Wayne.B wrote:
On 25 Jan 2006 23:06:04 -0800, "purple_stars"
wrote:


it just
seems like the only reason you "have to" abandon ship is the thing is
filling up with water and is headed for the bottom of the ocean.


Once you trip off the EPIRB and the rescue helicopter shows up things
may be out of your hands. As I understand it, they can "order" you
off the boat at that point.

I'm not sure they can "order" you off, but once you've set off the
EPIRB and/or requested a rescue, its pretty hard, if not negligent, to
refuse after the crew has risked their lives (and possibly jeopardized
others) getting to you.

On the other hand, when you trip the EPIRB, you're making a guess that
at some point in the future, perhaps several hours, thing will be so
bad that you'll need to get off in a hurry. Perhaps you have severe
structural damage, and you know the boat will sink if it gets any
worse. I don't think I'd want to spend a night 100 miles offshore in
that situation.

So this brings up the question, if you could quantify the risk, at
what point would you say, "please send a chopper"? Would you do it at
50% risk? 10%? 90%? Or should you wait until you're stepping into
the liferaft?

I have old cruising friends who spent a horrible night many years ago
at the hands of a hurricane - I won't tell the story now, but they
spent 8 hours struggling to save the boat, convinced they were going
to die. The next day they just drifted, recovering their strength.
Shortly thereafter, they said "If a helicopter appeared overhead then
[after the storm], we would have taken the ride." The funny thing is
that nowadays they don't carry an EPIRB because they don't think it's
fair to ask someone to risk their life because of their incompetence.
Fortunately, they don't do long passages.