[JonEisberg]

These guys left Newport Friday afternoon on a 43 Nelson Marek they'd bought on eBay for $10K... They were headed for Bermuda, on what was to be the first leg of a trip to Oz, via the Cape of Good Hope and the Southern Ocean...

Here's what they were sailing straight into, as shown on Passageweather on Friday evening... Absolutely mind boggling, how any sane individual could have left with that forecast... The text forecast from NOAA is perhaps even more sobering, featuring "Hurricane force winds, heavy freezing spray, windspeeds to 65 knots, seas to 36 feet", and so on...

They called for Mommy early this morning... Seems somehow fitting, the Coasties plucked them out of the North Atlantic very close to the same spot that RAW FAITH went down... One has to wonder whether these guys, even now, have any clue how lucky they are to be alive...

Coast Guard Rescues Sailors 140 Miles off Nantucket - Western Massachusetts Breaking News and First Warning Weather with WGGB.com ABC 40

There's a thread over on CF that was started prior to their departure, with links to stories in the Newport paper about their prep...

Sailing New England to Australia in February - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

And, in related news, the CG plucked another crew off a trimiran last night, south of Cape Fear...

Those helo crews and rescue swimmers sure are getting plenty of practice lately, courtesy of us yachties...

Coast Guard rescues 4 from damaged sailboat off NC coast | WAVY-TV

 

[RTB]

Yeah, been worrying about those Aussies for a couple of days. Happy to hear they lived. They are truly lucky to be alive today. Man, I hope they got some good video....

Has anyone else ever thought about how the coasties can be successful in almost every rescue? Maybe they lose one here and there, but their batting average is way high.

Ralph

 

[hpeer]

I saw the thread title on CF and thought "Dumb!" I never views the thread.

I was in CG aviation, but before the time of the rescue swimmer.

It would be interesting to see how things changed.

 

[krisscross]

These guys left Newport Friday afternoon on a 43 Nelson Marek they'd bought on eBay for $10K... They were headed for Bermuda, on what was to be the first leg of a trip to Oz, via the Cape of Good Hope and the Southern Ocean...

That sure sounds like some folks that were on Sailnet recently. Lucky for them they got rescued. That is some wicked weather out there.

 

[Mabinogion]

Should yachting insurance be compulsory with a significant amount of cover attributable to the rescue services if used?

Yes it would probably put the cost of premiums up, but by how much if every yacht had insurance.

Currently yachting is relatively unencombered by officialdom. I don't mean the type attributable to CG inspections or TSA/Homeland interventions and the like.

If the yachting fraternity continue to behave in a cavalier fashion expecting the Coasties to rush to their aid when the yachties own actions have been a contributory factor which appears to happen at all levels from VOR down we are not too far away from further legislation.

 

[pdqaltair]

At the very least I hope the Coasties gave them a nice 2-hour lecture on their incurable stupidity and duty to never go near the water again. Ever.

 

[Maine Sail]

One word....... DELUSIONAL !

 

[JonEisberg]

One word....... DELUSIONAL !

Or, how about... SUICIDAL ?

Great quip from some wag over on SA, sums it up quite neatly... Obviously, a hockey fan:

"And here's a wrist shot, from Darwin... NO, it's off the post !"

;-))

 

[Minnewaska]

I am not a fan of all boaters paying an insurance premium. You already do that in your taxes, which would never go down, if we assumed the expense, otherwise. I am a fan of mandatory training or you pay for your rescue. It wouldn't work perfectly, but I believe it would push the incident level down a bit. I really do believe there are brave dopes that just don't know any better.

I looked up SARSAT response data, which has grown over the last few decades. It combines marine, aviation and land, so I couldn't really tell if the growth was proportional in each area.

As you see the 406Mhz grow exponentially, it replaces the 121.5Mhz, so one would must combine the two in prior years. The gross increase must have something to do with 406Mhz being more identifiable.

I was surprised to see there wasn't a larger overall increase. I was also surprised to see that the number of persons rescued per year has been one side or the other of 2000 since '06. That suggests incident levels are rising, but not rescues. I doubt there are fewer people being rescued per incident, so that would imply a steady number of rescues, while the incident recognition is increasing. 406Mhz technology is better at identifying false alarms, so that may account for the difference. The data combines marine, aviation and land, so it's hard to parse marine incidents. Also fascinating to see the world-wide distribution.

https://www.cospas-sarsat.int/en/sar-statistics

 

[Maine Sail]

Or, how about... SUICIDAL ?

Great quip from some wag over on SA, sums it up quite neatly... Obviously, a hockey fan:

"And here's a wrist shot, from Darwin... NO, it's off the post !"

;-))

They were too delusional to even realize they were being suicidal... The chicken / egg thing.....

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

Not all Australians are as smart as others.

 

[RTB]

The OP just posted the rescue video on CF. The guys looked good. So did the boat. The dink was still on the foredeck....

Ralph

 

[JonEisberg]

The OP just posted the rescue video on CF. The guys looked good. So did the boat. The dink was still on the foredeck....

Ralph

Looked to me like the leech of the main might have been blown out, lots of fluttering going on back there... Damn, I'd have thought the sails on a $10K 43' raceboat would have been bulletproof, no? ;-)

The younger guy didn't even have foul weather gear on his lower extremities... Yikes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5LOWGhB5TY#t=11

 

[Maine Sail]

The good news is we now have a solid answer to those;

"Can I buy a 10K boat and sail it around the world?" threads......

Seriously, why would you want to mess with the North Atlantic in February...?

Fail.........!

 

[jrd22]

Hmmm, perhaps advice to "GO NOW" was taken a wee bit too literally???

 

[SimonV]

I have not chimed in since the start of this tread, as I am a firm believer in karma. when I left San Francisco in 2008, I left to get on the back of a south moving low. The weather did not play fair and the low stalled and I ended up in the middle of it for a day, no bigee but uncomfortable. Seeing the weather these guys left in you have to ask why? nothing of that weather system said "no worries". As for the rescue and those on here spruiking about cost and danger, First Responders live for this. I am glad they are safe and hope they explain the decision they made.

 

[killarney_sailor]

It occurred to me that if these guys survived the North Atlantic they would get to South Africa in late fall and be set up to to to Oz in the winter time. Rescue services for the latter are not very good at all. Probably lucky they ended the trip when they did.

 

[Maine Sail]

When I sit back and think of the utter lack of intelligence one must have to have in order to head off into a blizzard in FEBRUARY, from New England, on a 10K unfamiliar boat, with only one personaboard who actually knows how to sail, I place this lack of intelligence on par with this lady..

 

[ccriders]

Was she a real blond?
John

 

[Maine Sail]

Was she a real blond?
John

Don't know, but I suspect the sailors who set off into a blizzard, IN FEBRUARY, in a 10k boat bought of eBay were.....:laugher:laugher