Boating idiots

[daugen]

1-year-old who became sick at sea picked up by U.S. Navy - CNN.com

I've been boating for about twenty years. Now I'm back down to a sixteen footer.
I was also a yacht broker in Ft. Lauderdale for three years while I took time off from wearing a suit.
So while I am primarily a powerboater, I do know something about sailboats, different models etc.

And I gotta tell you, crossing the Pacific in a 36 foot boat is seriously risky, and taking a one year old baby with you?
As often as kids get sick? Truly risking a catastrophe and I'm glad their baby is ok now.

I bet it cost over a hundred thousand dollars, maybe multiples of that, for our folks in uniform to respond.
And risk their lives doing it.

I see this as sheer stupidity and fervently wish these sailors would be charged with the bill of rescuing them.
They knowingly went in high risk's way, and now fa la la the taxpayers have to pay the consequences?

Anyone can get behind the wheel of a boat and literally head out anywhere, with zero experience and capability. That changes I believe around 60 feet in length or larger.
This family is in a 36 foot boat. It looks heavily built but it's still a monohull and not too new from the looks of it.
A thirty to fifty foot wave is not uncommon in a Pacific storm. Think Perfect Storm half size.

They have a right to do it. You bet. Even risking their children's lives. They would probably say we all do that driving
down the interstate on a family vacation.

Just seems unreasonable to be free AAA for these people.
We do have a deficit, right?

 

[brin]

I'm glad to pay my part to save the baby....risk is everywhere in our lives....

 

[daugen]

yes, and we have plenty of it. People do dumb stuff or even right stuff and it all goes wrong.
And we have an amazing safety net in this country to help us out.
My point Brin was they created the risk by heading across the Pacific in a small sailboat with a one year old baby.
Heck there was another small child on board too. Families do this, it's not unknown, and it could have been the skipper who had a heart attack.
Same plane would have flown.

This happens a lot off the East Coast, people sail out in absurd weather, weather that any sensible person would have stayed home in, weather that there was no life and death reason to be out in. Instead, these idiots put the emergency responders at risk including themselves. It's all about me and my wonderful personal experience.

Risk is everywhere and we survive it by managing it. Not by flaunting it and exposing babies to that risk when they sure don't have anything to say about it.
Therefore I do not bungee jump. I do not jump off Niagara Falls in a barrel. Others do...

Babies in boat overturn situations can't help themselves. It just bothers me to see them out there, and particularly here where this guy is taking his famlly across the pacific in a very small boat. They were lucky, very lucky, and I'm glad for them. Just don't send me the bill, since I think they should pay for it.

 

[dave1949]

I'm glad to pay my part to save the baby....risk is everywhere in our lives....

I have to agree with Drew. They took unreasonable risks and we pay for it unless they plan on writing a check to the USCG. No check, it's just another version of welfare paid to someone who made poor choices. Sort of like a high school drop-out single parent with no job on welfare. What's the difference, really? Do people with boats get a pass? How big does the boat need to be to get the pass?

I really doubt that it is more dangerous to get on the freeway than to attempt to cross the Pacific in a small boat with very young children.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Why would you even go with a one year old? The kid gets nothing from the experience but risk. If you want to be a parent maybe it's time to give up or postpone some adventurous things you enjoy and be a PARENT.

 

[KubotaToy]

Why would you even go with a one year old? The kid gets nothing from the experience but risk. If you want to be a parent maybe it's time to give up or postpone some adventurous things you enjoy and be a PARENT.

What he said!

 

[RoyJackson]

I haven't seen a picture of the sail boat, but a 36 foot boat would be quite adequate if designed for serious sailing (meaning, among other things, a strong hull, small ports (windows) a small cockpit, and robust rigging, etc) and is outfitted with solid heavy weather gear. If you read about folks who have done extensive world sailing, you'll know what I mean.
However, I'm not so sure about the wisdom of taking a one year old either...

Update: Just looked at the type of boat...a Hans Christian 36 with a cutter rig. Definitely a well founded sail boat for off shore or round the world cruising.
HANS CHRISTIAN 36 sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

 

[Loren49]

I may be a bit partial as I have sailed for over 30 years with about 28 years on a 27 ft sailboat. Most has been on Lake Ontario but have been on the big pond a few times. We traveled out St Laurence River and around Nova Scotia and then back to NY Harbor. Also traveled down East Coast twice to Florida Keys and across Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. (about 12,000 miles at 5 knots)

Every time I travel by car I meet someone going 60 mph in the opposite direction than my 60 mph. (When in midwest its 70 mph) http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811552.pdf In 2010 over 2.2 million injured and nearly 33,000 dead. (outside car 8000 injured and 182 dead)

A well founded and equipped vessel with a competent crew is quite safe. Check statistics on powerboat deaths which often are caused by excessive speed and alcohol. Should parents allow children in cars or fast boats?

I don't know the details of how well this vessel and crew were prepared but it sounds like it wasn't their first offshore trip. Sounds likeaLyra had suffered salmonella poisoning before the family set out, but doctors had given her a clean bill of health to travel, her aunt Sariah Kay English said.

English initially was in daily email contact with the family but realised something was wrong when the communication stopped several days ago. English said she was told the vessel took on water every time the motor was turned on.

When her sister first mentioned plans to sail with two young children, English recalled, "I thought it was nuts."

But English said the couple were always careful. Eric Kaufman is a coastguard-licensed captain who introduced sailing to his future wife during one of their early dates.

"They were not going into this blind. I knew they were doing this wisely," English said. The couple made a network of friends who traveled around the globe with children, and always stocked the boat with more food than they needed.

"They were very overcautious. They're not new at sailing." Unfortunately, she said, "sickness sometimes happens". problem flared up after a doctor on shore gave the child a clean bill of health. US navy rescues sick baby from stricken boat 900 miles out to sea | World news | theguardian.com


As to the cost - how much more money was spent because of this rescue. Was any new equipment needed and did this rescue take the place of some other training. Government money is regularly spent for people who chose to live in high risk areas. ex. wildfires. coast home flooding, living below sea level or on sand spits.

These parents aren't idiots...just living their lives. I want to be part of a society that would try to save the child. If we each give a dollar we could cover a cost of 325 million.

Loren

 

[dave1949]

They are starting to charge for rescuing hikers around here that get lost or stuck in inclement weather in the White Mtns. if they feel it was a situation that could be avoided. Too many people go hiking ill-prepared and use their cell phone to call for help when they get in trouble. They charge to haul snowmobiles and cars out of lakes that have fallen through the ice. If people had used good sense, their vehicle wouldn't be in the lake.

The issue isn't should the family have been helped, of course we should help people in need. The issue is, is there a penalty for unnecessarily putting oneself in a position to need help?

If enough small boats and people were put on the water to cross the Pacific, to be equivalent to the people-miles traveled on the freeway, we would need a much larger Coast Guard.

 

[daugen]

Update: Just looked at the type of boat...a Hans Christian 36 with a cutter rig.

I couldn't tell who made it but looking at the gunwales it was surely not made to be a dock queen. Yes, a heavy blue water cruiser. As in perhaps to the Bahamas or up the coastline or to island skip. But to cross an ocean? You first Roy.