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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Re: Rimas is alive and made it to guam
To me there is nothing funny about Rimas. Whether or not this guy is a fraud, whether or not his own life is at risk to the extent it sounds like it may be, he is none the less putting others at risk by his stunts and costing innocent tax payers money to rescue him. People like him create or contribute to the general public's bad impression of amateur sailors. These kinds of reckless persona's can and do lead to onerous laws and regulations, fees and restrictions that negatively impact responsible sailors who do not intentionally create the need for rescue services.
This is a very real thing. In Europe a friend of mine had his Contessa chained to a dock to prevent him from sailing her back to England by French authorities who deemed the boat unseaworthy because it lacked what they considered a proper ocean passage rating. This was done despite the fact that the owner and this boat had crossed the English Channel on a bunch of times and had cruised much of the northern European Coast. Similarly, New Zealand had (I don't know if they still have it) a big fee for entering New Zealand by yacht which was supposed to defray the cost of rescues after a particularly expensive period during which they had rescued a large number of foreign yachts. They also were retaining yachts from leaving unless they could pass a safety inspection.
At the heart of this is the fact that with increasing numbers, people who are incompetent are taking to the sea without taking the time to develop the skills to safely do so, and doing so in boats that arguably are not particularly well suited for that purpose. From the beginning of small boat distance cruisers there have been people doing this kind of thing. Some for notoriety and some simply to go. But in earlier times, the numbers were small, they did not expect to be plucked from the sea if they failed, and they did not have global communications to symbiotically egg them on, create a persona to live up to, and/or create an instant audience for whatever ill-reasoned prank they may chose to pull.
Jeff
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Curmudgeon at Large- and rhinestone in the rough, sailing my Farr 11.6 on the Chesapeake Bay