Hi Cataraftgirl,
I appreciate that measured and thoughtful post. And thanks so much for the compassion your closing comments convey.
You're the first person who has really picked up on the fact Tom derived nothing unique from his artificial construct. His lessons learned are long-time common sense items, so his assertion that this effort of his will provide some imporant new information for the boating community is hollow.
Tom's reconstruction itself is in the ball park, but is way too simplistic, and subtly conveys a number of his mistaken assumptions. As someone who was there, I can tell you that the causes for this accident were far more nuanced and complicated than anything Tom can come up with through his narrow information channels. And sadly, that's probably the case with many such tragic episodes.
I'm glad the Rescue Rung info was helpful. It's a great product, and for roughly the price of a high end oar, it's well worth it.
Have a good one.
Rich