Coroner slams big boat safety after ‘design flaw’ death

Deputy State Coroner Erin Kennedy was investigating the death of Alan Beeby, a 74-year-old highly experienced Sydney boater who died in early 2021 after the 2008 Halvorsen 42 Coastal Cruiser he’d just bought, the Eliza 1, capsized off the NSW coast in light conditions while on a two-day delivery run from the Gold Coast to Lake Macquarie.

The inquest heard evidence that the Eliza 1’s design, used for 40-, 42- and 44-foot Halvorsen Coastal Cruisers, included an “inherent design flaw” that made it top-heavy and slow to recover from a roll, and therefore unsuitable for coastal cruising.

Beeby was the third owner of the Eliza 1.

The harrowing details of the capsize, revealed in the coroner’s findings released today, show that Beeby, whose body was never recovered, and his son Scott, who survived the capsize, had no chance of predicting that the fibreglass flybridge motor yacht would broach and roll over in a 1.0-metre following sea and 15-18 knots of wind – relatively benign conditions for a coastal cruiser.

The Eliza 1 sank during attempts to recover it but was later surveyed by divers who found no breaches in the hull.

The coroner was unable to get information from both the Chinese company that built the Eliza 1 and the business that originally brought it into Australia. Instead, it had to rely on industry experts and the results of tests on a 44-foot version of the boat with the same hull that was benchmarked for stability and also came up top-heavy.

“The expert evidence discloses that the events that night were not as a result of poor weather or poor seamanship, but rather a result of a design fault,” the coroner’s findings say.

“In short form the Eliza 1 was top-heavy. In hindsight, this was reflected in the vessel moving like a ‘beach ball’ on the waves, and in the expert opinion … it was surprising that the boat had not suffered a similar fate prior to its purchase by Alan.”

The coroner was also told that unlike the US and Europe, Australia did not have any safety and quality standards that would have stopped boats like the top-heavy Halvorsens being sold here.

“In a society where day-to-day products are the subject of stringent safety regulations, it is not surprising that purchasers of large recreational vessels assume that their expensive acquisitions have been built and certified to meet relevant safety and quality standards,” the findings say. 

“The fact that there is no effective certification process is unacceptable and poses a risk to the lives of a significant, but unknown, number of people.”

The coroner’s inquest has raised questions about the sale of used recreational vessels in Australia, with no standard accreditation or licensing requirement for the brokers who sell them apart from a voluntary code of practice that applies to members of the Boating Industry Association.

In response, the coroner will recommend to relevant Australian state and territory ministers that boat brokers should be licenced “given they are potentially selling products that are technically complex and that loss of life could result if vessels are used in conditions for which they are not designed”.

The coroner also proposed that marine brokers selling power boats of more than 6.0 metres in length should notify both existing and new owners that they should have the stability of the boat checked before it is taken into open waters.

As well, the terms “coastal cruising” and “passage making” should not be used when describing vessels for sale “unless the relevant vessel meets a recognised standard for those types of operations”.

Also coming under the coroner’s scrutiny is the Australian Builders Plate, the method set up by a body called the Australian Recreational Boating Safety Committee and used to inform owners of the safe operation of a boat including its maximum loading capacity and engine power, and the flotation performance of the boat if it is swamped. 

The coroner heard the ABP was skewed more towards recreational boats less than 6.0 metres in length than to larger craft such as the Eliza 1.

The coroner has recommended that maritime authorities, insurance companies and the Halvorsen Owners’ Club be contacted and alerted to the outcome of the findings.