The tragic sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily on Monday 19 August and the deaths of at least five people, including millionaire entrepreneur Mick Lynch and the chair of Morgan Stanley bank, have focused attention on climate change and the way it is affecting Mediterranean conditions.
High sea surface temperature
Climate experts and fellow sailors have commented on the violent “waterspout” storm that struck the 56-metre “Bayesian” yacht and caused it to sink in seconds, with 22 people, including crew, on board at the time. Such conditions can no longer be described as “freak” or “unexpected” incidents, according to some, who note the frequency of high sea surface temperatures today, due to climate change.
Such high temperatures add to the intensity of storms when they hit, according to Luca Mercalli, president of Italy’s meteorological society. The sea surface temperature around Sicily in the days before the waterspout that sunk the Bayesian was about three degrees higher than seasonal average, at 30 degrees Celsius, Mercalli notes.
Critical situations occur without warning
Indeed, many climatologists consider the Mediterranean a crucible for climate change because it is a semi-enclosed basin, where water circulation can quickly be affected by transient events, water temperatures rise faster than elsewhere, and more CO2 is released than is absorbed.
In words that might surprise some, Giuliano Gallo, an ex professional captain and sailing author with transatlantic experience told Reuters the Mediterranean these days resembles the Caribbean, where sailing is best avoided during the known hurricane season between July and November, when insurance companies often will not cover sailors. But in stark words, he said “things are less predictable in the Mediterranean.”
Another skipper who runs a sailing school near Rome’s coast, agreed, telling Reuters he typically avoids the Tyrrhenian coast around Sicily and the Spanish Balearic islands because of the high chances of “often critical situations with little warning”.
Not limited to the Mediterranean
Thousands were killed in Libya in 2023 by flash floods after a Mediterranean superstorm and the problem is not limited to the Med. Deadly rainstorms swept the Persian Gulf earlier in 2024 too and winter storms caused chaos in the US.
Deep knowledge of weather systems and how best to respond is needed to navigate this new normal. The German-born skipper of a boat moored near the Bayesian which escaped the waterspout unharmed and was able to rescue 15 people from the yacht, told press he had started his engines to help stabilise his boat.
“We had been prepared a bit and it started blowing around 4 in the morning,” he told Omrop Frylslân broadcaster. “They were hurricane-force winds of 12 Beaufort,” he added, describing chillingly how he “had trouble keeping the ship on an even keel, with the anchor in place and the motor running. The yacht was just behind us and we kept an eye on it. At one point it disappeared.”
