They're back - Rebel Heart

[vlathom]

Originally Posted by philiosophy

I was there and knew many people who were getting ready to make the same crossing. The were a lovely and very social family. It struck me as odd tho, while other Captains were working long hours preparing their boats. Checking and rechecking their lists nervous they might miss something, the Rebel Heat Captain seemed nonchallant and not at all concerned. Perhaps they are better off living on land.

That image of the captain lounging around, while other captains were scurrying around getting their boats ready for sailing the Pacific, is so damning.

[Chaos One]

Amen to that!!!

[Stu Jackson]

Insightful and beautifully written.


Thanks.


Worth repeating in the quote.

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

Since this sorry event happened they have been avoiding the real issues with their complaints of parent shaming. No doubt they have encountered parent shaming, which is unfortunate, but it is a distraction that I believe they have embraced in order to avoid the discussion of their bad choices. Cruisers Forum members are less likely to criticize their parental skills so one might think they would come back here, where they were active members, to discuss the incident but they chose not to. At some level I think they are avoiding confronting their errors.

They claimed in the article "We were well-prepared and experienced sailors, who had a vessel full of redundancies". I have no reason to doubt that they believe this but it is patently false. They lived aboard and sailed their boat in the waters of southern California, a relatively benign environment (the odd thunderstorm or Santa Anna notwithstanding). From what I remember the only passage he had ever done was the downwind run down Baja to Cabo, which she couldn't do due to her pregnancy. They had no experience working together offshore for a 1000 miles, which is a minimum for doing a first ocean crossing. Apparently she had no passage experience. These were novice cruisers, not "experienced sailors", and their failure to see themselves as such is at the root of the problem. Cruising gets easier with experience but the first passages tend to be more demanding, physically and mentally, as one learns how to do it; had they actually had that experience they might have been better prepared. By all accounts the boat was not fit for an ocean crossing, and discussion of the child's illness distracts from the fact there were multiple significant failures, including continually shipping water and an unclear steering issue. Had the child not been sick they would have been lucky to make it to French Polynesia, 3000 miles away - and that should have been obvious to them before they left (it seems it was to observers). Of course with the child so sick getting help was the right thing to do.

She points out that other couples cruise with children, even infants such as theirs. This is the "I'm as good as them" argument that pops up here from the occasional novice. The few cruisers I have met with infants were (really) experienced cruisers first, who had mastered passage making before bringing a child into cruising. And they tended to not be moving far in the first year, much less crossing the South Pacific. To say that "if they can do it so can I" ignores the reality of the great differences in experience: master mariners can do things safely that novices can't. A touch of humility might have gone a long ways to avoiding this mess.

I do not intend to offend the Kaufmans, and am happy to think they are the wonderful people that others have said they are. I don't agree with the parent shaming, and do agree that using the EPIRB to call for help for their child was the right thing to do. But we should learn the appropriate lessons here, which fundamentally are about novices in an unseaworthy boat attempting to make a passage that they were not prepared to make. Also, it seems that they did so in part for reasons of schedules and money - things that Neptune cares not a whit about. Go when ready, and not a moment before.

Greg

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Minggat

I was with the same satellite communication service at the time. The simple things that they couldn’t get right with my account were infuriating. But you bypass that component of the incident to exalt yourself as the intellectual superior.

Their satellite communication service problems were but one link in the accident chain.

[donradcliffe]

I was in the Galapagos one day when a giant ship came within about 6 miles of the island. It turned out it had been diverted to evacuate a 6 month old baby off a French Boat about halfway to the Marquesas, and came as close they dared without proper charts to drop off mother and baby. The father continued on, while mother and baby flew to Paris after a day in the island hospital (and 2-3 days in the ship's sick bay).

The admiral, who is a nurse, heard that the boat had left a few days after the baby had recovered from a case of vomiting, fever, and diarrhea. It came back after a few days at sea, and the baby became seriously dehydrated. The boat only had a VHF, but they raised other cruisers who came to help. The other boats didn't have the medical equipment or knowledge to heal the baby, but they did have SSBs and called for help.

The admiral told me that the French couple had made a serious mistake in leaving before the baby was better than well, as babies under a year can become emergencies very quickly.

I don't know the situation on the French boat, but I do know the mother on Rebel Heart was not well, due to seasickness and stress. I also know that babies get stressed if their mother is not well. Likewise, a wife picks up on her husband's stress and fear.

As far as the Rebel Heart being not sufficiently prepared, the passage they were on is not called the Milk Run for nothing. I have no doubt that the boat would have made it to the Marquesas if the baby had not gotten sick. However, a shakedown cruise of a few days offshore would have shown them the shortcomings in the boat and particularly the crew. In contrast, I know of one young couple who sailed across the Pacific before they had two babies, then continued around the world with no dramas.

