# Rescue at sea witnessed (long)



## mazzy (Mar 11, 2006)

Had a bird's eye view of the crew of a disabled sailboat being rescued by the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Explorer of the Seas. 

My family and I were on Explorer, out of Bayonne, NJ (yes in mid-February) last week, doing a 9-day cruise. Around 1PM on Saturday, the 16th, we were 300 or so miles east of Hatteras, heading south, when the captain of the ship announced that he received a mayday and would be turning around to assist.

Boat was a 40' racer/cruiser type, I believe a Carter, named "Tumbleweed" out of Baltimore, headed for Key West. They left on Jan 31, taking two days to go down the Chesapeake and out into the Atlantic. The crew of three said they were drifting for 17 days. Captain lost a bit of his fingertip when the furler broke and took the forestay with it while in a pretty bad storm in early February. Furler was swinging like a mace aiming for everyone's head. He claimed measuring gusts to 100mph, and seas halfway up the mast.. I think he said that he was keeping the keel-stepped mast up with the jib halyard. Boat was bare poles when the crew were taken off. Other than that the crew were in good health. They managed to hail our ship with a handheld VHF running on AA batteries. The main radio antenna went down when the furler broke. Engine was dead, don't know if they started out that way, though. Supposedly blew out five sails as well. 

The cruise ship did a very professional job of rescuing these guys. Seas were at least 9'. The whole of the sailboat would disappear from view to those of us watching the action from the helicopter pad at the bow of the ship, four decks up. Winds were over 20 kts. The ship placed the disabled craft in it's wind shadow, using it's thrusters and articulating engine pods. Then a RIB was lowered and motored over to the sailboat. After circling a few times (for security?) the crew of three were taken on. Seems that the captain had a firearm with him that caused an understandable bit of consternation. The boat was left adrift, taking on water. The captain told me that he thought that the keel was coming loose and water was coming in around the keel bolts. No, his bilge pump wasn't working and he didn't mention a manual pump. Said he was bailing 40 buckets of water an hour. The boat was uninsured due to it's age (I believe it was a '73). They got to stay on the ship and enjoy all the amenities until they were dropped off, which was either Wednesday in St. Thomas, or Thursday in San Juan.

The cruise director interviewed the guys for the "Cruise in Review" video that is sold but i was too cheap (read "broke") to spring for it. If it turns up on YouTube I'll post a link.

Interesting stuff, quite a story. And Kept us off the buffet line for a bit 

Mike


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## sailaway21 (Sep 4, 2006)

Thanks, Mike. And kudos to the merchant marine.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Mike... thanks for the story. It is amazing that there was no news coverage of this rescue yet we know what Brittany had for lunch yesterday!


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## max-on (Mar 30, 2004)

camaraderie said:


> Mike... thanks for the story. It is amazing that there was no news coverage of this rescue yet we know what Brittany had for lunch yesterday!


Cam, what, I missed that news segment!!!!!


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Yeah...she had 6mg of librium and a Johnnie Walker neat!


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## mazzy (Mar 11, 2006)

I'm sure she paid more for her Johnny Walker than what I got some Blue Label for in St Thomas! Luv dem duty free shops


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## Danielcole (Feb 25, 2008)

*Rescue*

I just found your post. My father was the captain of the 40' boat. Do you know where I can either find the video you describe or purchase it?

Also, I'm not part of the sailing world but I would love to shoot a note to the men/women who rescued my father.

Thank you, 
Daniel Cole
"[email protected]"


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

Is there any way you could tell your father to post his story here so we can have his first hand account. Info like that can be very helpful for other sailors wanting to set off into the blue. Glad he made it. 

This is a good account of why we should carry handheld GPS, VHF, and an EPIRB. Also, having aerial flares rather than just the required minimum handhelds. Dirfting for 17 days while bailing 40 buckets an hour doesn't sound like fun.


