Nicholson 38 sunk on Baja Ha-Ha

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by h20man

One of the people he defamed on SA (serah) said she is just wanting people to know what type of person he is.. He also sent a private email to her, that was harassing, as he knew her from a delivery incident she recounted.



And the cost of suing him.. just to try to collect from.. an empty shell.


The more people post and the more one sees Ray (aka mackconsult on the other forum) post in his 'defence' the more obvious it is that Mr. Ray McCormack has some serious psychopathic issues. The bullying, the felony theft conviction, the turning a blind eye to a sexual assault on a crew member by another crew that also had a felony conviction.. the delight in talking about letting birds die on a line if they go after a lure whilst fishing... the alternate reality he exists in.


The collective feeling appears to be to warn others of the multiple disasters that have befallen him, and his egregious behaviour in an attempt to save others..


as well as to steer clear of him on land and on the water..

Wait... Ray is a "Felon"?... holy ****.
What the hell is going on the the USCG Certs?

[h20man]

Originally Posted by Iron E

Wait... Ray is a "Felon"?... holy ****.
What the hell is going on the the USCG Certs?

Fully documented on Sailing Anarchy:



For those that want to read the transcript of the video here is an edited version with who is speaking:


The video must be seen to be believed...

(RB) Captain Rhys Balmer
(WIR) Ray McCormack, Felon, Boatsinker, Bully..

Edited transcript from youtube video
(

)
from 21 January, 2024



(RB) hello I'm captain Rhys Balmer from
Griffin Bay
Adventures and I'm a delivery captain
and sailing instructor who's been
working in the Northwest for over 20
years going on
25 and started a series interviewing
captains and
sailors in the hopes that we can learn
from each other learn from each other's
success's and and perhaps learn from
each other's
mistakes. This next interview is with a
delivery Captain named Ray McCormack
who was just on a boat that went down in
Mexico and he joins us here to share the
story. I hope that we can learn from this
misadventure and I hope that we can be
honest with ourselves and each other
about our mistakes so that we can learn
from
them sailing is a challenging and
sometimes dangerous
thing so as the captains of our vessels
we have a obligation to continually
improve and
and uh learn wherever we can so I hope
this and the coming interviews will help
you in
your watery Adventures. okay here we
go um you want to start at the very
beginning?

(WIR) yeah let's start at the very
beginning yeah okay okay so yeah I'm uh
Ray McCormack. I'm a 200 ton Captain 100
ton year Coastal, been approved my 500
ton year Coastal, and uh be applying uh
sometime in the next few months with my
1600 ton Inland and 500. I have my 500
ton near Coastal also have my
stcw and and advanced firefighting
certificates I've done the RYA uh yacht
Master training I've yet to take the
practicals on that um and I'm a
full-fledged nauticed.org
instructor. um so yeah it uh um basically
the sinking of boat bum gal um was a
very unfortunate event.
I uh I feel
really bad for Sandra that she lost all
of her
possessions and um yeah it's uh you know
it's good to see that she's trying to
get back on the water.
She has another
boat she's looking at but uh basically
what happened was uh it was around
October 29th and Sandra had posted on
Facebook that she lost one of her crew.
I
messaged her via the Facebook messaging
system about um you know that I would be
interested in doing it I had heard this
might have been the last baja from Patsy
okay because the Mexican Navy had taken
over the TIP process and they didn't
know how it was going to go this year.

(RB) what's the tip process?

(WIR) uh that's
basically the cruising permit for Mexico
okay okay yeah it's like a 10-year
permit and uh yeah and it's when you get
it you need to make sure you cancel it
when you... if you get rid of the boat or
you leave the country otherwise it gets
stuck there as we found out with the
Sunseeker um when we took it down to
Ensenada, but uh yeah so October 30th in
the morning I flew down, um Sandra picked
me up at the airport. She took me down to
the Coronado area at the boat ramp where
there was a little dinghy with a little
motor on it and uh you load we loaded
ourselves in that went out to the boat.
uh it was a Nicholson
37 uh like a 1970s version Center
cockpit. uhm, the aft cabin was full of
tools and extra parts, yeah she was
definitely weighted on her Stern.
I could tell pulling up pulling up to her she
was like that. um

(RB) so just to to be clear
here um
there's this Baja Ha-Ha rally. A bunch of
Cruisers go down to Mexico in the winter
or for the winter and uh there is a
Facebook group where they
coordinate the events and uh different
vessels can communicate and uh the owner
of this boat had lost some crew so she
posted and you responded to that and were
being brought on as a you were
volunteering your experience uh not
being brought on as a delivery Captain
like you normally are uh...

(WIR) on on right
right although we did have the
conversation on the phone I said listen
I hold my Merchant Marine license so um
if we get in trouble I'm the one that
becomes in command basically..

(RB) right


(WIR) um
and I was the most experienced person on
the boat for sure she had never really
been offshore uh Brian had never really
been offshore so this was all kind of
new to them and I was the most
experienced person on the boat...

(RB) yeah yeah

(WIR) but I was not getting paid ....... as a captain

(RB) you're volunteering yeah okay so you
you're taking the dingy out to the
boat....

