Sense and Insensitivity!

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Nah! it was Ronnie I was talking about.... I was a bit hard on him.

Anyway the point I am making is ....if a fellow sailor has had a major disaster, maybe we shouldn't dissect his actions on a Thread with his name or his boats as the title and opening subject.

Might be a bit more considerate to start a new thread and review any thing to be learned from that kind of event

IF anyone doesn't want to get his actions disected then he needs to keep a tad lower profile. Putting your expoilts on the web in-order to gain a measure of fame can have a negative effect when you screw up. Personally I'm really really tired of sailing stunts being advertised and promoted. And yes I feel what Ronnie was/is doing is a stunt. He got his 15 min of fame now didn't he. And he wants more...

[Ex-Calif]

The mods here often get griped at for jumping in and often get griped at for not jumping in.

We have no intention of moderating opinion. All opinions are valid.

We do however, maintain a strict play nice atmoshpere and that inlcudes a zero tolerance for personal attacks.

Attack the action not the person and all is well.

I also subscribe to the "If you live in public you will be scrutinized" philosophy.

[Stillraining]

I have been a bad boy ...and Frank has told me so...

[Fire Cracker]

I am the owner, Shannon. Everything on the boat was sound and we did not panic in any way at all; I am an airline pilot of 12 years (20 years of flying) and have handled some severe mishaps in my career (to include a full loss of flight controls: my tail ripped itself apart) At the video of our rescue we felt we had finally found calm seas, but ready for worse, as forecasted. We went through 50 foot waves and over 70mph winds for 3 days. We are only one of three boats lost in this freak weather as far as we know: one an 118 foot Ketch, and a 42' Catamaran abandoned also near our position. The Cat had a vessel pick them up (calmer seas) and take them to Turkey. We were lucky to go to Bermuda! The other boat, which our insurance is handling, is a 118 foot Ketch. The boat is destroyed, but they lost all communications and could not ask for a rescue. Their EPIRB went in the water, and all communications destroyed. I duct taped the Satellite phone to my chest so I have a hard time understanding this. The 118' Ketch with 8 full time crew also lost their helms person overboard (without a tether! but successfully rescued.) They flooded the engine room and caught fire. They had no choice except to limp the boat into Bermuda. My insurance man says it's the most beautiful boat he's ever seen.

You can sit in your slip (or anchor) and judge, but I've seen hell, and non forecasted hell. My family is alive, so I believe that we made the right decision to leave our prized yacht. All 5 cremembers were highly experienced and never sea sick through the whole experience. We did our best. Judge as you will, but we've lost every material thing we owned, and prevented it in every way possible, so only kindness and not judgement is accepted at this point.

My daughter was not the deciding factor. She is strong and tough and always safe and secure. She hung on to her home and her toys. Please do not judge us anymore. We have lost enough.

Love,
Shannon

[Talbot]

You certainly have my sympathy. It is hard enough to sell your boat to someone else, but losing her completely is much worse. For you, the post mortems are worse than useless as they prevent the healing proces from starting.

However, these post mortems do have a useful purpose for the rest of us, in that we learn by experience. Our own experience teaches us faster, but others experience is not so traumatic for us. we sometimes forget the impact on those who went through the experience in our own search for information

Please forgive us.

[Pelagic]

Thanks Shannon for taking the time to make my point with such passion.

Those on the Internet who treat a real person’s life and death experience with the insensitivity of a bunch of medical examiners at a funeral…. are not part of my fraternity .....that I like to call cruisers.

I got your PM and will pass it along in the hopes that Admin will be more proactive when someone wants to name and dissect a member who has just been traumatized.

I don’t think that is how anyone of us would treat a friend.

Best of luck to you and your family Shannon!