Sunday, April 26, 2015

Sailing dangerously

For those who haven't already heard about it, a Saturday race in the Gulf off Alabama encountered a squall with gusts of "up to 70 mph". That's the typical force of a thunderstorm on Lake Mendota, the only difference being that waves don't build up on Mendota. On the Gulf, these sailors encountered "10 ft" waves--in 23 foot boats. Not a good combo even for experienced sailors. Of course, when you're in a 23 ft. boat, just about anything looks like a ten foot wave.

Imagine if last year's spring break cruisers had encountered such a storm. You can bet the damage would have been a lot more than $10k. We're still waiting on the damage reports from this year's "Hoofer-YachtXP" cruise.