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## Danielcole (Feb 25, 2008)

It does not provide any additional info but here is an excerpt from an e-mail I exchanged with him: 

" I left the Chesapeake with a crew of two and me. I rounded Cape henry at twenty miles. then I went to fourty miles to avoid diamond shoals. I had two more days of good weather to clear the area. The weather suddenly changed. Waves went to thirty feet and the wind touched 100. The roller furling system broke loose at the deck. It was like a wrecking ball on a 58 foot cable. It cleared the foredeck hardware off . The mast was unsupported forward so it started bending. We got 5 sails up but they were all shreaded. 
then the roller furling departed the boat from the top of the mast taking the radio antenna with it.. We started taking on water so we bailed and called for help. When the handheld went dead I remembered the new batteries Danny got me so I put them in. I called two ships with no responce then on the 17th day the Explorer of the seas heard us and picked us up. They took us to Haiti,DR, st Thomas,then to Porto Rico. The royal Carib line paid for air line tickets to Key West. which is where I am now. the royal carib line has issued press releases which can be found under Tumbleweed. "

If anyone knows how to obtain the video from the trip please let me know. 

Best Regards, 
Daniel


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

Found a Baltimore Sun article on the event. It doesn't say much that we don't know.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.rescue23feb23,0,7054903.story

Also,
Here is the Royal Carribean customer service contact info from their website. I'd bet if you told them who you were they would be able to find a copy of the tape.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/custo...ssionid=0000Sb5o_58CbUScJeHMVR2EYBq:12hbioe0u


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

*It's Now on You TUBE!!*

Here it is!!


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## TheBlackPearl (Sep 18, 2006)

Found this online


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

Good soundtrack.

It looks like they had the dink inflated and lashed to the foredeck in case they couldn't bail faster than it took on water.


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

TheBlackPearl said:


> Found this online


Who picks the music for these videos ? Geez


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Daniel...If and when you can, it would be useful to know exactly where the boat was when it go hit with such conditions as well as day and time. I've revewed NOAA data for the 1st half of the month and can find nothing even resembling the conditions reported. This is not to say that it is not possible to have localized strong conditions OR that they were not badly damaged by severe weather. I can just not find anything in the Atlantic approaching 30ft. seas or 100mph winds...and it would be useful to know how they arrived at such numbers and what exact position/date they were in so we can review the archives for the recorded data. As is often the case with newspaper reporting...the facts and the dates get mis-quoted.


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## Danielcole (Feb 25, 2008)

I will inquire from later the details of his location. I do not know any more than than between Baltimore and Florida. 

Thank you for the additional postings. I cannot view utube video's online at work but I look forward to viewing when I get home tonight.

Hopefully Royal Carribean responds to my request for the captains contact info. I am so impressed that a huge cruise ship with thousands of paying customers turned around to save my dad's life. 

As for the localized storm, I don't know. My dad has a lifetime of bizzare events. 

Thank you all for the infomation. I dont' know anything about sailing and I appreciate the insights.

Daniel Cole


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

camaraderie said:


> Daniel...If and when you can, it would be useful to know exactly where the boat was when it go hit with such conditions as well as day and time. I've revewed NOAA data for the 1st half of the month and can find nothing even resembling the conditions reported. This is not to say that it is not possible to have localized strong conditions OR that they were not badly damaged by severe weather. I can just not find anything in the Atlantic approaching 30ft. seas or 100mph winds...and it would be useful to know how they arrived at such numbers and what exact position/date they were in so we can review the archives for the recorded data. As is often the case with newspaper reporting...the facts and the dates get mis-quoted.


There was a nasty front that passed through the north east not too long ago that brought 40+ kts and 30+ ft seas measured at bouy 44011, georges bank. I can't remember the date, and I don't know if they had the same conditions off Hatteras though.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Sapp...yep...we've had a few gales offshore here in the last month too...but a gale or a storm is a long way from a cat2 'cane force winds! Checked all the sea buoy data since 2/1 and nothing resembling that. Wind speed and sea heights are notoriously over-reported just as Giulietta over-reports his boat speed!


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

I was thinking that too Cam. After all, most marine instrument top out before 100. I think raymarine ST can go to 70+ then its topped out.


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## Birdface (Jul 24, 2006)

In the end who really cares, the boat obviously lost rigging, was sinking, was on it's last legs and they had their lives saved.

Glad there's a happy ending.


