Sailing New England to Australia in February

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Bill Balme

(Handshake in the helicopter seems to indicate differently however - chalk it up to another exciting adventure for the pair?)

What is the correct etiquette after getting rescued?

[tartansail]

Originally Posted by hoppy

What is the correct etiquette after getting rescued?

Dunno what Emily Post would say, but I'd probably start by shaking the hands of the rescuers, thanking them, and apologizing for exposing them to such dangerous conditions.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by tartansail

Dunno what Emily Post would say, but I'd probably start by shaking the hands of the rescuers, thanking them, and apologizing for exposing them to such dangerous conditions.

The guy by the door was a bit busy sending the basket down to the swimmer.

It was probably the smartest decision they made to shake each others hands rather than distract the rescuers.

Once the swimmer was back on board, the basket secured and the door shut, then it was time to give thanks.

[Julie Mor]

Whatever compels people to do things that the majority see as extremely dangerous, or worse, baffles me. I remember following Bounty after it left port and most comments were in the order of "Are they crazy?!?" That was 2012 and anyone with access to a computer or a TV knew a superstorm was heading up the East Coast of the US. Weather forecasting is even better today.

Neptune (the name the Weather Channel gave this most recent storm) was well documented and, like Hurricane Sandy, enough information was easily available that would have told anyone planning to sail out into this storm that it's not advisable unless you have the right boat, the right equipment and the right crew. Sedona failed on at least two accounts.

I have to question the experience of the son in this. When you don't know a lot, you can make bad decisions more easily. When the son said, “We’ve never done anything like this. Dad’s not even a sailor, but he’s a quick study,” that told me he was pretty clueless about sailing the open ocean. You don't take a 66 year-old man with no sailing experience as your only crew on a semi-circumnavigation, no matter how much of a quick study he is.

So I'm chalking this event up to gross inexperience, coupled with a large dose of overconfidence. A dangerous combination.

[Ishmael]

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.

The distinction to be made is that the Sunderland TEAM took a calculated, educated RISK that didn't pan out in what was otherwise a sound, "safe" (everything's relative, right?), well-coordinated effort. The father/son Aussie team's "plan" (or lack thereof) was destined to fail on a wide range of issues.

[Coastal]

Some more details here on the scope & effort it took to manage this rescue & words from the CG. It's truly remarkable that no lives were lost.

From Nantucket News:

Watchstanders at the command center directed an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod to launch. Faced with worsening storm conditions, the aircrew launched successfully, but due to ice and low visibility the HC-144 Ocean Sentry support plane was unable to launch.

Meanwhile, the command center issued an emergency request broadcast to ships in the area. The crew of the 600-foot motor vessel Maersk Katalin, about 40 miles away at the time, set a course toward the scene and agreed to provide communications support, the release states.

After navigating through low visibility and near hurricane-force winds, the aircrew arrived on-scene at 8:48 a.m., and hoisted the men to safety. They landed safely at Air Station Cape Cod at 10:50 a.m., and transferred both men to local EMS to be evaluated for cold weather injuries. None were reported.

“Given the severity of this storm, this rescue was a major effort and we are all relieved it ended as it did,” said Lt. j.g. Tyler Dewechter, MH-60 pilot and public affairs officer at Air Station Cape Cod. “We are glad we were prepared for this storm and could render aid -- and also continue to urge mariners to stay safe and heed the cautions and advisories of winter storm warnings.”

Initial on-scene weather conditions were nine-foot seas and building, with 40-mph winds. By the time the crew was recovered, conditions had deteriorated to 25-foot seas and winds of nearly 60 mph. Seas are forecasted to build to 34 feet into the evening.

[Coastal]

And In Australian News:

Jason is an experienced sailor and his father a coastal patroller, but neither had attempted such an ambitious trip before. They had spent a couple of weeks in Rhode Island doing up the boat, built 19 years ago.

“The operator of the Sedona requested he and his father be removed from the vessel due to the degrading weather,” the Coast Guard said. Its rescue crew battled low visibility and “near hurricane-force winds” for three hours to get to the Sedona, adrift in 1C air temperatures.

Jason’s sister-in-law, Rebecca McGlashan, said yesterday: “It’s a relief they’re OK, they’re very lucky to be alive.”

Ms McGlashan said the pair were still in the US waiting to find out what had become of their eBay purchase, but would be coming home “as soon as possible”.

