Well, I certainly admire and respect the "evenhandedness" displayed here by yourself - and others - here… (grin)
But, c'mon, none of us here will be part of any official investigation, or be responsible for rendering some ultimate "verdict" regarding this incident… We're all just sailors BS-ing around this cyber sailor's bar, speculating about a very public tragedy… I happen to hold some fairly strong opinions about one of my life's greatest passions, and I'm a sailing forum gasbag to boot, so I'm sorry… But for me to sit back and simply say that I will offer no personal OPINION whatsoever on this tragedy until "the investigation is complete", well, that ain't gonna happen… What's the point of ever posting ANYTHING here, if those are gonna be the ground rules? (grin)
What's the point of discussing any of these incidents, if that is the case… Any word on when the final results of the "investigation" of the RULE 62 tragedy is gonna be forthcoming, for example?
Look, for me to withhold any personal opinion or judgment on this master's actions would be to deny giving voice to everything I've learned over a lifetime of sailing, and 35 years of delivering yachts … I'll freely admit I've still a great deal to learn, and am willing to be educated on this one… Hence, my call for plausible reasons for a course of action I have repeatedly branded "unfathomable"… Perhaps I'm simply a victim of my paucity of imagination, that's why I'm asking for some help in conjuring up some way in which this ill-fated voyage made ANY sense whatsoever…
Frankly, I think I'm being somewhat charitable, here… My opinions on the lunacy of the BOUNTY setting sail when she did is based solely on the facts as we currently know them… Namely, the time and place of departure, the forecast at that time, the unsuitability of a vessel like the BOUNTY for riding out or avoiding a hurricane at sea, the course steered directly into the path of such a monster storm, and so on… As stated earlier, I'm willing to discount that damning YouTube interview with that moron in Belfast, and the nonsensical statements made by Trowbridge regarding "chasing hurricanes", "no such thing as bad weather", or there being little distinction between standing on deck at dockside, and in the midst of 70' seas…
Again, I appreciate the apparent unwillingness on the part of yourself and others to render any judgment until "all the facts are in"… But by the same token, I'm comfortable with the opinions I've expressed here, and I resent the implication that always arises in these discussions that anyone doing so might be little more than an "armchair sailor"…
Few people alive, for example, likely know more about passagemaking under sail in the Western North Atlantic than a guy like Don Street… Does anyone believe that if he were dragged into this discussion, his response would be of the tepid sort, "Well, I think I'd rather wait until 'all the facts are known' about the final voyage of the BOUNTY, before commenting…" ? (grin)