It seems pretty clear that a lot of people are counting on that "get out of trouble free card". There is a long list of folks abandoning seaworthy boats (not necessarily undamaged, but seaworthy) because they can, not because they have to.
Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one... I simply don't believe many folks are heading offshore with the expectation that there's a likely possibility that they might wind up having to abandon their vessel...That's a big part of
'Not knowing what you don't know', of course, and I think most sailors who wind up abandoning a vessel 'casually' simply had no clue what they might encounter, and the notion they and their crew wouldn't be able to deal with it simply never entered their minds before setting sail...
In the story of the Perfect Storm, the crew of the sailboat abandoned a perfectly good vessel, at the cost of a couple of their rescuers' lives.
That's not what happened, actually...The skipper of SATORI was
ordered to abandon by the CG, after the commandant in Boston declared a Manifestly Unsafe Voyage... And, the Air National Guard flight that went down had nothing to do with SATORI, they were on a different mission involving a Japanese solo sailor, IIRC...
If you are going sailing for pleasure, you should have to pay any expenses it costs, to get you to safety. It costs SOMEBODY a whole lot of money, doesn't it? Why should you be entitled to rescue for free, if you need rescue from any recreational activity?
So, should this guy have to pay? What say the Sailnet Jury?
It's not like this recent weather was not forecast, or WX information is difficult to obtain off the Florida Keys, after all
WSVN-TV - Man rescued from dangerous waters