Sailing New England to Australia in February

[RTB]

Originally Posted by JulieMac

If the CG is expected to rescue ships off our coasts, does the requirement for filing the equivalent of a flight plan and weather window make sense?

Pilots get a weather briefing before filing a flight plan (two separate things). Pilots get killed because of weather too. Ignore, or take risks with weather, it can cost you with your life.



There is a saying in aviation - "There are old pilots. There are Bold pilots. But there are no old, bold, pilots."
Ralph

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by JulieMac

I'm not sure about that, but I doubt it.

Wouldn't it have been good for the CG to have called the Aussie Embassy in the area before the sailors left? Perhaps they could have been dissuaded from leaving in such hostile conditions, and put on notice their next of kin.

I have no idea of what their visa situation is, but ICE can be pretty merciless WRT to this when your time is up and you are in the U.S. on a boat.

We had some friends we met in Wickford, RI - cruisers from Argentina, whose visas ran into trouble. In January. The had no choice, they set sail for Bermuda. Had a crappy trip but made it safely.

[Evenstar]

I am happy to see that both sailors and all the CG SAR team got back safely.

Though I can't say I am surprised the boat failed quickly.

[boatman61]

Shoot.. how many 'Floaters' have I got to look out for coming down the Portuguese coast now this year..
Glad they made it okay..

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Shoot.. how many 'Floaters' have I got to look out for coming down the Portuguese coast now this year..
Glad they made it okay..

Rainmaker you might want to find, Sedona maybe not so much.

[Jim Cate]

I'm not a pilot, especially not a chopper pilot, but it seems to me that freezing spray conditions are even more of a life threatening hazard to the CG chaps than to the yacht. Bloody bad conditions to be flying in, bloody awful conditions to be jumping into the water for rescuing these ill advised chaps... in my eyes, this is a even more courageous rescue than the famous Rebel Heart incident. Well done, CG!!!

Jim

[Jason Flare]

Does anyone here cross oceans without an epirb?

Does anyone here not expect a CG to rescue them from dangers they themselves choose to put themselves in?

Now we have, "Floaters," boats that were not sinking from which people stepped off.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

Does anyone here cross oceans without an epirb?

Does anyone here not expect a CG to rescue them from dangers they themselves choose to put themselves in?

Now we have, "Floaters," boats that were not sinking from which people stepped off.

Not always, there are places you can sail where you are pretty far from direct rescue. The USCG may be able to put you in touch a passing freighter, but they aren't going to be able to pick you up in a helicopter when you are 1,000 miles from land.

[robert sailor]

Keep one thing in mind, if you are crossing oceans don't expect a helicopter to pick you up if you fire off your epirb unless you are fortunate to be close to shore. If you are out there a thousand miles from now where you best be able to look after yourself until a ship or something else finds you.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

Does anyone here cross oceans without an epirb?

Does anyone here not expect a CG to rescue them from dangers they themselves choose to put themselves in?

Now we have, "Floaters," boats that were not sinking from which people stepped off.

And its about risk management. If I fully prepare my boat, weather route responsibly, and do everything I can to prepare my vessel for the safety of the boat and crew and something goes pear shaped - yes, I'd be very grateful for that rescue.

I would never expect the USCG to rescue me from from a baked boat in February in the middle of a blizzard because I would never leave port in such conditions.

There is timidity, and there is prudence. I am not timid; I am sitting in New Zealand having sailed here in my own boat with my family from the U.S. - one does not cross the Pacific under sail if one is timid.

However I AM prudent; I get out of dodge before it is typhoon/hurricane season, check the weather before I leave port, and make sure my boat is solid and safe before leaving port.

There were so many things possibly wrong with Sedona that any sort of rushed departure isn't going to catch them all - I wouldn't have left to bring that boat to Australia without correcting a lot of them.

