SAILING/ASGARD II:ANGER IS growing across the Irish and international sailing community at continuing delays in reaching a decision on the future of the Asgard II.
Five months after it sank in the Bay of Biscay, the Department of Defence and the vessel’s management committee, Coiste an Asgard, have yet to decide whether the brigantine will be salvaged. A petition on the Irish watersports website, Afloat.ie, has attracted over 700 signatures, many from people who sailed on the Asgard II over 27 years.
Fine Gael front bench TD Simon Coveney, a Cork sailor, told The Irish Times that the Asgard has been treated disgracefully. “To ignore the situation is totally unacceptable,” he said. “She needs to be raised to find out why she sank”.
Critics of the delay point out that the first survey in early October – less than a month after the Asgard II sank – found the vessel upright on the sea bed and salvageable. However, a decision was made to conduct a further survey, which was delayed until late last month because of unfavourable weather conditions.
According to the Department of Defence, the vessel was insured for €3.8 million. Initial estimates placed the cost of salvage at €2 million, but the long period in which she has now been submerged may have contributed substantially to the cost of rebuilding.
Pointing out that the Asgard II has opened the eyes of many young Irish people to the importance of the sea, Capt Michael McCarthy wrote that “the delay in raising the vessel has undoubtedly resulted in additional damage”.
Some figures within the industry have expressed concern as to whether, having sunk once, a rebuilt Asgard might be regarded with suspicion by surveyors asked to issue it with a passenger licence.
The hull would require many major modifications (extra steel bulkheads, for example) to prevent a repeat of the catastrophic failure that led to its loss.
Further questions surround the future of the national sail training programme, in the absence of the Asgard. The results of the most recent underwater survey are due to be examined by Coiste an Asgard before it forwards a recommendation to Minster for Defence Willie O’Dea.
While the official line is that no final decision has been taken, there is a growing sense that it may be too late for the Asgard II.
