If you haven't read "Fastnet, Force 10" recently, you should. Some of
the boats from which people were rescued were found after the storm to
be floating well on their own. Others were found in pieces over the
next several years. There was huge controversy then (and apparently
now) whether you were better off in the boat or off. That debate was
fueled by the abandonment of a boat by four sailors (leaving two behind
for dead), only to have the men in the raft die when it broke apart and
while trying to be picked up by a ship (a couple went under the screws,
a horrible way to die). Other than Peter Goss, how many of us are
willing to be repeatedly knocked down or rolled?

Other than the safe advice never to get yourself into that position
(and many Fastnet captains were critcized for sailing into a storm), my
take is that you make the best call you can based upon the information
presented. There were no good choices then and (if you are stuck in a
storm), seldom are great choices now (none of us are clairvoyant).
Sometimes the "weather signs" are wrong (Gordon Bok has a great song
about a fisherman caught in such a storm) and sometimes the "safe"
choices aren't. Just before Labor Day this year a worn out hurricane
whipped up the East Coast. I was sailing from Rockland to Groton the
week following and met a sailer who was limping home to Portsmouth. He
had headed for land off New Jersey when he saw the storm coming and got
beat to hell on the pilings to which he was tied. He wished (in
hindsight) that he had stayed out and battened down.

As well, most of us would assume some risk on our own, but the equation
changes greatly when you are responsible for the safety of others, and
those others are likely to have an opinion as to whether you should "go
down with the ship." No boat is worth a life.

Steve Hayes
Maine