Jason recently bought the sailboat on the online auction site eBay, and since then the McGlashans have been working to outfit and prepare it for their upcoming 8,600-nautical-mile voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, around the tip of South Africa and through the Indian Ocean to the eastern coast of Australia.

Interesting route to take. I would've thought the Panama Canal & Pacific crossing would be better.

Wow, sounds like many errors of judgement. I have family in Rhode Island and have been hearing weather updates from them constantly this year and am amazed anyone would consider this time of year to begin a voyage in north America, but maybe I'm wrong? I knew the skipper some years back and am not surprised, a little shocked but not surprised. I wish them both well and am happy to hear they are safe.

One glance at the video and seeing a multi spreader mast [ I could not count how many] indicates a handful of a yacht for one experienced sailor. Headsail looks like a non furling luff groove set up.

I hope the lad finds his floater.. or the other one, the 'rainbird' worth 2.5 million.. wow

I can understand the temptation of buying a cheap yacht in the US & sailing it back home....look at what you get for $10k there compared to here! & what an adventure!.
It was extremely foolish(to be polite) to set off when they did, the only sensible thing they did was hit the panic button before things got out of hand & they got themselves killed. Should be made to contribute to the life-saving rescue imo, as they departed, when all the local advice was not to.

I guess we are a bit spoilt here in Oz, although you wouldn't have wanted to sail out of the QLD coast in the past couple of days.