(WIR) yeah and I get to the boat and I
instantly notice you know I have a
really um cool ability that when I step
on a boat I kind of know it's how it's
been maintained and uh a little bit
about you know what how kind of seawothy
she is um the boat appeared that she was
older for sure the rigging was looked
old the lines looked old the sails look
old um yeah the windless wasn't working
so we had to use the the spiniker halyard to
pull the anchor up yeah the um the one
with all the chain on it it was quite
heavy um and the engine quit too when we
were pulling the anchor up and so I had
to bleed some injectors and get the get
the engine going again basically

(RB) I see

(WIR)
um so yeah that was you know this is all
playing in the back of my mind right
about whether we should actually go or
not... [sick laugh]

(RB) right

(WIR) but I kind of went with it um
you know and in hindsight yeah I should
have pulled the plug almost right away
but we make we make we make decisions as
captains

(RB) right

(WIR) so yeah um yeah so we
went to the dock we provisioned the boat
uh Brian came down we put some ice on
the boat some dry ice uh some water
extra water uh and yeah we tried to take
off in the evening and uh ...

(RB) and about how
long how long is this first leg so
everybody can kind of understand?

(WIR) what's
uh it's about two days

(RB) okay yeah yeah


(WIR) it's about two days um you know this
would have been October 30th so the
fleet had left earlier in the day and we
were leaving in the evening so we're
were a little behind the fleet um got
about two or three hours outside of the
entrance of uh San Diego Bay and uh
basically the voltage on the 12vt bank
started to just fall off
completely. um instruments were shutting
down ...
yeah
autopilot was shutting down so
uh basically I, Sandra was sleeping, and I
made the call. I said we just need to
turn around and go back at this point
see if we can address it and so we we
turned around and uh went back to uh San
Diego and the next morning got up and
yeah proceeded to take the alternator
apart and uh found out that the the the
post for the electrical charging uh wire
was all corroded yeah um so we cleaned
that up we put a new wire on um yeah so
when when he put that all back together
you I had him Yank on the wires and one
of the wires came out of the terminal so
we put a new wire on and yeah we were
able to get charging again so later that
day we tried to take off again so this
was October
31st uh we got out of there in the in
the late
afternoon uh everything went fairly well
overnight going into the next day and
then it was the next evening so 24 hours
later that I decided to take a nap uh
because we were going to be coming into
Turtle Bay probably about I figured
about two or three in the morning on
November second. okay?

(RB) yeah

(WIR) um so yeah I
went down to lay down and uh yeah this
was right after we got the boat
basically on the inside of cedros, Cedros
Island and uh yeah I was awakened by the
boat healing over so I got
up...

(RB) There was no bump or anything like that?

(WIR) it was
just yeah just the boat heeling
over...

(RB) oh, yeah

(WIR) I'm pretty good about that
yeah I can tell when a boat changes tack
or [ nasty laugh ] yeah you know inadvertent jibes

(RB) right

(WIR) we know that stuff

(RB) yeah yeah

(WIR) so I got up
and I was like I knew that the wind had
picked up because yeah that's something
that would heel a boat over like that
and uh yeah sure enough there was an
Aviatic(sp?) Breeze was blowing about 23 to 25
miles per hour so blowing off the off
the shore here yes off the shore mhm so
I uh I saw that you know I was I was
concerned about the rig we had already
broken the boom bang I was concerned
about the running rigging, the standing
rigging, the sails. uh I had in the back
of my mind ... I knew that the next two legs
which would be from Turtle Bay to Baja
St Maria and then Baja St Maria to Cabo
were going to be very windy...

(RB) yeah

(WIR) uh and
there's as you go down the coast there's
less and less resources so Turtle Bay
has a little bit uh of stuff there. Baja
St Maria has nothing. there's some
Mexican people that come in to Baja St
Maria to throw the party and stuff but
otherwise there's kind of nothing there.
there's a couple Shacks that's about it.
you know and then Cabo is full of
resources obviously..

(RB) right

(WIR) um so the key
is is being able to get to Cabo right?

(RB) yeah

(WIR) uh and that was in the back of my
mind. so I made the
decision at that time given my knowledge
and experience uh to run the boat closer
to shore.
I picked a 10 meter uh depth line
is what I did...

(RB) so reducing the fetch for
any chop that way and maybe reducing
some of the wind.

(WIR) that's correct yeah and
and it worked there was less wind there
for sure.
um yeah and so we were we were cruising
along we were coming to the entrance of
uh Turtle Bay and then we started having some
issues with voltage again. um 12 volt
voltage and so you know the and just to preface this
a little bit there was also an issue
with the autopilot that I found out
about um after we had left the first
time and that was that when the voltage
drops it can take like a 30 degree turn
inadvertently right and turn the boat
without even knowing it because there's
no there's no number that displays on
this autopilot it's just a hit Auto and
it steers a course right? [more nasty laughing]

(RB) of course...

(WIR) yeah and the other thing that happens is that
when you try to go into
standby uh it takes about 20 to 25
seconds for the Hydraulics to let go
it's a hydraulic steering system and so
the um yeah there's this delay before
you can actually turn the wheel


(RB) interesting [ trying to hide smile ]

(WIR) okay
so back to uh we're coming into Turtle
Bay. um the breeze has come down and the
we were having a a voltage drop problem
uh and so we basically used uh an eu2000
generator on Deck with a Shore power
cord to try to be able to run the
charger to charge the batteries but then
we were having AC issues uh like
Breakers were breaking or something and
so then we had to they drag out an
extension cord and we run an extension
cord from the generator straight to the
charger which had a male plug on it was
plugged into a receptacle.

um yeah and so there was a lot of
activity going on .. on deck and it's one
o'clock in the morning it's dark um yeah
I did not notice if the autopilot made ... I the
autopilot might have made a turn I don't
know if it did or not I just know that
um one of the things I usually do when I
change my course like that is I'll drag
my route over my waypoints so that it it
at least lines up with you know where
were going the other problem I had was
at Coastal Explorer I was working with
Rosepoint before I came on that trip and my
laptop was not laying down tracks... it was
laying down the tracks but it wouldn't
show them on the screeni......
which usually it does...

