Sailing New England to Australia in February

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Their stated destination is their home town Port Macquarie which is on the EAST coast, half way between Sydney & Brisbane which is another 2,500nm beyond Perth.

Either they are TOTALLY clueless or they were having a bit of fun with the reporter and perhaps sailing forums that pick up on the story.

Ok, I backed the wrong option....

I suppose it was better to get rescued at the start of the journey than to wait until the southern ocean to need to be rescued.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Don't start on Sunderland bashing. Not in this thread. It's not comparable in the least.

I don't know about it being not comparable. She got rescued in the Southern Indian ocean in June and I guess was planning to be south of you late in June. Sounds like equally poor timing.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I don't know about it being not comparable. She got rescued in the Southern Indian ocean in June and I guess was planning to be south of you late in June. Sounds like equally poor timing.

Nope - this boat was only going to take 6 weeks on passage.

That said I know of two owners who spent a 'long' time preparing their boats in Westernport, Vic, Oz.
Several years apart.
Both left bound east across the Paddock towards Gabo.... singlehanded...both lost at sea before Eden,NSW.....

[savoir]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I don't know about it being not comparable. She got rescued in the Southern Indian ocean in June and I guess was planning to be south of you late in June. Sounds like equally poor timing.

It's totally comparable. You want to be out of the Southern Ocean by 1 May. Abby should have known that and if she didn't the people advising her should. Jessica Watson was in the Southern Ocean in late April and got pounded something terrible.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by savoir

It's totally comparable. You want to be out of the Southern Ocean by 1 May. Abby should have known that and if she didn't the people advising her should. Jessica Watson was in the Southern Ocean in late April and got pounded something terrible.

It's not comparable at all. You guys have taken 'one' issue of the time of sailing to compare them and that's just rediculous.

Abby Sunderland team did a calculated and thoroughly considered plan. It was delayed due to break downs. No, it did not succeed, but you can't reasonably claim the decision to proceed was anything like this Australian father and son.

Abby's boat whilst a number question the choice on the armchair forums was not purchased on eBay for $10k.

Abby Sunderland didn't deliberately head off from land into weather that even on this thread before they left was being seriously questioned as not being safe.

Abby Sunderland was in a round the word circumnavigation, this Aussie couple were simply delivering it to Australia.

Etc etc etc. it's not comparable in any way!

[hoppy]

They both made a poor choice of when to go and that makes them comparable...

Clearly the Aussies were poorly prepared in both the boat and the planning, whilst Abbey was well prepared.

You perhaps could almost excuse the Aussies because of naivety and stupidity, whilst Abbeys team would have know the risks of leaving when they did but chose to still go after delays because of the record.

[savoir]

Kindly spare us your facepalms.

Abby knew she would be in the Southern Ocean in June but her shore team advised her to carry on. They should have advised her to quit. The decision to carry on was quite deliberate. Jessica Watson chose to carry on some 6 weeks earlier and was lucky to make it. She also should have quit but her shore boss was a maniac.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by savoir

Kindly spare us your facepalms.

Abby knew she would be in the Southern Ocean in June but her shore team advised her to carry on. They should have advised her to quit. The decision to carry on was quite deliberate. Jessica Watson chose to carry on some 6 weeks earlier and was lucky to make it. She also should have quit but her shore boss was a maniac.

Exactly, not comparable just like I said
:

:bigg rin:

[savoir]

Here is Jessica having fun in the Southern Ocean around 1 May give or take a few days. Yeehaa !

[CHM]

Tragic but predictable outcome. At least they survived. I think their decision to get underway represents their lack of experience and basic skills. Nothing less than stupid.


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[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by savoir

Attachment 97208



Here is Jessica having fun in the Southern Ocean around 1 May give or take a few days. Yeehaa !

Dude! That's a now quite famous picture by Brett Costello who one a Walkley award for it. It's not in the Southern Ocean. I think it was off the East coast of Tasmania approaching the finish.

[Ryan H]

[QUOTE=Mirage Gecko;1750070]From a different perspective try this.
I don't know the area they are in also no nothing about the weather other than what I read on this thread.But from that limited info seems pretty dumb to have a crack in those conditions considering boat ,personal experience of the crew etc as we know it.
But what I would find interesting to know if other boats where in the vicinity at the same time and if so how did they get on?
Chris.[/QU

We're pretty close. Sitting in about 8" of ice plus 6'-9' of snow. This was a picture from the day before that last storm. Can't see the boats, the dock, or the space between them. got another two feet on saturday on top of whats in the picture. Recent high of 1°f on sunday, in the -20's with wind chill. My guess is they just couldnt stand the weather and tried to escape. Still scratching my head as to how though, if I could make it to open water I'd be tempted about now too. :-P

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[Mirage Gecko]

[QUOTE=Ryan H;1750153]

Originally Posted by Mirage Gecko

From a different perspective try this.
I don't know the area they are in also no nothing about the weather other than what I read on this thread.But from that limited info seems pretty dumb to have a crack in those conditions considering boat ,personal experience of the crew etc as we know it.
But what I would find interesting to know if other boats where in the vicinity at the same time and if so how did they get on?
Chris.[/QU

We're pretty close. Sitting in about 8" of ice plus 6'-9' of snow. This was a picture from the day before that last storm. Can't see the boats, the dock, or the space between them. got another two feet on saturday on top of whats in the picture. Recent high of 1°f on sunday, in the -20's with wind chill. My guess is they just couldnt stand the weather and tried to escape. Still scratching my head as to how though, if I could make it to open water I'd be tempted about now too. :-P

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Yeah OK now I get it.Bloody Aussies

[Bill Balme]

On Friday when I found out about the plans of these two I was at first shocked at the stupidity of the thing - then someone on here posted that they thought it was all just a complete wind up - and that some gullible news reporter had been trapped. That rang true to me - I just knew the Aussies wouldn't be that stupid.

I'm dumbfounded today to hear they had to get taken off the boat. Absolute idiots. No excuse and I certainly hope they have zero self esteem left so they don't try the same ridiculous thing again. (Handshake in the helicopter seems to indicate differently however - chalk it up to another exciting adventure for the pair?)

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by savoir

The boat was floating on its lines, the mast and boom were intact.

Oh well.

Looks like the leech of the main might have blown out, there's a lot of flapping going on back there... What a shocker, that the sails on a 43' ex-raceboat purchased for $10K might be anything less than bulletproof, eh? The report also states they "lost power" (invariably, seems to be the initial failure in a cascading series on virtually all sailing yachts abandoned these days ;-)) You probably couldn't not have possibly carried enough Racor filter elements to keep clear fuel flowing from that fuel tank, on a boat that had been sitting inactive for years...

I have no problem with them calling for Mommy when they did... Frankly, it's probably the only smart decision they ever made... Had they waited much longer, they may not have made it, seems a very good chance they would not have survived another night at sea... I doubt they would have been capable of beating back into those conditions to Nantucket, sailing that thing upwind into 50 knots would have been brutal,, if not impossible, and easily could have led to a dismasting or other serious failure. Heaving-to or lying ahull would have only put them further offshore, closer to the limit of the operational range of the CG helo... Given the situation they had put themselves in, I think they chose the only realistic option left to them, at the right time...