If You’d Been in Their Topsiders
There were two very interesting incidents in the November-December Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) from the Canary Islands to the 2,700-mile distant St. Lucia.
The first incident took place just several days into the event, when the Brit-owned Roberts 53 Pelican lost her rig 325 miles west of the Cape Verdes. Deciding that the crew of five faced an "unacceptable risk" by staying aboard, skipper Darryl Sexton issued a mayday. Apparently the boat had other problems, too, including not having the use of their engine. The merchant ship Crimson Mars altered course and arrived on the scene at 0200 on December 1. Because of the helpless condition of the boat, the captain of the ship had the five men transfer from the Pelican to his ship via line and lifebuoy. There were force four winds and seas to six meters. All the men survived the transfer. Rather than being scuttled, the boat was merely abandoned. She’ll no doubt be washing up on the east coast of some island in the Lesser Antilles in a month or two.
Our question with regard to this incident is if you would have abandoned the boat, too, knowing it would eventually make it to the West Indies.
In the second incident, Silver Bear, ARC entry #227, came into radio contact with a couple of guys doublehanding the Atlantic on a similar course aboard the Sadler 25 Star Fire. They were not part of the ARC. While still 1,700 miles from the nearest island, the small boat had snapped her rudder after hitting something in the water. Although the crew was able to fashion a rudder out of bits of cupboard and stuff, their progress was slow. Nonetheless, Ray Lawry, skipper of Silver Bear, made the decision to slow down signifiantly in order to escort the smaller boat for the nearly 2,000 remaining miles to St. Lucia.
Our question with regard to this incident is whether you would have made the same decision as Lawry. Or would you have insisted that the two abandon their little boat and become part of your crew so as not to drastically slow your crossing? Please keep your answers short and to the point and email them to Richard.