When is one and their boat fully prepared to take off and an adventure such as Gil has? We've all read and heard about check lists etc... and who could even sail off without sailing experience?
But what is adequate experience and isn't there some irony? How can we experience ANYTHING new if we need to have experienced it? I suppose we build up experience by exposure to various conditions and circumstances... we read about them and what people have done caught in them. Second hand knowledge is valuable. We read. We go to
school, we take lessons from people more experienced and skilled than we are. But at some point we have to "go for it" as far as this cruising thing goes. And truth be told we can never be prepared with what the sea can dish up. We prepare but hope for the best and deal with it when it happens to the best of our ability.
Gil may have had no problems at all. We don't know if his
anchor dragged or chaffed or maybe his boat was stolen... We don't know. When I went cruising I never had any sort of tracker and there were none. Just the idea of such a device is new to me and probably pretty new to sailing and so for decades people did exactly what Gil did and most "made it" and some had less "success" and have a different story to tell... if they lived to tell it.
There are many lessons here. One is that perhaps you can't mitigate all the risk and still venture off. Another may be that you can mitigate some of them with electronic technology.
I am wondering now if there is some sort of electronic device which will report to your
cell phone... if your boat moves X feet from where you left it? If such a device exists and it works... you would know pretty quickly if the boat was adrift or stolen. You could probably get an
insurance discount with such a system. If it exists... color me out of touch. It seems like something sailors should all consider.
I don't know if Gil used chain... but chain doesn't chafe and this is one risk that you can mitigate. But then again
anchoring is a skill and it takes lots of experience to feel secure... and no matter how many times you've anchored with no problem... each time it IS a challenge... there will always be some doubt and some risk.
Gil will sail again and maybe on Dagny or maybe on another boat. He is a lot wiser for this experience as are many of the readers here.
Happy New Year... this too shall pass and the best is yet to come.