In case of a real emergency, the rally office has the available boat information, crew rosters, and the persons to be contacted on land for each of the boats. Although boats may be hundreds of miles apart on a long ocean passage, there is a sense of community and a shared concern for everyone's safety. During the 3,000 mile Galapagos to Marquesas passage in the Millennium Odyssey, one of the boats developed autopilot problems, and the elderly British couple reported getting tired of hand steering. Immediately, a nearby Italian boat volunteered a couple of crewmembers and plenty of pasta to complete the passage. Safety in numbers, however, has a flip side.
Many offshore sailors pride themselves on independence and self-sufficiency.
The fiercely independent Dutch sailors, rounding the desolate North Cape, were a prime example of this self-assured group. For them, these feelings are a large part of the sailing hobby being able to avoid problems and fix them when they do occur. This group may frown on calling the autopilot problem an emergency requiring outside assistance. They would argue that the tired crew should have been better prepared with spare parts or willing to hove-to and catch up on sleep at regular intervals. The independent types consider the number of boats in the rally a false sense of security.