"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Exactly, if you are going to sail down there, you should be prepared
to either sail (or die) in 60 - 80 knot winds while recognizing that
25 - 30 knots can produce seas of a size only seen in major Atlantic
storms. You need to be prepared to accept the conditions that sank
Barnes as basically routine. I'm not implying though that he was
unprepared or deficient in skills or equipment. Just about all days
are dangerous in that part of the world.



All this just to avoid a few weeks waiting and a few thousand dollars in
bribes at the Panama Canal we STUPID Americans just gave away....

Dumb, really dumb.