One word....... DELUSIONAL !
-
SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!
Dumbest passage plan since the BOUNTY sailed straight into Sandy?
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
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
1 - 11 of 78 Posts
They were too delusional to even realize they were being suicidal... The chicken / egg thing.....
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..
Some of these cases are not as clear cut but Bounty and this one are completely and utterly offensive and point only to the mental state of the captains, as in, freaking delusional....
Don't worry give this 30 seconds or so and someone will be along to defend these imbecilic decisions that put more than just the crew at risk.....
This is the eBay listing it closed on September 7th....
1994 44 039 Carrol Marine 43 Nelson Marek | eBay
This is what the eBay listing says in BOLD & CAPITALIZED PRINT:
"THIS VESSEL IS A PROJECT. THIS IS NOT A TURN KEY VESSEL."
And this is what they needed to address before leaving????
"Before they can cast off the autopilot needs to be repaired, the wind generator needs to be erected on the deck and the cabin needs to be straightened out, the McGlashans said."
Yeah "straightening out the cabin" will matter in a 70 knot washing machine. I suspect they should have waited till after the storm to clean the cabin as the storm was just going to mess it up again...
And this is one of my favorites:
"We've got plenty of food, plenty of booze, good sails and all the safety gear you could ever need, so we're going to be OK," Jason told Newport Daily."
So I'm guessing mother nature disagreed with the "good sails" part and "all the safety gear you could ever need" meant a big press of the Easy Button......
![]()
I especially love the photos towards the bottom, of the engine oil pan submersed in WATER....
https://www.cubbyusercontent.com/pl/1994+Nelson+Marek+43/_0e8e5b4186974fb29e4f7e419fe28aab#1994%20Nelson%20Marek%2043/Sedona
The mental image I get now of this "experienced yachtsman" is that of Bill Murray strapped to the mast in What About Bob "I'm sailing, I'm a sailor, I'm sailing......."
![]()
As I read the events that transpired The Coasties were called for well before the $hit even hit the fan. Imagine if it had been more than 20 -30 knots before the multiple failures had occurred, torn sails, failed engine, & multiple charge source failures among others.......... Yeah they were sailing into the $hit storm but had not even gotten there before all these failures occurred. Wow.... My mind again wanders back to the eBay listing...
"THIS VESSEL IS A PROJECT. THIS IS NOT A TURN KEY VESSEL."
As I opined above, simply DELUSIONAL..... When are people going to finally wake up and respect the North Atlantic or actually take their duties as the captain of a vessel seriously.......?
Sadly the entire sailing community gets a black eye over stunts like this... Where was the sensible community, who should have tried to reason with these two, before they cast lines in February.....
1994 44 039 Carrol Marine 43 Nelson Marek | eBay
This is what the eBay listing says in BOLD & CAPITALIZED PRINT:
"THIS VESSEL IS A PROJECT. THIS IS NOT A TURN KEY VESSEL."
And this is what they needed to address before leaving????
"Before they can cast off the autopilot needs to be repaired, the wind generator needs to be erected on the deck and the cabin needs to be straightened out, the McGlashans said."
Yeah "straightening out the cabin" will matter in a 70 knot washing machine. I suspect they should have waited till after the storm to clean the cabin as the storm was just going to mess it up again...
And this is one of my favorites:
"We've got plenty of food, plenty of booze, good sails and all the safety gear you could ever need, so we're going to be OK," Jason told Newport Daily."
So I'm guessing mother nature disagreed with the "good sails" part and "all the safety gear you could ever need" meant a big press of the Easy Button......
I especially love the photos towards the bottom, of the engine oil pan submersed in WATER....
https://www.cubbyusercontent.com/pl/1994+Nelson+Marek+43/_0e8e5b4186974fb29e4f7e419fe28aab#1994%20Nelson%20Marek%2043/Sedona
The mental image I get now of this "experienced yachtsman" is that of Bill Murray strapped to the mast in What About Bob "I'm sailing, I'm a sailor, I'm sailing......."
As I read the events that transpired The Coasties were called for well before the $hit even hit the fan. Imagine if it had been more than 20 -30 knots before the multiple failures had occurred, torn sails, failed engine, & multiple charge source failures among others.......... Yeah they were sailing into the $hit storm but had not even gotten there before all these failures occurred. Wow.... My mind again wanders back to the eBay listing...
