In response to your comments I'd like to give you some more details about this whole event. We did travel with 1 GPS including navigational aids like Pilots, plotters and other material to get back on track in case of batteryfailure. However,an extra handheld GPS sounds like a very wise suggestion. We kept plotting our coarse every 2 hours and in the storm every 30 minutes. Well, we tried anyway. It's also important to keep an eye on your speedmeter in order to know when the currant is changing which can affect your coarse and bearing. We had a liferaft and a fixed VHF installation. Dutch law makes it extremely difficult to have a handheld VHF because of very strict broadcasting regulations. This problem can be overcome just by buying ilegal VHF systems abroad. (The U.S for instance)Once away from the coastal borders nobody cares anymore anyway. The same difficulties counts for having an EPIRP on board. You need special licensies to have one and the fines for unintentional triggering these things are tremendously high. Hopefully they will change these absurd regulations in the near future. We don't have survivalsuits but we are always attached to the boat through our lifevests and lifelines even in deadcalm circumstances. Did I want a larger boat at the time? Well, yes because "riding" the waves would have been much more comforteble. But a larger boat is also slower in it reactions, especially when you have to deal with a halfworking rudder. Seawaves have a tendency to be longer and smoother then waves on shoal lakes as well in rough weather. Sailing this type of boat on seaconditions is therefor in some ways more easy then in the same weather on lakes where you can have very uncomforteble short waves. Still, a larger ship would be better in normal conditions but we happen to love this one espacially now that we know what she is capable of. Has it to do bravery? I don't think so. The most important thing is to have faith in yourself and your crew. Ofcourse it has somthing to do with a little taste for adventure but as long your not crossing the lines of sanaty it still seems like reasonable risktaking. And we shall need a little bit of luck too. I have been in much worse circumstances by taking part in traffic by car and faced death more often on the highways although I'm a very careful driver. One strange thing occurred to me while we were in that storm; bad weather in the dark is less breathtaking and fearsome when it's dark. Maybe it has something to do that your obstructed view doesn't give you the opertunity to face the full view of all the violance of nature. I had so to speak more freightning moments in less bad weather and broad daylight. What I think is very important at these occasions is that you and your crew had enough sleep or at least some rest. In those 50 hours we weren't able to sleep at all and that can be very dangerous and lead to major misjudgements. Regards Oliver