On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:52:15 -0500, Gogarty
wrote:

In article ,
says...

This has come up over and over. The book is not fiction. What happened
to Satori after the storm has nothing to do with the book, which
describes the CG tug struggling at 3 knots to get there.

Rodney, the book is not fiction but even the author conceded that he needed to
have done more work verifying some of the information. His most grievous lapse
was in failing to interview the owner of the Andrea Gail, who comes in for a
lot of criticism in the book, all of it second hand.

I am familiar with all of this. See the archives. It was Satori in
this thread, not Mr. Brown.

Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a

For your upscale SUV: Dingle-balls hand knit of natural Icelandic yarn

In article ,
says...


I am familiar with all of this. See the archives. It was Satori in
this thread, not Mr. Brown.

I have enough trouble keeping up with what's current in the NGs I follow. I
certainly can't take the time to check the archives.

As for this thread, my impression was it was about (or had become about)
Perfect Storm and not just about the beached yacht.

There was a report, not long ago, of a boater getting a call from the cops
in Hawaii. He had been pulled off his sloop with his wife in a storm and
they had assumed, wrongly, that his yacht had gone down. The cops in
Hawaii, months or years later, had found his abandoned boat at the entrance
to one of Hawaii's harbors and had towed it in.....in good condition.

I know the "boater" and the "boat" you are referring to in this story,
and the story is even better than that:

The story begins in a marina on the West side of Oahu, Hawaii. The
fellow you're talking about spent years building his "ultimate" cruising
yacht (and from what I had seen of it, it certainly looked "good
enough"). He spent alot of time at the marina here touting his
"extensive" ocean going experience and his plans for moving back to
California and perhaps cruising South. (If you've been around the docks
as long as many of us here have, you learn to "spot" the real vs. the
imaginary. This guy was pure imaginary...) He finally took off from
Oahu bound for S. California with his girlfriend (zero sailing, boating
or ocean going experience) and her young daughter (even less experience
than her mother) as crew. This was the first time the three sailed
together, and the first time the owner had sailed in years. They also
traveled in company with a friend (also from Oahu) on a smaller yacht
(it was a Catalina or Hunter I believe, can't remember).

In the final days of their trip, and some 300 miles from California, the
weather got "brisk". Their friend on the smaller yacht made it into
port without incident. At this point, I'm told their autopilot wasn't
able handle the boat any longer for some reason (perhaps not knowing how
to trim or reef their sails?) and the owner hand steered for some 20-30
hours straight. Meanwhile, the girlfriend and young daughter refused to
come on deck (I think the sudden realization that it can get dangerous
out there may have contributed to this) and so the owner was left alone
on deck to handle the boat by himself. Eventually the owner decided he
could travel no further, and put out a mayday call.

The Coast Guard diverted a freighter to their position, and in "brisk"
Pacific conditions (30-35 knots, 10-12 foot seas) came alongside the
yacht and lowered the pilot ladder. As the 3 clammoured up the ladder,
the yacht slammed into the freighter, breaking a spreader and the top of
the mast. Incidently, the owner was told by the Coast Guard to
"scuttle" his yacht as he departed it, but he refused to do so, thus
leaving his yacht to drift, unmarked and unlit. His "heroic" story was
published in Lattitude 38 and his former neighbors here put together a
collection to help them financially (they had no insurance).

Stay with me, the story continues:

In addition to the monies raised by the local sailors here, a former
neighbor offered to help this guy out by buying him another yacht. He
tracked down a similar boat, bought it and gave it to our hapless
fellow, and even delivered it to the guy in California. (The guy is a
wealthy, retired rancher from Montana that now lives on his boat.)

Not 30 days after getting his new "gift" yacht, the hapless sailor in
California got a call from the Coast Guard, that his "lost" yacht was
spotted some 100 miles off Hilo Harbor (Hawaii Island) and was being
taken in tow by a commercial towing company. The yacht was ultimately
towed back to the -exact- same slip here on Oahu it had sat in for years
before.

I took a good look at this yacht that supposedly had been exposed to the
"storm of the century" and the -only- damage I saw was the broken
spreader and mast that happened when it collided with the rescuing
freighter. An Igloo cooler that had been left on the foredeck when it
was abandoned, was still there! Otherwise, the yacht was completely intact.

The hapless sailor flew to Oahu to inspect his rescued yacht. A bill
for towing the yacht to Oahu was still due, and our hapless sailor
refused to pay. The former neighbor that had helped him before, paid it
for him. The yacht was later fixed up and sold it to defray some of his
expenses.

