...in hindsight, safely from our warm chair in front of a fireplace, I too marvel at the situations people find themselves unable to deal with.

I remember the story told by a buddy who was delivering his own 40' boat to the carribean one November. Big, big winds a result of converging lows had him sailing with storm sails in really awful weather. He tells the story of a 50 ish foot Pearson that was abandoned near his position. The captain was trying to motor his way through the storm. Boat was abandoned when it got too tough...
Darwin comes to mind...

Having participated in 5 Newport to Bermuda races means that I have attended 5 Safety at Sea seminars. These are a very sobering look at what can and does happen when things go wrong. It always makes me wonder why we have decided that the race might be a good thing to do... Although I am not a fan of yet more Government regulations, I wonder if maybe insurance companies might insist on participation in a similar class before issuing insurance?

Oh well, it probably wouldn't really have any impact in this day of looking to "someone else" for help at the drop of a hat...

Bruce