Sorry--I took the weekend off and didn't reply to anything. I got a little more info from them, but they are probably going to give a full story to Damon on thebeachcats.com.

I told Tracie that they had road flares, but they actually had a gun. They were on the phone with the Coast Guard and shot off 4 flares (out of 6!) before they were spotted. Part of the problem was that they thought they were somewhere else, so the CG was looking about a mile or two down the coast.

When they hit something, they were moving, but not sideways. I think the sideways wave theory sounds the best, but they claim they were going pretty fast.

Granted, they weren't too bright going out in that kind of wind, but they were experienced in very high winds. The wind was blowing off shore, so it was like glass for about 150 yards, then it turned hellish. I think the only other thing that would have helped would have been an EPRB. I'm planning on buying one this winter since I'm thinking about some long trips next year.