It's done all the time just fine. No reason for it to be a problem.

There is a subtle difference between "experienced" and "nothing went wrong last time I tried it", and I wonder which side of the line these people were on? Where were their spares, and why didn't they fix the equipment that broke?

Abby Sunderland, 16 y/o girl who tried an around-the-world trip a few year ago, had spares for everything that broke on her trip except the mast, and was able to fix every other failure except the autopilot (and after returning to Cape Town none of the adults were able to fix it or the backup either). In other words, she trained and equipped for the kind of trip she was likely to experience - what kind of trip did this family plan for?

PS. The fact that they used a satellite phone and not a 406 beacon says a lot right there.