Too Many Sailing Lessons Here !

This is such an important video ! You can see what happens when two different types of boats face similar huge waves.

The sailboat manages to upright herself thanks to her keel. The motorboat can not because she has no keel. All the occupants of the sailboat survive the slamming and this includes a 2 year old infant.

In the real event portrayed in "The Perfect Storm" the sailboat forcibly evacuated by Coast Guard takes no damage and is eventually located drifting many days later.

I read that in the event of a storm or post-storm conditions with huge waves, the skipper can deploy an underwater chute/drogue from the bow or stern. This allows the boat to be perpendicular to waves and receive the waves from the bow or stern. The boat gets some pretty good beating but does not slam as the one in the video who was in parallel position to the waves.

Being in severe storm conditions is incredibly hard. The wind alone causes fatigue as even moving your arm requires effort. The spray comes into your face so hard that you can not open your eyes sometimes. I remember once crying because of salt coming into my eyes.

There was no such extreme wind on this video. So, the skipper's inability to change the boat's position is likely his lack of sailing skills. He could have tried a bucket instead of a chute. And the genoa is there half of it under the boat, untouched probably for many hours. Why not get rid of it ? It is adversely affecting

And this skipper was facing a worse threat than the seas. A GREAT & DEADLY danger. Look at the mainsail and the boom. The boom is actually loose and he forgot to secure it. This is a major threat. If a sudden gust of wind (natural or heli caused) were to push the mainsail, the skipper or others could be hit in the head real hard with the wildly swinging boom. This would cause an almost certain death ! It is like being hit with 40 baseball bats at once !

This video also shows that instead of panicking (which is a human thing but can be partly controlled thru training and experience) one can focus on the very basics of sailing and take care of the boat and thus occupants.

The skipper's failure to check the weather before and inability to control the boat resulted in a distress situation and others were forced to come. But the police powerboat had no sense to go into such conditions. They are certainly very courageous, good willed and heroic but I fail to understand how come they sail into such waves with a small powerboat ? They eventually get capsized.

And for God's sake, please take sailing lessons and do not sail like this ... lucky idiot who caused tens of thousands of dollars rescue effort.

I get hurt when people say bad things about boats and sailing beause they had a -perfectly avoidable- experience like in this video. This is not sailing, storms or waves. This is lack of skills !

Sea is a magical place to be. It shapes you like a master sculpter. Respect nature and learn the rules...Then your life will get easier !