I've thought about this a lot, especially since a number of my friends
thought it might have been my cat - we are planning to sail from
Trinidad to Mexico this spring.

I realize that in the past I've felt very safe in the cockpit of my
catamaran, enough not to require my crew or myself to use a harness. I
realize this is probably not as precautious an attitude as I'd thought,
at least not at night or during anything other than great weather.

While we always have jack lines rigged up for going outside the
coamings, I think a line running abeam just below the bimini hard top
might not be a bad idea at all.

Your hypothesis of what might have happened, and your advice about
staying inside, hove to, etc. seem spot on to me. Also, an SSB or HAM
radio, or maybe a satellite phone would have been an excellent option.

I was once in a very bad storm off Magdelina Bay, the worst I've ever
seen. I radioed a friend, gave him my coordinates and checked back in
every hour. Nothing bad happened, but knowing there was someone on land
watching for me helped the crew's (and my) piece of mind immensely. Had
we had problems, at least someone would have known our position and last
status.

Cheers,

Robb

Capt. JG wrote:
Obviously, I don't know better than anyone else what actually happened.
However, my guess is that they were on deck trying to get control of the
situation (as most of us would try to do), got hit by a big wave/high gust
combination, and went over the side either because they didn't use a harness
or the harness broke. Counter intuitive though it might have been, they were
safer below, hove to as best as they could manage.

I also don't understand why they didn't activate their EPIRB. There's no
requirement that the boat be sinking to do so.

I'm betting we'll never know with certainty what happened.