The value of manual pumps

Having experienced it a few times firsthand, and seen it close up in other capacities, I know how stringent the Bermuda Race's safety protocols are, and how seriously the offshore racing community takes safety. Despite this, this year's race saw 3 boats abandoned - two on the race and one on the return. Fortunately, all sailors on board were rescued and are safely back home thanks to the assistance of other competitors in all cases, plus the US Coast Guard in the return delivery abandonment.

Available details are thin on one of the incidents that happened during the race so we'll leave that alone. The other boat suffered damage to the rudder post after colliding with a presumed container. The rudder bearing penetration was compromised, and two high capacity powered pumps weren't able to keep up with the water ingress. Notably, this boat has a large composite rudder post and so the rudder bearing hole was correspondingly large. Perhaps this is a topic for discussion but not here. A high capacity manual pump may have at least bought the crew time to address the hole and slow the water ingress to a manageable level and perhaps have allowed them to reach safety on their own. With a full crew taking turns, a 30 gallon per minute manual pump could have been in constant operation without draining the boat's finite fuel and battery resources. 

The yacht that was abandoned on the return trip, a beautiful classic Aage Nielsen design, made it through a brutal Gulf Stream crossing and presumably had a planking seam open during a particularly rough wave sequence. A number of factors conspired to increase her distress, including a concussed crew member and a dead engine. With the engine unable to be restarted in the rough conditions, available battery power was limited and needed to be preserved for communications. A high capacity powered pump would have drained the available battery in short order, but a high capacity manual pump could have allowed the 3 available crew to fight much better against the incoming water. Perhaps the hull breach was too large in any case, and fortunately the boat was within helicopter range and able to be taken off the boat. Had circumstances been slightly different, a high capacity manual pump could have made a critical difference. 

It's never our intent to second guess decisions made by any mariners in these situations, especially as none of us were on this race (though within the building we have a bunch of collective ocean crossings). However, an excellent high capacity manual pump is invaluable on any boat. We happen to supply excellent options.