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Peter Burch, a veteran of the Caribbean 1500, is the head of the yacht inspection gurus this year. His team – which includes former ARC Europe participant Bill Peach and Carib 1500 veteran Jeff Chabot – has been out in force as the boats arrive in Hampton. Twenty-one boats registered yesterday at the Caribbean 1500 Rally Office, while Peter and his team made the rounds.
Burch inspected the Hallberg Rassy 39 Mahalo this afternoon with skipper David Finegan. “I haven’t noticed any consistent deficiencies this year,” Burch mentioned, “yet.” In years past, similar problems often popped up on several boats in the fleet. “One year there seemed to be a common theme – bad stanchions,” Burch noted. “One particular boat had just completed a major offshore race, and had already fulfilled that races requirements. I was fairly confident they would pass our standards with ease. But when I walked the decks checking the stanchions, two or three of them pulled out of their bases quite easily,” he said, surprised. “And this was common on a lot of boats that year.”
Finegan was happy to have Burch aboard for advice. He had most of the safety gear laid out down below, including the extensive flare kits, deck harnesses and offshore medical kit. One of Finegan’s crew has extensive medical training – “I think he might even be an EMT,” Finegan offered – so Finegan is confident they will be able to handle any scenario offshore.
When the topic of medical emergencies at sea came up, Burch related a story from a previous Marion-Bermuda race he sailed in. “Another boat had issued a Pan-Pan on the radio durin the return trip to the States,” he explained. “They were looking for a specific drug – the boat had a physician onboard, and one of the crew was having a pretty serious medical emergency,” Burch continued. “We had a list of every medicine and piece of medical gear on the boat, handy at the navigation table. We didn’t have the drug they were after, but we replied anyway and listed off what we did have. As it turned out, one of our meds was exactly what they needed – even better than what they were after in fact – they just didn’t expect anyone to have it. We were sailing about 25 miles ahead of them, but altered course and made a rendezvous in mid-Atlantic. The medicine bottle was wrapped in duct tape, which in turn was wrapped in a big-mouth Gatorade bottle, stuffed into a cockpit cushion, wrapped in more duct tape and transferred over to the boat in need, safe and dry. In the end, the act saved the sick crewmembers life.”
Burch’s story, though it took place during a race and not a rally, emphasizes the seamanship and camaraderie often seen at sea. Ralliers are constantly told that despite their group start, once at sea they should expect to be more or less independent (at least physically – psychologically they are usually within radio contact). But stories like Burch’s confirm the advantages of sailing in company and is a good lesson in preparation. “We had all the emergency kit organized,” he explained to Finegan. “Instead of digging around in the lockers looking for medicine bottles, we just referenced our list and had an answer in a matter of minutes.” Finegan got the message for sure, and was delighted to hear Burch’s veteran advice.
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