Full article here:

No Cookies | Herald Sun

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

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 ;-))

I understand from reading one of the articles they were delayed in their departure waiting for an electrician to show up. Something to do with their autopilot or possibly installing their wind generator.

No mention of self-steering gear and none visible in any of the pictures. Two guys, one with no experience. Hand-steering.....

[gah964]

What I don't get they where boarded by the CG Friday night and they where still sent otw The CG has every right to send you back to port they knew of the near approaching hurricane like conditions. I can bet you the CG was tracking and knew they would need to send the airlift.

[Jon Eisberg]

OK, the gross stupidity of this endeavor goes without saying, it's impossible to understate, I think we all get that...

So, then, the thing that bothers me most, is this:

Originally Posted by Coastal

The CG said that we cannot see their AIS on Marine Traffic because they are out of range. They boarded them yesterday & felt that their boat & experience was adequate to make the trip to Bermuda. I don't know anything more other than to say that the CG didn't seem overly concerned, to which I was greatly relieved.

Coastal, where are you getting this info, is it first-hand? Did the CG really just perform an inspection, then in effect send them on their way, with little more than a polite "Have a nice trip..." ?

Do you know for a fact that the CG was actually aware of their plans to depart when they did? This is one aspect of the story that seems inconceivable to me... Even after being aware of their departure, seems to me the CG could have done a better job of trying to talk them down from that window ledge, no?

If this is really true, and I were the commander of that Air Rescue Unit based up in Sandwich, I'd certainly be having a little 'chat' with my colleagues down in Newport, in the wake of this debacle...

;-)

[Coastal]

And from our friends over here:

What were these people thinking - Rescue off Nantucket - Cruising Anarchy - Sailing Anarchy Forums

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by Delancey

I understand from reading one of the articles they were delayed in their departure waiting for an electrician to show up. Something to do with their autopilot or possibly installing their wind generator.

No, in these write-ups, a "loss of power" invariably refers to a problem with the primary means of propulsion aboard a sailing yacht, today...

Namely, the engine...

It's almost always AFTER noting that the engine quit, there might be some mention made of the sails "breaking", or the mast "snapping"...

;-)

[sparrow409]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Do you know for a fact that the CG was actually aware of their plans to depart when they did? This is one aspect of the story that seems inconceivable to me... Even after being aware of their departure, seems to me the CG could have done a better job of trying to talk them down from that window ledge, no?

If this is really true, and I were the commander of that Air Rescue Unit based up in Sandwich, I'd certainly be having a little 'chat' with my colleagues down in Newport, in the wake of this debacle...

;-)

Just recently saw a thread with comments from the USCG about when they would actually stop a trip. My sense is that they would much rather pick people up out of the sea(their job) than become the determiners of who is allowed to go offshore and who isn't. That said they do occasionally stop people- But in this case I doubt that the USCG had been given a specific departure time. If the Sedona crew just told the USCG "as soon as we get a weather window" as their departure date, the Coasties would have given them the all clear. My guess is that you just have to sound mildly sane, very little drool, limited twitching, etc.Maybe they should also start administering an IQ test...

Anybody know if they left with that inflatable on deck? I'm surprised they didn't just decide to tow it... It sure must have made working on the foredeck fun!

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by sparrow409

Anybody know if they left with that inflatable on deck? I'm surprised they didn't just decide to tow it... It sure must have made working on the foredeck fun!

Have you ever tried towing an inflatable in heavy winds? It does not work, certainly not if it is light.

[Julie Mor]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

No, in these write-ups, a "loss of power" invariably refers to a problem with the primary means of propulsion aboard a sailing yacht, today...

Namely, the engine...

It's almost always AFTER noting that the engine quit, there might be some mention made of the sails "breaking", or the mast "snapping"...

;-)

The only racing I've ever done is Wednesday night Beer Can races but I always believed any boat that does open ocean racing has a full compliment of sails, for any type of weather. I thought I read the former owner raced Sedona so when I read the story about the rescue and torn sails I thought, "Why didn't they hoist a trisail?"

I've read a number of books about open ocean sailing, including a couple about the 1998 Sydney-Hobart. Some boats were in far worse shape than Sedona yet the crew saw no reason to call a Mayday or set off the EPIRB.

I realize the crew of Sedona was no racing crew but you'd think anyone taking on a semi-circumnavigation would have proper storm sails. The day they left I would have thought a double reefed main and a storm jib, at most, would be ready to fly before departing the harbor. Could they have not been aware of the conditions?