Here's the thing I hate about rescue videos. We never get the context - what led up to the situation - why certain decisions were made. While it is good to see a good outcome, this leaves me with lots of questions. I can see that he had an anchor down. Assuming he didn't intend to anchor there, my assumption is that it was dropped because he had otherwise lost control of the vessel. If so, that likely saved his life, having bought rescue some time.
I wish it had not been so heavily-edited. I would like to know what the timeframe looked like from the time the rescue boat was near the sailboat and the time the sailboat was at the rocks. I showed this video to a friend who criticized the rescue crew for not towing the boat out to safety before things became dire at the rocks. I explained that the crews first responsibility is for their own safety and there were quite a few unanswered questions when they showed up. My sense was the boat lost its anchor or dragged while they were assessing. So, whatever plan they might have been forming suddenly changed.
I'm also confused about exactly where this happened. I have some familiarity with that area. At first, at around 0:35-0:40 on the video, he is maybe windward of a cliff (though it looks like the cliff is more abeam). Then, at around 1:07, it looks like he is maybe at Newhaven beach in shallow water at an extreme high tide - in which case the waves would just push him up more sandy/grassy shore. They immediately cut to show that he is in danger of crashing against the rocks, with a shot that seems to be the Newhaven breakwater ... which is about 90 degrees to that beach he is washing onto. Then, at about 1:35, he is farther out and windward of the breakwater ... and I don't think that is the Newhaven breakwater. I have no idea where that is, actually.
Does anyone know where this took place, exactly?
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