(RB) right, but why does it lay it down but not show it?

(WIR) oh it's like
breadcrumbs right so when you when you
turn turn on the track feature in
coastal Explorer it leaves a track
behind the boat...

(RB) yeah but...

(WIR) so if the boat
takes a turn you would see a turn in
your track right?

(RB) But you said that it was laying
it down but it wasn't showing it I don't
understand that...

(WIR) yeah well if you went
into ....have you?.... I don't know if you've
ever used Coastal Explorer but if you go
into Coastal Explorer and you click on
your log and then you hit tracks the
tracks are actually there they're being
recorded but you're not being displayed
on the screen.


(RB) I see I see...

(WIR) yeah I just
got a new laptop and it it lays down the
tracks just fine it did it all the way
to Hawaii [nasty laugh] I think from LA. so all the way way


(RB) I can see that the part of the problem
is is you've got this like small
view you're zoomed in right and you're
losing reference to the general
Shoreline and...

(WIR) that's correct yeah I lost
all reference I was zoomed in on my
cmaps uh which my cmaps had taken me
into Panama it had taken me in Costa
Rica right all these places and it it
had done Mexico with me several times
the cmap charts that I have in coastal
Explorer are pretty good yeah they're
pretty good
now still as we know there's the the
recommendations by the Baja Ha-Ha fleet as
well as cruising guides that when you
come into Turtle Bay stay in the center.
and I knew this ... I knew this coming into
Turtle Bay...
I'd been in there several
times ....um but yeah basically...
uh you know...
moving forward ... after trying to resolve
all the all the charging issues and um
you know the boat might have taken a
turn, it might have not, but Brian who was
standing up at the shrouds on the
starboard side said
"Ray do you see those rocks"
and I peered around the Dodger and I
said oh **** and first thing I did was I
hit standby and the wheel wouldn't move right...
so then I went for the gear shifter to
try to slam it in reverse and we we
bumped and hit a rock yeah and as we
bumped the boat kind of skipped over it
was high tide uh and she laid over on
her port side on a rock basically

(RB) yeah

(WIR) she spent about the next couple minutes
uh with every swell that came from
behind us she would flip over from
starboard to Port

(RB) yeah

(WIR) and then I saw
Cabinetry started moving down below and
water was coming in so ...uh Brian was on
his handheld hailing a Mayday.
um we were very close to the
boats anchored up in in in Turtle Bay
and so..

(RB) yeah

(WIR) people were listening to us
at this point um

(RB) yeah

(WIR) and I went forward
and uh or well basically so um yeah I
was trying to back the boat off
eventually the uh engine died because
the water coming in the boat probably um
the uh tide it was high tide and the
tide ended up flipping and then pushing
us off the rocks and so the boat righted
itself and started just squatting in the
water uh at that time I told Brian to go
get the motor on the dinghy and get the
dinghy ready. I went forward and got the
anchor which I had set up a basically a
fortress anchor with some chain and road
for the rest of the trip because the
windless wasn't working...

(RB) right

(WIR) and threw
that off the front of the boat and
anchored the boat in about 40 feet of
wateryeah

(RB) cuz now they're being blown out to
sea

(WIR) yeah right right

(WIR) yeah so yeah then
we uh basically when the when the rail
was about four inches above the water I
was like okay it's time to go and we all
jumped in the dinghy and then we worked
our way around the boat up to the bow
yeah she was definitely Stern heavy
because of all the tools and the
everything was in that aft cabin so she
she went down Stern first and then yeah
her bow just slipped under the water
yeah we uh we motored for a couple
minutes headed towards uh the entrance
Turtle Bay uh and a panga with fisherman
showed up and picked us up and then took
us the rest away to the pier we were
able to stay in a hotel that night and I
think the next day the Mexican Navy came
and took pictures of our driver's
license and said cleared us basically
said we could go back home um and yeah
was a long long journey the next day to
get all the way to loreto and then then I
jumped on a flight a 737 the next day uh
basically to get home yeah
so uh key
learnings
um you know for one uh yeah I need to be
better about saying
no
I need to be better about that I've
delivered some questionable boats
there's no doubt about it I do this for
a living I live check to
check you know
so you know and I've been fairly I feel
that I've been fairly successful there's
some people that feel I'm not successful
uh and that's their opinions and it can
appear like that from the things that
have happened in the past for sure uh
but I need to be better about saying no
and this sailboat definitely
particularly when we went back that
first time because of the voltage issues
I should have just said you know what
this boat's not ready to go I'll may
help you make a list of things to
address and I'm going to fly home and you
can go do that and if you want me to
come back I'll come back and help you
yeah that's what I should have done
okay um yeah I should have been uh more
diligent about that
autopilot yeah I mean with what I'd seen
about it I should have been a little bit
more
cautious um about particularly when I
got close to the
shore yeah yeah and you know relying on
my chart plotter when it was not working
I mean that was just complacency on my
part right um that laptop you know has
done great Coastal Explorer has done
great great for me. I've done lots of
trips up into Alaskan and back with that
thing and in Central America and up and
down the coast and you know to Hawaii in
back and uh it's always been Flawless.
you know it just um you know and yeah
the you know the recommendations by
cruising guides and the Baja Ha-Ha fleet
about staying in the center of Turtle
Bay uh that is something that definitely
should be um considered uh when coming
in and out of that bay just no doubt
about it and...