[carstenb]

You don't know what yhou don't know - which is why cruisers facing their first passage generally check, recheck, then recheck again every single thing on the boat. When they get done doing all that - they check one more time.

We certainly did and we never felt we had checked enough. This despite Having several "shorter" passages, 4 days over the North Sea, 6 days over the Biscay, 7 days out to the Canaries behind us.

Before each of those passages, we also checked, double-checked, triple-checked everything. Now after many passages, some almost 4 weeks, we still check and double-check everything

The Kaufmans left Mexico in a boat that was not ready for a passage of that length. If the baby had not gotten sick, they might have made it, but probably not further than Polynesia - the Milk Run gets tougher the further west you go.

[h20man]

As I recall,( https://web.archive.org/web/20140516...?currentPage=4 ) the baby was SICK prior to the trip starting.. (Both mother and baby had salmonella). They started on antibiotics.. but .. did not finish the treatment.. Also basic health safety (separating faecal material and food) was not followed. It was a cascading set of failures..



This incident did NOT appear to be RANDOM bad luck.



From Charlottes Blog:

Not Gone Yet | Almost!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 19:35.....





Me: I'm anemic. I have also been battling a low-grade salmonella infection for we have no idea how long. The strand was not the kind to give you the runs, but the constant, low-grade infection meant exhaustion and malaise, and occasional fevers, add in anemia, and boy, do those symptoms sound familiar, or what? I'm relieved to know more about what is going on with my health and am now taking iron and a round of antibiotics to make sure I kick the salmonella in the ass.


Cora: la princesa (as she calls herself) is currently taking three types of antibiotics, and a cough suppressant, to battle a bacterial upper respiratory infection.
Lyra: my little engineer (as I call her) is currently taking three types of antibiotics and a steroid, to battle bronchitis and a bacterial upper respiratory infection.
We're all taking probiotics, eating well, resting, and getting plenty of fluids. We're under a great doctor's care, we're all on the mend, and we're in good spirits.

Because of all this health fun, we missed the Monday weather window for departure. No worries, there will be more windows. We're eyeing Friday as a day to leave (and yes, I know that is a superstitious day for some sailors; they don't like to leave on Fridays. I view Fridays as a wonderful day to do anything at all.)

Then on Friday, 13 of March.. they departed...

How to Follow us Across the Pacific

Friday, March 14, 2014 at 20:38

They got antibiotics.. and STARTED yet did not finish the antibiotic treatment prior to departing, rather continued the antibiotic treatment during the trip. They were racing (sailing to a schedule), rather then cruising (going when all is good).


Charlotte was washing used faecal material embedded diapers in the kitchen SINK.




These facts are ignored in Charlotte's revisionist history, along with many other items, amount them Eric's "experience" being a 100-Ton licensed Coast Guard Captain.









Unfortunately the internet is a public space, and once something is thrown out... it becomes permanent (or archived even when one pulls original sites or posts down)





A lot of time has passed.. I wish the Kaufmans's well. They appear to have a new mountain based life that is as far from the sea as possible.



I am sad when people are surprised at my choice of sailing... and ask if I am certified by the coast guard to be a captain... and when I reply 'no' they bring up the rebel heart story to warn me of my errors.. and .. I must be at even greater risk.. as Eric could not do it.. and .. he is licensed....



All the while, all others that take basic health precautions MANAGE to cross oceans successfully, are ignored.. as.. it is just not a good story..


Anyway.. fair winds and following seas to all.... and.. I attempt to remember.. There but for the grace of God go I.........

[JPA Cate]

I, too, read that Charlotte washed diapers in the kitchen sink. [On most sailboats, the head sink would be too small to wash more than one diaper at a time.] However, the thought doesn't freak me out. When one uses cloth diapers, it is common practice to soak them in detergent and bleach laden water, overnight, prior to washing. This is time enough for the bleach to kill all the bacteria.

I don't know what her personal washing regime was, but I raised 3 kids with cloth diapers, and one also used bleach in the rinse water. I do not think fecal contamination was part of their problem, but more that the typhoid in Mexico [which the article at the beginning of this thread said is what the little one had] is drug resistant, and it would have been prudent to wait for the first weather window after the parents and children tested clear of the organism. The principle is often not followed, because the doctors tell you that if you finish the round of antibiotic, all will be well. However, the only way to be sure is to pay for a re-test. [I learned this the hard way.]

They may not have had the knowledge to insist upon confirmation of being disease free before they took off; and in fact, may not have understood the wisdom of completing their courses of antibiotics before leaving. Once you start feeling better you want to "get on with it."

Jim and I left Mexico in 1990, and while at sea, discovered we had amoebas. We had Flagyl (metronidazole), and self treated. No recurrence. But, it is not too hard to become infected with them, we had asked how to tell if we had them, and so we understood what we needed to to, and followed through.

