http://www.wavetrain.net/news-a-views/558-helicopter-evacuation-abandoning-be-good-too

I know it's very comfortable for me sitting securely in my warm armchair. But the protagonists in this story certainly left a fertile field for comments:

- Boat as first of new design and build and therefore by definition both design and build were untested.
- Boat was wet only two weeks, then departed into the North Atlantic in January for a 1500 mile offshore voyage.
- Three independent charging systems failed.
- Forereaching at 4 knots required full rudder lock (maybe the one rudder was already gone?).
- In Doane's blog, "The wave stopped us dead in our tracks and even seemed to back us up a bit." Not quite reversing at warp speed.
- One rudder loose on stock, other one severely bent.
- Pictures in blog of steering gear. It is almost cartoonish in its design and execution. Tiller arm held to stock with a set screw.
- Tow would have been time consuming and cost a little bit. Hence they decided to abandon.

A couple of other points seem interesting in the narrative:

-"Close reaching at 6 knots plus in 17-20" . The Alpha website goes on and on about how fast catamarans are. In my lead mine, crab-crusher monohull I would need 2 reefs main and mizzen and the engine at 1500 in reverse to go that slow.
- " the boat running at 8-9 knots with spikes over 10 in 22-26 knots of apparent wind" easily achieved in my lead mine.