(RB) so there was no the boat
had no plotter me you're just using your
laptop...

(WIR) well it had it had this little
chart plotter but like it didn't even
have maps for chart for Mexico right so
we were depending on my laptop. Yeah .

(RB) I see, I see. So redundancy there does does
help.

(WIR) of course yes yeah as as Mariners
right that's one of the things that we
should be adheed (sic) to is you never depend
on any one source

(RB) yeah yeah um yeah I mean uh I have not
delivered as many boats as you have for
sure but um I have had to become more
and more rigorous
about um both choosing boats that I think
are are seaworthy enough for their
particular passages um and be... and also working at
getting more clear with Boat Owners
about about what my role on the boat is
and I will I will do this if this and um
I've had to have a lot of uncomfortable
conversations when what the boat was
supposed to be is is no longer the case
anymore and and when that happens then
my side of the agreement has to
change and um it's hard because you have
bit of a previous investment trap there
you know you've you've kind of committed
to doing this job based on this... um..
information and um once that you start
to get more information or like the less
uh less things working on the boat then
you have to be comfortable with changing
that plan and ...

(WIR) yeah yeah yeah

(RB) the go no go thing is such a hard I mean go that's
that's at the very beginning in a way
like when you turn back around you could
have it could have just left the boat then
I'm sure you've gone over this in your
head a bunch of ...

(WIR) oh God yeah there's so
much gut feeling and intuition that goes
into it

(RB) right

(WIR) as an example I as an
example the Baltic 38 last November that
I brought from Hawaii to well we ended
up in Nia Bay right I don't know if you
followed that uh but yeah last November
Mark Miller came that was his first
ocean crossing right and I we had two
Canadians on board and yeah we sailed
that boat basically in the Pineapple
Express all the way to the
Strait of Juan de Fuca

(RB) nice

(WIR) ou know I should have
when we were in Hawaii and I had told
that owner I said we should only be in
Hawaii for about three days. Fuel,
provision. get used to the boat
leave. right?

(RB) yeah

(WIR) He kept us there for 11
days, which pushed us farther into
November which made me miss
Thanksgiving. right? and yeah and so and
the invoice blew up right because yeah I
charge laydays and I gotta buy food, food
for the crew and you know I had to get
the bottom scrubed and I had to I had to
go to customs and pay to bring a sail on
the boat when he could he had the boat
there for four months he could have done
all this stuff you know and he didn't
and I I just I had a I had a feeling
that he was gonna be a cheap ass *******,
excuse my language, but he was yeah and I
found that out in court when I lost my
court case up in Vancouver yeah and I I
took a $10,000 loss on that delivery
yeah

(RB) yikes yeah so you know
um I I don't follow your blog I hear
about bits or I'll read little bits here
and here and there from your adventures
and um I do see there's a lot of the
what do they call it the Monday Morning
Quarterback uh that that goes on but I
have a a little different perspective
because I deliver boats as well so I
know what it's like dealing with the
customer and ....


(WIR) oh yeah

(RB) customers hired you
to hired us hired a delivery Captain to
safely move their boat for them with
them but but that's what they've they've
asked for it to be done safely and when
you see some sign that it's not safe you
have to be able to pull the plug and and
end the uh the passage um different
situation uh this story because you were
volunteering and uh you probably
would have made some different decisions
if you had been there in a professional
capacity and and I can I can kind of see
imagine where where I might have been in
a similar
situation um and I and I think also I
relate to getting on not so seaworthy
boats when I first started delivering
boats those are the only deliveries that
I got so I had...

(WIR) right

(RB) ... to make those work and
and um I got triy to get out of the the
mentality of this is what you do you fix
the boat to move the boat um and move
away from that into no it's picking
seaworthy boats and good customers and
um making yourself available to those
people and saying

(WIR) yeah and there's a lot
of thought in the industry that you know
by raising your rates
basically right raise your rates and it
gets rid of the Riff Raff right and
that's probably where I'm going with it
yeah yeah I mean I'm I'm up in my
tonnage I'm gonna be a four fig Captain
pretty soon per day and that's the rate
I'm gonna run with now I may not get a lot
of deliveries but I'll get a little bit
of work here and there you know and and
maybe even some private work right? right?

(RB) yeah I mean I I I I've heard that before
too the you raised the rate but um it's
it's even if you could make an argument
that because someone's paying you more
they expect you to do more um you know
to be doing repairs underway I think it
still just comes back to the the
responsibility to to be able to say no
and and
maybe you know managing those
expectations ahead of time with that
conversation with that contract to be it
like this is um this is my our clear
expectations you're providing this
seaworthy boat you're signing off on
that and and I'm going to be able to to
move it from here to here but if if we
find that um things start breaking and
there things that you don't know about
as the owner then we have to change the
plan

(WIR) that's right and I do run a
contract I have a nine-page contract and
it has language in there just states
that it says me as the captain if I find
that the boat is unseaworthy at some
point I have the right to leave it
wherever I want

(RB) yeah

(WIR) yeah and you know most of the time
I work with owners and I mean I don't
like leave the boat right most of the
time I try to work with the owners and
try to I I like to finish the delivery I
i' like to do that and I tried to do
that with the Canadian one Mark and I
spent all day the day after Thanksgiving
trying to get the engine running and we
couldn't couldn't get it running because
he had this weird fuel system you know
it was um the filter was mounted in a
location where you couldn't even inspect
the O-ring on it uh and yeah it would
suck air and yeah and and he had
material in the jerry cans that
basically clogged the
pickup and uh so we had all sorts of
problems trying to get the boat running
and he finally called me and said you
know what thank you for getting my boat
to the West Coast you and your crew can
go home I'll come get the
boat you know [nasty laugh] and he lied in court and
said he didn't say that

(RB) God

(WIR) yeah but you know I agree that um
yeah it's it's a very
sketchy uh difficult thing that we do
yeah getting on boats that are unknown
entities working with people we don't
know you know it makes the private stuff
actually seem pretty easy right when you
get a boat and you actually have a known
entity that you can work with you know
um that's you know that's kind of the
way it goes uh you know and but you know
for
sure um I think that it makes it can
make an individual a better Captain when
you know we're pretty good at fixing
issues right I mean ...

