I'm writing to apologize for calling rally fleet participants "lemmings." In fact, I have friends who have participated in rallies, including the NAR. I mean no disrespect to the participants; the object of my disdain is the rallies themselves, and their organizers; the Pied-pipers. I had a good friend who lost his boat in the Caribbean 1500 in '98. He had tried to persuade me to participate; instead, I chose to sail with a consort, nonstop, from Norfolk to the Leewards. He was not experienced enough nor prepared enough to be a participant, .and he and another sailor lost their boats in that rally. This never should have happened, yet, it did, and the fact that they were in a fleet did them no good at all. There is an implied undertone of safety in numbers in these events, but it is a fallacy. Time schedules and reservations at the destination lead to unwise decisions to proceed despite dire wx predictions. My consort and I were staged to depart before the rally, but our forecaster, Bob Rice, advised us to delay. We were therefore quite surprised when the fleet departed a day later. They ran into the remains of Hurricane Mitch. The fast boats made their easting quickly and were OK, many others suffered varying degrees of devastation and injury. Most limped into Bermuda to lick their wounds. We left a few days later and had a fine passage. A wise man once told me to never rely on another boat. He related an experience while "buddy-boating" in pre-GPS days. He had relied on his friend to scope out the pass in the reef, and simply followed him in. While setting up to do so, he realized, too late, that they were off by a quarter-mile. He just had time to turn around, as his friend's boat stranded on the reef. "Be self-sufficient. Assure yourself that it is safe to go, and never rely on safety in numbers, another's navigation, or weather interpretation," was the gist of what he told me. I have done so since. John "Seahorse" Reply to: John@Camm.us I wrote: <snip> But as one who intends to make passages alone (no fleet of lemmings for me), I feel a lot better about having an engine which can at least move me away from a lee shore or keep me head-to-sea while I make repairs. Those sailing in coastal waters can usually get a tow, or be rescued quickly, and may not share my thoughts.