The accident in San Diego Bay on a Mac26 sailboat where two died
causes my jaw to drop in wonder at the things people do. TEN PEOPLE
ON A 26' sailboat? NO, IT"S WORSE, THEY ARE DISABLED PEOPLE. I am
unable to think of an expletive sufficient to convey how insane this
was.
Sailing a small boat requires you to be cognitively and physically
able to respond to things rapidly. For this reason, I do not think
disabled people belong on small sailboats. Things can happen very
fast requiring one to act quickly.
In my 25 years of sailing, my wife has never understood why more than
two people aboard turns me into a nervous wreck but sailing requires
that you be able to reach all the controls all the time. Sure, the
cockpit may hold 6 people seated comfortably but that one obese person
sitting in front of the starboard winch who cannot move unless given a
5 minute warning effectively disables the boat. Two somewhat disabled
people in the cockpit and you should stay anchored.
Even able bodied people are a problem: "Yes, I know its comfy there
but going downwind sitting on the traveller may not be a good idea",
or "If you lean back any more your hair may get caught in the winch
and I'd hate to see you scalped" and then as their kids scramble over
the top of the cabin "IF you're going forward put on a harness for
gods sake".
How many people is too many? It has taken me 25 years to realize that
it is any number that distracts ANY of your attention from running the
boat. Even worse for these guys in San Diego is that they chose a
boat that requires one more life and death adjustment, letting in the
ballast water. In all the commotion of getting all ten disabled
people situated, it would be easy to oversee that detail. Remember,
it isn't just ten people but they would all be wearing life jackets
making them take up more space. To make the situation much worse, San
Diego Bay is so crowded with traffic that you could walk across the
bay atop the decks of the moving boats. The captain was not just
totally distracted by his 10 disabled passengers but had to try to pay
attention to the boat handling while also watching the traffic. I
think my face must go white every time I think about this nightmare
situation.