Sbic2Hebe debacle
I have just read this entire thread and cannot understand what was in the head of Mr Pryke when he sailed from Subic in the late afternoon of Wed May 14.
At 4PM Pagasa issued a WX advisory and assigned the name Cosme (95) to a tropical depression. They advised that winds at the centre were 30 knots gusting to 38 knots and that the sea condition was max wanes of 11ft They provided a tracking chart that clearly shows the storm's probable track to coincide with the intended course of "Sailabout". As it turned out, this initial tracking forecast was spot on.
At 7PM May 14, Typhoon 2000 issued report 001 on thjis storm and expanded on the data in the Pagasa bulletin. For no charge (other than the cost of an SMS), Typhoon 2000 sends these reports to your cell phone. You just have to register and and request the sefrvice. In addition Typhoon 2000 will take calls (as will Pagasa) and issue WX info over the phone (even if it is a sat phone).
"Sailabout" left port and sailed into a tropical storm that was accurately located and being accurately tracked by the local weather information services. Neither Mr Pryke or the Owner of the yacht appear to have made any attempt whatsoever to get the available WX. OR if they did, either did not understand the data or had egos big enough to ignore it.
Both Mr Pryke and the owner of the yacht demonstrated a lack of awareness and Mr Pryke's subsequent statements trying to offload the result of this lack as an act of God or the result of bad information are ludicrous.