Capt. Neal® wrote in message ...
Poor fellow! The man lost his life primarily because
of poor design by the naval architect.

Those C&Cs are a death trap in more than one way it seems.

But, to design a cruising boat with a boom so low that it
can smack you up side the head is criminal. I should think
a nice little lawsuit would straighten out C&C and the
negligent designer.

You won't find a Wm. Tripp Jr. designed cruiser with such
flaws.

CN


I' d have to disagree about the poor design by the naval architect
statement - only because there are many an older cruising boat that
don't have the benefit or newer design of today's taller rigs, so they
indeed have a lower (and longer) boom than one's head might prefer in
an accidental jibe. My 1969 Morgan 33 Classic was one helluva boat for
instance, but indeed, the boom was low enough to clobber you if you
weren't careful. When it came to design, Charley knew/knows his stuff.
I would suspect he expected those that were sailing his boats to know
theirs, too.

Anyway, I'd say if you had to place blame, it was negligence on the
skipper's part, and the poor guy that got knocked. Beyond that, what
can you do? Accidents do indeed happen. Sometimes with very
unfortunate and dire consequences.

Capt. Rob Welling
Sarasota, FL