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## billyruffn (Sep 21, 2004)

I wonder if they scuttled the boat before being taken off. Under the circumstances, it's probably understandable that they had other things on their minds, but an abandoned drifting boat is a hazard to navigation.

From the video it appears the merchant mariners were very professional throughout. Hats off to the cruise ship skipper and his crew.


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## NautiG (Apr 23, 2007)

Baltimore Sun story about the rescue.

Quote:

The three men, identified as Eugene Cole, 62, Steven Bridges, 47, and Nathaniel Pyle, 21, were sailing from Baltimore to Key West, Fla., according to Royal Caribbean Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez.

The trio hit heavy seas and 110-knot winds a week into their journey, on Feb. 6, about 150 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras. The storm battered their 39-foot boat, the Tumbleweed, destroying all of the sails and damaging their mast and radio antenna, Martinez said.

Scott
Gemini Catamaran Split Decision
http://nautib.blogspot.com


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## TSteele65 (Oct 19, 2006)

So were any ports missed, and how many cruise passengers demanded a refund?


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## CJGIGUERE (Feb 25, 2008)

I Have Two Links On My Utube. They Are Not The Greatest Videos But You Get The Idea. They Are Taken With My Digital Camera. It Wont Let Me Put The Links On Here So Maybe Someone Can Tell Me What To Do So I Can Post Them For You. Thanks Candy


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Gui doesn't over report his boat speed... He just uses different units of measurement... a special Portugese version of knots... spelled "KPH". 



camaraderie said:


> Sapp...yep...we've had a few gales offshore here in the last month too...but a gale or a storm is a long way from a cat2 'cane force winds! Checked all the sea buoy data since 2/1 and nothing resembling that. Wind speed and sea heights are notoriously over-reported just as Giulietta over-reports his boat speed!


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

CJGIGUERE said:


> I Have Two Links On My Utube. They Are Not The Greatest Videos But You Get The Idea. They Are Taken With My Digital Camera. It Wont Let Me Put The Links On Here So Maybe Someone Can Tell Me What To Do So I Can Post Them For You. Thanks Candy


You have to have 10 posts in order to put up links and PM other members. It is a spam prevention tool that works pretty well.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I too was a passenger on that cruise ship. I actually bought an 8x10 photo they were selling of the rescue. It really was an amazing thing to witness.


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## nolatom (Jun 29, 2005)

billyruffn said:


> I wonder if they scuttled the boat before being taken off. Under the circumstances, it's probably understandable that they had other things on their minds, but an abandoned drifting boat is a hazard to navigation.
> 
> If the account of bailing 40 buckets per hour is close to being true, then she won't be a hazard for more than a day or two before meeting Davy Jones, and crew may not have wanted to scuttle her in case the rescue took longer than expected.
> 
> Ultimately, a good ending. It's still the law/tradition of the sea that you assist a distressed vessel if you can do so safely. Good to know the cruise ships, despite the tightest of schedules, still follow the tradition. And maybe it was an entertaining diversion for the passengers (seems so), and something the cruise line can be justly proud of.


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

nolatom said:


> .......And maybe it was an entertaining diversion for the passengers (seems so), and something the cruise line can be justly proud of.


Beats shuffle board I'd bet . (do they even still play shuffle board?)


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

*Welcom Holly*

Well it looks like the experience has added a new Sailnet'er....

There are a few members here needing rescued...Chuckles comes to mind...Hee Hee Hee.


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## merlin2375 (Jul 12, 2007)

excellent story!


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## mazzy (Mar 11, 2006)

Daniel,
Your dad kept my son and me entertained with a recounting of a number of his various "adventures". I'm glad he got out of this one okay. And for those who asked, we kept to our itinerary. He did mention that he launched flares that were either ignored or not seen by 2 previous ships. Also, The Captain of Explorer of the Seas was Captain Sverre Ryan.
Mike


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## Danielcole (Feb 25, 2008)

Thanks mazzy, I imagine my father could entertain with stories for quite some time. 

I'd love to see the 8x10 floating around out there.

Daniel


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

nolatom said:


> If the account of bailing 40 buckets per hour is close to being true, then she won't be a hazard for more than a day or two before meeting Davy Jones, and crew may not have wanted to scuttle her in case the rescue took longer than expected.


