"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 14, 9:50 am, katy wrote:
Bart wrote:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0507/422839.html

According to the family, the skipper of the boat was a careful and
experienced sailor...that storm was wicked..must have been horrible
out
by Lookout...we were out at the Bay on the previous day and the wind
was
enough to blow you over and the surf was huge and pounding...

The boat had a roller furling main, and jib. I bet they were un-
managable.
You see roller furling rigs all the time that get blown open and
people are unable to refurl them in a real storm. Many people make the
wrong assumption that they are safer than hank on sails. In most
situations roller furling is ok, but in severe situations they are
just to risky IMO. Proper sized and shaped sails for a storm is the
only way to go.

Let's hope they are still in a raft and get picked up soon.

Joe


Excellent point!

If they were using roll-ups they were probably smug and self-righteous
about how great roll-ups are. You've heard all the ridiculous arguments
in their favor and lame justifications here enough times to make you
want to hurl. So, I don't share the same hopes as you have, Joe. I'd
rather they all drowned. It would serve them right for not listening to
common sense and ignoring the experience and insight of more experienced
sailors who have told them a hundred times to get real, hank-on sails
and enough of them for safe sailing in all wind conditions.

Get rid of roll-ups. You could easily die if you don't. Leave them to
the racers whose lives are forfeit in the first place. They have no
business on a cruising sailboat.

Wilbur Hubbard