All of the advice given is good. I don't have a Life Raft but there was
no question about an Epirb. I also sail with my dinghy fully inflated
on the foredeck, with snap releases on the tie downs, and the painter
snapped to a padeye so it won't blow away in bad conditions.
Speaking of tying things down, I was sailing through the same stuff as
J-World on the 2009 haha when she hit a whale, and one thing I remember
from that is that they tossed the ditch bag on deck and it promptly blew
overboard. So I have a tether on my ditch bag.
Knowing and trusting your boat is important. I've been at the helm at
night with whitecaps as high as my spreaders, looking back and saying
the eff word, but never felt that the boat couldn't handle it.
The weather window thing is important, too. If that little voice in
your head says 'no' then wait.
I think it's your call. I wouldn't cross an ocean without a life raft,
because I read that book about the guy who spent 72 days alone in a life
raft and that really sounded like fun. That's why I still have my
fluorescent kayak attached to the dink when off shore. It hurts my back
and I haven't used it in years, but it's unsinkable and highly visible.
There's a part of me that's a bit fatalistic, and if the boat goes down
with everything I own on board then I figure I should just go too. On
the other hand, I've been close to death more than twice and every time
I was thinking 'no, not now, I'm not ready, I just thought I was. I want
to LIVE' <VBG>
Wal
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