Shock waves reverberated through the sailing community this past week on the news that three, out of a crew of four sailors were lost when their J35 broke apart on a Chicago breakwall and sank in heavy seas.
The sailors, all from the Chicago area were delivering the boat for winter haulout when things went terribly wrong. Despite the fact all the crew were wearing life jackets, the rough conditions, coupled with the cold water temperature proved to be too much for what was from all accounts, a fairly experienced crew.
Somewhere in the vicinity of the breakwall things began to fall apart when a crewmember fell overboard in seas estimated to be nine to ten feet. While attempting to rescue the crewmember the vessel either grounded or broke apart on the pier and disinegrated, leaving the sailors to the mercy of the waves. All that has been recovered is a small piece of the bow section pictured here.
This story strikes close to home as we've raced the same type of boat on the Great Lakes for many years. As skipper on Special K, I have often tried to remind people that come aboard, especially new crew, to have a healthy respect for what could go wrong. We have been fortunate. Other than bruised egos, the occasional bump or bruise, or severe head trauma brought on from the night before, we have managed to come through relatively unscathed.
Still, there is a lesson to be learned here. There is alot of second guessing going on as to whether or not they should or shoudn't have been out there in the first place. There are those that will point to the crew's experience, having sailed in the Chicago to Mackinac race and a host of other local races, as a qualification that they did nothing wrong. Unfortunately, something did go wrong. Something that they obviously were not prepared to handle. Personally, although I've always been an avid supporter of sailing in rough conditions for the sake of teaching people how to handle them if forced to, I try to stack the deck in my favor whenever I can. In my opinion, this was a trip that didn't have to take place, and shouldn't have been embarked on. Not at night. Not when the water is this cold and certainly not in ten foot seas in the proximity of a breakwall. There are too many other things that can go against you. A dismasting, an engine failure, or..... a crewmember overboard.
I don't mean this to be an indictment. Certainly the blame for this will eventually settle on a home and all the facts aren't in. To all those I sail with, and to those I sail "against", pray for the families and friends of this tragedy. Hopefully, if any good is to come out of this tragic event, it will be to serve as a reminder the responsibility each of us have to keep sailing a safe sport for all to enjoy.
Here is the link to the original Chicago Tribune Story http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-boatdeaths25_weboct26,0,993651.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout
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