Mid Atlantic Heroism

But did they heroically plunge through the briney with the part?

<hr width=100% size=1>I had a very nice link until Kim told us off about it. I'm not bitter mind.
 
Thats Torn it!

Now the ARC organisers are going to have to carry out a risk assessment on fridge/freezer doors and whilst they are about it swimming in mid Atlantic could be dangerous too, then there's rudder damage, dismasting, running out of beer etc.
I predict that the answer will be that every ARC boat will have to tow an A & E hospital behind them, Dutch salvage tug complete with floating dry dock, Scaffolding company to cope with dismastings, and last but not least a brewary.

<<<offers up a prayer>>>>>
Dear God help us and save us from the PC brigade

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Passing a man across at sea.

Yes, I take your point. The cross-channel swimming (CSSA) pilots will not allow a swim to go ahead if the winds are likely to reach F5 or more. One told me that even the strongest swimmers often do not appreciate how difficult it can be to breathe in those conditions in the typical chop of an open sea.

A rubber dinghy is much safer in those conditions IMHO but no piece of cake. Moreover, it wouldn't be possible to make much progress by rowing, effectively he'd have to be 'MOB rescued' for the pick-up.

I think I'd tackle this one by passing a rope between the yachts, keeping them apart by allowing one yacht to tow the pair very slowly upwind under power, then the guy could cross in the dinghy by hauling himself along the rope benefitting from the slight shelter of the forward yacht. The dinghy itself would be attached to one or preferably both yachts by a separate rope. (Obviously care being taken that the ropes didn't go under the towing yacht).

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Re: Thats Torn it!

Its been said here before that they won't be happy until each yacht tows behind itself a replica copy so that all spares needs are covered!

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Re: Thats Torn it!

I would not participate in the ARC nor any other collective adventure (pardon the oxymoron /forums/images/icons/wink.gif), but I recognize its merits in allowing lots of people to fulfill their dreams in conditions they personally find suitable

if only they would not call each other heroes... /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif





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Re: Thats Torn it!

I can't find where the ARC report calls anyone a hero ?? Isn't it just the title to this thread? Neither the YBW or ARC website mention hero anywhere - so perhaps they are not heros afterall - just friendly helpful sailors!!

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Re: Thats Torn it!

If we got this worked up over every extravagant headline/report in the media we would all be in a right old state.

Heroism, what a subjective term. Surely any activity undertaken despite a strong personal fear is heroic. Whether that be an agoraphobic nipping down to the shops, a family taking part in the ARC, or a round the world singlehander, they would all be heros. Not heros in comparison to the soldier that throws himself onto a grenade, in order to save his mates, but still heros.

We don't know the level of personal fear/discomfort overcome in this case, so we really can't say how heroic the activity was.



<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.
 
Evidence?

<allowing lots of people to fulfill their dreams>

there is a widely held view among the detractors of rallies that they are nurseries for those who aren't up to crossing an ocean without hanging onto nanny's apron.

having crossed the pond with and without rally support i can say honestly that i didn't meet a single participant who couldn't have crossed independently without the rallies. on the other hand i did meet non-ARC sailors who failed the safety checks but went anyway and i wouldn't have wanted to sail with them.

so before denigrating the skills of those who choose to take part, let's hear some evidence please.

there are both good and bad sides to rallying. i think i've covered most of them <A target="_blank" HREF=http://cwsnowleopard.projectcomputers.co.uk/arc.htm>here</A> (scroll to bottom of page).

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Re: Evidence?

I was not denigrating anyone's skills Chris, I am more than happy for every person who succeeds in doing something they love, if ARC or not ARC it is a matter of personal choice; from the outside I would tend to agree with your pros and cons analysis

btw, happy your very interesting site is running again, I tried to access it a few times but it gave server error



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I am not sure which of the many responses to reply to. But...., if you have a speciality, be it engineering, sail repair or as in this case, medical, what would you do if you heard that a fellow sailor could be greatly helped by your expertise? Bearing in mind that the situation wasn't life-threatening, but extremely uncomfortable, wouldn't you feel duty-bound to provide help if you could? Not from any death-or-glory view-point, but just plain old humanity?
I plan to do the ARC, and I look forward to the sociability, the parties before-hand, and the chance to chat to other yachts while hundreds of miles from land. But the other side of the coin is that I have surgical skills and dental skills which I am prepared to declare. This will leave me open to requests for help in relevant situations. So if I use our dinghy or swim across shark infested Atlantic ( bit of journalistic licence) to help somebody else in trouble I certainly won't want to be criticised by you lot. Because I believe that in a similar situation, if you could, you would certainly respond in the same way. After all, isn't it what sailors do?

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My "crass and shallow" reply wasn't meant to minimize the seriousness of the injury nor the admirable willingness of the others to go above and beyond to help a fellow sailor.

All I meant was that crunching your thumb in a freezer lid doesn't have quite the swashbuckling high seas adventure timbre that, say, being swept overboard by a rogue wave, does.

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I quite agree with all you say but I wouldn't describe it necessarily as heroic. Selfless, sporting, humanitarian, certainly all of of these and more and to be aplauded. It undeniably illustrates the best in the nature of sailors. It's just maybe a bit OTT to describe it as heroism but then, I don't know the full story.

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