A US Sailing Independent Review Panel came to the conclusion on Tuesday that the cause of the accident on April 28 that resulted in the death of four experienced sailorswas due to grounding on North Coronado Island.  But at least one of the families of the four crewmen is disputing the panel’s findings.
Captain Theo Mavromatis, 49, Kevin Rudolph, 53, William Johnson, 57, and Joe Stewart, 64, were competing in the annual Lexus Newport Beach-to-Ensenada Yacht Race when the accident occurred and their sailboat, the Aegean was destroyed.
Earlier speculation gave rise to the theory that a freighter or other larger vessel collided with the ship, causing it to be smashed to pieces.
Eric Lamb of Vessel Assist, a private marine assistance service, and his partner discovered the wreckage, which had spread over three miles, at 10:30 a.m. on the first full day of the race. “I’ve never run across a situation quite as bad as this as far as destruction is concerned,” Lamb said.
Among the debris, Lamb spotted were a floating refrigerator unit, an inflatable dingy and a three-foot piece of fiberglass that read, “Redondo.” Lamb also discovered a five-by-three-foot piece of the hull with “Aegean” printed across one side. A Coast Guard sent to the scene spotted three bodies, which were recovered immediately. A fourth was recovered later. “They were pretty scraped up, a lot of scrapes and cuts,” Lamb said.
According to the U.S. Sailing release, the panel gathered information from race organizers, data from the Aegean’s GPS track during the race and met with the U.S. Coast Guard San Diego Sector’s investigation team. The conclusion was made after reviewing the evidence that was assembled, particularly the tracking data from the Global Positioning System (GPS) on board the Aegean.
But the captain’s daughter, Anna Mavromati, said that her family does believe enough evidence has been found to reach the conclusion that the sailboat ran aground, or to rule out the possibility it did so after being hit by another ship.
The family, which was not contacted by the review panel and learned of its conclusions from news reports, subsequently made inquiries and discovered that the panel had leaned heavily on the GPS tracking and the known whereabouts of freighters. But it had done little to investigate other possibilities, such as the exact whereabouts of military vessels and large commercial fishing boats in the vicinity of the accident.
Reportedly, the heaviest parts of the Aegean, including its engine and keel, have not been located. The Orange County Register reported that the waters near its suspected point of contact on North Coronado Island range from 50 to 60 feet deep, suggesting such heavy parts should be findable.
“I know that running aground is a possibility, but there are just so many missing pieces to the ran aground theory that it’s just hard to believe it if they are not going to give us anything else,” Mavromati said. “We just don’t want them to jump to the easy answers, which it seems sometimes people want to do. People want that explanation but that does not justify a false one. I understand the need for explanations – people want answers, but sometimes they don’t come easily and it’s hard to accept that.”
Mavromati suggested the case should be kept open until more conclusive evidence is found. She also noted that all the crew members suffered blunt force trauma to the head. Her uncle, Joe Stewart, technically died of drowning, but Mavromati said the coroner indicated Stewart already had a fatal head injury and likely just took his last breaths in the water.
“It’s strange that none of them seem to have died in the water,” Mavromati said.
According to the panel, efforts will be made to continue to document the accident, draw conclusions, share the lessons learned and offer recommendations to the sailing community. A full report is expected by the end of July.
Mavromati said her family hopes that the panel will be cautious before forming hard conclusions if no more evidence is available than what appears to be the case at present.
“I can’t say what did or didn’t happen out there,” she said. “Even the best sailors make mistakes. It’s possible something was off, this happened really suddenly, they screwed up and it ended in this huge catastrophe. Mistakes happen. But don’t say it if you don’t have the evidence to back it up. I think it’s harmful to our family if any assumptions are made without conclusive evidence. At the end of the day, no matter what happened out there, my dad died, and that’s awful, and these other three men died, and my uncle died, and that’s awful. But at the same time, they deserve better than to be represented falsely in any way. I want to make sure whatever result comes from this, it is backed by proper evidence.” ER
