Rebel Heart's Contribution to the Cruising Community

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Because perceptions and truth never totally coincide.

Exactly right. For example, when sailing close hauled with the boat heeled over, the passenger may be thinking the boat is about to sink while the helmsman is wondering if he'll be able to bury the rail.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by 3000

Agreed. Half-truths, exaggerations and cover-ups, as well as blame- & attention-deflection attempts, always make the truth that much more exciting.


There have already been inconsistencies between the blog and the California Air National Guard press conference. Why is this?

maybe they had a troll on the boat,trolls have been know to come up with some pretty far fetched stories to gain attention................

here i googled it for you
In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

[3000]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Because perceptions and truth never totally coincide.

Does "saving face" ever come into play?

[3000]

Originally Posted by atoll

maybe they had a troll on the boat,trolls have been know to come up with some pretty far fetched stories to gain attention................

here i googled it for you
In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response ...
Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So those with perhaps a different take on a story are automatically trolls?

[CatInHand]

Originally Posted by 3000

There have already been inconsistencies between the blog and the California Air National Guard press conference. Why is this?

Your mistake is trying to equate a blog to a legal document. How Charlotte remembers the event is her own story. Completely pointless on your part to try to make it anything more than that.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by 3000

So those with perhaps a different take on a story are automatically trolls?

no i pretty sure there was a troll on the boat

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by 3000

So those with perhaps a different take on a story are automatically trolls?

Five posts in and you have my stamp of Troll approval

[CatInHand]

This appears to be the same person that's been harassing them on their facebook page:

Bibby Miller Why is this account different from the Coast Guard press interview? If the electric pump was functional and the boat took on minuscule amounts of water and was otherwise hunky dory, why did the the NG have to manually pump water "every few hours" from the "cramped cabin [that] poured with seawater"?

[meme]

This adds a whole new dimension to this saga.

There are three sides to every story, his side, her side,
and the truth that lies somewhere in between.

Originally Posted by Doodles

New posting from Rebel Heart:

Rebel Heart - Charlotte's Blog - Overwhelmed, Shocked,Â*Saddened

Let the nitpicking begin … she says "they helped us manually pump our bilge every few hours" and "They slept for three nights in a tiny, cramped cabin that poured seawater with every breaking wave."

This doesn't sound like what I heard on the press conference video by the rescue crew.

[boatman61]

I've not read all of this thread.. to me its 'Much ado about nothing..'
If they'd made it there would have been folk queuing up to sing their praise's....
**** Happens.. and there's no safeguard against 'Murphy's Law..'
Next thing folk will be calling for compulsory appendectomies before crossings.. or Tonsil removal...
Get a life folks.. we live in a dangerous world.. even on land doing day to day things.. would a car crash have raised as much controversy..?
'Shock.. Horror..' How could he even dream of taking a 1yr old in an SUV... send him down for life...


As I've learnt the hard way.. going 'Public' is not as good an idea as it seems... but its still great fun...

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I've not read all of this thread.. to me its 'Much ado about nothing..'

Lol. Then go read it. In particular between the lines.

And the thread that was locked.

Actually, don't bother. Its all grist for the mill and now been taken over by the forum nutters.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

I'm glad you brought up the Bumfuzzles in reference or contrast to Rebel Heart. I read the BF blog and was pretty entertained by their blasé approach to preparation. As long as the next destination had pizza, they were good to go. LOL

For the most part, they got a lot of disdain and ridicule from most on CF, yet they managed to circumnavigate without any major mishaps or injuries. That's pretty significant given their lack of experience and qualifications.

Now contrast that to the outcome of Rebel Heart, which to quote most of the posters who've weighed in, "Was as well prepared as anyone can be to cross oceans." They only made it 900 mi and then got rescued. I'm no expert on sailing, that's why I came here, to learn. But anyone with any common sense will realize that taking off for the other side of the Pacific with a bby and a 3 yr old is essentially single handing it. I don't care if your wife is superwoman, feeding and changing diapers on 2 babies is a full time job, there isn't time or energy left for her to stand a watch.

I'm all for kids traveling, I traveled most of my life and it was a very eye opening experience for me and I've never forgotten it. But we didn't take off with 2 babies in a boat. If I had 2 kids, I'd have waited until the youngest was 7 or 8, so neither of us had to carry any kids as we went sightseeing. They might even be able to stand short watches during the day. But there is no way I'd burden one parent with that much work, then hit the high seas.