(RB) yeah

(WIR) We get experience
with engines and electronics and
refrigeration and pumps and rigging and
uh just lots of different situations
that Cruisers would love to learn yeah I
mean [nasty laugh]

(RB) yeah yeah and I mean I wonder
too would the owner of the boat what
would if they had what would they have
done had you not been on the boat I
wonder
um uh you know she was to a crew of two
and was looking for a
third um wonder what would have happened
um if they had these problems which he
just turned back around and got things
repaired that's a um an interesting one
also if if there wasn't the rally and
the
perceived um safety and numbers of of
joining a rally and going down there
rather than going down there alone would
would the boat be in as poor shape you
know that that's where my brain goes a
little bit with these rallies is um who
are you going to be expected to save out
there and and who are the people that
that have no place know being out
there.. I I had a ...

(WIR)
yeah and if you but but
you know like the Baha if they run an
event like that they're gonna get people
like that yeah it's just inherent yeah I
mean it's inherently going to happen you
even get people who don't even pay the
fee that join with the rally right
because they can't even afford it
right?

(RB)
yeah well I appreciate your cander um I
you know we talked a little bit about
this ahead of time of like taking that
time to reflect after you know we've all
all made mistakes on the water and uh
you know either do we do we go to the go
to our log and um make some really clear
notes about what we could have done
differently or do we uh
do we have a cocktail and

(WIR) right right
right

(RB) I think I think that it's
important to as boaters and especially as
captains to take that time to reflect on
our mistakes so that we don't you know
make them again

(WIR)yeah and and there and
there's the expectation right that um
yeah as a captain you can never know it
all you learn something new every time
you go on the water and that's totally
true for me every time I step on a boat
and I go on the water I learn learn
something new

(RB) absolutely that's that's
part of why it's rewarding and and um
The Challenge there too um but uh I I
think it's when we're on the boat in a
professional capacity we certainly have
an obligation to be um I actually truth
be told um my own boats there will
be eccentricities to some of the systems
that I will be comfortable with because
I know everything else on the boat um I
I'm I'm not so with uh deliveries I I
have a little list in my mind and uh on
paper that shows the pros and cons and I
I keep track of those things they may be
totally unrelated systems but they are
uh taking your attention like in this
case uh it was your attention being
taken off um off the navigation because
because of the systems on the boat
failing that that resulted in the
sinking of a boat

(WIR) yeah yeah you know and
the decision to go close to shore right
and that was just the decision I made
based on my experience and my
knowledge and the forecast I had saw
right I was thinking about the forecast
I saw which was that we needed to be
able to sail the boat down to Baja St
Maria and then to Cabo.

(RB) right... but still..

(WIR) and what I
was seeing in front of me I was like oh
man is this gonna make it

(RB) yeah so but that
was still connected to the vessel yes
the decision of where you put the boat
to be gentle on the rig um was the
result of um a an
unsound rigging uh yes?

(WIR) right right right

(RB) it does connect back to the boat
and then you know the question you know
maybe there is okay this boat this this
boat's in San Diego where these things
can get done fairly easily but going
to um Cabo is going to be a lot
harder and so yeah is it uh you it just
comes back
to um the seaworthiness of Your Vessel
and making sure that um you aren't
committed to going beyond the safety of
the the trip

(WIR) right right

(RB) and like you were
saying too before about your instincts I
think these things are all talk to you
these things are all talking to you um
from your experience and it might not be
explicitly clear but you're you got a
bad feeling and you got to learn how to
trust those things and and be okay with
turning around or not casting off it's
it's easier said than done for
sure

(WIR) totally totally

(RB) and is there gonna
be is there gonna be any legal
ramifications? I mean you weren't as you
weren't there hired as a captain but as
a captain you have the risk this
responsibility for the vessel and the
crew that you
can't U bow out of I mean what's do we

(WIR)
yeah yeah it's um I'm not an expert on
the Merchant Marine laws and systems but
in my brief um workings with the Coast
Guard basically um it's my understanding
that Merchant Marine holders can get
three marks on their
license and then you lose your license
for life

(RB) okay okay

(WIR) and the way that those marks
happen for sure one of them is if you're
driving if you're the captain or the
master of a COI vessel and someone gets
hurt or dies there will be an
investigation and you could get a mark
on your your ticket for that
yeah if you are hired as the captain on
a boat this could be an uninspected or a
COI vessel and someone does
die you're gonna to get a
mark okay
if someone gets
injured or when the Coast Guard does an
inspection and they find something like
you have drugs or guns on board yeah
you're going to go all these by the way
have you have to go to court so they
would call you to court basically uh
before they give you the marks but yeah
you could get a mark from that okay um
this boat was an uninspected
vessel I was not hired as the
master and it was in what I coin
international waters was not in US
Waters right so I mean there's a lot of
people um out there that are they've
told me that they've they posted like on
some of the uh the forums and stuff that
they've called the Coast Guard and
reported me right and they're they're
all trying to get my they're trying to
put a petition together to yank my
license right I think they've got a
really tough battle to do that I don't
think the Coast Guard works in that way
they don't really have that capacity to
you know I mean the fact is nobody got
hurt nobody died

