Normal racing way of life!

[andlauer]

Bonjour
During the first leg of the transquadra (french single or short handed transatlantic race) the leader and previous winner fell overboard and only recorered because he succeed in grabing a sheet !!!

In the second leg of the Marseille Istanboul race (single handed professional Figaro 2 race) a competitor fell overboard and was recovered in deep night by an other competitor (all the fleet went on a rescue mode). He had no safety gear (no harness, no lifejacket, no whisle, no flash light....). The Figaro is equipped with an automatic MOB ASN messaging linked with the NKE remote control. As far as I know, it was not connected.


When the fleet restarted on sunday some skippers but not all (under the specialised press information) were wearing a inflatable life jacket!!

Crazy world.

Eric /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[helixkimara]

Hi Eric,
Crazy World o.k,

Single handed, priority to me is “DO NOT FALL OFF”. My combined harness and life jacket were a total pain when going forward. (I have hanked on foresails)(Wished now I’d had roller reefing) but after a few days I felt more comfortable with them on and clipped on.

In the ocean, where I seen nothing for days, I only needed to fall off once without a harness, then I needn’t worry about falling off EVER again!

By the way I do have other priorities like:
Don’t set the boat on fire
Don’t let the toilet paper get wet
Ensure stereo player works

That’s about it really.

Regards

 

[PacketRat]

Ok, so go easy on the wise cracks, but I managed to fall off the boat while it was in the boatyard. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Twenty odd years ago the very experienced Rob James slipped off a trimaran in Teignmouth harbour, if I remember correctly, and the initial reaction was amusement. Having read Naomi James book, it became ingrained in my mind. It's just too easy.
There's also an account of how another experienced sailor's careful preparations literally got stripped away here until he found himself both overboard and stark naked. Fortunately he was rescued.
Robin.