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This was in an email from Sail World. It is editorial comment, I couldn't find iot on the website so here it is in full, hope I haven't offended anyone.

 

How long before the sailing freedoms erode?

 

 

How long before the traditional freedoms of the sea are no more...? Carlo Borlenghi

One of the most alluring dreams about sailing away into the sunset is the freedom of it all - to cruise where and when you want, away from the rules and regulations that enclose life on land.

 

But the inexplicably outrageous behaviour of one Polish born Frenchman this week takes us one step closer to having all that in jeopardy.

 

Boguslaw (Bob) Norwid will have angered not only his paying student crew whom he wouldn't allow to use the radio when they were overdue, but others as well. The Foreign Affairs Departments of Canada and Australia and their consulates in Chile pushed the Chileans to search longer and further. As for the Chileans, with one of the worst recorded earthquakes in modern history, valuable skills were removed from the coastline as Chilean Coastguard vessels searched for the missing yacht.

 

After the British flagged SS Columbo returned safely to Coquimbo a mere 44 days late, (with five, not seven sailors on board as sometimes reported) Sail-World Cruising also received an unusually high number of emails from angry readers.

 

In spite of the mainstream press claiming that there is an 'international sailing standard whereby boats are meant to maintain regular radio contact with a radio station close by', this is not the case at all. Position reporting is mandatory only when in a race or rally. Regardless of this, the irresponsible skipper had a clear duty of care to his students, whom he had charged $3500 each.

 

The idea that miscreant sailors who clearly cause unnecessary rescues should be forced to pay for them has long been a subject of discourse over sundowners in cockpits and in yacht club bars. In New Zealand last year some sailors who panicked and called for rescue were afterwards shamed into paying for their rescue by the outcry that followed, but that's a long way from the enacting of a regulation.

 

The families of the returned Canadian sailors say they are angry enough to sue skipper Bob Norwid if they can, and no doubt they will be searching every angle with their lawyers. Let's hope they succeed.

 

A great turnout of other news here below – some important, some informative, some merely quirky or entertaining. Then there are the mouth watering cruising tales....

 

It's a great read, so browse down the headlines to see what interests you.

 

Sweet sailing!

 

Nancy Knudsen, Editor

 

 

Now I disagree, but before I spout off, what do you lot think?

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from that breif snippet of info.... IDIOT

 

he had paying students on board, not a crew of compentant seafarers. once overdue he should have made contact. Being late is no big deal but to "disappear without a trace" with a bunch of students on board all for the sake of a radio call is crazy.

 

Billl him, or shoot him, what ever is eassiest in Chile

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shoot him :

 

1, it's cheaper and the world should waste as little extra money as possible on this guy

 

2, just because not using a radio is his principle, it doesn't mean it has to be everyone else's, imposing his own rules on others, death

 

3, He filed an official course and schedule, that has an obligation to notify if he varies from it.

 

4, it's not his first time causing a major search and rescue (also 2002), incapable of learning and should be removed from the gene pool

 

5, "routinely weeks late", stuck in no wind and current swept him off course by 2000 miles". Didn't we move forward from this sort of thing happening by about the year 1720? Can obviously not sail to save himself, his ability to sail is on about a pa with his ability to learn from previous experience.

 

6, Should be put down, claiming himself as a yachtsman he's an embarrassment to any of us that do think we can sail, even just a little bit, he owes it to the rest of us to climb into a body bag and shoot himself as a service to mankind.

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Didn't realise you had a soft side Mark! He's a twat. It's a problem really & he'll give customs and immigration people the ammo they're looking for. The armchair admiral rulemakers will be able to leap out of the chairs and say "I told you, we need more rules and requirements and..." Naturally comes the increased cost of compliance. Poor DT/Squid/TFC. Pretty soon he won't be able to say "Time to go cruising" because that will be more stifled by r & r than racing! Look on the bright side - he'll still be here to race with me. :thumbup:

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Just some questions.

So no one has to Radio-sched if you are not racing. But if you have fare paying passengers, would you not then come under the same rules? because Fare paying passengers would mean you are required to be under survey and have to follow the same rules as racing which is just Colregs and ????(the other one) anyway. Plus the Skipper would have to have certain minimum qualifications for Fare paying passengers and those passengers being students of a maritime course.

Would that all be correct???

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No rules state Radio scheds are mandatory as such. There are areas you have to call in about a bit like aircraft. Some clubs and organisations do have 'house rules' which require calling in at set times or whenever.

 

It is very possible the skipper has no Quals, they are always mandatory in some countries. But that sure as apples doesn't mean he's a F'wit (even if it appears he sure is). There are more than a lot of people we deal with and I've been on boat with that do have Quals yet I wouldn't let them borrow my dingy to row across a small pond. The only Quals I look at is time actually doing it.

 

Just dealt with a skipper of a 190fter who was banging on about having more Quals than most others yet I would go to sea with Qual free Mr Squid long long before that dude. The difference being Squids been there done that while this guy was spending the same time in a classroom.

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There are more than a lot of people we deal with and I've been on boat with that do have Quals yet I wouldn't let them borrow my dingy to row across a small pond.

Hmmm, reminds me of a Cpt "whiney S" on another forum, supposedly with a 100Ton licence. Constantly making me wonder if the US 100Ton licences came free in Breakfast cereals.

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I would go to sea with Qual free Mr Squid long long before that dude. The difference being Squids been there done that while this guy was spending the same time in a classroom.

Grab your gear KM, your ride's on his way.

a57.JPG.jpeg

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Oh, you sure know how to take the edge off don't ya Murky. And that don't look like any Open 60 I know.

 

He drives like my Mum. Hand on the wheel but that garden to the left is a lot more interesting to look at than the road ahead :)

 

A mate recently did a exam for some marine Quals. He reckoned the hardest question he was given was 'How many spark plugs in a 6 cylinder 2-stroke diesel engine?'.

 

Getting Quals is very easy. Getting knowledge isn't so.

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Yuk! :sick: As if. If that was the case Megwyn, you should not be worried about me, you should just shoot me.

 

No, even though the search function is fully suckful, it was worth going back to find that one to stir KM. I know that he would put in the hard yards for me. Interestingly Fusion recently mentioned another photo involving fishnets but no-one was particularly enthusiastic to go looking for that.

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With Murky in another thread extolling the virtues, indeed praising the forthrightness and merits in the number of posts on the topic of bits falling out of the crack in the bum of an 88 you should be a lot more than a bit worried about him. A clear sign of psychological issues even KM can only dream about.

 

As to what he was proposing be done, well, I dread to go there

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I thought we understood each other MarkM. And that you had more of an appreciation for wonderful world of statistics.

 

When the multi guys engage in a...heated conversation with each other on the site, Mr Wolf likes to pop up and point out that they are the most active forum.

 

So when an 88 owner asks for information/assistance, and gets it, resolving the issue within a matter of hours, I thought that was a good effort. In fact I thought the title of the topic could have been changed to: "88 owners in good-natured co-operation" or something like that.

 

Of course, we could always have bought into another "class" of yacht, where the owners would have said: "Search me, no two of them were ever built the same and even if they had been, one of us would have made it different by now." :twisted:

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I'm more than a bit worried about you Murky . . . did you save that pic on your hard-drive?

 

bugger me........where there's smoke there's fire.............only saying................

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