blaming anyone. There was a Force 8 so the weather made things difficult, but she did not sink due to the weather,” he said.

Helenic rescue video of superyacht Yogi sinking
Responding to our question about an exhaust system accident and loss of engine power reported by the crew, Karabeyoglu comments, “They have said it was mechanical failure, that one engine overheated, and broke the exhaust bellows – but there’s a valve underneath it.”

The Hellenic rescue video shows the Yogi crew appropriately mustered on deck next to the wheelhouse wearing their bright red their survival suits when the rescue helicopter approached. A large life raft was deployed and crew clambered down the port side of the heavily listing yacht to the raft where they were rescued by the military swimmers.

Video footage from the rescue helicopter shows the crew of Yogi mustered near the wheelhouse
Says Karabeyoglu, “At first we thought all these things happened fairly quickly. But the mayday was 00:30, and the rescue happened at 07:30.”

“My partner has spoken to the [French] owner. He is obviously not happy, he loved the boat. She was just repainted, but we did no work in the engine room as it was perfect. No mechanical work other than routine service of the Cat engines. Perhaps they took bad fuel when they refueled in Istanbul.”

“It’s the first time [a loss of vessel] has happened for us, so we not sure what happens next,’ said Karabeyoglu. ‘We have [already] sent people to Athens who will meet with the crew and interview them; we’re doing everything we can to understand what happened. There will be the testimony of crew and the video. You can see water coming out of the side and power on the vessel [ie lights were on] so the generators were running – you can tell many things, so the engine room was not flooded. You can see [in the video] exhaust coming from the hull side so one of engine room generators was running.”

Karabeyoglu also told us that in addition to being able to use the engines to pump water out, there were three bilge pumps, one more than class required. The yacht had three generators plus the emergency generator.

Yogi registered 1028 GT and was built to ABS +A1, +AMS and was classed as Commercial Yachting Service (E). Her stunning profile and interior was designed by Jean Guy Verges, who has designed six other builds by the yard. Yogi was the second of three large yachts delivered by Proteksan in 2011.

John Wickham, who issued a statement on behalf of the builder, said that the yard is actively investigating the incident and will release details as available.

Source: BoatInternational