Danger and Safety

I read this today.

My thoughts go out to Hans Horrevoets and to the crew of ABN AMRO 2, for whom it must have been a horrible experience. I can imagine them fighting to revive their friend in a storm whipped sea. Cold and fearful. Desperate and ultimately hopeless.

I am genuinely gutted about his death, it's not like i knew him, or anything about him. But he died sailing, which scares me. Perhaps i shouldn't talk about this. It probably won't make anything better. But it has made me pause.

Sailing across an ocean is not like walking down the street. It is not easy, it is not safe. On the sea, particularily the 3000 miles between Cape Verde and Brazil nothing is certain. Your life is fragile and it is wise to remember that. A wave, some wind or a faulty in the boat can endanger you. I suspect if you looked at the statistics, you are more likely to die in a car than in a boat, but it suspect it wont feel that way when there is no land in any direction for 1000 miles. My trip will be a bit dangerous, I have to accept that, as will the people who care about me.

However, as someone comments on that link, this was a serious hardcore racing boat, they would have been driving the yacht hard despite a 30 knot, near gale force wind. I am not going to be in situations like that, if the weather gets like that (which is not unlikely) we will be safe, rather than fast. I do not believe i am taking any serious risk, i am more worried about getting mugged in Salvador than getting hurt at sea, maybe i'm looking a this the wrong way. Cochise is a modern, and very well built yacht, with an experinced skipper and all safety gear. She will be crewed by an experinenced and able crew. It will all be fine.

Sailing can be scary, it can be dangerous, it can also be enlightening, and joyful and safe. This week Dee Caffari, made it back to britain after sailing single handed around the world against the prevailing winds. It was a brilliant achievment and shows how amazing sailing can be.