Sailor Rescued 200 Miles off Jersey Coast
- Thread starter bawlmer
- Start date
That is implied by this reporting, however it may not be true. The first step in an emergency like that would be to try the radio. EPIRB activation is generally one of the last things you try, right before abandoning ship. Since the lucky sailor was able to raise assistance over the VHF, it never came to either of those other steps.
The article said he had damage to his communications equipment. Is that shortwave radio? The VHF worked.
I would add that I might not bring a life raft aboard a 25' boat if I was comfortable with it having positive buoyancy in case of a full swamping, but I would certainly have an EPIRB.
-Will (Dragonfly)
I agree. Having an EPIRB, and maybe a life raft depending on vessel size, can be very valuable. But those aren’t the lessons I learned from this particular event. I think this event is a better reminder not to be far offshore in bad weather in a smallish boat of questionable seaworthiness.
Right up to the moment someone had to come rescue him. Then he is just a selfish fool.
Yes, IMO, it is a C-19 issue if anyone who goes sailing (or anything else unnecessary) for pleasure instead of staying home as directed. Please, remind me how many people died yesterday that needn't have, had everybody followed the directions of the medical community. Not the politicians or president, but the medical professionals.
Not that i'm saying you're wrong, capta, I agree with you. At this time, it is also a NC-19 issue. However, we don't know his story; out-of-stater denied mooring at the NC marina, decided to push on dispite the bad timing? We just don't know.
He shouldn't have been out there. He was obviously unprepared. The Gulfstream and the storm grabbed him? He should have been prepared and planned better. His position offshore demonstrates that. His communication problems, electronic navigator? Did he know he was that far out? Was he out there because he was unknowingly off course or was it the storm or did he actually plan that route? Maybe he wanted to be 200 miles out. Did he think it best to stay with the stream? Others has done that route, but why in such a small boat when he would have made better overall time on the inside of the Labrador Current. What's he make, 6 knots over the water, maybe 6.5 at best. That's a lot of extra sailing just to get across the LC from way out there. The navigating isn't straight forward either, there's at least two opposing currents going perpendicular to your course.
-Will (Dragonfly)
He shouldn't have been out there. He was obviously unprepared. The Gulfstream and the storm grabbed him? He should have been prepared and planned better. His position offshore demonstrates that. His communication problems, electronic navigator? Did he know he was that far out? Was he out there because he was unknowingly off course or was it the storm or did he actually plan that route? Maybe he wanted to be 200 miles out. Did he think it best to stay with the stream? Others has done that route, but why in such a small boat when he would have made better overall time on the inside of the Labrador Current. What's he make, 6 knots over the water, maybe 6.5 at best. That's a lot of extra sailing just to get across the LC from way out there. The navigating isn't straight forward either, there's at least two opposing currents going perpendicular to your course.
-Will (Dragonfly)
That's right, the USCG at work keeping us safe.
Did I glimpse an N95 mask on that rescued sailor?
Coast Guard rescues sailor in rough seas off N.J. after tanker picks up distress call
-Will (Dragonfly)
Hey Will I doubt anyone in there right mind would leave North Carolina to escape NC-19 and go to New York! That is like sailing into a petri dish. I have to assume he was headed there for some other reason. Granted he was I'll prepared.
Yes it is generous. I was trying for a best case scenario.
However, Mariner 19 sailors report 6 knots regularly. I can't say they are measuring accurately. Most use GPS and that doesn't give speed through the water. I haven't had my boat out and wouldn't likely measure it until I had to D.R. somewhere. Then it would always be an estimate based on how long it took the foam to pass from now to stern.
-Will (Dragonfly)
We'll have to disagree.
He was an idiot and he demonstrated poor judgment, but not just regarding COVID. Except for a misadventure he did not plan or foresee, he had every reason to believe that he was as socially distant as he could be. He probably believed he was complying with the intent. The risk to USCG and others was mostly that of the ocean, not COVID. Every rescue carries risk--that is more to the point. If you require rescue, you often place others in mortal danger. So if we follow this logic completely, none of should ever sail, since it is more risky than staying home.
You making an example where none exists, or at best a very week example. I see more danger when two people pass too close on a sidewalk or people walk together that do not live in the same household. I'm guessing a few people here still kiss their wife. The thread should be about small boat seamanship.
(I've had several 2rd-level acquaintances in the medical profesion die recently. It's serious. I'm staying home. I miss my boat. You're preaching to the choir.)
I imagine if you applied the speed/waterline formula, you'd find that 6 knots for a 25 footer is very, very generous. Any boat, even my 77,000# Pearson, can have short bursts of speed (surfing, etc.), now and then, but most of us calculate our speed over a longer period of time than that. A lot of 25 footers don't have tall enough masts to present their full sail area to the wind in normal tradewind seas, when they're in the trough.