T&T: Things that go bump in the night

[Dave Legrow]

There have been comments about things that go bump in the night over the 
years. Since many are now travelling, I thought I would relay a few thoughts.

While in general, the fear of containers is overrated, they can be a fatal force.  They are usually a problem immediately after a severe storm.  A
member of one of the sailing clubs (Gulfstream - Ft. Lauderdale) I belong
to lost his boat in less than 10 minutes when he struck a container off
Puerto Rico.  When did this happen?  A day after a severe storm struck,
and an MSC ship heading to Miami lost several containers.  Yes, he lost everything, except he had the presence of mind (and time) to grab his wallet on the way out.

On the nature side of things, we were headed up the coast off the Carolinas just a few weeks ago, when a large (10-14 ") tree was observed rising and falling stump up in the sea only 50 feet to port.  While no threat to the vessel I am on, if I had been on one of my personal vessels and had punched the hull, it would have been fatal, with minimal time to escape. 

This note is only to get you to reinforce your escape plans and storage of emerg. suppplies.  You never know how long you have to escape when offshore.

Dave Legrow
T'III