The case of the rescue of two crew from a liferaft after they abandoned their boat because she was in danger of dismasting raises some very interesting questions.

Could the crew of the Westerly not have jury-rigged something in place of a broken chainplate? Did they transfer by liferaft or did they leave an otherwise sound boat to step down into a liferaft?

And we’re back to that argument about whether or not to scuttle a boat if you have to abandon her. This is the bit I find hard to understand.

However wrenching it might be, I think you have to be prepared to do the right thing. No-one’s going to charter a vessel at thousands of pounds a day to salvage a Westerly Corsair (a salvage tug is about £3,000 a day), and presumably it’s out there still, unlit by now possibly, a hazard in the path of lots of other yachts (and rowing boats doing their transatlantic race). That’s just not right.