Matt sent me a link to a thought provoking podcast about a woman being washed overboard from a yacht off Newfoundland. Although it is painful to listen to, I thank him. Scroll down to “Swept Away.” As I write it is eleventh from the top.
People worry about lots of unlikely, though possible, calamities, such as being hit by a whale, when simply falling overboard causes far more deaths, including those of some famous and experienced sailors, including Eric Taberly and Rob James. The point of safety harnesses needing leg straps is well taken as is the difficulty of pulling a wet semi-conscious person back on board.
However I do wonder about their preparation and planning. Were there no split pins to prevent the shroud from coming unscrewed? Also losing their jib overboard. Did they not have furling gear, which is a great safety feature as well as a convenience, enabling sailors to control sail area without having to go onto the foredeck.
I agree in part with the delivery captain that those who go offshore for the first time seldom understand what it is like to be in a storm at sea. This one at 45 knots was not especially severe. However you don't have to grow up on the coast to gain that understanding. Intelligence, study and imagination can provide it even to those of us who were unfortunately born near rivers instead of oceans.
I also do not agree with the equipment the delivery captain said is needed. I don't recall the entire list, but I don't think I have any of it.
Proper preparation of the boat and the crew are both important. Often sailors spend considerable, even excessive money, on equipment that some so-called ‘experts’ say is essential, but isn’t, and don’t prepare themselves. If you go out there long enough, it is going to get physical. I think sailors are often shocked by their first gale due to a failure to sail in bad weather when they can and due to a failure of imagination.
I don't have any specific rules I follow to be as safe as possible in an inherently unsafe environment. But I am always aware that life can change instantly, in the passing of a single wave. And as a solo sailor I always keep in mind that to slip and fall overboard is fatal. As I note in one of my sailing videos, eternity is only inches away.
I also disagree with the complaint that life is too short.
It is for some, students killed in school shootings, infants with cancer, and others struck down young by time and chance. But if you have lived sixty-five years, as this woman had, in relatively good health and with at least modest means, you have had a life, and if you die with regrets for what you did not do, you need only to look in the mirror to find the one responsible.
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I thank Larry for bringing the following “Little Tidbit of Naval History” to my attention.
The U.S.S. CONSTITUTION (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel, carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (i.e. fresh water distillers).
However, let it be noted that according to her ship's log:
"On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men,
48,600 gallons of fresh water,
7,400 cannon shot,
11,600 pounds of black powder and
79,400 gallons of rum."
Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping.”
Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on
826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum.
Then she headed for the Azores , arriving there 12 November..
She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.
On 18 November, she set sail for England .
In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war ships,
and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships,
salvaging only the rum aboard each.
By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted.
Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. Her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn.
Then she headed home.
The U. S. S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799,
with no cannon shot,
no food,
no powder,
no rum,
no wine,
no whisky,
and 38,600 gallons of water.
GO NAVY !
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I thank Tom for pointing out that the original cancer cell creed quote comes from Edward Abbey:
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Abbey also wrote:
Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.
I don’t follow the logic of the last part of that, but as you know I am on the side of joy.
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The beautiful photo comes from Eric in France. It is of the shadow of the island of Stomboli, an active volcano, off the north coast of Sicily.
A tiny sailboat near the lower lefthand corner indicates how high he climbed to get the shot.
I thank him.
