What has me a little baffled is the dad's preparedness for the trip. The pic taken of the boat on Saturday, the day prior to departure shows a front (jib) sail furled up tight that is unfurled (unrolled) when in use. The larger rear sail (mainsail) is usually rolled up and stored and usually covered horizontally on the boom. (see pic below and note the blue boats rear sail covered and stored on the boom), The mainsail could be stored below deck for this pic and they attached it to boom post-pic. My point being, once seas get rough you need to keep front of boat (the bow) pointed into the large rolling waves. You would need to be using a very small amount of sail or the motor to maintain control of direction of boat. If they departed at 7 a.m. and called brother 3:00ish they had been on the water approx 8 hrs. I doubt they planned to motor that far/long. Maybe they planned to sail vast majority of the way with the jib sail. It's always problematic to have an outboard motor in rough seas as each time the boat rises as the big waves roll, that the motor propeller comes out of the water with loud whirling noise that can quickly overheat the motor. No doubt there were some scary moments and decisions to be made on that boat Sunday afternoon. The kayaks aren't sinkable. I know I am Monday morning quarterbacking but in hindsight maybe everyone should have put on a life jacket and attached themselves to a bright colored kayak maybe.
What has me a little baffled is the dad's preparedness for the trip. The pic taken of the boat on Saturday, the day prior to departure shows a front (jib) sail furled up tight that is unfurled (unrolled) when in use. The larger rear sail (mainsail) is usually rolled up and stored and usually covered horizontally on the boom. (see pic below and note the blue boats rear sail covered and stored on the boom), The mainsail could be stored below deck for this pic and they attached it to boom post-pic. My point being, once seas get rough you need to keep front of boat (the bow) pointed into the large rolling waves. You would need to be using a very small amount of sail or the motor to maintain control of direction of boat. If they departed at 7 a.m. and called brother 3:00ish they had been on the water approx 8 hrs. I doubt they planned to motor that far/long. Maybe they planned to sail vast majority of the way with the jib sail. It's always problematic to have an outboard motor in rough seas as each time the boat rises as the big waves roll, that the motor propeller comes out of the water with loud whirling noise that can quickly overheat the motor. No doubt there were some scary moments and decisions to be made on that boat Sunday afternoon. The kayaks aren't sinkable. I know I am Monday morning quarterbacking but in hindsight maybe everyone should have put on a life jacket and attached themselves to a bright colored kayak maybe.
Wow, this hits close to home. I owned a boat exactly like that one. Why they did not have life jackets on is a mystery to me. Why they did not have a radio for the boat is also discerning. I haven't followed this case extensively but watched news accounts and I'm wondering how much experience the father had with sailing. Very tragic.
