...but rather the Eastern Caribbean...

According to this poster over on SA with a considerable amount of time on Gunboats, this trip should have been a walk in the park, Gunboats normally eat those sort of conditions up...

Anyway, take this for what it's worth... (grin)

For all the folks questioning the crew's decision to leave given the forecast, normally a Gunboat wouldn't blink at that forecast. We've knowingly stepped out into far worse plenty of times without hesitation. It actually looked like a fun forecast, a downwind sleigh ride and a trip to the E. Caribbean without tacking once. I was jealous, if my wife hadn't given birth to our baby boy a week ago I would've been there with them. Taking off on the backside of a low, in advance of the next one, is a valid strategy and one we've used many times. You use the dying breeze on the backside to get down the track and away from the next one.

My first delivery on a Gunboat we cast off the dock lines from Newport in Dec in 35-40kts, saw 40-50, and hit a top boatspeed of 36.6. We were still sleeping off watch, still cooking, still "living easy". The only part that was scary was that it wasn't scary. Hitting 30's in the dark, alone on watch, coffee cup in hand and not panicking just felt wrong. But it was safe, fast, and fun. There was no reason to believe this delivery wouldn't be the same.

As for why dismastings occur (a naive question, but...), masts, standing rigging, and the various rigging components are 3rd party designed and supplied equipment. Gunboat doesn't pretend to know more about mast engineering and construction than their chosen designers and suppliers. Gunboat is no more to blame for a dismasting than they are when a watermaker breaks or a winch breaks. Marstom built the rig for Phaedo, and Hall the rig for Rainmaker. Swans dismast, Oysters dismast. It happens. A lot. I'm sure there'll be some analysis in house, but there are any number of failures that could result in a downed rig. Furler failure, shroud terminal, lashing chafe, tang, etc. 70 kts will find the "fuse" pretty quickly.

I'm sure there are stories that will come out in the next couple of days that will explain their decision. For now I'm grateful to the CG, happy that my buddies are safe, and hoping that the recovery happens quickly.

For the record, I've never worked for Peter or Gunboat. I'm not part of his "PR machine". But one of the great "value added" things about GB is it's a family, from owners, to permanent crew, to delivery, and race crew. And like in any family, I'll rush to the defense of my brothers. I can understand the rush to judgement, but I also hope most of you know the cascading chain of events that can take a situation from just bad to truly shitty.

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=163512&p=4828862

In other words, the passage plan was ideal, the weather window couldn't have been more favorable, the boat was perfect, the only mistake might have been made by Hall Spars, I think that about sums it up... (grin)