Interesting Video.
The body/mind do work against themselves at times offshore. The decision process slows to a crawl when extreme exhaustion sets in.. we have all seen it in the faces of survivors of long tern ordeals, whether on shore or on the water. Experience lessens this to a extent.. but everybody has a limit.
The storm we sat in for 5+ days crossing the Pacific taught us what ours was..we had a period for over 24hrs I never even went topside or bothered to look around. Over 50kts of wind, 20' + seas and the closest dirt was over 300 miles away.. we sat hove to.. laid on the salon sole wedged in between sail bags. We had the abandon ship discussion after putting up with the never ending trashing for a few days.. if a cruise ship had pulled up and offered us a ride I believe we may have taken them up on the offer. But we were there in a completely different situation than the video.. the weather forecasts had been spectacular and the "event" we got clipped by came from nowhere.. we did the minimum that we had to do to protect the boat and ourselves, and finish our voyage.
It taught me the most valuable lesson I have learned in life.. what my mind and body can take and continue to function. Every rough weather situation since has paled by comparison and we have sailed with a different confidence in how had we can push ourselves.
I in no way ever seek out rough weather.. been there done that. But I feel fortunate to know what I do have in reserve if needed. The Admiral uses our event as a baseline in her life.. she is a hard core Marathon runner.. she started running distance after we went cruising.. I have heard her reference the "event" numerous times stating that marathons are a piece of cake compared to storm conditions in a boat. She is in Africa currently doing the Kilimanjaro Marathon.. she travels all over the world doing extreme marathons.. I think this is her 30th marathon.
All that being said I have a few thought on the video, and they are all unkind.
1- owner hired a idiot delivery skipper
2- I would of been embarrassed to jump ship, he had options
3- the video is a telling sign of his inabilities.
4-since he clearly didn't know what their function was for I bet he was really pissed when he had to swim vs. being hoisted from the deck because of those tall aluminum sticks on the roof of the boat.
5-he was lucky the coasties came out and got him before he could really hurt himself.
I know the above comments are harsh.. but the skipper put himself out there with the video.. it is great that others get to learn from his mistakes.
HOLLYWOOD