This information is from Scuttlebutt--the excellent sailing blog. http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Even if you are not a sailor, there is some good information for passagemakers, but you'll have to sort thru a lot of racing material. "Marbella V" is the worlds largest sloop at 247 feet in lengh and recieved a distress call via sateliite initiated by "Compromise" a 32 foot Nicholson sloop with a crew of three Participating in the Atlantic Rally For cruisers (formed by "World Cruising Club")--no relation to "Ocean Cruising Club". So much for the rally being of help--Marbella was on her "normal" migration--and not part of the ARC--and was 160 miles away when she recieved the distess call by satellite. The nature of the "emergency" was that the skipper/owner was acting in a psychotic manor. There was a 30 year old female physician aboard as well as an older male who was described as a "retired fisherman"--but these people did not apparently have the ability to treat the skipper or bring the boat safely across the Atlantic (rescue was about 300 miles beyond the Cape Verde Islands.) The rescue was co-ordingated by Falmouth Coast Guard via Satellite phone. I have seen several other cases where the crew had serious health problems and abandoned ship. I have on two occasions treated psychotic crew members at sea--once on another boat off the coast of Mexico, and once on a vessel where I was watch captain and a member of our crew developed a psychosis. Dealing with pyschosis is not part of "normal" first aid. However I have always made sure that appropiate medications were in the ship's medicine chest. Most of the time, the person has some underlying history of previous psychiatric problems; the stress of the voyage, and sleep deprivation precipitate the episode. The 32 footer was left adrift with mast head light on. No decision had been made to sink or salvage the vessel. The skipper of Marbella V declined to allow some of his crew to sail the boat to the Caribbean. The articles also address some of the problems of abandonship--and and boarding a much larger vessel Interesting read and some issues which apply to any voyaging vessel. http://tinyurl.com/sflow http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=1109 Bob Austin