At least she won't be a hazard to navigation like say....a TRIMARAN floating around upside down!!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Thanks for the welcome stillraining! 

Daniel, I'm sure I can scan the photo and email it to you. Send me your info! Your dad was quite brave. There was an interview of the him and his shipmates shown on the tv throughout the cruise. He actually mentioned he had grown children and that he would be alright in spite of losing his home.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

camaraderie said:


> At least she won't be a hazard to navigation like say....a TRIMARAN floating around upside down!!


Make one little RV comment, and the ******* goes all crazy...


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

camaraderie said:


> I can just not find anything in the Atlantic approaching 30ft. seas or 100mph winds...and it would be useful to know how they arrived at such numbers and what exact position/date they were in so we can review the archives for the recorded data.


Cam, we got caught in a squash zone 400 miles SW of Raratonga and wind speed went from 20 knots to 75 knots and back to a lasting calm in 40 hours. Nothing was reported on NOAA or the site that we use to track weather. Don Anderson (for those who know Don) reported that this weather system tracked ESE covering 600 miles in 48 hours!!

Try this link to see the weather at a given place and time, it works really well.
http://www.remss.com/qscat/scatterometer_data_daily.html?rgn=atlantic_north&size=small

I also support the belief that wave heights and wind speeds are often inadvertently exaggerated. My crew will swear that wave heights were 40 feet. I know they were probably 20 with odd ones at 25. Eric Hiscock holds the same view (Voyaging under sail) where he says that waves in excess of 30 feet are rare at sea and are mostly produced by more than one element (i.e. strong current and wind).

Whatever the case, these poor people went through a real harrowing time that nobody would willingly choose. Great job to rescue them. It must have been hell for Mr Cole sailing away from his boat.

Andre


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## Danielcole (Feb 25, 2008)

A scan of the picture would be great. My e-mail is "[email protected]"

Thanks again, 
Daniel


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

TSteele65 said:


> So were any ports missed, and how many cruise passengers demanded a refund?


Any costs were surely recouped by strong sales of the 8x10 rescue photograph.


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

camaraderie said:


> At least she won't be a hazard to navigation like say....a TRIMARAN floating around upside down!!


Upside down, rightside up. Whats the difference??

Excellent story and great work by the cruise ship / RIB crew.

Does anyone know what kind of boat it was?


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Omtako...thanks for that link...it is GREAT...AND it shows exactly what the boat was hit with and when! Here's the graphic:








You can see the purple areas just off the North Carolina Coast on the morning (5:30AM EST) satellite pass on February 7th. These were not there on the 6th or on the evening of the 7th. The Purple indicates 30+ meters per second winds which translates into 60 knots + so it WAS localized and a hell of a blow even though of short duration...probably a line of thundersqualls coming off the Carolina coast. Waves seem impossible to be anywhere near 30 feet given the buoy readings as well as the short duration of the storm...but they could certainly have kicked up to scary levels with that kind of wind. Thanks again for the link Omatako...it is a bookmark now! 
Daniel...your dad and his crew might be interested in that weather photo...they certainly came through horrendous conditions!


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## js567 (Feb 26, 2008)

*rescue photos*

I was on the ship and have some nice photos of the rescue


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## mazzy (Mar 11, 2006)

T34C,
I believe Gene said it was a '73 Carter 39'. Rare boats but, from the ybw forum exchange linked to below, pretty well-founded for Gene's trip. Go down 3/4 of the page or so.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/930981/page/0/fpart/all/vc/1

Mike


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

mazzy said:


> T34C,
> I believe Gene said it was a '73 Carter 39'. Rare boats


They just became a little more rare 

Sorry, didn't mean to be disrespectful, no-one should lose their boat

Andre


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## tsenator (Nov 6, 2000)

*Here is a link to different You Tube Video of event*

The even better part of this video is they have actual audio clips & interviews of (what I assume) is the skipper of Tumbleweed

Video is here YouTube - Amazing rescue by Royal Caribbean EXPLORER OF THE SEAS

Yes - they are very lucky, but I think if I were them I'd still try to actively sail "somewhere" instead of just bobbing around with no sails up. I know they lost they forestay but with the keel stepped mast & a foreward halyard tied off, the stick was still standing (one of the BIG advantages of a keel stepped mast). Even with having to bail at least it was still afloat and being managed

Tami Oldham was on her boat when it rolled in the Pacific Ocean in true Category 5 Hurricane force winds (Lost her boyfriend and was knocked out below for over a day) and had only a small 10 foot section of her mast left, but she was still able to sail it almost all the way back to Hawaii with no real instruments left.

