On Apr 11, 2:45*pm, Skip Gundlach wrote:
Wilbur and Redcloud

As long-termers here know, I (well, we) had a wreck (not a sinking)
which later involved an extraction courtesy of the USCG. *Sure wish
I'd had my camera, as apparently the MIA Sector doesn't do video. *It
was an adventure I'd like to have had a record of, and the FOIA aside,
it seems impossible to get a record of the occasion from the USCG (I
tried, with one of the reps there, for months).

I don't recall Wilbur's persona being on the scene at the time, but
that could be just because I'd published my post-mortem (well, that's
extreme; post-event) analysis of how we'd gotten to that point, in my
various mailing lists and the several forums I annoy, meeting a
firestorm of response, of which Wilbur's might have gone unnoticed in
the maelstrom. *The response was, to be charitable, "mixed" -
including the variety of what we've seen here about the Redcloud.

Back to Wilbur, I don't recall his weighing in on my "I learned about
Sailing from that" (a riff on the last page of Flying Magazine's
examination of crashes), but there were plenty of others.

We didn't have mechanical issues - they were pretty much human error
issues - but my analysis was fairly close to Wilbur's in style. *"How
did we get to that position, and what might we have done differently?"
was the nature of my post. *Likewise, the responses were fairly
similar (knives digging/character attacks aside) to what we've seen
about Redcloud - lots of sympathy and charitable response, and lots of
armchair quarterbacking, along with polite inquiries along the lines
of "what happened?" *While we did have several mechanical incidents
(strong enough winds to shred a tightly furled genny, remove and take
flight a wind generator and newly installed hailer horn, along with
one leg entirely and one tab on the remaining leg of the windex,
e.g.), none were voyage-threatening. *The voyage ended on a rock, and
the boat was stout enough to survive the experience and sail again...

Yes, we made several avoidable errors. Most of the knife throwers laid
it to inexperience or simple boneheadedness. There may have been some
- or, even, a lot - of that. *But, on reflection, long after I wrote
that, the real culprit was fatigue. We'd been going at it, hammer and
tongs, for months, and didn't take time for decompression before
setting out. *It caught up with us in the end.

However, like Wilbur's latest blast postulated, there were many points
along the way in which a different decision would have resulted in an
entirely different outcome. *It's very easy to armchair quarterback,
and entirely unfair, as those who do/did so weren't on the boat to see
what the realities were. *However, analysis (without the character
attacks) is entirely appropriate. *It might save someone else from
having the same experience, later. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, etc., but
when it comes from the participant, it's more like, "Here's where we
screwed up."

So, for us, as we thoroughly decompress ashore, and prepare for an
upcoming long voyage, we recognize that fatigue may join us,
regardless of how well we're rested, due to the length of time out
there. *We learned about sailing from that, so to speak, and will be
especially vigilant about both getting our rest, but more so, to
doublecheck our decisions if we're tired. *Fortunately, our routing
won't have many opportunities for rocks :{)) until we get
"there" (Maine)...

You knew there was a point in this, right? *It is that, character
attack and tone aside, and without the benefit of participation from
Joe, I agree with Wilbur on that one. *The presentation could benefit
from the "kinder, gentler" approach advocated by the political party
Wilbur favors, but otherwise, it's probably pretty close.

We didn't lose our boat - but we sure took a lot of flack when we
talked about it :{)) *However, once we got past the "don't you dare
set sail within 25 miles of me, you danger-to-all-marine-traffic" set,
there were constructive suggestions we've incorporated into our
mindset.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig *KI4MPC
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make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
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hands. *You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

Hi skip

i was wondering where you went. how many qualifying sea service days
did the REC give you??
bob