Captain's Log, April 30, 2014 from the Rebel Heart Blog

[Scottuk]

Cheers for the response RH.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by who_cares

First of all, his daughter wasn't gravely ill anymore. He said above that she was stable after the first day. Maybe stable means gravely ill, and of course it all depends on the person looking at the situation, and as a father he probably takes things very seriously, as he should.

However, I think that the error chain isn't as simple as believing a doctor and going. Maybe the SSB could've been installed more robustly, maybe taking it out shitty weather would've revealed that leak sooner and they could have affected repairs before they took off, meaning that in all likelihood the SSB would've been in better shape and they would've been able to communicate with shoreside help without pushing the button on the SSB. That's just one possible "what-if" scenario that could've been different that might have possibly changed the ending of this story.

Who cares about the error chain. Decisions were made that primarily related to an ill child that many CF participants would would agree with and most likely also do in the same situation. RH

Interesting to note that people's misfortune brings out the best and worst in some. Judgement is often about knowing when to let go.

Also of interest to note is that virtually all of some inquisitors posts have been on this subject.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

RH, wonder if you could comment on where you were with the logistics of water. It was reported you left with about 40 gal of diesel. You were going slow so it looked like another 20 days to finish the voyage. Maybe a 30 day passage all told.

With 2 kids and two adults did you feel you were in good shape on this front? 40 gallons for running the engine on a schedule to make adequate fresh water over 30 days seems pretty squeaky from the outside.

We had a pretty decent solar array and had been hanging out in Mexico with our Katadyn 40e for maybe ~60 days or so of anchorage time (and maybe 7 calendar months, but a lot of that was in marinas). Plus I had a hydro-generator that I built, and we're pretty tight with water consumption. Additionally I had a Honda 2000 with ~6 gallons of gasoline.

When the boat moved over 4 knots, which was all the time unless hove-to once we hit the trades, we made ~4 knots constantly from the towed generator.

I actually lost the prop (my own fault) and had to fashion a new prop out of my surfboard and some pvp pipe, a neat project that I totally forget I even did until this post.

I think we had (diesel)
- 12 gallons in the tank
- 15 gallons in 3 yellow cans
- 50 liters (~12 gallons)
, so ~39 gallons total

We still had (I'm guessing) maybe 30 gallons left when we left Rebel Heart, I don't think having more fuel really would have made much of a difference unless we're talking about *a lot* more fuel, like more than the vessel would be able to carry.

[soverel]

And IMHO the question is; how are the girls? Are they adjusting and your oldest daughter; does she miss her home as well as the grown ups?

Sent from my HUAWEI-M931 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[malbert73]

Thanks for all the comments RH. I appreciate reading through all of it.

To me it's very clear:
If your daughter hadn't been sick, you likely could have carried on. If your boat hadn't leaked a drop, you still would have gotten off.

everything else is overanalysis, right?

I agree with others that perhaps the deck issue was significant- but even if your boat was bone dry and undamaged you would have gotten off, right? As a father of a 2 and 4 year old (who admittedly is making the choice to only parttime cruise inshore with them) you had no other choice but to get off the boat- but the boat was not a factor in that choice.

As a physician, from what I have read, I could not have reassured you via satphone even if it had kept working. I would have wanted your daughter to be evaluated and treated by medical professionals.


Good luck-

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by who_cares

First of all, his daughter wasn't gravely ill anymore. He said above that she was stable after the first day. Maybe stable means gravely ill, and of course it all depends on the person looking at the situation, and as a father he probably takes things very seriously, as he should.

However, I think that the error chain isn't as simple as believing a doctor and going. Maybe the SSB could've been installed more robustly, maybe taking it out shitty weather would've revealed that leak sooner and they could have affected repairs before they took off, meaning that in all likelihood the SSB would've been in better shape and they would've been able to communicate with shoreside help without pushing the button on the SSB. That's just one possible "what-if" scenario that could've been different that might have possibly changed the ending of this story.

