Captain's Log
Captain's Log March 2008What was he thinking?
In early January, the Coast Guard was alerted that a lone sailor was in distress some 600 miles east-northeast of Bermuda. The sailor had encountered heavy weather, which is not surprising in the North Atlantic in January, and had fallen and broken his pelvis. The Coast Guard alerted all ships in the area—via the AMVER system—and soon one was able to find the boat and rescue the lone sailor. Within three days he was in the hospital and on his way to recovery. His boat was lost. This was the first AMVER rescue of 2008 and proved once again that the international safety network set up to protect sailors on the high seas works amazingly well.
What it also proves is that even fools can be rescued from their own folly
by the good natures and professionalism of their fellow sailors out on the
high seas.
What was that lone sailor thinking when he set off on his 39-foot sloop
to sail across the North Atlantic in January? One look at the Pilot charts or
even one brief conversation with an experienced skipper would have been
enough to convince 99.9 percent of all sailors that the North Atlantic in
January is neither the place nor the time for a solo ocean passage.
One thing the rescued skipper was thinking, however, was that he could
always be rescued if he got in trouble. He carried an EPIRB and a sat
phone so when he fell and become injured he was able to phone friends in
the U.K. who then alerted the Coast Guard.
Instead of relying on common sense, or on experience or on the basic
self reliance that guides all good sailors, the rescued skipper chose to abdicate
his responsibility for his own safety. He made a lousy decision to cross
a dangerous ocean in winter and then put professional sailors at risk when
he called on them to pluck him off his boat and carry him to safety.
We can be assured that the crew of the ship that rescued the lone sailor
did not complain about performing the rescue and did not dwell on the
risks they were called upon to face. Any of us would have done exactly as
they did. But brave and capable or not, the rescue crew should never have
been put in a situation where they were saving a recreational sailor from
himself.
Just because we can buy offshore boats and equip them with all of the
safety electronics money can buy, does not endow us with one ounce of
wisdom about how or when to use them.
Cruising and offshore sailors go to sea for pleasure. It is important for all of us to be prepared with all the safety gear available. But more importantly, we need to be prepared with enough seamanship and enough self reliance to keep us from making boneheaded decisions that ultimately could put others’ lives at risk.