(RB) yeah

(WIR) right in the
sinking of the boat buum gal um you know
and yeah I I made some bad decisions I
admit it I admit it and but I'm willing
to move on I mean I just took that
Sunseeker to Hawaii and we did fine with
that I mean the owner was happy um I
just put an estimate to take a Jeanneau 44
from LA uh San Diego to Hawaii I might
be flying out to San Diego and do that
you know really I I mean this is I just
heard about this so I don't know if it's
actually going to happen but you know I
mean that's what I do is I
continue I move on and I look forward to
my next opportunities

(RB) right

(WIR) and I learn
from what I've done in the past

(RB) right yeah and uh and hopefully too we
can we can learn a little bit from each
other's
Misadventures that's that's my hope um I
share my my
uh passages on my blog with that that
hope mind um of course it's h it's easy
to play the Monday Morning Quarterback
and uh if I was there I would do this
kind of a thing um well I'm glad that we
got a chance to talk I appreciate your
candor and I I um appreciate just yeah
how transparent you you are with your
blog and sharing your your experiences
and I know that um it's uh a lot of
people enjoy it so

(WIR) yeah yeah yeah no and
the reason I do it is to share um you
know share things that happen out on the
water which can happen to anybody yeah
yeah that stuff can happen to anybody I
mean a captain or not

(RB) yeah yeah yeah um
and I think I feel like in the maritime
World a lot of things don't get shared
you know there are events that we all
hear about you know someone loses their
life at a at a um a weeklong regatta or
something like this and the information
is kind of um scant or or just sort of
not there nobody wants to talk about
things well you have to you have to pay
the money and go to the safety at C
seminar from World sailing right [ nasty laugh ]

(RB) yeah

(WIR) which yeah I've done it three times I've
taken the safety at sea seminar um you
know um the there's some guys up in uh
Vancouver they want me to come sail on
their boat in the Vic Maui or a pack Cup
no is it trans pack or pack Cups I
think it's one of the big races yeah you
know and he's like he's like you got to
get your safety C seminar and I'm like
ah **** really? I mean God I spend money
on my STCW come on how many times do I have to
do that safety at sea seminar when I'm a
captain and I cross oceans and I go up
and down the coast and can't they just
you know I, I've talked to world sailing and
I'm like can't you guys just put
together like a quick four hour video on the
new technologies and the key learnings
of what's happened in the last five
years

(RB) yeah

(WIR) right and then and then I
would watch that and I could take a
quick test even if you want me to [laugh]

(RB) yeah

(WIR) right but do I really have to go to the
two-day seminar and sit down for two
days yeah when I've already flipped a
raft and I've already jumped in the
water with an immersion suit and I've
already jumped in the water with my my
life raft or my inflatable you know they
done all that I
mean yeah they need to change their
Paradigm a little bit I think they
should accept STCW that's for sure


(RB) yeah yeah

(WIR) you know as as a sub a subset
of safety sea but yeah that's a whole
another conversation

(RB) well where can uh
um people go to follow your
blog?


(WIR) well um you know I had a website
for a while um but my domain expired and
I haven't renewed it yet yet um yeah I
mean uh most of the time I'm just
posting to Facebook and you know yeah
people can follow me on Facebook that's
my wife says I do it too much and it's
obvious I do it too much because the
people in Sailing Anarchy ripped me
apart pretty much over stuff that's
happened over the last five
years [laugh]

(RB) yeah

(WIR)I don't really follow that
those guys anymore but um I know I I
stopped using them a long time ago uh
yeah it's just the people that on
Sailing Anarchy are I don't know I don't
even know what kind of people they
really
are

(RB) yes well the uh the anonymity that
we can we can get with our online
trolling is not great for our behavior
for sure well thanks so much for taking
this time um uh fair
seas um

(WIR) yeah yeah to you too man


(RB) yea good luck on this uh this LA to Hawaii
gig I I know the same feeling of
paycheck to paycheck

(WIR) oh God yeah it's
feast or famine

(RB) pretty much yeah makes it
harder saying no to these jobs that are
um questionable

(WIR) yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
all we can do is just kind you know as
you know we just hang in there and we
look for that next opportunity...

(RB) yeah

(WIR) um yeah and then we have to be very we try
to be judicious about you know I mean I
I do all sorts of stuff like you know if
someone buys a boat without a
survey uh in the last three years then
I'm like okay you need to fly me in and
I'm going to do a sea trial like an
overnight sea trial and I'm going to take
the boat out and I'm going to try to
break stuff on it is what I'm going to
do [nasty laugh] you know and so there's some things
I've done that try to mitigate you know
I mean if if Sandra had hired me to
deliver the boat to La Paz right and she
contacted me and there was no survey and
she did my whole estimate and contract
process I'd be like okay I gotta come
down and do a sea trial on the boat

(RB) yeah


(WIR) I'm gonna to take it to Catalina Island and
back

(RB) right right

(WIR) I will try to break stuff and
what would have came out of that was
your boat's not ready to go go to La Paz