I do have a lot of questions as to why a lot of this unfolded, apart from the kids. Why didn't she use Scop patches before they left to prevent seasickness? Why didn't he trim the sails for a smoother ride from the beginning, instead of waiting for days until she asked him to do something about it? Why couldn't the boat have been saved? Etc, etc.


As for Eric drawing more people into the cruising lifestyle, I highly doubt it. This is the population that elected Obama based on sound bites and Twitter feeds, not substance and information. For the most part, non-cruisers have roundly condemned them for their decisions. They are not being held up as role models by the lame stream mafia media. Most people are pointing at their rescue and saying, "I could have told you that it was going to end like this, and I don't even own a boat."

If they had successfully crossed a couple of oceans and the kids grew up strong and independent and they had a sun and fun filled blog showing them on pristine beaches, roasting marshmallows and strumming guitars and having the times of their lives on remote atolls, then yes, I could see them inspiring others to follow in their footsteps.

But it's going to take a genius at PR to spin this rescue into anything but an aborted disaster that ended a short 900 mi off the coast, especially with the negative (or at the very least, non-cruising friendly) entries on Charlotte's blog. It's very obvious she bought into this because it was his dream, and once they got knee deep into the reality of it, she wanted to fly back to her sister's place. I'm not going to argue whether she really meant that or not, she posted it for all of the world to see, so it had better be the truth, or that opens up a whole different can of worms.

I think the best they can salvage from this at this point is to take her very good writing talents, hire a media expert, and try to get some exposure on the talk show circuit, then pitch this as a potential book to the publishers, followed by a script and movies rights. They could easily buy a better boat (how about a 50' cat this time?) and sail off into the sunset with older kids, plenty of money and a lot less seasickness.

Obviously, you entirely missed my point about the Bumfuzzles. Their attitude was blase, as you say. And, they seem to have launched a few imitators that might not be as lucky. Enough said on that.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

I think you raise two important points. You believe the risk outweighs the benefits. They did not. I agree with them. I think that the thousands of successful crossing with young children indicates that many other parents also agree with them.

People have brought up the memory thing a few times. The 1 and 3 year olds will not remember these years. That doesn't mean that these years aren't critical to their development. We don't leave our toddlers in dark rooms all day just because they won't remember when they grow up. We enrich their lives as much as we can because we know these years are formative of who they will be when they get older.

What could be better for a baby or a toddler than having both parents full time, playing outside every day, experiencing new sounds, smells, foods and people. Swimming and exploring the beach. Surely parents can give more love and joy to their children if they are happy and content with their lives and not giving up their dreams of travel to live in the suburbs instead because they are afraid of the perceived risks of following their dreams?

I agree with you about all of those benefits. In regards to babies, research suggests that they absorb everything they come in contact with, so the recommendation was to use a large vocabulary around them, not baby talk, to give them an early start on vocabulary. I suppose that could be true, in which case being on a boat with just their parents most of the time and being around conversations that focus on limited topics might not be the best. But that's not the major concern.

I think it boils down to 2 babies being too much work. While they didn't envision it, the fact remains that the children became a full time job. Whether it was seasickness, or another illness, or even if the kids didn't get sick, they're a full time job. So Charlotte's doing full time daycare and Eric is single handing it. Any little mechanical issue is now a bigger deal. The proof is in the pudding, as soon as the rescuers boarded, Eric had already made up his mind they were going to scuttle it. That's a final solution that indicates you not only want to get off of it, you don't want it back.

I'm not saying people shouldn't cruise the world with kids, but a baby is a lot of work and 2 babies is a LOT of work. My mom waited 9 yrs for the 2nd one, so that she could use me to change the baby's diapers. How's that for planning? LOL

[transmitterdan]

RH voyage has not enough statistical significance to change anything about cruising. It is possible to make no mistakes and still fail. (Paraphrased from Star Trek NG "Peak Performance" episode.) Similarly it is possible to make many errors and still reach the goal. Trying to draw conclusions about your own fate from tiny data sets is pointless. Worse than pointless if you believe there is a lesson to be learned from a single event. It's like obsessing over a lottery winner in a futile attempt to figure out their secret to winning.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by Horror Hotel

Really good point about the Bumfuzzles, they got trashed on hard from this form in particular, but they made it without issue or disaster.

I think the Bumfuzzles are great, Pats care less attitude is representative of our generations get out and do it style.

Pat, Eric and I are all roughly the same age. Most here ridiculed Pat, but now won't stand to hear a bad word about Eric. Says a lot about being part of the "in crowd " around here. And about age gap as well.

Apples and oranges. The Bumfuzzles reveled in their ignorance and virtually promoted it as a cruising alternative. Sorry, I just don't buy that comparison.