What a tragic story--and if you have short handed across an ocean, then you feel even more empathy.
Excellent post by bobjarrard. We were on a panel about safety at sea, where the husband fell overboard from a Whitby 42. The wife was below, off watch, and she heard something which woke her up. The boat was a center cockpit, and he saw some grease on the aft deck he wanted to clean up--no life jacket, no harness on or lifelines clipped on. She came on deck, saw no husband and started the engine, let the sails go (were in the trades, wing and wing), and powered a reciprocal course, and found her husband. She had the devil of a time getting him aboard. But he survived. He divorced her about 3 years later! Say what you want!
I don't agree with a 41 foot boat needing a 4 man crew. Marie and I sailed the 62 and 46 footers many thousands of miles across oceans with just the two of us. A good friend Circumnavigated 2x in a 55 footer with two, and 1x in a 34 footer--easier in the 55 footer! The larger boats are more stable. That being said--it is much easier having two more aboard. In our racing boats we had 8 to 10 on 45 footer for long ocean races and always 10 on my friends 55 footer. One issue, is that accustomed long distance sailors work as a team, the husband and wife can read the situation and take action. People who are not accustomed can panic, be sea sick, frightened etc, and actually be a burden. During the passage noted below, we had another experienced couple who were going to go from Bermuda to Azores with us, but she developed cancer and they canceled. We had to decide if we picked up crew, or did it with the two of us. In retrospect, we felt that we made the right decision to just do it, and not take on an unknown person, based on only an interview.
Just the two of us were in a 6 day storm with 45 foot + breaking seas when crossing the North Atlantic. Our anemometer only went to 65 knots and it was pegged much of the time. We have many photos and videos of the decks fully awash, and once the lower spreaders on the Starboard side were in the water...rough--you bet. I also had to go half way up the mast to check the spreaders after that...
We had a strong point at the companionway, with jack lines (5/16" SS wire rope, inside of tubular nylon) secured from extreme stern cockpit to the base of the bowsprit on both sides of the flush deck. There were several strong points at the helm, the main and mizzenmast. Despite the best of preparations, rigging can fail..we didn't have serious issues. Even in the heavy winds, we had a storm staysail flying, to keep the bow down wind. I had the engine ticking over constantly at 1200 RPM to always have prop wash against the rudder. (Diesels run fine on their sides). We both wore custom made floatation vests, which also protected our ribs, if we were thrown, plus wore inflatable 35# flotation life jackets. We had the life sling, two MOB poles, with horseshoe buoy's drogue and strobes attached. our safety harnesses had "crotch" straps--and I don't see how we could have been pulled out. We had one short and one long attachment tether--always one attached. We never went on deck alone without the other person awake (the boat had a steering station in the pilot house), and we were on auto pilot 98% of the time, even in the storms. The only time off pilot, was when the dog had to do her duty...she had a safe harness and life jacket also. We had large winches, plus both a manual and a 4,000 lb capacity electric windlass with capstan, which we could lead hoisting halyards to.
We had a hard dinghy in davits, and it had a lot of floatation, plus we carried a large heavy duty inflatable on the foredeck. But in storm conditions, if you leave the larger boat, you are in very serious trouble. We had two EPRiB--one in the companionway, one in the raft. Lots of survival and repair gear aboard. Many tools, even a drill press, bench grinder and welder; with power tools, we could fabricate a number of items necessary. We carried both metal and wood stocks just in case--as well as two stays, as long as the longest on the boat, with Norseman fittings for terminals, with spares for most ever thing from sails sewing machine, extra dacron, sail tape, to engine injectors, injector and lift pumps, head gaskets; did a valve job on the generator in mid ocean once....So you do have to be prepared.
On the Nordhavn Trans Atlantic Rally one of the trawlers tangled a free floating fishing net in the running gear==dead in the water. One of the younger men from the larger vessels dove and cleared it after dinghying over. We carried 5 scuba tanks and Hooka gear with 100 foot hoses in case of underwater work. (I also had to clear a blue plastic tarp off the prop in the Med, as well as some floating net lines). Is a trawler safer? Perhaps, but they often are not as self righting as a proper ocean crossing sailboat, and have a higher center of gravity, with often more exposed glass etc...so there are tradeoffs. One of the reasons we took our major voyages between the ages of 45 and 60 was because of strength and health issues which are predictable as we all age.
Also before our long ocean passages, I had done a number of long distance ocean crossing races, (like the Transpac) and Marie had thousands of miles of open ocean cruising.
Be safe and keep loved ones close at hand.
