Logbook: Hitting Close to Home

Maybe it comes with age, or experience, but it feels like at-sea emergencies are hitting closer to home these days. Where once stories of life rafts, maydays and sinkings were reserved for the hallowed pages of magazines like this one, I now have personal connections to many. A couple years ago I had a close family friend watch as his boat burned to the waterline from a good Samaritan’s boat. I followed a tragic breakwall boat crash here in Connecticut that killed three young people (one of whom’s family lives on my block). That one sparked enormous social media debate over operator error vs. the unlit breakwall. No one wins those debates of course, and to me the tragedy that took the lives of a 34-, 25- and 24-year-old remind me that when things go bad on the water, they often go bad fast.

Hitting even closer to home was a recent sailboat sinking during the Newport-Bermuda race where my colleague at Sail magazine, Lydia Mullan, abandoned ship in the dark of night, boarded a life raft and was recovered by another nearby race team. The days that ensued, sustaining on a few handfuls of snacks and a few mouthfuls of water in tight and damp environs is a tale that’s nothing short of harrowing. (You can hear her full story on the Power & Motoryacht Podcast wherever podcasts are found.)

Dan’s colleague from Sail Magazine, Lydia Mullan, snaps a selfie after the boat she was originally aboard sank offshore.

Photo&colon; Lydia Mullan

Also this past summer, my uncle’s best friend, an avid boater, considered an uncle to my cousins, was lost as sea during a solo fishing outing. This news that devastated my family came around the time of the superyacht Bayesian’s sinking, which captured international headlines and sparked a conversation between myself and our own columnist/naval architect Bill Prince in another podcast episode you can find online.

What a pastime we have, where danger is inherently possible every time we untie our lines. I suppose it’s the danger and the challenges that come when anyone sets out to face the wind and water aboard a machine with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of moving parts that is part of the thrill. It’s part of the deal. Accidents find us all at one point or another, and even the most prepared are not immune.

As now a father of two young boys, I certainly think about boating safety differently these days. I obsess over the weather, PFDs—for the kids at least—are well fitting and worn at all times. We have PLBs, VHFs and my newest test product, a satellite Garmin InReach (page 30). Our medkit is packed to the brim. Still, danger lurks behind every wave.

What are we to do? Stay home and pick up golf? For us lifelong boaters, that’s not in the cards. We know risk is the price of admission for a life less ordinary and that no great story ever started with, “I was sitting on the couch the other day when…”

No, we can prepare ourselves and our vessels the best we can, we can be aware of the most dangerous thing on the water: a strict itinerary; we can embrace the tools and technology that are available to us and keep our minds clear.

When recounting the moments after realizing their boat was destined for the seafloor, Lydia told me she credited the captain and crew’s ability to stay calm and communicate clearly for getting everyone out of the drink and to terra firma on Bermuda—where the rum never tasted so sweet—in one piece. Her story reminds me that at the end of the day it’s our decisions that often determine our outcome.

A lot of people like to block out bad news (in general) and stories of at-sea emergencies. Maybe it’s a hazard of my job, but I try to not look away and instead embrace them as guests aboard my boat every time I leave the dock. These stories help to keep me sharp and non-complacent. I hope our coverage of near-disasters and emerging safety technology helps do the same for you and makes you a better boater along the way.

See you on the water,
Dan
daniel.harding@firecrown.com
@danhardingboating