Few More Examples:
Granted, the Pacific Coast is a lee shore but boaters navigate the coastline all the time but this was a 44-footer with three crew and a hired delivery skipper sailing a new boat. You'd think it would be insured, and you'd think the insurer would have insisted on certain critera - qualifications, route, weather, etc. Even if it wasn't insured you'd think the owner (big investment) or the skipper (it's his life) would have insisted that conditions were appropriate. I'd think that the owner would have been talking to the skipper when they were in the Bay Area about the rounte and weather and discussing all their options. Even so, I have talked people who have made the trip in the fall. Last year Navy sailor who was transfered up here sailed his Hunter Passage 42 up in the late fall. A few years ago I met a couple with two young children who were taking their OLD woody - about a 30footer and NOT what I would call a blue-water boat - down the coast and this was way late in the fall. And they were new to boating! On the other hand, then there is Arthur Piver who is generally considered the father of modern multihulls who was lost at sea somewhere in the South Pacific. see a multihull web site re Piver: http://www.multihull-maven.com/Designers/Arthur_Piver The draw to the advantages of a multihull is great but then one needs to consider the whole picture. At the time of Piver's death there were multihulls being constructed all over Alviso, CA. In 1991 I circumnavigated Vancouver Island and there was a cat or tri at Sea Otter Cove with me when I departed for Winter Harbor - the boat and two or three emaciated guys were found about two weeks later floating adrift upside-down. Then there is the story "Lost" by Thomas Thompson, the story about three people, a couple and the guys brother-in-law, who lost it on their 31-foot trimeran. They were sailing from Tacoma, WA down to Cost Rica but only got as far as Northern California. I read the book as far as page 154 and couldn't finish. It was really, really, sad. Two of the ill-fated vessel died of starvation and the author nearly died too. Okay, so you say, this is the "outside". Well,... Then in the protected waters of Puget Sound, on the Foulweather Bluff Race, there was a large 80+footer that pitchpoled in the race. High winds? Nope. In fact, the pictures didn't even have any whitecaps! This was a raceboat that was going to show the maxis how its done. Okay, so they burried the bow in a freak wave, maybe a wake from a passing boat? "Northwest Yachting" had a wonderfull spread of time-lapse photos of them going over. With the boat standing vertically on it's nose(s) you could see one of the crew standing on an arma. In the article it said he didn't even get wet! That's some consolation, though, because the boat landed upside-down and had to be towed over to the shore. Hey, these guys were top-notch racers - among the best! "Stuff" happens. Safety and Comfort in All Conditions [I love this!]: http://www.multihull-maven.com/Key_issues Sure, blame it on weather, shouldn't have been there, not enough experience, shouldn't have done that, or whatever else you want but cruising in a multi isn't my idea of relaxing. Knowing what CAN happen would not allow me to rest.
