Capsize! A Survivor's Account.

[Lighthouse]

"They each have one leg in the hatch, an opening in the bottom of their overturned boat. Five men, friends, two of them brothers, and four will die. It is night, and the air is filled with water. Wind at hurricane speed, pumping in blasts, cold. Each wave a monster, breaking over the far hull and churning over the men, tearing at them for 10 or 15 seconds. They cling to the hatch, to a piece of rope, to each other. They wish they were anywhere but here. They don’t speak. Their rescue beacon has been swept away, so they know the search will be in the wrong area. Nobody is coming to help them".

Full Story - HERE

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse' date='03 May 2010 - 04:43 PM

"They each have one leg in the hatch, an opening in the bottom of their overturned boat. Five men, friends, two of them brothers, and four will die. It is night, and the air is filled with water. Wind at hurricane speed, pumping in blasts, cold. Each wave a monster, breaking over the far hull and churning over the men, tearing at them for 10 or 15 seconds. They cling to the hatch, to a piece of rope, to each other. They wish they were anywhere but here. They don’t speak. Their rescue beacon has been swept away, so they know the search will be in the wrong area. Nobody is coming to help them".

Full Story - HERE

What an incredible story....gives us all something to think about.....cannot imagine losing everyone, but myself....

C

[redbopeep]

Amazing story, for sure. The telling of an accident/incident story often highlights the "if only" such and so hadn't happened. This fellow, with his survivor's guilt and all, went through so much to survive it all--and there were many, many "if only" moments in his story. I have empathy for him and think it is good that he did eventually share the story with the world so that we all could learn from what happened.

I've been involved in several serious transportation accident/incident investigations and one of the most amazing things is the fact that every person involved has a good reason for doing pretty much everything they purposely did (and which often contributed to the catastrophe). Sometimes people forget what to do or they do something inappropriate to the emergency situation inadvertently but typically things are well thought out and STILL the accident/incident happens.

This just reminds me of the need for all of us to have as much of an understanding of our sailing environment and the full range of "appropriate" actions to take when things get out of hand. It is very hard for any of us to really have that understanding without significant thought and planning AND study of mishaps and their underlying contributors. Thank goodness Richard shared his experience for all to learn from.

Fair winds,