A Loss from B Dock

I wrote this soon after it happened, but neglected to post it. I'm doing it now:

For the first time in several weeks I actually made it to the boat on Saturday (July24). The last two weekends had a combination of iffy weather and the need to get work things done. There it goes again, work interfering with life. Perhaps if the forecast had been better, I might have made the time to go. As it is, I did manage to wrap up Summer I and start Summer III. Summer II, of course, is ongoing.

Anyway, while I worked for a while on Saturday, I did get up to the boat about 5:30 or so. The forecast was pretty much on target: hot, humid, and high winds. Things started improving, though, so after some dinner, I kayaked upriver. I was concerned that after several weeks of no paddling I would have lost some of my admittedly minimal conditioning. Things went well, though. More and more, I am able to paddle continuously, and hard, for long periods. Could be better if I could paddle at least twice a week. Rowing doesn't quite exercise all the same muscles.
When I returned to the dock, I sat with some of the other B Dock Sailors. I learned that we had lost one of the B Dock Sailors just that day. Apparently he had taken out some folks to try out their newly purchased boat. The wind was pretty high. From what was said, they hadn't put stopper knots in the end of the jib sheets. As they were heading in as the wind increased, one of the sheets went overboard and wrapped around the prop. The man jumped overboard to cut it away and couldn't hold on. The newbies still on board used a cell phone to call for help. They were towed in. I don't know for sure that it happened this way, but it was what was said among the folks on the dock and in Sunday's newspaper.
He was known as an experienced sailor, but he did so many things wrong. Why did he go out with inexperienced sailors in those conditions and with that forecast? Some people were claiming that others experienced 40 know winds and up to 7 foot waves. Even if those numbers are exaggerated, it was still a serious weather day. Second, why wasn't the boat prepared correctly? Stopper knots take seconds to tie. Third, no life jackets on anyone? While it do not wear, or ask others to wear, them in normal conditions,as things worsen, that's one of the first things to do.
Fourth, what's up with going overside without either a life jacket or a tether? Even if you don't have everyone wear them, you do need a jacket if you have to go in the water (and that's assuming that you have to be in the water). And it is crazy to think that you can hang on with one hand in a wind and sea.
So many thing done wrong and so many opportunities to avoid the tragedy. This is not normal for a cruising sailboat. The most recent data I've seen from the Coast Guard showed a yearly total (2009? 2008?) of a bit over 900 boating fatalities in all of the USA. Of those, fewer than 1 percent (9 deaths) occurred from cruising sailboats. Mostly, we are not a dangerous or risky bunch.
A colleague and a friend of hers came up today to sail, but the weather wasn't very cooperative. The rain and wind were supposed to abate by late morning. They arrived around 11 am. By about 1 pm they gave up and went to find something else to do. I undid most of the sailing prep I had done and then fell asleep reading. When I awoke, the sun was shining, but the wind was still somewhat high. I gave up myself, took a shower, and headed home.