There are many lessons to be learned by this story, but I'm afraid this
sailor probably didn't learn any of them. I wish I could say that this
was an isolated incident, but unfortunately I've seen similar situations
happen time and again.

--

=-------------------------------------------------=
Renewontime
A FREE email reminder service for licensed mariners
http://www.renewontime.com
=-------------------------------------------------=

This has come up over and over. The book is not fiction. What
happened to Satori after the storm has nothing to do with the book,
which describes the CG tug struggling at 3 knots to get there.

Rodney, the book is not fiction but even the author conceded that he
needed to have done more work verifying some of the information. His
most grievous lapse was in failing to interview the owner of the
Andrea Gail, who comes in for a lot of criticism in the book, all of
it second hand. .

He didn't bother interviewing the owner of Satori, either. Even after
there were complaints made about how he had misrepresented events he did
not bother to interview him. He did add in later editions that the
sailboat survived, but was not diligent enough to even verify which
state it came ashore in, getting that wrong too. These are mistakes and
omissions of careless disregard. No excuse.

Larry W4CSC wrote:

I also find it amusing if your boat clothes smell faintly of diesel fuel...

My hat does.

Pete

Rosalie B. wrote:

I think having the hatch open over your face is an advantage, and not
a disadvantage. I sleep better if I know I don't have to keep waking
up to see if it is raining.

Why *do* you have to check if it's raining?

Pete

Pete Verdon d wrote:

Rosalie B. wrote:

I think having the hatch open over your face is an advantage, and not
a disadvantage. I sleep better if I know I don't have to keep waking
up to see if it is raining.

Why *do* you have to check if it's raining?

So I can close the hatches and stuff inside the boat doesn't get wet.
We keep the hatches open when it is hot for ventilation. (Possibly
not a problem in the UK)



grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html

Rosalie B. wrote:
Pete Verdon d wrote:

Why *do* you have to check if it's raining?

So I can close the hatches and stuff inside the boat doesn't get wet.
We keep the hatches open when it is hot for ventilation. (Possibly
not a problem in the UK)

Ah, I see. No, I don't really find that a problem. We[1] generally pull
the main hatch across but leave the washboards out, and open the
forepeak hatch a couple of inches - enough for ventilation but not to
let rain in unless it's *really* chucking it down.

I've sailed in warmer places where you definitely want all hatches open
(and windscoops, and fans turned on if the boat has them) but there
wasn't any chance of rain.

Pete

[1] My friends/family, I'm not trying to speak for everyone in ukrs

"renewontime dot com" wrote in message
...
snip
In addition to the monies raised by the local sailors here, a former
neighbor offered to help this guy out by buying him another yacht. He
tracked down a similar boat, bought it and gave it to our hapless
fellow, and even delivered it to the guy in California. (The guy is a
wealthy, retired rancher from Montana that now lives on his boat.)
snip...
.. The former neighbor that had helped him before, paid it
for him. The yacht was later fixed up and sold it to defray some of his
expenses.


Please introduce me to this generous former rancher. My sailboat is a bit
too small and I really need a bigger one.

Pete Verdon d wrote:

Rosalie B. wrote:
Pete Verdon d wrote:

Why *do* you have to check if it's raining?

So I can close the hatches and stuff inside the boat doesn't get wet.
We keep the hatches open when it is hot for ventilation. (Possibly
not a problem in the UK)

Ah, I see. No, I don't really find that a problem. We[1] generally pull
the main hatch across but leave the washboards out, and open the
forepeak hatch a couple of inches - enough for ventilation but not to
let rain in unless it's *really* chucking it down.

I've sailed in warmer places where you definitely want all hatches open
(and windscoops, and fans turned on if the boat has them) but there
wasn't any chance of rain.

Pete

[1] My friends/family, I'm not trying to speak for everyone in ukrs

Our boat was made for the Caribbean and we sail on the East coast of
the US, so it is frequently hot, humid and airless and there's almost
always a chance of rain under conditions like that. (Didn't D.C. used
to be hazardous duty for English ambassadors?)

We have a center cockpit so two companionways with hatchboards in
each, and 19 opening ports (if you count the one from the sink to the
cockpit, plus 6 (I think) deck hatches - 2 aft, 2 forward and 2 in the
main cabin. We do also have 12v fans in the Vberth and the aft cabin.
Don't have any wind scoops though.



grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html