To expand a little on what Steve was saying... Nate did end up in the water after we rounded Cape Fear. We had just popped the kite and he was in the process of going out on the wire, something he has done thousands of times before, and hundreds of times already in that week alone. The shock cord got pinched just before he went out and the upward pressure on his trap wire released momentarily, he went out on the wire without being clipped in and was in the drink before either of us knew what happened. I was left on the boat with the kite up in 15-20 knts of breeze and good size rollers. We had practiced man-overboard recoveries many times before in preperation of this race and others, but on this occasion while triing to douce the kite the boat rounded up before I could get the sail down (tramp set spin where I couldn't stear and get the sail down without having it drag in the water). The boat went over and I was left triing to right the boat by myself. It quickly became apparent that there was NO WAY Nate could swim fast enough to get back to the boat. Our day and race suddenly went from and awesome run up the coast to a survival mode situation in an instant. I can't even begin to tell you all the things that went through each of our minds in the 10 - 15 minutes he was seperated from the boat, but I can assure you that carrying an EPIRB on both of us (and having a good VHF) was one of the things that kept me calm in knowing that we could call for help if our situation were to become peril. In the end the combination of wind and waves and shear physics prevented me from righting the boat (I am 6'1" and 190 lbs) and the sight of John and Steve turning back to help us is still the best feeling I can remember (don't tell my finace as I am sure she would want some other moments to outweigh this!).
I have spent a lot of time thinking about what could I have done to prevent this situation. Sugestions I would have for all of us... Have a system in place to single handedly right a capsized boat, and practice practice practice man-overboard recovery! I am incredibly thankful for having all the safety equiptment we did. Although we didn't use it, were it not for Team Chesapeak we may be telling a different story right now.
To top it all off, when we got back to the beach that night, the top story on the news was the sighting of a 15 ft great white shark in the water within 50 miles of where Nate was in the water.
Thank you again John and Steve!!! Unfortunately we will not be able to do the race this year due to other commitements, but WE WILL BE BACK! If the cost of EPIRBS are preventing others from doing the race, give me a shout... this race can turn from an awesome week of sailing to an instantaneous emergency. Be prepared and try not to gripe too much about the cost of equiptment that in the end could save your life!
Chris
www.acceleratedchaos.com