"Stand Aside" Skipper Syd-Hob 1998

[s76640]

In a documentary about the 1998 Sydney-to-Hobart classic, Stand Aside was shown as she was knocked down and lost her mast. When a rescue chopper was able to make it to the boat's location, the skipper was rescued first. That seems to fly in the face of everything I've learned about rescues. I was taught that the skipper is the last crew member rescued because he or she is responsible for the other crew members and, until they're safe, the skipper has to do everything possible to save them before looking to himself.

Can anyone cast some light on the Stand Aside's skipper and why he was rescued first, or perhaps on my misunderstanding of the skipper's responsibility?

Steve

[Alan Wheeler]

Was the skipper injured maybe???

[Factor]

Thats not the way it reads in the police Record of interview - its available at the link below. I dont know for sure but it appears that the owener and master is saying that they got the injured guys off the raft first and then the rest wenT???

http://www.equipped.org/sydney-hobar...%20Vincent.PDF

[s76640]

Thanks for the reference to the inquest. It appears that Mike Marshman was not the skipper and that he was evacuated first because he had torn off the top of a finger when he was struggling to free himself from beneath the knocked down hull.

[cooper]

It was very difficult circumstances. There is a number of books that have been written about this race. Something I ponder, and perhaps some other imput would be good.

If the skipper was lifted off first...(and I reiterate that I dont think that the skipper in this situation did anything but the most seaman like response) and the skipper was un injured but scared silly...perhaps his/her leadership roll is now lost and it would be better that he/she was gone and that another person took over. The reality of these situations may over take the best person ( I have not been in that situation) . Dealing with scared (quite rightly so) people takes a skill that hopefully we dont encounter.
Even the best may find it hard when dealing with their own mortality. Survival is training, skill,equipment,luck, and to my way of thinking ...the ability to have a clear enough head to put the previous into practice. It is possible that this clear thinking may come from the most unlikely of persons in a crisis.
I like to think of myself as a "cool in a crisis" type...but would I really? I find that extreme cold effects me. At what point do you delegate responsibility to another person? Perhaps your partner. Maybee "you make the choice on the radio I am not sure anymore". Food for thought. I would like anybody who has been in trying circumstances to tell us about their experiences.

cheers

[columbia 1022]

The answer is simple. The rescue swimmer picks who he (or she, as the last several of the lifts were made by female rescue divers) wishes to lift first. It is their call as a professional - and sometimes determined by who they first reach. This is as it should be. They do not have the luxury of honoring tradition or vanity.

I have read that in this particular case the rescuees were instructed to enter the life raft, because risk of fouling the airlift cable on the rigging. At least two were lifted from the water. No one was lifted directly from the boat.

I am curious, however, if the hull actually sank after abandonment. There are photos on the web that appear to be represented as salvage from the Stand Alone.

Good Day, all.