Amazon.com: Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea: Tami Oldham Ashcraft,Susea Mcgearhart: Books

Tami Oldham Ashcroft : Red Sky in Mourning : Book Review

Like her, I think I would have tried to put up some sort of sail (most likely heavily reefed mainsail) and just started to head west. Sooner or later they would bound to hit the US coast. Tami had an almost impossible chance of hitting land for thousands of miles in the Pacific, but got lucky and ran across the shipping lanes closer to Hawaii.

What these guys needed was one of these. Kind of like a poor mans epirb

Thier is a cool video describing it too

West Marine: SPOT Satellite Messenger Product Displayhttp://www.zibb.com/Jump.aspx?url=http://www.oceanequipment.com


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## mazzy (Mar 11, 2006)

Tsenator,
Gene (the captain) said the mast was bent and he put up five successive sails, all of which "blew out". I don't know if a bent stick and a stretchy forestay would do that, but that was the implication. The day he was rescued everyone was questioning why he wasn't sailing, but having gone through his full sail inventory....


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

mazzy said:


> Tsenator,
> Gene (the captain) said the mast was bent and he put up five successive sails, all of which "blew out". I don't know if a bent stick and a stretchy forestay would do that, but that was the implication.


I thought I read somewhere in this thread that he had no forestay, something like the furler drum was flying around the boat smashing stuff. That would be a good reason for not hoisting sails.

Then again, maybe I read that somewhere else 

Andre


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## tsenator (Nov 6, 2000)

*I was talking about putting up a "Main Sail"*

Yes, it appears that he lost his forestay and I wasn't talking about a jib or genny. From accounts he used his jib halyard as a forestay to stabilize the mast forward, which is the thing one would think to do.

Though, even if the mast was bent, it still appears to be upright in all the pictures. The boom appears intact too, but you still would not even need that ( loose footed Storm Trysail anyone ?)

Why not hank on some sort of main sail. Was every single sail he had on board torn to shreads? (If thats the case I would say his boat was ill prepared for any kind of voyage.  ) Even if he had some tears in a sail, one would think there was some sort of section still useable that he could have hanked on the mast somewhere, tied off and then try to sail West.


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## peikenberry (Apr 26, 2000)

Saw several articles on this. I have news alerts from Yahoo and Google for this type stuff. I am retired Coast Guard and was in on several rescues that sound much like this one. It is a lot more risky than the pros make it look. Glad to hear everyone got off safe. Also glad to see the skipper of the cruise ship knew his stuff. 

An EPIRB and a SSB would have gotten a much quicker response. But there is a lot of traffic off Hatteras so they lucked out. If they had been farther off or in a different location they may have had a much longer wait. But Cape Hatteras is no place for the faint hearted. I once spent 35 days 150 miles off Hatteras on a Cutter. Nasty place. We went through two hurricanes. 

I'd love to see the video.


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## tsenator (Nov 6, 2000)

*More FACTS are in. The captain AND the Boat were not prepared at all to go to sea*

All one needs to do is watch and listen to this video and you will realize that the skipper willfully and knowing went to the open ocean with a "less than able boat".

YouTube - RESCUE AT SEA -INTERVIEW ON CAMERA

He might have lived about this boat for a year but he obviously doesn't know very much about sailing. So many things just POP out when he talks that shows that.

Quotes and terminology he used

" Damage from the Roller furling -Boom- "  Roller furling Boom !? There is no such thing -- he must mean the roller furling -drum- but he said roller furling -boom- more than a few times.

