Linda Stone, the widow of a Texas sailor who drowned last month after the keel fell off his yacht, has filed a lawsuit against the boat's builder, Cape Fear Yachts. Stone has also filed suit against a Galveston, Texas boatyard that fixed the keel after it ran aground.
Roger Stone died on 6 June after helping two students escape from the capsizing yacht 10 hours after the start of a race from Galveston, Texas to Veracruz, Mexico.
Linda Stone said that the main purpose of the lawsuit is to find out why the keel failed and prevent it from happening again on other boats. "Accidents happen, but this wasn't God doing it," Stone said at a news conference in her lawyer's office. "It wasn't 'Roger's time'. Somebody fouled up. Keels don't fall off boats. They should be built so they don't fall off. We don't want anyone else to be hurt."
The lawsuit names Cape Fear Yacht Works, boat designer Bruce Marek and Payco Marine, and Galveston Yacht Service. The last two clients performed repairs on the boat after a hard grounding in 2007. The lawsuit alleges that the design and manufacture of the boat were defective and the repairs done to fix the leaking keel inadequate.
Full Story at IBI News Yachting Monthly, 15 July 2008
