Sailor Rescued off Tillamook

[zeehag]

it is difficult to sail when the crap is scared out of you. it takes some callousing to stay in a small boat in big seas and winds. sometimes we dont have that sometimes we do.
sometimes when i was sailing with my crazy friend in gom we had crap scared out of us but there were 2 on board so one was able to steer while the other shook in boots for a few minuets, then there was gato--he made it thru also and didnt neeed new pants...was a learning experience for all of us.
pacific is a larger water with bigger seas...can get quite rude. i dont want to find myself in a stormy pacific without some assistance/crew

[robert sailor]

There is a reason that pilot charts have red lines on them showing seas averaging over 10 feet. The seas off the Wa/Or coast are the only parts of the Pacific with these red lines on then except in the far north so while it can be very mild harbor hopping motoring experience a few miles off land,when you get out 100 miles or so you will usually get wind and in my experience often more than you counted on. Its easy to criticize and probably in this case its justified but until you have sailed in really large breaking seas you just simply don't understand what the experience is like plus if your by yourself and are having a one to one with god then it takes it up another notch.

[robert sailor]

Meant to say summer pilot charts

[Cormorant]

Here's the tail end of the story:

Abandoned sailboat washes up in Ocean Shores | The Today File | Seattle Times

October 3, 2013 at 12:45 PM

Abandoned sailboat washes up in Ocean Shores

Posted by John de Leon
The Associated Press

OCEAN SHORES — A 40-foot sailboat that had to be abandoned in a helicopter rescue off Tillamook, Ore. during Saturday’s storm, has washed up at Ocean Shores, about 100 miles north.
KBKW reports police spotted the boat’s mast Wednesday and they recovered what they could during low tide, including the dinghy.
The boat is breaking up in the surf.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by zeehag

it is difficult to sail when the crap is scared out of you. it takes some callousing to stay in a small boat in big seas and winds. sometimes we dont have that sometimes we do.
sometimes when i was sailing with my crazy friend in gom we had crap scared out of us but there were 2 on board so one was able to steer while the other shook in boots for a few minuets, then there was gato--he made it thru also and didnt neeed new pants...was a learning experience for all of us.
pacific is a larger water with bigger seas...can get quite rude. i dont want to find myself in a stormy pacific without some assistance/crew

Zee,

I don't think you would have been out there then. It was a well forecast weather system; the waters north of Cape Mendocino have a well deserved bad reputation; and your sense of self-preservation would have made you wait, unless you felt certain the wind strength would not exceed your tolerance level. Am I wrong?

Poor guy got scared and bailed out; and has paid a price for it. If it was a Hunter, I wonder if it was those un-tabbed bulkheads coming agley that frightened him. Once you start believing the boat can't handle "it", you're in a very scary situation.

Ann

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Neither you nor I were there, so we don't really know the situation. But if you're not already familiar with the story of Skip Allen and his boat Wildflower, you should look into it. Skip is twice the sailor that I am, and possibly you are, but he decided to scuttle his boat and climb aboard a freighter in conditions that sound similar to those off Tillamook. True, Wildflower was 27' long, but staying safe while singlehanding can be an ordeal on most boats.

What I'm saying (again) is to be careful about telling yourself "That wouldn't have happened to me, because I'm [smarter / more experienced / tougher] than that other guy was." Sometimes that's true, but occasionally it's not.

Thought I'd just re-post this comment, because it reflects how I feel about it; and Skip's a great sailor.

Ann