in message , Larry W4CSC
') wrote:

"Dan" wrote in
ups.com:

How? You've just said we're 60 hours away from the nearest thing to
hit! Are you saying the sea state will make the boat fall apart? Are
you saying the masts gonna fall down and break a hole in the hull?
How often have either of these things happened to UKRSers?

You really must watch "The Perfect Storm", the movie. It is a true
story and the swell reality shown pitchpoling the fishing vessel isn't
just a
writer's fantasy. I could happen to YOU.

It could, but it's exceptionally rare. You could be struck by lightning
out of a blue sky. It does happen. A meteorite could fall on your head.
Waves are a complex phenomenon and recent research shows that very big,
very steep waves are more common than was once thought. But open ocean
waves are nothing like as dangerous as closing a coast in dodgy
weather. Furthermore, most well-found monohulls will recover from being
rolled over by wave action (although my boat wouldn't).

Wait until you've been sailing in the pitch dark for 11 hours, the sun
rises and you suddenly see some HUGE object just floating by that
could simply smash your hull to bits.

It happens. If you're such a scaredy cat, why go sailing? You could
simply hide under your desk for the rest of your life.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

pSchroedinger's cat is blinkstrongNOT/strong/blink dead./p