I think, more damaging to the Rebel Heart effort was the failure to do a proper fix on the plywood deck.

When the shift occurs, is when it has become necessary to save the life of the child. If Charlotte had left alone with the children, Eric would have had to singlehand, and not everyone is equipped to singlehand--he would have lost his support system, just as she would have been without him (hers) back on land, with no home to go to.

Let the one among us who has never made a decision that didn't turn out as planned be the one to criticize them harshly.

Ann

[wingssail]

I didn't know the Kauffmans personally. What I heard was through reading postings on CF and in some other social media postings. Eric seemed really arrogant as well as casual about boat preparation (or even the need for it), and needlessly tough on others. I'll never forget his statement to the effect that "The boat will never be perfect, sometime you have to stop preparing and just go."

Charlotte, I knew less about, but I have to say that taking a recently seriously ill child, a very young one, maybe not fully recovered, on an ocean passage with only one other adult, was risky. Is it "Parent shaming"? If so, I am guilty. (I didn't think much better of the other parents cruising with infants who happened to get away with it.)

Or maybe Kaufmans just had bad judgement.

Lots of people have that, I've had a ton of it.

But I try to avoid hubris and I try to acknowledge my mistakes. They seemed to do neither.

So not my favorite people.

But Charlotte earned a special place in my enmity over a social media response she made towards me over a minor flap which occurred subsequent to her Rebel Heart episode. I had objected to a local "Women Who Sail" meeting in which she would be the featured speaker because it conflicted with a major local race. Many women crew members would be forced to choose, several skippers would be scrambling to fill empty crew positions, and some vessels would likely drop out. I was quite irritated that the event had been scheduled by the local promoter who, while in full knowledge of the the race schedule conflict, was apparently nonchalant about it. (Charlotte was flying out on Monday, so she had the time, but she also apparently resisted any change of schedule).

I wrote something like, "It's too bad that women who actually sail, rather than just talking about sailing, have to choose between these two events. Can't the meeting be changed from Saturday to Sunday, or delayed to 6:00PM after the race?". I guess I went on a bit in a non-respectful manner about sailors vs non-sailors

Somehow Charlotte came up with and posted the FB response that, "Fred apparently has a problem with women."

So I'll carry a grudge and an opinion about her character along with what I heard about Eric's.

Not my favorite couple.

[philiosophy]

Parent Bashing, Judgemental thinking....All this is silly. In the end Mother Nature doesn't give a whit about any of that. When you are getting ready for a crossing, especially one of that magnitude you must utilize Fact based thinking. Honest respectful preperation. Emotional or romantic thinking will get you in trouble. If not today...Then tomorrow. BTW that isn't always a Milk Run. The trades were not at all established the year we crossed. Multiple sail plan changes most days.
Give The Ocean its due respect and she might be good to you...Or maybe not...

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

I, too, read that Charlotte washed diapers in the kitchen sink. [On most sailboats, the head sink would be too small to wash more than one diaper at a time.] However, the thought doesn't freak me out. When one uses cloth diapers, it is common practice to soak them in detergent and bleach laden water, overnight, prior to washing. This is time enough for the bleach to kill all the bacteria.

Even in a stick house on land with separate sinks and disposable diapers, it would be unusual for there to be no cross-contamination. There have been studies. I think it's ridiculous to fault them for their sanitation practices.

I think, more damaging to the Rebel Heart effort was the failure to do a proper fix on the plywood deck.

I tried a year or two ago to read through the then-available threads and blog posts and so on and draw some useful lessons from what happened. I did note Eric's nonchalance towards a broad range of matters that could affect the voyage. For example, he was apparently unable to prove out the operation of his HF system, considering (against advice) ability to communicate with other boats in the same harbor/anchorage a sufficient test, and I understand that there were known problems with the integrity of the hull-to-deck joint before the voyage.



I wish I had a better understanding and appreciation of the sequence of events that led to the event.


[/quote]

Let the one among us who has never made a decision that didn't turn out as planned be the one to criticize them harshly.

Whether something turned out as planned is not the sine qua non of wise choices. When Lady Luck smiles, foolish decisions have no consequences.


Any crossing is a calculated risk. I am not certain that either of them had developed an accurate understanding of the risk they were taking even given the limits of the information they had available.

[Chotu]

I’m glad I did not belong to the forum at this dark time. It seems like a very consuming topic.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I’m glad I did not belong to the forum at this dark time. It seems like a very consuming topic.

It's not like the forum was fixated on this one thread. There are lots of threads even now that leave us shaking our heads at some of the stuff going on with OP's and contributors. Ya just gotta sift through it and ultimately do your own thing.

One thing I was grateful for hanging out with Eric was that he introduced me to Topo Chico. Now I'm addicted to the stuff! I occasionally see it on a grocery shelf in the U.S. and scoop up a pile and hoard it!