Thinking about it for a day, I realize that this incident is largely about
intuition. Back when I was flying, several wise old pilots (the old ones
are usually wise becaue the Darwin effect is stronger in the air) told me
that, when you start rationalizing away the little voice that tells you that
you are in trouble, you probably really are in trouble.

I still couldn't make a rational case for intruding on this guy's sailing
based just on what I could see and describe. He was going slowly but under
control and on a straight course. Sail trim was sloppy but how unusual is
that? His course was over shoals but the same route I often follow.

But, I KNEW something wasn't right. I just let the fact that I couldn't
back up that intuition with hard observations keep me from diverting to take
a look. The boat was also a factor. If it had been your Catalina or Hunter
I probably would have been more likely to check it out. It looked like the
kind of long traveling boat owned by someone who knows what they are doing
so it was easier to convince myself that he had his reasons for sailing that
way.

More in the paper today. The operator was 68 years old and made a distress
call that his sails were torn and his engine disabled. Seas were 6 feet and
winds 20 plus. A Falcon jet did not locate him at his reported position but
they found him by his cell phone signal. The paper reports that it was the
third time he had required assistance in 36 hours so I don't feel quite so
bad about checking him out. If the USCG didn't notice something wrong the
first two times, I probably wouldn't have been able to justify getting them
involved just by making a close pass.

--
Roger Long