Now that the race is done, check these things to assure that the boat is ready to come home safely

The best way to avoid this emergency aboard is to prevent it.

I learned never to take anything for granted---even something so small as the knife that should have been in the raft. We learned that all of the drills, the discussion sessions, the walk-thru practices had not only taught us our tasks, but had made us an effective team and given us confidence.

Dealing with a flooding situation: water coming in faster than the pumps can deal with it. I.e. you are sinking. A planned and practiced strategy is crucial as flooding calls for specific directed actions, quickly executed.

The purpose of the tests was to determine the best method and equipment to effectively steer the vessel to a safe port in the event of catastrophic rudder failure. The goal was to utilize the equipment normally taken on the vessel on offshore passages or races. The overriding premise was; utilization of an efficient and controllable object to create drag and transmit to directional stability which results in the desired directional stability. It was my view that a drogue might be used to exert the appropriate drag.