I received a few additional e-mails from my friend, who is a friend of
the people that abandoned the Erikson 47 a few days ago:

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A fair number of yachts head south in November on the theory that the
chance of hurricanes is pretty much nil. Of course the chances of
autumnal gales increase. We knew a merchant captain who claimed the
best time was around Christmas for a shot to Bermuda. (It often seems
there is a lull around the first of the year though it is usually
quite cold til across the Gulf stream.

Our friends had hired a weather router and I watched the charts
casually and thought they picked a reasonable time but the weather
these days is quite volatile. I would hope the weather router is at
least very embarrassed.

The boat had a 70ft mast so the ICW was off limits to them. In
retrospect they should have gone: NS to Cape Cod to Block to Cape May
to Norfolk and then to Bermuda but....

I will be interested to hear Brian's post mortem.
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[asked if its OK to post his comments]
Sure, go ahead, but I'm not really qualified to comment about offshore
sailing. Ask me about the time of year to scoff moorings:-)

BTW the boat was apparently abandoned in floating condition. Knowing
the boat I think it was a reasonable decision from a practical and
financial standpoint. The boat was old and well raced. The rig was rod
with a very high tech mast almost impossible to replace at any
reasonable cost. So basically I agree with the abandonment from a
financial standpoint. Also the presence of crew with a broken arm
presumably beyond helicopter evacuation range plays a role. Once again
I don't know the precise circumstances or Brians thoughts at the time.

They were all experienced and I trust their abilities to make informed
decisions so if you quote me please don't do it in a manner which
would embarrass my friends. But I doubt you would!

If there is a lesson to be derived from these three abandonments I
think it is that the usual weather guides may no longer be valid given
the general unpredictability of weather over the last 5 -10 years or
so. I think offshore sailing may be riskier.

And communications have made abandonment very easy.

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and finally, this link:
http://www.herald.ns.ca/NovaScotia/540343.html