I'm not following. The SSB installation was typical. It was inside the cabin. Sea water is supposed to stay outside of the cabin. The "leak" was due to sudden catastrophic failure of a section of the deck near the hull joint. Sailing around in rain wouldn't have revealed it. It wasn't there until there was damage.

And frankly, I think that communicating shoreside would have made zero difference. They couldn't have cared for their daughter with the training and materials available. She needed a hospital.

[who_cares]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

I'm not following. The SSB installation was typical. It was inside the cabin. Sea water is supposed to stay outside of the cabin. The "leak" was due to sudden catastrophic failure of a section of the deck near the hull joint. Sailing around in rain wouldn't have revealed it. It wasn't there until there was damage.

And frankly, I think that communicating shoreside would have made zero difference. They couldn't have cared for their daughter with the training and materials available. She needed a hospital.

I'm not talking about sailing around in the rain, I'm talking about going out and getting your **** kicked in a few times in a situation where you have options to bail out, to make sure everything works and you feel absolutely confident about your boat before you cross an ocean where it is very likely that you will get your **** kicked in once or twice where there is no help. Especially if you had made repairs to the deck, near the hull-deck joint. If I was an amateur boat repairer I sure as hell would want to test that work before I went offshore.

[who_cares]

Originally Posted by downunder

Also of interest to note is that virtually all of some inquisitors posts have been on this subject.

Well I can't talk for my fellow "inquisitors" but frankly this is the only subject on this forum that is of any interest me, and I created an account solely to have a discussion on this topic. Just about everything else is booooooorrrrringgggggg....

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by who_cares

Well I can't talk for my fellow "inquisitors" but frankly this is the only subject on this forum that is of any interest me, and I created an account solely to have a discussion on this topic. Just about everything else is booooooorrrrringgggggg....

So in other words...if this thread did not exist we would not be burdened with your "I am right about everything I say", attitude? Members have kindly explained Eric's choices. But you seem to want to make this some sort of analytical HS through a blow by blow assessment of would'a, should'a, could'a.

[Ron Rico]

+1


Sheesh

[Ron Rico]

Originally Posted by who_cares

Well I can't talk for my fellow "inquisitors" but frankly this is the only subject on this forum that is of any interest me, and I created an account solely to have a discussion on this topic. Just about everything else is booooooorrrrringgggggg....

SA is probably where you'll wanna park.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

So in other words...if this thread did not exist we would not be burdened with your "I am right about everything I say", attitude? Members have kindly explained Eric's choices. But you seem to want to make this some sort of analytical HS through a blow by blow assessment of would'a, should'a, could'a.

+2 For some people ignorance is bliss and they happily don't know when they are wrong.

[SVNeko]

Originally Posted by who_cares

Well I can't talk for my fellow "inquisitors" but frankly this is the only subject on this forum that is of any interest me, and I created an account solely to have a discussion on this topic. Just about everything else is booooooorrrrringgggggg....

Wow, that's amazing to me. With all the tremendously useful information on this forum and all the experience available just for the asking, you think the only interesting thing is to line up to beat a dead horse. I should be happy - I seem to have forgotten what non-cruisers can be like. What is a GFY 32 anyway?

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Ron Rico

SA is probably where you'll wanna park.

Roger dat!

Many of us have known Eric since his first posts.

Many of us are thinking, "Eric's a pretty smart guy - If it can happen to him, there but for the grace of God."

I am all for mining the events to see if there is something worth learning. I have a couple of things but I won't beat up Eric about it.

If one joins CF because they groked this is where RH hangs out and they have only joined to dogpile on well they can go... never mind, violation of be nice alert...

And if this thread is the only reason to join CF and everything else is boring, I am shocked.

We can't learn from successes, only from failures?

Sharks in the bloody water....

(It is sad but as he began this adventure one of Eric's first threads here was about fixin' the head on RH at the dock in San Diego. I wonder (sadly) if cutting one of those hoses ultimately ended the adventure...)

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

(It is sad but as he began this adventure one of Eric's first threads here was about fixin' the head on RH at the dock in San Diego. I wonder (sadly) if cutting one of those hoses ultimately ended the adventure...)

"My head sunk my boat"

Boy, that would be a crappy by-line.