South African loses boat in the Atlantic

[Mycroft]

From Iol News: Solo sailor lost all at sea

A strange head-scratching story. At least he admits that his experience level wasn't up to snuff, but to have the same problem repaired twice and not have a full understanding of it?

I'm new to sailing myself. Can someone explain why he couldn't get the "sails" down?

[boatman61]

Ya got me... and why did he just not back his headsail and fore reach.. until we know the set up I'm mystified... rods and foils..??

[captain58sailin]

I am not familiar with his system. I do wonder why he couldn't run before it, or had it on a broad reach. While it would have been a rough ride for awhile, the winds weren't so bad you couldn't have ridden it out. Doesn't sound like the vessel itself was comprised other than the sails. If he was really worried he could have cut them loose.

[bbowers2004]

Humbling for sure, he lucked out. No way I'd jump from my yacht ...ha

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

If he was really worried he could have cut them loose.

That's what I was thinking. Does he not even have a knife on board? I could understand the main being jammed in the mast track, but he should have been able to get the jib down and cut off the main at least as far up as he could reach. The wind should do the rest.

If the boat were everything to me, I'd like to believe I could have thought of something to save it.

[boatman61]

Be surprised how many bottle it when it suddenly hits them they're all alone out there in a blow and far from shore..
There's more to the ARC's success than just the Social Scene.

[nigel1]

Bit of background info, dont see anything special with the rig

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...cky-97676.html

[boatman61]

Roller furl and slab reef... so whats with rods and foils...??
Solo first time in a big boat with 5000 miles to go.. sad happening

[sabray]

Kuun again encountered problems with the sails. He couldn’t lower them because the foils in between the rods were damaged by the wind. Duhhh.
Sorry to hear that this happened.
Great reporting!
That's a pretty long boom. Maybe the halyard hung up. Had that happen once where the wire jumped and stuck between the mast and pillar. Unnerving at least. Only time I free climbed a mast. No way I could do that today. Pretty sure I could get up the mast and fix this.
I wasn't there so I rely on news reporters that are trained by sensation advertisement driven dullards that have forgotten how important reporters with knowledge and good training are.

[nigel1]

There is a facebook page, seems he was having problems with the genoa furler from the start of the trip, seems to have been repaired a couple of times along the way.
Seems that it failed again.

[Captain Bligh]

"foils in between the rods were damaged by the wind."
huh? can someone explain that to me? ?

[sabray]

Maybe ask Anna Fox or her editor at the very reputable IOL news. Maybe they will stop babbling and read what they write.
Are there any journalists working for these news places?

[gjordan]

48 hours without sleep will make any of us into terrible decision makers. A large ship can look like a safe haven without realizing that to get on to that ship is far more dangerous than staying on your own boat(if it is not actually sinking). Fatigue and fear go together and if you toss in equipment problems, fear wins out. It seems that jumping into the ocean proves that fear takes all logic out of the situation. I feel sorry for the guy, and he is lucky to be alive after jumping into the sea. Just my 2 cents worth. _____Grant.

[captain58sailin]

I think there may be something to that, and he was solo, things were going wrong and he couldn't think of a solution for his problem. Lack of sleep will play havoc with your decision making process. Perhaps did not have the time at sea needed to handle this kind of challenge.