I stumbled across these two awhile back. Although some of their ideals and writing leave a lot to be desired, it's a great story of someone doing this sort of thing properly.

Two Girls Do America's Great Loop and Atlantic Crossing

First thing I thought of while reading this was the book "And The Sea Will Tell" by Vincent Bugliosi.

I took great relish in showing this story to my lovely bride. For years she has harbored the romantic dream of retiring, selling our possessions, purchasing a sea going craft, and sailing the eastern coastline. Of course, being the practical, non-romantic type I have explained to her that I din't think it was a very worthwhile endeavor. Our sailing experience is limited to piloting a Hobie craft for about an hour at a Sandals resort, but she insists we could take a boating safety course, like that would prepare us. I told her that if we did it, the news article written about it would end with the line "...and their bodies were never recovered."

Maybe they hit a Navy ship.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Maybe they hit a Navy ship.

Jimmy123x, is that you?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Maybe they hit a Navy ship.

Jimmy123x, is that you?

Nope. If I was Jimmy, it would be the Navy ship hit them.

Gilligan realized his dream and sailed off with Ginger......on a three hour tour.


I remember being young, idealistic, happy, and dumb but going out on the water is dangerous, especially the ocean. No place for stupidity, inexperience, booze, or whatever. Not the place for people that think having a big heart solves all problems, For their own good I hope the Coast Guard denies them access to anything wet. I don't know but will bet they have no plans or intentions to salvage the boat and will leave it there. Sorry for being so pessimistic but that's how I feel. I hope the company that does the salvage attaches to their GoFundMe account.

quote:

Originally posted by tk13:
I took great relish in showing this story to my lovely bride. For years she has harbored the romantic dream of retiring, selling our possessions, purchasing a sea going craft, and sailing the eastern coastline.

That's actually quite doable in a craft like that featured in this story.

We purchased a Pearson P30 for that purpose. Took ASA 101 and 103 courses. The plan was to cruise the Great Lakes. Maybe the St. Lawrence Seaway out to the Atlantic and down the Intracoastal Waterway. Maybe through Chicago and down the Mississippi.

The Grand Plan was incremental exposure to the cruising life, meanwhile day sailing and buoy racing.

The day sailing and buoy racing went well. The incremental exposure to the cruising life: Not so much. We spent three nights on the boat in her slip. That was all it took for us to figure out we'd go stir crazy being confined to that small a space for that kind of time.

We sold the boat four years ago. $3500/year in fixed expenses (slip fees, haul-out, winter storage, spring splash), plus maintenance and repair expenses were more than we could justify.

I have heard the old saying that, "the best days of boat ownership are the day you buy it and the day you sell it!"

Mike

Mother Ocean and King Neptune are very unforgiving when it comes to incompetence.

I feel bad for them but it sound like they listened to one too many buffett songs

They may take solace from a quote I shared recently from Winston Churchill

quote:

One must never forget when misfortunes come that it is quite possible they are saving one from something much worse; or that when you make some great mistake, it may very easily serve you better than the best-advised decision. Life is a whole, and luck is a whole, and no part of them can be separated from the rest.

Wrecking that boat might be the luckiest thing that could have happened.

As a long time sailor, I have seen my share of stupid on the water, but holy crap these two were stupid on land and sea. Please don't let them get in the air.
Rod

I spent the first half of my life on the water. How do you hit something hard enough with a Columbia 28 to sink it?

We had people run boats that size aground all the damned time and we just pulled them off. Hell, one of my neighbors took Malabar III into Old Bay Rock in Mt. Hope Bay under full sail and just bounced off. My uncle ran his Bristol 27 aground at least once, I know because I was on it.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I spent the first half of my life on the water. How do you hit something hard enough with a Columbia 28 to sink it?

We had people run boats that size aground all the damned time and we just pulled them off. Hell, one of my neighbors took Malabar III into Old Bay Rock in Mt. Hope Bay under full sail and just bounced off. My uncle ran his Bristol 27 aground at least once, I know because I was on it.

A $5,000 Columbia 28?

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I spent the first half of my life on the water. How do you hit something hard enough with a Columbia 28 to sink it?

We had people run boats that size aground all the damned time and we just pulled them off. Hell, one of my neighbors took Malabar III into Old Bay Rock in Mt. Hope Bay under full sail and just bounced off. My uncle ran his Bristol 27 aground at least once, I know because I was on it.

A $5,000 Columbia 28?

With what may very well have been 49 year old bolts holding the keel on?

quote:

With what may very well have been 49 year old bolts holding the keel on?

I guess that's the only thing that makes any sense. Snap the keep off, and water intrudes through the bolt holes.

My recollection of fiberglass boats built by decent builders back then is that they are basically indestructible. They may look like shit, but they last for ever.

Doing some internet searching, they may have had wood core and some wood framing around the mast step and keelson, and when that rots from water intrusion, much of the structural stability of the hull is lost. Combine that with rusted keel bolts and I guess you have a recipe for disaster.

I am more familiar with the heavy, full keel, solid fiberglass (no core) hulls that were common in the early '70s. Those things would take a pounding.

Bless the folks that saved these fools. I spent years working on the North Atlantic and have seen lots of disasters on the water. Most of the time it is inexperienced 'summer sailors' that get in trouble. It is pretty important to know much water is under the hull. I have seen both experienced and novices make catastrophic miscalculations though. In this case no one got lost. They are very lucky and should consider a different lifestyle.. I M O....

Great way to garner sympathy and end up with 100K in a GFM account.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:

quote:

With what may very well have been 49 year old bolts holding the keel on?

I guess that's the only thing that makes any sense. Snap the keep off, and water intrudes through the bolt holes.

My recollection of fiberglass boats built by decent builders back then is that they are basically indestructible. They may look like shit, but they last for ever.

Doing some internet searching, they may have had wood core and some wood framing around the mast step and keelson, and when that rots from water intrusion, much of the structural stability of the hull is lost. Combine that with rusted keel bolts and I guess you have a recipe for disaster.

I am more familiar with the heavy, full keel, solid fiberglass (no core) hulls that were common in the early '70s. Those things would take a pounding.

IIRC Beteneau had some keep issues not too long ago and a few boats were lost