By rushing into an unprepared departure into poor weather you are taking needless risks and endangering others. Could that have gotten Sedona home to Australia? Yeah, I think they could have. But leaving the U.S. in better weather with more preparation would have increased the odds.

Instead they left with the odds of close to certain that they'd need to be pulled off the boat.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Keep one thing in mind, if you are crossing oceans don't expect a helicopter to pick you up if you fire off your epirb unless you are fortunate to be close to shore. If you are out there a thousand miles from now where you best be able to look after yourself until a ship or something else finds you.

Absolutely true. Crossing to the Marquesas we were with a pack of other sailboats making the same trip. Good company on daily SSB chats, if something went wrong we had help within a couple of hundred miles. As it was we lost our autopilot and hand steered the last 2,700 miles of the trip anyway...

Going from Tahiti to New Zealand once we got clear of French Polynesia we did not see another vessel or hear another voice on the radio until we were less than 100 miles from NZ - sixteen days without a contact on the AIS or Radar. If we pulled the EPIRB out there the USCG would have diverted shipping to look for us in a best case scenario.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

I have no idea of what their visa situation is, but ICE can be pretty merciless WRT to this when your time is up and you are in the U.S. on a boat.

We had some friends we met in Wickford, RI - cruisers from Argentina, whose visas ran into trouble. In January. The had no choice, they set sail for Bermuda. Had a crappy trip but made it safely.

If they planned before the storm started they could have flown to Ireland (closest and cheapest air destination which would allow for a new 90 days stay), spend a day or two there pubbing and return to US for a new 90 days round. Probably would have set them back a grand or two but sure beats losing the boat (not to mention a chance of losing their lives).

Q: What if I enter on the Visa Waiver Program and then decide I want to stay longer than the 90 days?

A: You cannot extend the time on the Visa Waiver Program. The 90 days also includes any time spent in Canada, Mexico and adjacent Islands. Therefore you cannot cross the border into these areas and then return for another 90 days. You can however ask for re-entry on the Visa Waiver Program if you have left the continent.
Visa Waiver Program | Embassy of the United States Canberra, Australia

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

Absolutely true. Crossing to the Marquesas we were with a pack of other sailboats making the same trip. Good company on daily SSB chats, if something went wrong we had help within a couple of hundred miles. As it was we lost our autopilot and hand steered the last 2,700 miles of the trip anyway...

Going from Tahiti to New Zealand once we got clear of French Polynesia we did not see another vessel or hear another voice on the radio until we were less than 100 miles from NZ - sixteen days without a contact on the AIS or Radar. If we pulled the EPIRB out there the USCG would have diverted shipping to look for us in a best case scenario.

I had to chuckle about the hand steering. We had the same thing happen to us returning home via Hawaii but it was more like about 1500 miles of hand steering for us not 2700. Needless to say every boat since has had a vane and autopilot except for our current ride which has a back up autopilot. I'll never forget that experience. By the way we sailed a similar route to you to NZ and had a similar experience, lots of boats to begin with but really thinned out as you traveled west. The next time we went to the Marshall Islands rather than NZ, a good experience.

[Capecoder]

Coast Guard saves father, son on sailboat during blizzard - Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I had to chuckle about the hand steering. We had the same thing happen to us returning home via Hawaii but it was more like about 1500 miles of hand steering for us not 2700. Needless to say every boat since has had a vane and autopilot except for our current ride which has a back up autopilot. I'll never forget that experience. By the way we sailed a similar route to you to NZ and had a similar experience, lots of boats to begin with but really thinned out as you traveled west. The next time we went to the Marshall Islands rather than NZ, a good experience.

We're fortunate that we have two teenagers on board, so four of us got to spell off on the steering throughout watches. We worked the watches out so there were two on at any time (one could sleep in the cockpit) for three hour watches, so they could switch off and no one had to drive more than an hour at a stretch in the middle of the night. I'd love to have a vane (next boat will have one!), but there isn't a terribly practical way to put one on our boat.

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.