(RB) yeah

(WIR) you know so if I had done my normal
processes this boat never really would
have ever left the dock for Mexico yeah
you know but it the you know I do
sometimes do things like that where you
know I've helped people out with their
boats I've you know like Brad.... Brad just
bought a boat right and yeah uh I was up
there for three days yeah we uh we put
in double Raycors and you know and I
looked at his batteries and I'm like oh
you need to replace the start battery
Brad

(RB) yeah yeah

(WIR) and so yeah we're we're
going to hopefully get that boat down
the coast here in a few weeks. he's got
to get it out of Everett by January end
of January we've been talking a little
bit a good guy

(RB) yeah yeah well cool um I
appreciate your time again and um yeah
good luck on this next gig

(WIR) excellent
yeah well let's stay in touch man

(RB) okay
well thanks um all right

(WIR) bye

(RB) bye

[h20man]

Originally Posted by Iron E

Wait... Ray is a "Felon"?... holy ****.
What the hell is going on the the USCG Certs?

Ray is a Felon, you can go to the Washington State Portal:


https://odysseyportal.courts.wa.gov/...e/Dashboard/29


Type in the case number:



05-1-01345-1


and up pops Ray's Felony Conviction for theft (60K from his employer).


Not posting here.. as no need, but .. if you want to verify.. verify from WASHINGTON STATE (link above)

[BlueH2Obound]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

The program may be busted.

But to me, the lesson here is the ancient caveat emptor. We need to be aware there are camouflaged bad people out there who will cheat us just for the fun of it, people to whom our worth is less than nothing, but for our money or life they can take.

Ann

Ann, I totally agree with your post, however, there needs to be a way to pick the wheat out of the chaff. Sandra of Boatbumgal was intelligent enough to realize that she needed assistance to go down the coast. She did some searching, found wreck 'em ray, checked out his advertising (facebook page), looked over his "experience", and his credentials, and thought she'd made a good choice . . . . To the uninformed, being a "Coast Guard Captain" looks REAL GOOD. They don't realize that with a USCG cert in hand, that + $2.00, and they can get a cup of coffee. And there isn't anything out there steering them in the right direction. When you start out, you don't know what you don't know, and don't even know who to ask the right questions of . . .

[h20man]

Originally Posted by BlueH2Obound

Ann, I totally agree with your post, however, there needs to be a way to pick the wheat out of the chaff. Sandra of Boatbumgal was intelligent enough to realize that she needed assistance to go down the coast. She did some searching, found wreck 'em ray, checked out his advertising (facebook page), looked over his "experience", and his credentials, and thought she'd made a good choice . . . . To the uninformed, being a "Coast Guard Captain" looks REAL GOOD. They don't realize that with a USCG cert in hand, that + $2.00, and they can get a cup of coffee. And there isn't anything out there steering them in the right direction. When you start out, you don't know what you don't know, and don't even know who to ask the right questions of . . .

Actually, the story NOW being told by Ray.. is that he 'volunteered' his services... He heard Sandra was looking for crew.. and he volunteered himself, showed all credentials, said he was most experienced.. and did not ask for pay for being a captain (I understand his costs were covered by Sandra), and ... he showed up.. took charge.. changed route... and sank the boat..


All in a day's work.


Also.. now the story is the autopilot may have done a 30 degree turn... or it may have not....

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Iron E

Wait... Ray is a "Felon"?... holy ****.
What the hell is going on the the USCG Certs?

He pleaded guilty to felony theft 20 years ago in an incident involving his employer, served 7 days in jail, and returned the stolen items. A fact to consider is that in the USA, 8% of all adults have felony convictions on their records.

The USCG does not consider 20 year old felony convictions disqualifying, nor, IMO, should they.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Jammer

A fact to consider is that in the USA, 8% of all adults have felony convictions on their records.

Oh... then never mind, that changes everything.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by sinnerman

If he were an airplane pilot, the FAA would have pulled his license, and he would now be greeting people at Walmart.

Point of order. The FAA does not have broad authority to "pull" anyone's pilot license. What they have is the authority to issue large civil fines. It is common for them to offer a "voluntary" license suspension in lieu of fines. This leaves the pilot affected with three choices:


1) Agree to a license suspension, usually for 6-24 months.
2) Pay the fine, usually $2500-$20,000.
3) Hire an attorney and fight the charges in front of an administrative law judge, or at least try to get the fine reduced.


Typically people who are full-time pilots pay the fine. Typically people who don't work in aviation take the suspension. People who work part-time as flight instructors or charter pilots make an economic decision based on the size of the fine and the amount of money they make in aviation.


The only real difference between the USCG and the FAA as far as licensing actions is that every flight requires a certificated pilot in command and every aircraft requires an annual inspection by an authorized inspector. The FAA also has extensive, prescriptive rules such that most crashes are preceded by CFR violation -- running out of fuel is a violation because there is a requirement to confirm sufficient fuel plus reserve prior to the flight, flying into an object on the ground is a violation because there is a requirement to maintain at least 500 feet separation, etc.


Be careful what you wish for. I don't think we want to be in a world where the USCG requires licensure, medical clearance, an updated weather forecast from an authorized source, and recurrent training before you sail your own boat. Nor do we want to be in a world where the USCG can give you a ticket for following the 10 meter contour or leaving the dock with the sail covers still on.

[h20man]

Originally Posted by Jammer

<snip>



Be careful what you wish for. I don't think we want to be in a world where the USCG requires licensure, medical clearance, an updated weather forecast from an authorized source, and recurrent training before you sail your own boat. Nor do we want to be in a world where the USCG can give you a ticket for following the 10 meter contour or leaving the dock with the sail covers still on.