"THIS VESSEL IS A PROJECT. THIS IS NOT A TURN KEY VESSEL."
As I opined above, simply DELUSIONAL..... When are people going to finally wake up and respect the North Atlantic or actually take their duties as the captain of a vessel seriously.......?
Sadly the entire sailing community gets a black eye over stunts like this... Where was the sensible community, who should have tried to reason with these two, before they cast lines in February.....
If I am not mistaken that boat carried 25 gallons of diesel, barely enough to tuck tail and turn back to re-trace their 150nm's....
Even basic math skills were totally ignored....
Excellent post Jeff!
I know I have posted this before but I believe it is still very relevant..
To me this is a sad example of folks not getting the psychological treatment they probably should.
Sadly families & friends (the father in this case) enable this delusional behavior and in turn fuel wheever the underlying disorder is that detaches these individuals from REALITY. Sometimes it is as bad as bipolar disorder and sometimes it is just Forest Gump syndrome. All I know is these two were completely and utterly delusional or lower than Forest Gump on the intelligence totem pole..
I see this story as not much different than the delusional arrogance/ignorance of the owner / builder of Raw Faith or Michael Calabrese the guy who anchored his Hunter on a lee shore during a hurricane, was arrested, then proceeded to take a crap in the police car.
IMHO it was the arrogant delusions of Robin Walbridge that actually killed others and that takes it to a whole other level. It is sad to me that folks like this are not getting the mental and psychological help they need and because of that they put other people in harms way.
If it is true that the USCG advised them not to go, and they ignored that advice, then there is surely no help for people like this. It really makes you afraid to even drive on the roads knowing there are people this blissfully ignorant out there.
The USCG actually stopped Raw Faith from going to sea numerous times but in the end the arrogant and delusional owner finally succeeded in sinking her.
I guess there is not all that much we can really do but sit back and watch it unfold like a bad soap opera...
Where this hits home for me???
Last summer I had a guy whom I felt the exact same way about. He was completely unfit, unprepared and ill equipped for an off shore voyage.
He had just purchased the boat from one of my customers and I flat out told him the vessel was in NO SHAPE for an off shore voyage and that he was risking his life making this voyage without some serious work needing to be done to the vessel. I was about as blunt as can be and did not candy coat it for him. I felt it my minimal duty. He was delusional too right up to the point of absurdity. It was very, very frustrating to watch this guy refuse any other possible option for moving this boat. Like the 10k eBay boat this was a low buck deal and a project boat in the works, but not yet done. The new owner had all the answers but knew none of the questions. It was pretty sad actually...
Long and short he ignored my advice about the vessels condition, the advice of the seller and of others and wound up losing the boat and needing the USCG to rescue him. He like so many sailors, in recent history, and I use the term sailors very, very loosely, simply used the Easy Button to get home.
Sadly there are people out there that really are this blind to REALITY and no matter how hard you try, or how well reasoned your case may be, they are simply too delusional to come back to Earth, let their feet touch down, and feel or grasp reality......
I suspect these recent trends represent more of what our society has become. A society where no one is every allowed to fail, is never told they are wrong, where everyone gets a trophy just for showing up and A through F grades have been tossed out the window to placate and not hurt the poor feelings of anyone.
We have lost touch of OWNERSHIP and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and it is sad, very, very sad...
Prepared? Experienced? Really?
"The charging units from the motor and our wind generator both failed, causing the auto pilot to not work; then the sails became torn, as I was trying to fix the problems," he wrote. "After that I started to motor. Then, the motor failed, making us dead in the water."
"I came here on New Year's Eve and worked on the boat since. We did have racing sails, but the racing headsails were not used. We had a one-season-old racing main that was in great condition, which we purchased before we left."
"After the EPIRB was activated, is when the conditions became very rough," McGlashan wrote. "Most people assume we set off the EPIRB because of the storm. That had nothing to do with it. We were stuck dead in the water unable to move it. It wasn't until the rescue was in full effect that the storm hit. I have had experience in rough conditions but not to the extreme every one has seen on the (Coast Guard) video. Those conditions came on just before the helicopter arrived."
"Those conditions came on."
Actually, those conditions were extremely well predicted.......