" I think the mast wast bent back 5% or so. It was a keel stepped mast, and the cabin is what keeps the mast straight ..... " -- WRONG WRONG WRONG. The cabin top has very little to do with the proper alignment of the mast. Yes the cabin top with rubber or wood 'partners' help keeps the mast at that point from moving around but a keel stepped mast is mostly kept in place by the keel and the stays and shrouds. His implying that the mast was out of wack because of the cabin opening where the mast passes through shows he knows very little on what keeps a mast up and straight !

But the MOST INCREDULOUS statement was (Quote) " I thought I'd lose the boat one day to an accident or theft or something like that. The idea is to keep your total investment in the boat low, that way if you lose it you can get another one"

OMG !  -- Did he actually SAY that ? And to take two innocent people out into the open ocean in an admittedly ~marginal~ boat is unbelievable. On top of that his selfishness probably incurred a few hundreds of thousands of dollars in the cruise line expenses to pick up this sorry guy. He has no respect for anyone else. Just hail and make someone else get him, even if he knows he went to sea on a boat he knew he probably lose soon and didn't care.

For him to selfishly put two innocent (and unwitting) passengers that knew very little about sailing is just wrong and I hope he doesn't endanger himself or anyone he takes along on a future open ocean trip.


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

That doesn't exactly constitute a proper debriefing. Sorry tsen- I think you may be chasing windmills.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

And I kind understood what he mean by having the cabin hold it..that's the way it is..

I see nothing THAT wrong either


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## tsenator (Nov 6, 2000)

*Oh Puhleeese*

 -- Did you guys actually listen to this guy !?!

Go back more than once. Are you trying to tell me this is a guy that knows what he is doing . Puhleeze.

There ain't no windmills I am chasing. I just know for sure my eyes are WIDE open and I am not sticking my head in the sand about how poorly prepared the skipper and his boat were.

People just open your eyes - Are you trying to tell me YOU would feel comfortable sailing offshore with this guy with this boat

Didn't you hear the one kid (passenger on the boat) say QUOTE " No offense to Gene (the skipper) but good riddance to "Tumbleweed"

ps. Also talk to a REAL rigger. Try Brion Toss or someone who knows what they are talking about. The cabin has influence in keeping the mast stabilized but it does NOT hold the mast in alignment !!! That is what the shrouds and stays are for.

Think about it. All those deck step masts out there have NO cabin to hold the mast . Just the pedestal platform the mast steps into(like in most keels) Those masts don't require the cabin to keep it in line and neither does my keel stepped mast.


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

Yeah, I listened to him. What makes us believe he took "two innocent people out into the open ocean"? What gave you the clue he duped or tricked a few unwitting souls into a sailing voyage that might cost them their lives? 

It looks like they got overpowered in a storm, and he was smart enough to wait and raise ships as they passed rather than blow his batteries and flares just into the blue. They got saved because they remained calm and saved the radio batteries for when needed rather than just freak out in a crisis. All three are alive, what more do you want from captain and crew? Would it be more of a romantic story for you if they were never heard from again?


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

Hindsight is 20/20, and it's always easier to know what to do, when we aren't the ones that have to deal with it.


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

PBzeer said:


> Hindsight is 20/20, and it's always easier to know what to do, when we aren't the ones that have to deal with it.


Right, just like the host of our newest video says, "Life is as life is".

We can try to say this guy did that and that guy did this. At the end of the day they all made it back.


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## mazzy (Mar 11, 2006)

tsen,
What I think Gene meant was that the cabin top is what PUT the bend or kink in the mast, by acting as the fulcrum. His crew were inexperienced, though. He met them just a couple of weeks earlier. One has a 28' boat of his own, the other was not characterized very kindly by the captain. To paraphrase what he told me "What sort of crew do you think you'd find on the streets of Baltimore in February". Emphasis on streets.

Mike


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

*Didn't you hear the one kid (passenger on the boat) say QUOTE " No offense to Gene (the skipper) but good riddance to "Tumbleweed"*

If he felt that way, why did he get on the boat in the first place? Did they make some mistakes? Probably, or they wouldn't have needed to be rescued in the first place. I have to agree, they did what was required to survive, and it worked. Would I have tried to find a way to sail that boat to some port? Absolutely, but I'm not very good at sitting around waiting for someone else. I'm sure many have gotten into far deeper trouble as a result of a lack of patience.