I know that I was stunned that the USCG licensed 'captain' certificate... was next to useless, (in my opinion worse then an ASA bareboat or USSailing certification, definitely worse then RYA certification), as it never had a test to see the proposed captain in action.


Being a boat owner.. and going out sailing.. is super.. Great if some rules were known.. but at the moment anyone can go with no certification, as long as they have the cash/credit to get a boat to command.


My problem, is that a Federal Organisation that is truly super (in my experience with documentation, rescuing, interdiction) has such a meaningless certification of 'captains'.


If one has a RYI or ASA/USSailing cert... then.. one has managed to convince someone that they are competent.. One can argue as to what is better (I believe the RYA is superior...) yet... USCG 'captain' certification has no on the water verification.


I do know USCG Captains that are competent.. Just that the cert process does not seem to ensure competency.. and Mr. McCormack uses the certification as part of his marketing... (in my opinion misleadingly).




As to the point that 8% of the US population are felons.. I was surprised at that number.. Regardless.... having a felony theft conviction is an important piece of information.... and takes away from the 92% that given the choice to do something dodgy... or not... that do not. (OK, may be smaller, as there are probably people that should have been caught, but managed to get away with it.


A felon is not some trash to be thrown away.. S/he may have turned their life around.



Regarding this captain, Ray McCormack, I would not want him anywhere on or near my boat, based on past history.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Be careful what you wish for. I don't think we want to be in a world where the USCG requires licensure, medical clearance, an updated weather forecast from an authorized source, and recurrent training before you sail your own boat. Nor do we want to be in a world where the USCG can give you a ticket for following the 10 meter contour or leaving the dock with the sail covers still on.

Agree without qualification as applied to unlicensed mariners, licensed ones not engaged in chartering, or those not using their license on behalf of paying clients. And I believe "paying" isn't necessarily limited to monetary under the regs, but can also include other types of compensation. Although this most recent case may be murky, doesn't our dear friend have a history of calamities while serving in his USCG licensed captain's capacity?

Perhaps there's a history of complaints with the CG that haven't been disclosed or we're just unaware of. For that matter his license may have already been suspended but he's representing it as valid. I would assume, but don't know, that the CG facilitates an easy way to confirm this on behalf of the public w/o necessarily disclosing details of any disciplinary action.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Exile

Although this most recent case may be murky, doesn't our dear friend have a history of calamities while serving in his USCG licensed captain's capacity?

Delivery captains, as a rule, do not have to be licensed (in the USA), because they do not operate boats that are carrying passengers or freight for hire.


Mr. McCormack chiefly works as a delivery captain, and so the many doubtful outcomes that have been reported do not appear to be ones where USCG licensure would have been required. The only event I can recall that took place while he was clearly operating a for-hire vessel was one where he entered the security zone surrounding a naval vessel without authorization.

For that matter his license may have already been suspended but he's representing it as valid. I would assume, but don't know, that the CG facilitates an easy way to confirm this on behalf of the public w/o necessarily disclosing details of any disciplinary action.

Participants in discussions elsewhere have done this, and have confirmed that he does hold the credentials he claims to.

[Eder]

Wow...just read this thread...ya Ray is an idiot...but


I own my boat...when others are at the helm,especially near shore I have navionics running below on my iPhone. Why did that chick not pay attention. Especially nearing Turtle Bay at night with about 160 other sailboats around, mostly filled with green horn sailors. Wow!


(I have sailed into TB at 1am...no biggi with normal behavior...and how is 22kn of wind reason for caution?)


Best result is that this whole crew is off the water imo.


God loves sailors.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Eder

Wow...just read this thread...ya Ray is an idiot...but


I own my boat...when others are at the helm,especially near shore I have navionics running below on my iPhone. Why did that chick not pay attention. Especially nearing Turtle Bay at night with about 160 other sailboats around, mostly filled with green horn sailors. Wow!


(I have sailed into TB at 1am...no biggi with normal behavior...and how is 22kn of wind reason for caution?)


Best result is that this whole crew is off the water imo.


God loves sailors.

Because she had put an extremely experienced (?) skipper in charge.. that's why he was there..

[h20man]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Because she had put an extremely experienced (?) skipper in charge.. that's why he was there..

ah @boatman61.... not just experienced.. but "A big time experienced sailor", who had been down that way MANY TIMES.


There are two youtube interviews about ray that have to be seen to be believed.. as he laughs his way about them. Disgusting.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Eder

Why did that chick not pay attention.

Misplaced trust.


There's the Captain Ron movie, 100 books on how to start sailing, 1000 magazine articles on how to start out with your first boat, and 10,000 individual posters on facebook and various sailing forums who all say the same thing:

When you're new at this and buy your first boat, hire a delivery captain and heed well his advice.

The problem with this thread and other, parallel discussions elsewhere, is that they focus on Mr. McCormack as an outlier, the exceptional delivery captain who is, well, bad at being a delivery captain. There is an underlying presumption that he's the 1% who gives the other 99% a bad name.

The broader question of just exactly how someone with little or no sailing experience is supposed to choose a competent, trustworthy, honorable, responsible delivery captain, who sits down while using the head, cleans up the galley when off-watch, keeps their hands to themselves, keeps a good watch, has the judgment and forecasting skills to avoid heavy weather, has both confidence and humility, enculturates these values and teaches these skills to others who serve as crew, etc., has not been covered. Despite the overall libertarian bent of sailing forums there have been many unopposed calls for the government to take care of this for us, by tightening up standards for licensure.