On Jun 11, 2:52*pm, Bruce in alaska wrote:
In article ,
*Justin C wrote:





In article , John Seager wrote:

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 7 Jun 2008 20:38:04 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

"A sailboat participating in the Regata de Amigos race from Galveston
to Veracruz was found capsized 11 miles south of Matagorda Saturday
morning.

Amazing thing is that it didn't sink. I am sure it would have, had
there been much in the way of waves.

Casady

A yacht called Moquini, a Fast 42, lost its keel just south of Madagascar a
couple of years ago. It was found several months later about 500 nm off the
South African coast. Uupside down with a huge hole where the keel had
dropped off, but very much afloat. It had drifted about 800 nm. Sadly, the
crew was never found.http://www.sailr.com/news35939.html

Very sad. We've all heard that you should always step up into a life-raft,
and not down... but perhaps they didn't make it into the raft. In this
situation, should you tie the raft to the up-turned boat? After all, the raft
plus boat is more visible than raft alone. Or do you avoid the boat in case
it sinks?

* *Justin.

It has ALWAYS been my Opinion that you tie the Liferaft to the vessel
with a 50 meter line, and have a Survival Knife secured, and stowed, in
the Raft to cut the line should the vessel sink. *There have been MANY
cases, where the vessel floated, after an incident, and was found, but
it took a much longer time to find the Liferaft, with the survivors,
that had drifted away. If no one makes it to the raft, and the vessel
sinks, the raft will go with it, but you could deal with that issue, by
using a Hydrostatic Release on vessel end of the line.

--
Bruce in alaska
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Also IIRC most liferafts have a weak link in the teather that should
remain attached to the vessel, unless it sinks in which case the link
will fail allowing the raft to float free.

Fred