Forum Member's Boat and Daughter in Trouble off of Mexico

[Boatguy30]

Sure he's a nice enough guy, but skilled posting does not equal offshore experience and good judgment.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Sailing Cowboy

Hats off to the US Coast Guard, National Guard!! The best in the world!!! I thought they only had a 100-200 mile range. Very impressed.

The C130s can fly for at least nine hours. I flew them from NZ to Antarctica. Figuring a safety factor, I'd say ten hours. Don't know how fast they fly, but even if only 200 knots, Eric is reportedly 900 miles offshore, and they're coming from essentially San Francisco to refuel the helicopters, as I reported earlier from watching the TV news here.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I just didn't know my "bailout" plan I advised would be the US taxpayer.

With all the stupid **** the U.S. taxpayers fund every year (do birds in different areas of the country chirp in different dialects?? How many secret service agents can you get into a hot tub??) they can have my money for these rescues anytime.

[sww914]

Boatguy30, once again I have nothing nice to say about you.

Rebel Heart was prepared. I was here as they were preparing, they're prepared. We're very good friends. We signed Lyra's birth certificate as witnesses. We know them well. They covered all the bases. Their boat is so full of food and water, for instance, that they had to give me some canned goods that wouldn't quite fit. They have a small fuel tank and a small boat. They were carrying as much fuel as they could fit. If you had to chose between fuel and water, for instance, on a long passage, I believe that most of us would chose to carry spare water and depend on the sails. They blew out the drifter the first day out. No big deal, they didn't think it would survive the trip anyway.

4 boats left La Cruz de Huanacaxtle this year Sea Raven, and the 4th who's boat name I can't remember. Another, Fluenta, is leaving today. The others are doing well. Several boats left La Cruz last year to cross the Pacific with very young children and they survived. This is just one marina on the whole Pacific coast and I have to assume that many others with small children are leaving from other places and surviving. Just because one is having problems doesn't make it impossible for everyone. It could have been Eric or Charlotte or Cora or you that developed health problems offshore. You never know. Up until this point, the only problem that they had was a leaking prop shaft packing and light winds. I spoke to Eric via satphone and also a series of emails and I think that he got that leak sorted out and it wasn't very bad anyway. So up until Lyra got sick they were OK. The other baby boats are doing great, I heard them on the puddle jump net the night before last.

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I just didn't know my "bailout" plan I advised would be the US taxpayer.

I told him to consider the Galapagos as an intermediate goal with the option to return to central or South America if things didn't go well.

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Sure he's a nice enough guy, but skilled posting does not equal offshore experience and good judgment.

And right now this thread isn't about if you were right or not and how smart you perceive yourself to be pertaining to his family and what they should or shouldn't have done. I'm going to take a leap here and say most people on this thread are more worried about Eric and his family then they are about your ego and a bunch of I told you so's. Do everyone a favor and leave the negative comments until after we have ALL of the details from Eric himself especially when he can defend himself.

How about just saying I hope his family can return safely and leaving it at that.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Sure he's a nice enough guy, but skilled posting does not equal offshore experience and good judgment.

What utter nonsense.

His kid got sick.

You ever have a cold? Or an illness. Illnesses are usually unpredictable, like accidents.

Sheez...

[Palarran]

It is too bad as he has been working towards this for so long. The good news that his daughter is stable is tempered by the thought of loosing the boat and dream. I'll second Hud that hopefully he can stay aboard, if the boat is safe, and return it to Mexico. Solo on a boat with poor or no steering would test the most seasoned sailor. I can imagine the range of emotions the family is going through - bummer.

[snort]

Prayers for Eric and family and a safe return (hopefully with boat too).
The sea can be a really rough place no matter what size ship you're in.
I'll be following this thread and hoping good news is around the corner.

[natew]

Hope it all works out for them! Family first but hopefully they can do something about the boat. Unfortunately it looks like a long haul to anywhere from there if they cannot go back to mexico due to winds and currents. They would be stuck with hawaii (if possible), Kiribati, French Polynesia or maybe heading back to mainland towards central america. All four are about the same distance which would be a long time on a solo journey worrying about family.

Curious if there might be any other cruisers in the area making the crossing that could caravan up and split their crew to man two boats to a destination for them. Know if I was out there I would certainly offer to get their boat somewhere.

Well, I really hope it all turns out well.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I just didn't know my "bailout" plan I advised would be the US taxpayer.

I told him to consider the Galapagos as an intermediate goal with the option to return to central or South America if things didn't go well.

I can tell you as a retired military person, that this is what they train for, it's in a way excellent training as it's a real live situation and not just an exercise. So if your going to burn the aircraft time and fuel anyway, why not do it in a manner the benefits the public?
Used to be all over the country US Army Medivac aircraft were used in what was called the MAST program, similar situation, you had the military aircraft and personnel whose job was to treat and transport wounded soldiers, why not use them for automobile accidents etc? What killed that program was the Hospitals own Life flight helicopter simply couldn't compete with the military Medivac aircraft and couldn't make money when the Military was around doing it for free.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Solo on a boat with poor or no steering would test the most seasoned sailor. .

Bit of an understatement -- boat with no steering can't be sailed solo or with a full crew of novices or America's Cup veterans.

But Eric has a transom-mounted wind vane, I think, so surely has some kind of steering.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I can tell you as a retired military person, that this is what they train for, it's in a way excellent training as it's a real live situation and not just an exercise. So if your going to burn the aircraft time and fuel anyway, why not do it in a manner the benefits the public?
Used to be all over the country US Army Medivac aircraft were used in what was called the MAST program, similar situation, you had the military aircraft and personnel whose job was to treat and transport wounded soldiers, why not use the for automobile accidents etc? What killed that program was the Hospitals own Life flight helicopter simply couldn't compete with the military Medivac aircraft and couldn't make money when the Military was around doing it for free.

Indeed.

To put it in economic terms: having rescue services capable of making rescues of that type (even if just for military purposes) demands a certain fixed cost. There aren't really any variable costs, since the system won't work without regular training. So if no one needed to be rescued, the fuel and time would be burned up all the same. Therefore, it really didn't actually cost anyone anything to rescue Eric and his family.

I am restraining myself, but like others on here, I am finding the thoughts about the cost of fuel at a time when an infant's life is in danger to be somewhat . . . . hmmm, can't quite of the word. Mean-spirited.

[Delancey]

Very sad. Wishing all the crew of Rebel Heart all the best!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Bit of an understatement -- boat with no steering can't be sailed solo or with a full crew of novices or America's Cup veterans.

But Eric has a transom-mounted wind vane, I think, so surely has some kind of steering.

I agree. Again, though, it's speculation, because the only reports about "no steering" was from a TV news report, and someone earlier mentioned that sometimes they sensationalize stuff. Sensationalize...almost as bad as speculation.

Let's be patient.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Bit of an understatement -- boat with no steering can't be sailed solo or with a full crew of novices or America's Cup veterans.

But Eric has a transom-mounted wind vane, I think, so surely has some kind of steering.

i think it is a monitor windvane,that realys on the yachts rudder to steer.
so no tiller no steering