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328 Posts
Ok guys, somethings amiss here and I can't quite figure it out... maybe one of you can? By now, I'm sure you've all seen the story on the news or in the paper, now, here's the mystery... The subject PB'r is running from MDR to Newport solo, common sense says a boat as large & as well equipped as the Heather would be running on autopilot... now, the solo skipper falls off the boat just past Palos Verdes with the boat headed in a southernly direction towards Newport... the mystery... how does the boat turn nearly 90 deg and then stay on that course for approximately twenty plus miles, crashing into the island near Avalon with both engines running???
In this day & age of technology, with autopilots slaved to extremely accurate GPS inputs, how does this occurance happen??? Let's hear some theories & guesses... Thank God no one else was killed or injured, was this King Neptune's wakeup call to solo skippers?
PS - here's an even more scary & possible scenario - a powerboat leaves either Dana Point or Newport, autopilot dialed in via GPS to Avalon harbor, solo skipper, skipper has heart attack or falls overboard, powerboat plows into harbor at speed... you can imagine the resulting carnage!
Jeff
In this day & age of technology, with autopilots slaved to extremely accurate GPS inputs, how does this occurance happen??? Let's hear some theories & guesses... Thank God no one else was killed or injured, was this King Neptune's wakeup call to solo skippers?
PS - here's an even more scary & possible scenario - a powerboat leaves either Dana Point or Newport, autopilot dialed in via GPS to Avalon harbor, solo skipper, skipper has heart attack or falls overboard, powerboat plows into harbor at speed... you can imagine the resulting carnage!
Jeff