Messing About In Sailboats

Sailing Photo Of The Day - Rolex Farr 40 Championship

Portsmouth rescues two fishermen from sinking trawler

via www.rnli.org.uk

An outstanding video of the crew of a sinking fishing boat being rescued by the RNLI. Their speed and efficiency is remarkable.

Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude - SPECIAL REPORT: Farallones Survivor's Full Account

via www.latitude38.com

A must-read account from one of the survivors from the Farallones tragedy. Heart-wrenching stuff with lessons for all of us.

Sailing Photos of the Day - Melges 24's and 20's in Charleston and Loano

 Melges 24 and 20, 2012 Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week

 PHOTO CREDIT: ©2012 JOY | U.S. Melges 24 Class Association

Audi Melges 20 Series Loano

Photo: STUDIO BORLENGHI/ G. Trombetta

Matt Rutherford Being Interviewed On His Return to Annapolis

Video of Matt Rutherford's interview by Gary Jobson taken by Peter Black on Matt's circumnavigation of the Americas. Matt's an entertaining guy and what a great sailor.

 

Fatality Accident At Perth Amboy, NJ

MYFOXNY.COM - Coast Guard officials said a 19-foot-pleasure boat took on water near Ward Point just south of Staten Island Saturday afternoon, leaving one person dead.

via www.myfoxny.com

Boating accident leaves 1 dead in N.J.: MyFoxNY.com

This was a chilling bit of news. As Alice and I were coming back from our first sail of the season, there were Coast Guard boats and other official vessels in front of Raritan Yacht Club (situated at the Southern entrance to Arthur Kill).

No one at the club knew what was going on but we learned today that tragically, a group of guys were out fishing in a small boat that capsized. One drowned.

The conditions were fresh yesterday with winds gusting up to 20kts and cold enough to wear 2-3 layers. From what I can tell these guys were most likely in an overloaded boat (we see this often), probably without enough PFD's and not properly clothed. It's a real tragedy and reminded me of a Coastguard stat that most drownings are very close to shore and sadly like this, people falling out of a small boat.

My heart goes to the family of the poor guy who drowned.

It was a chastening reminder to wear a life-vest.

Sailing Photo Of The Day - Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series Loano

STUDIO BORLENGHI/S.Gattini

A Great Line About Boat Owners

Spent the best part of 14 hours down at the yard this weekend prepping Cadence for launch. We splash on Friday afternoon (as long as my contractor fixes that one last job).

I always enjoy this time of year down at the yard. It's very social and I had no end of "great advice" from various mates all weekend. Some of it was actually pretty useful.

Two boats down is a nice old C&C 34, owned by a Keyport Yacht Club member called Ed. A very jolly chap who was painting his bottom (the boat's that is). He told me that I looked like "a man possessed" as I scrubbed the deck. We got to chatting about the joys of getting away and working on the boat.

Like me, Ed is utterly useless at fixing things around the house. Or more to the point, can't stand fixing things around the house. As he left for the yard the other day, his wife called out and asked when he was going to fix the sink. He called back that he had no clue how to fix it. As he got into his car, his wife yelled out:

"If it floated, you'd fix it."

Yup, that pretty much sums me up.

I made the mistake of sharing this gem with my wife, only to hear it come back at me about two hours later over something I declined to help with.

Artemis AC 45 Capsize Sequence

ACWS Naples 2012
Photo: LUNA ROSSA/Carlo Borlenghi

Sailing Photos Of The Day - RORC Easter Challenge

Credit: Paul Wyeth/www.pwpictures.com

Read the final day race report here.