...but many of the advances in gear and communication is somewhat of a double-edged sword, and makes abandoning a boat at sea 'easier' than ever before... The AMVER program seems to be working like clockwork, most crews don't have to wait more than a matter of hours before a ship can be diverted to take them off. Hell, you may recall that the crew of BE GOOD TOO even had their CHOICE of getting on an eastbound or westbound ship, before the CG stepped in to effect the rescue themselves. And certainly, in the days before satphones and EPIRBS, no way could the rescue of the crew of REBEL HEART have been accomplished as effectively as it was...

Now, whether such advances in technology and gear actually results in 'enabling' many abandonments, that's difficult to say. But I think there are some cases where it probably has. The loss of the Pearson 365 RUNNING FREE near Bermuda last summer, the boat that eventually washed up on the beach at Martha's Vineyard, would appear to have been such an example. The guy had virtually no experience before attempting to sail to England (he had only ever anchored the boat ONCE prior to leaving Jacksonville, for instance), and seems to be a classic example of someone who never would have been out there to begin with were it not for GPS, and would have had to find his own way to Bermuda, and thence to England... He seemed to have no idea what to expect, got frightened when he encountered his first near-gale, and pulled the plug despite the absence of any serious issues with the boat itself. So, the sort of resourcefulness and persistence demonstrated by a more experienced sailor like Efraim seems lacking in at least some of these abandonments taking place these days...

Seems to me one of the biggest factors at play nowadays, and which might have been related to some of the recent losses in the North Atlantic, is the increasing reliance and faith many are putting in Weather Routing, and mistaken belief that 'Weather Windows' are infallible, or might represent something akin to a 'guarantee' of a safe passage. The times I've spent over the years in Hampton prior to the departure of the Caribbean 1500, I've been surprised by how prevalent this perception can be, and I think this sort of naivete had a lot to do with what happened in last year's Salty Dawg Rally... Few seem to be adhering to the wisdom of a guy like Don Street anymore, and his caution that Weather Windows off the East coast in late fall usually evaporate within 36 hours, and all bets are off beyond 48-72 hours out... No question that forecasting has improved greatly, and the ability to receive WX info at sea enhanced dramatically, but I think many are putting a bit too much faith in such accuracy, and perhaps taking chances they might otherwise might not...