wrote in message
...
This is a very complex subject.
During the Legendary Fasnet race boats were abandoned with people left for
dead on board.
After the storm the abandoned boat was located with the member of the crew
that was left behind for dead found alive.

wrote in message
...
I think the statistic (based on being a
researcher into sailing vessel safety 20 years ago) is that 4 out of 5
abandoned vessels don't actually sink. Something to think about
before you spend thousands of dollars of the tax payers money to leave
your dream behind.

The boat may not sink, but may be unsafe for people to stay onboard. A
yacht in violent seas is very dangerous. Lots of ways to severely injure
a human made of soft tissue. The boat may survive, but the bodies inside
can be severely broken up.

A skipper must also weigh calling for help at such time as the boat will
surely be afloat when rescue arrives versus waiting until moments before
submerging to call, when the crew will be in the water for a long time
before help arrives.

Also can be difficult to predict just when the boat will go under. Can
reach a point of instability and sink very fast from that point on -
much faster than it was up to that point.

Better safe than sor- - er, um. dead.

I also recall that some crew abandoned ship during that race because the
conditions below were extemely dangerous.. all sorts of stuff flying about
in the washing machine-style effect that can happen with capsizing over and
over. I'm not saying they were any safer in a little raft, but I can see why
they might have thought so.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com