Sailing New England to Australia in February

[Yukon Cornelius]

Originally Posted by savoir

Correct.


Locals might remember when the channel had a huge dogleg near the airport. How was I to know that the can directly in front of me wasn't the next mark ?

umm, read the chart?

[Suijin]

This story follows a pretty familiar path of people picking up a well-worn race boat on the notion that it must have "the right stuff" for going offshore. Race boats are ridden hard and put away wet, and usually maintained just enough to keep them going fast, which is often in direct conflict with them being rugged, particularly if the owner is not well-heeled. As far as sail inventories go, as someone pointed out yes, they may have 10 sails but often only one or two of them are usable as racing can cut a sail's serviceable life by +75% or more. Looks like the main was older laminate which tells me that there was not even a decent delivery main in the inventory. Oy vey.

The fact that local sailors who know the boat would not have taken it even to Block Island without a major refit says pretty much everything one needs to know.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

There's a brief post-rescue interview with NBC here:

After Coast Guard Rescue, Australian Defends Doomed Sea Trip - NBC News

Interesting tidbit is:
"That boat, tracked by the Coast Guard, was, at last update Monday morning, floating somewhere off the coast of Delaware."

I believe the word "somewhere" is being used rather loosely, there ;-) I read that as being at the same latitude as Delaware, perhaps?

Given the winds we've experienced here on the Jersey shore since the beginning of that storm, I find it hard to imagine how she might have made any significant progress back to the west of where she was abandoned...

[Wrong]

[QUOTE=Evenstar;1749799]

Tahiti straight to NZ was a crappy way to go, I'd not do it that way again. No BAD weather, nothing over 35 knots, but it was upwind most of the way with some foul current. Just unpleasant, and SLOOW...took longer than the Galapagos to Nuka Hiva trip since half the time we were pointed at New Caledonia and the other half at Antarctica.

What influenced your decision to skip the Cooks, Tonga and Fiiji en route to New Zealand? Especially so near to the beginning of the storm season in the area? How many other cruisers you know of have sailed a direct route from Tahiti to New Zealand?

[sparrow409]

In todays Newport Daily News- McGlashan is quoted as to his mental state-

"The nicest way I can put it, is a bit pissed off after everything I went through to get this to happen," he said of acquiring the boat and planning the journey. "then to have so many problems, I got to get my head around it all."

He also is, apparently, going to stick around to try and salvage the boat-

In the lengthy article he manages NOT to work in a thanks to those who saved his ass... Maybe when he salvages 'Sedona' he'll rename her 'Hubris'.

[El Pinguino]

[QUOTE=Wrong;1751508]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

How many other cruisers you know of have sailed a direct route from Tahiti to New Zealand?

Me?.... OK I went Bora Bora/ Tonga/NZ but the result was pretty much the same as Evenstar's experience. Bugger of a trip ( westerlies before after and during the stop at Tonga..trade winds my left foot!) ...would have been easier eastabout........

[tartansail]

Originally Posted by sparrow409

In todays Newport Daily News- McGlashan is quoted as to his mental state-

"The nicest way I can put it, is a bit pissed off after everything I went through to get this to happen," he said of acquiring the boat and planning the journey. "then to have so many problems, I got to get my head around it all."

He also is, apparently, going to stick around to try and salvage the boat-

In the lengthy article he manages NOT to work in a thanks to those who saved his ass... Maybe when he salvages 'Sedona' he'll rename her 'Hubris'.

Here's the article: Rescued sailors are doing OK - NewportRI.com l News and information for Newport, Rhode Island: Page One

Hard to believe (OK, maybe not so hard) that he didn't have a word of appreciation for the rescue efforts of the CG.

[El Pinguino]

Back on track... I think these people drank the 'buy a cheap boat in the US and take it home' kool-aid. A few years ago with A$1 buying over US $1 boats were cheap and it seemed every man and his dog were flying from Oz to Florida. Now with the A$ south of 80c not such an attractive idea.

And yes...you are meant to thank your rescuers...serious bad Karma otherwise.

[Cormorant]

I think he has thanked the CG a few times. There was this in the NBC piece:

"Recovering Monday at a Coast Guard base near Falmouth, Massachusetts, Jason McGlashan, who works in the mining industry, said his only regret was forcing the rescuers, whom he called 'true professionals,' to brave such dangerous conditions."

And I seem to recall his gratitude expressed in some of the earlier reports.

Now, as for salvaging the boat, I bet they'll get a nice 16-foot Boston Whaler on Craigslist to go after it. . . .

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

Now, as for salvaging the boat, I bet they'll get a nice 16-foot Boston Whaler on Craigslist to go after it. . . .

Naah mate... gotta be a 'Tinny'.. go anywhere in a Tinny...

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Funny thing is.. had they made it they'd have been hailed the 'New Mottesiers'..
It's a 50/50 crap shoot.. and they crapped out.. seen it in better boats with much more experienced crew.. hell a 2.5 million$ boat did not make it across either and that had a ton of back-ups.
Sails tear.. electrics fail and unless you can crank.. there goes the engine.. from there on its make and mend your way.. if you can.. or hit the button.

50/50? More like 90/10 in favour of failure. And, given the forecast I have to wonder how many sail boats regardless of design and size would be owned by sailors willing to take the risk?

[Wrong]

[QUOTE=El Pinguino;1751540]

Originally Posted by Wrong

Me?.... OK I went Bora Bora/ Tonga/NZ but the result was pretty much the same as Evenstar's experience. Bugger of a trip ( westerlies before after and during the stop at Tonga..trade winds my left foot!) ...would have been easier eastabout........

Which goes to show odds for encountering exceptional conditions on some routes - especially when in the convergence zone - are pretty high. My experience was more typical until sailing Fiiji to New Caledonia en route to Australia. Then there were the pesky headwinds that didn't help in any way to ameliorate the fact I had a chronically seasick passenger who was also antisocial... Fortunately she had a French passport which simplified offloading her in Noumea.

Here's a short clip of conditions I encountered after leaving Niue and resuming the trip after being hove-to overnight.
http://youtu.be/q-qO13u4xVE

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

"The pair plan to retrieve the 13 metre Sedona, which remains afloat, and have it shipped back to Australia.

I think these guys have totally lost their minds, on the somewhat optimistic assumption that they had minds to lose. They can have no clue as to the cost of sending a boat to Australia. I can only conclude that they fall into the double digit IQ category. Their past and current behavior certainly supports that.

They will spend more than the boat is worth to recover it.

They will spend many times more than the boat is worth to ship it someplace.

We explored this, got quotes to move our boat (admittedly larger at 53') from Australia to Europe. Quotes ranged from $75K to $110K.

[Exile]

Given the forecast warnings, this is the quote from Jason (from the article linked a few posts back) that I find the most bizarre:

“When we left Rhode Island, we had a Coast Guard boat board us and go over everything,” he responded. “They were happy and thought we would easily outrun the storm. But with so many things going wrong, this wasn’t possible.”

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

They will spend more than the boat is worth to recover it.

He seems to be saying that the boat was insured!

If it was I'm sure the insurers will just pay him out , from the petty cash.