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## chucklesR (Sep 17, 2007)

Given some of the written, and therefore presumably thought over and edited statements made within these forums the fact that the skipper misspoke in a verbal interview means nothing towards the skippers abilities. 
The only thing it does show is that having just gone through an experience most of us have never survived he either misspoke or truly was and is not a good communicator.


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## tsenator (Nov 6, 2000)

Someone I know (very well) was on this cruise (a long time sailor also) that talked for some time with the kid w/Dreadlocks. He never got a chance to really talk to the skipper

The kid said he just met the skipper just a few days before the voyage , a day after he left he knew it was a mistake and wished he could get off (yeah young kid that learned a big lesson).

He said the boat was in such bad shape, the engine stopped working before they even left the chesapeake . Yes a good skipper should be able to sail anywhere without having to alwasy rely on the iron genny, but this guy was far from the Pardey's

The kid also said the sails were blown out rags, and mentioned quite a few other things. Somewhere along the cruise the kid asked (or the other guy not sure) about when was the last time the skipper checked the rigging (and swages, etc) The skipper said that he hadn't !?!  This is a 30+ year old boat and they are doing an ocean crossing and this guy doesn't know the condition of the rigging !? This kid said he NEVER maintained anything on this boat, but he was already stuck on the boat.

Think about what the skipper said 

" I thought I'd lose the boat one day to an accident or theft or something like that. The idea is to keep your total investment in the boat low, that way if you lose it you can get another one" 

With an attitude like that he was waiting for the boat to have a problem and lose it. An attitude like that allows one to be lax about the condition of the boat

Go back and REALLY listen to this guy and tell me you would want to be have to rely on him and his boat in a storm on the open ocean. Any of you that would volunteer to do that is nuts.


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## sailaway21 (Sep 4, 2006)

So we're supposed to take the word of some kid who's never been on a boat in his life as to the quality of maintenance on the boat?

The next obvious question is, how does this discussion take us anywhere productive other than making passing reference to it's a nice idea to maintain your boat? What is the average sailnet member going to take away from it? For those conclusions to be positive and helpful they've got to be specific, on the order of lessons learned and things I'd do different.

Absent anything like that, we're just beating the empty pinata with sticks, ie...wasting our time.


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

I have to agree with sailaway, I was thinking the same thing about the kid. Why are we taking his word, and what does he really know.


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

Because it's on YouTube. After all, everyone knows that YouTube and Wikipedia are now the definitive arbiters of truth, because anybody can do it


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

About the only thing I could say difinitively is that I wouldn't have let the kid on my boat for a trip like that, much less listen to his opinions about the boat.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

At the end of the day we all make some bad decisions and some good ones and the survivors are those that have a positive balance sheet.

There is an awfully long list of boats that have gone down/missing with the consequent loss of life of the people on board. The only logical conclusion must be that the conditions overcame the abilities of those aboard and the decision makers had a negative balance sheet.

So do we further conclude that they were were all ill-prepared/uninformed/unskilled?

Or do we conclude that Gene did enough to keep everybody alive despite the odds?

I conclude that Gene got it right, had a positive balance sheet and I would rather have been on his boat than any of those referred to above.

Andre


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

*John Vigor's black box theory*

As an extenion the my earlier thread, this is pretty much what I meant (quote from John Vigor):

In the Freelance corollary to the theory, every boat possesses an imaginary black box, a sort of bank account in which points are kept. In times of emergency, when there is nothing more to be done in the way of sensible seamanship, the points from your black box can buy your way out of trouble. You have no control over how the points are spent, of course; they withdraw themselves when the time is appropriate. You do have control over how the points get into the box: you earn them.

For every seamanlike act you perform, you get a point in the black box. Points come in so many ways it would be impossible to list them all. But I can send you in the right direction. Let's say you're planning a weekend cruise down the coast, and time is precious. You have been wondering for some weeks if you ought to haul out the bosun's chair and inspect the masthead fittings. It has been a couple of years since you checked everything up there, but it would mean delaying your departure by an hour, maybe more, should you have to change a shackle or something.

