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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/13/2017 in all areas

  1. Par is absolutely right. I have lived in this area and have observed the weather for a long time and have a great deal of respect for it. I was not prepared to go out into the Atlantic at this time of the year without a good forecast. The systems came thick and fast, when the weather was good it was from the south west, on the nose. Back in 2000 I sailed a 32’ sloop to Cuba in February and jumped out at Cape Fear and sailed straight to Ft. Lauderdale. The second night was squally and nasty but otherwise it was a good quick passage. I made good 205 miles in 7 ½ days including the weather hold on the last day. This put me behind schedule. I was tidying up the boat while waiting for the weather and noticed the missing connecting rod and swivel. I searched the boat for a couple of hours with no luck. Talking it over with Alan and Carla it was decided that it would be far more productive to come home and make a new part and use the rest of the time before driving down the Florida to finish some of the jobs that I did not finish. I also had time to observe my stowage needs and I will work on them. I had a grand adventure and Carlita did a great job. The little Suzuki was put to the test and worked hard. The last day I sailed back 20 miles to get to the launching ramp. I had ½ gallon of fuel left and wanted to sail as much as I could to make sure that I would have enough in case the conditions turned worse. A light wind came from the south east as I was rigging the boat, a quick check on Windy tv showed that the forecast had now changed. I had a fair current for a couple of miles, the wind died as I turned the corner and into a foul current. I motored out of the channel and put the anchor down to wait for the tide change. The wind slowly built to a nice sailing breeze and I set off into the last of the foul tide. The rest of the day turned into a perfect sail and I made my destination well before dark. Tony Day came and brought me home and we had very pleasant time telling stories. I spent a lot of time today going through every locker on the boat just in case I had a mental lapse and stowed the missing part and forgot about it. No such luck so I get the have the pleasure of making it again.
    1 point
  2. Alex has made a point often unseen by those not involved in accident investigations. I've been involved with a bunch over the years in one capacity or other and the most common reason an incident occurs, is a skipper trying to meet a schedule. The push out into weather they shouldn't, because they need to be someplace at a particular time and the weather isn't cooperating, but they go anyway. Some try to out run a system, for the same reasons, not wanting to lay off for a half day, waiting for it to pass, etc., etc., etc. Compliance and overconfidence are big players too. We lost the Bounty replica to these reasons recently. Mix this into a tight schedule and the sea floor is littered with the results. An experienced skipper can recognize this and makes an appropriate decision, but you do need to have considerable time, farther from shore than you can swim back to.
    1 point

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