"The nicest way I can put it, is a bit pissed off after everything I went through to get this to happen," he said of acquiring the boat and planning the journey. "Then, to have so many problems, I got to get my head around it all."
And he's pissed off........? It his his damn fault!!! Lack of ownership & personal responsibility runs rampant these days.... Sheesh.....
I know I have posted this before but I believe it is still very relevant..
To me this is a sad example of folks not getting the psychological treatment they probably should.
Sadly families & friends (the father in this case) enable this delusional behavior and in turn fuel wheever the underlying disorder is that detaches these individuals from REALITY. Sometimes it is as bad as bipolar disorder and sometimes it is just Forest Gump syndrome. All I know is these two were completely and utterly delusional or lower than Forest Gump on the intelligence totem pole..
I see this story as not much different than the delusional arrogance/ignorance of the owner / builder of Raw Faith or Michael Calabrese the guy who anchored his Hunter on a lee shore during a hurricane, was arrested, then proceeded to take a crap in the police car.
IMHO it was the arrogant delusions of Robin Walbridge that actually killed others and that takes it to a whole other level. It is sad to me that folks like this are not getting the mental and psychological help they need and because of that they put other people in harms way.
If it is true that the USCG advised them not to go, and they ignored that advice, then there is surely no help for people like this. It really makes you afraid to even drive on the roads knowing there are people this blissfully ignorant out there.
The USCG actually stopped Raw Faith from going to sea numerous times but in the end the arrogant and delusional owner finally succeeded in sinking her.
I guess there is not all that much we can really do but sit back and watch it unfold like a bad soap opera...
Where this hits home for me???
Last summer I had a guy whom I felt the exact same way about. He was completely unfit, unprepared and ill equipped for an off shore voyage.
He had just purchased the boat from one of my customers and I flat out told him the vessel was in NO SHAPE for an off shore voyage and that he was risking his life making this voyage without some serious work needing to be done to the vessel. I was about as blunt as can be and did not candy coat it for him. I felt it my minimal duty. He was delusional too right up to the point of absurdity. It was very, very frustrating to watch this guy refuse any other possible option for moving this boat. Like the 10k eBay boat this was a low buck deal and a project boat in the works, but not yet done. The new owner had all the answers but knew none of the questions. It was pretty sad actually...
Long and short he ignored my advice about the vessels condition, the advice of the seller and of others and wound up losing the boat and needing the USCG to rescue him. He like so many sailors, in recent history, and I use the term sailors very, very loosely, simply used the Easy Button to get home.
Sadly there are people out there that really are this blind to REALITY and no matter how hard you try, or how well reasoned your case may be, they are simply too delusional to come back to Earth, let their feet touch down, and feel or grasp reality......
I suspect these recent trends represent more of what our society has become. A society where no one is every allowed to fail, is never told they are wrong, where everyone gets a trophy just for showing up and A through F grades have been tossed out the window to placate and not hurt the poor feelings of anyone.
We have lost touch of OWNERSHIP and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and it is sad, very, very sad...
Prepared? Experienced? Really?
"The charging units from the motor and our wind generator both failed, causing the auto pilot to not work; then the sails became torn, as I was trying to fix the problems," he wrote. "After that I started to motor. Then, the motor failed, making us dead in the water."
"I came here on New Year's Eve and worked on the boat since. We did have racing sails, but the racing headsails were not used. We had a one-season-old racing main that was in great condition, which we purchased before we left."
"After the EPIRB was activated, is when the conditions became very rough," McGlashan wrote. "Most people assume we set off the EPIRB because of the storm. That had nothing to do with it. We were stuck dead in the water unable to move it. It wasn't until the rescue was in full effect that the storm hit. I have had experience in rough conditions but not to the extreme every one has seen on the (Coast Guard) video. Those conditions came on just before the helicopter arrived."
"Those conditions came on."
Actually, those conditions were extremely well predicted.......
"The nicest way I can put it, is a bit pissed off after everything I went through to get this to happen," he said of acquiring the boat and planning the journey. "Then, to have so many problems, I got to get my head around it all."
And he's pissed off........? It his his damn fault!!! Lack of ownership & personal responsibility runs rampant these days.... Sheesh.....
1 - 11 of 78 Posts