If you finally give in to the nagging voice inside you and go aloft, you earn a point in the box. If you don't take that trouble, your black box will stay empty. If you sniff the bilges for fumes before pushing the starter button, you'll score a point, just as you will for taking a precautionary reef at nightfall or checking the expiration date on your rocket flares. Thinking and worrying about what could happen is also a good way to earn points - what if the wind started blowing into your quiet anchorage at 40 miles an hour and the engine wouldn't start, or whether you should put a couple of reefs in the mainsail before you climb into your bunk, just in case.

No matter how good your seamanship, there are times when there is nothing left to do but batten down the hatches and pray. If you have a credit balance of points in the box, you'll be all right. 

As said in my earlier post, Gene must have had a "credit balance"  .

Andre


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## russgm (May 31, 2003)

I was on the cruise ship, I spoke with "Nate"(dreadlocks), I carefully watched the video and have tried to keep up on the goings on here...I think there is more to this than meets the eye, I must credit the captain "Gene" with getting his crew safely onto our vessel but...we picked them up in the Gulf stream(current of 1kt or so) and heard them claim they were out in this area for 11 days...with no propulsion to move them in or out of the current i assume they would have moved 25 NM per day (300 miles??? perhaps I am wrong), wouldn't they have been a few hundred miles south of the recovery spot when "things went bad"...but they never discussed this, the owner lied about many things, such as living with the guys on the boat for a week or so before the voyage, "Nate" said he was a last day replacement of a "homeless guy" that got arrested...he also added that the silent guy was also a homeless guy that the owner found in Baltimore(he was confined to quarters by the crew of the Explorer of the Seas for drunken behavior), quality crew...the owner discussed how the wrecking ball had pulled the VHF antenna off the boat, but nate added to me that the VHF never was functional (only the handheld) further I think he told me the iron genny was DOA, when they left Baltimore, nate said the boat was taking on a few inches every few hours, alot less than what has been discussed here...When I spoke with Nate I kept getting interrupted by cruisers who thought he was a celebrity and wanted to have pix taken with him, so i was never able to fully explore things...but thats another story...bottom line I just have a false feeling about the entire thing, I dont really know what they were doing, or where they were going, why they were there...


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## tsenator (Nov 6, 2000)

You guys are missing everything. Does it have to be spelt out to you.

Connect the dots. Its not just the kid (who by the way owns a 28 ' boat) and its not YouTube or Wikipedia. ITS THE SKIPPERS OWN WORDS !

What don't you all get? The skipper was just very lucky that he was finally found by a passing Cruise ship. - I think there was little to no skill involved. I think this is one of those times where Gene the skipper took out a Sub-Prime loan from Vigors Black Box and I don't know if he will ever be able to repay


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

*Now thats funny*



tsenator said:


> The skipper was just very lucky that he was finally found by a passing Cruise ship. - I think there was little to no skill involved. I think this is one of those times where Gene the skipper took out a Sub-Prime loan from Vigors Black Box and I don't know if he will ever be able to repay


And I can agree with that part of it..

Let see Sway...So far I have leaned Baltimore is not a good place to shanghai...


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

Stillraining said:


> And I can agree with that part of it..
> 
> Let see Sway...So far I have leaned Baltimore is not a good place to shanghai...


Ah Baltimore..... It may not seem like much at first, or even when you look at it a second or third time. Baltimore is actually a vibrant and beautiful city if you squint hard enough. With a surprise around every 15 corners, and a good surprise around every 30 or so, Baltimore is an exciting place to visit so long as one comes with zero expectations,has never eaten in a restaurant before, and can ignore the overpowering smell. America's well hidden gem, "Charm City", remains an undiscovered treasure, as few are willing to venture past the crime scene tape. Make sure to take in the splendor of Baltimore's "Little Afghanistan" district on your next visit.


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## btrayfors (Aug 25, 2006)

russgm,

Your post is helpful in understanding this happening and, IMHO, is the most "authentic" thing I've yet read or watched...on this thread or elsewhere.

Bottom line: there's a lot more here than meets the eye.

By the way, the Gulf Stream typically moves at 2-4 knots in a northerly direction (figure a good 50-70 nautical miles every 24 hours).

Bill


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