I missed that article but will now go find and read it. Like most
accidents, if some other course of action had been taken it would not have
happened. What I find good about these stories is the warning they give me
to be more aware of potential problems and avoid them. For instance a few
years ago two local men were out on a catamaran, got knocked down, then were
unable to right the boat, got separated by the increasing bad sea
conditions, then one drowned. They were in the water for a day or so
(cannot remember all the details). Search planes and helicopters went right
over the survivor but did not see him at night. He gave a talk at our local
yacht club about the mistakes they made and from that I now have strobes,
whistles, and reflective tape on all my life preservers. It was, like so
many of these stories, a sad tale. Remember the father and sons lost
entering the harbor at Charleston a few years ago?
Greg Luckett
wrote in message
...
The article in the most current issue of "Soundings" about the recent
L.I. Sound collision-caused death (from a heart attack triggered by
the crash) of an otherwise *very* experienced/skillful and also
asssertedly safety-oriented captain/sailor when the J-105 in which he
was sleeping, crewed by his son and a friend, was motoring late at
night in the fog toward Block Island and was hit and sunk by a large
commercial cruiser reports that the J-105's two crew saw the
approaching motor boat (said to be moving at +/- 6 kts) but could not
disengage their autopilot in time to take evasive action.
How many of us who occasionally (or, for that matter, lots of the
time) use these sorts of instruments actually insure that,
f'rinstance, to disengage an autopilot, etc., Etc. (however
"simple"/easy [and "obvious"?] one [who is experienced] might think
that and related operations ought be and usually are)?
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