I've never abandoned ship, but I've certainly been out there crossing oceans in small boats, so I try to imagine what it was like in their situation based upon the reports we have. When I do so in this case, it's just *too* easy to come to the conclusion that the owner was a brainless idiot that was used to relying on his checkbook to get things done and to cover his ass when things go wrong.

Until shown otherwise, I prefer to suspect that the reports are either incomplete or just flat wrong. Because if they're correct, the actions of this guy reflects poorly on the entire cruising community. Too many incidents like this could result in the nanny-goverment we keep electing deciding it needs to protect us from ourselves.