On Jan 15, 3:02*pm, "dadiOH" wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
dadiOH wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:

As for "systems failing
in a storm", the "systems" in question are ropes and pulleys--it's
an effing _sailboat_ for God's sake, technology that was old when
Alexander was leading his armies at her age.

And winches,

Pulley with a crank and a ratchec.

stays,

Just ropes.

*Wire* ropes. *With turnbuckles.
___________

tangs, screws, bolts...all manner of things.

Just fancy substitutes for knots.

Fine, let's see you make a knot in 7x19 wire rope.
_____________

Bodies too: cuts, scrapes, concussions, broken bones...

Anyone who has ever sailed a boat knows - or had exceptional luck -
that systems *DO* fail, storms or not. *The wonder is that they do as
well as they do.

Calling them "systems" doesn't make them any less ropes. *As for their
failing, anybody who can tie a knot can fix them.

Fine, let's see you make a knot in 7x19 wire rope. *Obviously, you know zero
about sailing.
_____________

*If it was really so
complicated as to be beyond the abilities of a sixteen year old, how
would being an "adult" however you define it make a difference?

It isn't the age so much as the (probable) lack of experience. *For
example...

1. To/from Catalina with others.

2. Crusing off shore to/from La Paz with others

3. To/from Hawaii with others.

3. All the above single handed.

Like that.

Experience (and common sense) really *does* count. *I recall a fellow years
ago that was - IIRC - near Ecuador. *He dropped and broke his sextant. *They
found him nine months - *NINE MONTHS* - later out in the middle of the
Pacific. *He was still alive, subsisted on rain water and (mostly) plants
and critters that grow on the bottom of boats. *He had no idea where he was.

If he had any experience and the sense that god gave geese he would have
known that you can sail downhill most anywhere in the world and hit land.

Sense is especially lacking around these parts. Many figure...well
hell, it's a LAKE, right? (Lake Huron)