Would you be happy to drown like a gentleman?
I am shorebound now but before that I enjoyed about 50 years of recreational sailing in small boats. I enjoy reading Yachting Monthly but an item in your September issue really annoyed me: Learning how to raise the alarm ( 10 skills to master before you set sail). What right have people who go sailing for their own pleasure to call for assistance from others? My answer is, emphatically, none.
That does not mean that I would not try to help someone in difficulties on shore or afloat, I hope that I would. However, calling for help because you misjudged the circumstances is quite another matter and pleasure sailors should not do it. Would I use the traditional distress signals if I needed help? Yes, I expect I would but, in my mind, that is different from carrying special long distance help apparatus. Hugh Quick