[glend (Glen)]

I just found out that a mate of mine (retired in his 60s) is apparently lost at sea in the Bass Straight, while trying to single handedly sail his old recently purchased sloop back from Tasmania to Lake Macquarie. I spoke to his wife this morning, who had just had a visit from the NSW Police, who confirmed his boat had been found by the Vic Water Police, but he was not on board.
This fellow (also named Glenn) lives a few streets away and was very active in the Lake Macquarie Sail Club, but all of his experience was in small one design type dinghy boats, and even though he was club champion in his small boat class, he had no real blue water passage experience. He had a dream of buying an old wooden sailboat and found one in Tasmania during the Lockdown, and bought it online, he did get a Shipwright to inspect it prior to purchase. His idea was he would fly down, with a friend, and sail it back. We had a few intense discussions about what he was facing in crossing Bass Straight in an old timber 27 foot displacement sloop, but he was undaunted by my safety suggestions and the trip. I had suggested putting it on a freighter as deck cargo to Newcastle, but his dream was to sail it back to Swansea entrance at Lake Mac and no doubt a big Club welcome.
In talking to his wife I found out he had gone alone, without any crew. The boat was apparently dis-masted according to the Water Police. Likely he did not know the boats limits and may have been over driving it in poor sea conditions, which led to the mast failure. If he was on deck when the mast came down he probably would have been knocked overboard and potentially unconscious when he hit the Water. Of course, a survival suit, safety harness, and safety line securing him to the boat would be standard short handed practice, knowing him I would not be surprised if he had neither. His wife did not think he had a personal EPIRB.
So the moral of this story is over confidence can kill you, and experience in one aspect of a sport does not ensure your safety in extreme conditions with marginal equipment. So sad because it was easily preventable if he accepted his and the boats limitations.