Don't they have positive flotation?


wrote:
Don't know for sure, though it certainly doesn't look it inside
(except that if not punctured and if the hatches are closed, it will
float). Indeed, after the boat was found and hauled (the stern
severely damaged) the next day, it was surprising to see how thin
skinned (even if "honeycombed")/flimsy the basic structure is.


Well, cats are built light or they wouldn't be fast. If it
is honeycomb core, it will be relatively difficult to repair.


[Wearing] . . . have on wetsuits or drysuits?


Again: _VERRY_ stupid (deliberately undertaken but
shoulddahknownbetter risk): One, life vest deliberately within
reaching distance but not worn; two others, inflatable life vest.

In defense of the dumbness, the crew took a calculated risk -
fortunately, later proven correct - that a motorboat operating
collegague/would-be rescuer estimatedly no more than +/- 2-3 miles
away at any one time probably would be reachable by phone, and that
"would-be" became actual (thanks, again, to the Ziploc-bagged
cell-phone).


Why not carry some of those fountain pen style flares? They
come in packs you can carry in your shirt pocket.

It's your own choice, but I would never stake my own life,
or thata of a friend/family memeber, on the proper
functioning & reliability of a cell phone even if it wasn't
dropped into the water, baggy or no.




Apparently, a strong (ca. +/- 40 kt) gust from windward of the port
pontoon coincided with a wave and the combined force from the forward
underside of the trampoline both of water and wind lifted the bow up
and flipped the boat over backward.


It's an issue with multihulls, their stability is very
different from monohulls. The more they heel, the less
righting arm, and the more tramp or bridge deck exposed to
the wind. That's one big reason why cruising cats don't fly
a hull!


The press reported the following day that a sole "kite surfer" about
twenty miles to the east (who, even more stupidly, was wearing a
drysuit and boots and gloves but no lifejacket or signaling equipment)
drowned the same day.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc...eadlines-local

That's a tragedy. I wonder what happened, if he got
hypothermic anyway or ingested water when dunked or had a
heart attack. FWIW I agree with Bart, a life jacket probably
wouldn't have saved him.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King