I find it difficult to understand how the failure of a invertor/charger could be the start of the cascade of problems.

In the comments Atlantic Jim talks about the events and of course the decision to leave at that time but as a cruiser was particulary taken by the following paragraph.

"Being without electricity on an auxiliary sailboat is hardly a rare occurrence (just ask Don Street). Why weren't they prepared? At least have a portable GPS and VHF that run on replaceable AA batteries (very standard and cheap). Or in the iPad age do we assume Steve Jobs will solve all problems? That said, the Mastervolt going out should be an easily correctable problem. I'm not expert in the Swan 48's wiring, but apparently the alternator was still putting out power to the engine battery. And couldn't they at least charge up the iPad off of that battery? Similarly, it should be easy to bypass the electric solenoid safety valve on the propane tank. Embarking on that kind of journey without the tools, parts or know how to do that is plain irresponsible. I also don't think I would have attempted that passage without some form of cabin heating. It's one thing to freeze on watch, it's essential to warm up and dry out in between."

As always, I'm a coastal cruiser so I really have no right to comment on this but preparation, redundancy and common sense for any voyage is a primary consideration. From my prospective if they had any of those the loss of the vessel probably wouldn't have taken place. Seems the crew was ill prepared or not knowledageble for making repairs while on voyage. Hell, even I was able to jury rig a broken chainplate, repair the auto pilot and swap out a raw water pump in poor weather at sea. Seems like no one on board could do anything other than sail the boat.

I'm off to Annapolis tommorrow to drop TD back in the water.