I think it's because the Bayesian was the boat that sank killing its owner, UK entrepreneur Mike Lynch. The boat was called the Bayesian because he was a mathematician and that was the basis of his career.
It's also interesting because the boat was notable for having the tallest mast of its kind, and then sunk partly (one would guess) because of that. The boat sink quickly because hatches were left open in the warm weather. There was also discussion of weird weather phenomena being the cause.
He was also in the news shortly beforehand for fighting US prosecutors tooth and nail against a fraud case and recently beating them. Of course there are conspiracy theories that the two are connected, especially as his business partner died within a week while out jogging!
I don't think so, I think it's a genuinely interesting piece of information and loss of a yacht. Most smaller (e.g. 36ft) yachts are very hard to sink, often with human error being the most likely problem (i.e the vessel itself is safe and seaworthy). Bigger yachts with commercial crews have to reach an even higher bar.
This becomes interesting from a number of facets. Engineering failure, human error, weather.
Hacker News users have a slight penchant towards seafaring vessels owned by rich people that, all of a sudden, find themselves unable to maintain their seaworthiness.
