Maritime News

Cape Fear Yacht Works, a yacht building company based in Galveston, Texas has agreed to pay damages to the family of a man killed when a sailing ship capsized during a regatta.

Fifty-three-year-old Roger Stone was a member of the Texas A&M University-Galveston Sea Aggie sailing team. The team was competing in the Regatta de Amigos on their vessel, the 38-foot long “Cynthia Woods”. On June 26, 2008, the “Cynthia Woods” and 25 other sailboats embarked on the 700-mile journey from Galveston, TX to Vera Cruz, Mexico.

During the voyage, the sailboats 5,000 pound lead keel broke apart from the hull and fell into the Gulf of Mexico. The damage caused the boat to capsize and sink. Stone was killed. The five other teammates, including two student sailors that stone had helped off he boat, spent 26 hours adrift in the Gulf before they were rescued by the Coast Guard.

The vessel was a gift to Texas A&M from Galveston billionaire and philanthropist George P. Mitchell. Mitchell’s son is the owner of Cape Fear Yacht Works which manufactured the sailing ship in 2005.

The maritime lawsuit filed by Linda Stone accused Cape Fear Yacht Works and boat designer Bruce Marek with failure in proper design and manufacture. Cape Fear Yacht Works will pay the widow and children of Roger Stone $375,000 a year for the next three years.