Psycho Crew from Hell!

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

The poor guy couldn't understand why I didn't swoon at his display of admiration

There's a great French movie called "Le Genou de Claire" (Claire's Knee) from 1970 - perhaps the year you were born, Ocean Girl. Get yourself a good scriptwriter, and put together the story of "Erika's Ankle" as an updated remake.

Here's some info on "Le Genou de Claire." Claire's Knee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TaoJones

[silvertongue]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

what disorder would lead to rocking and growling?

Heavy-metal-itis?

[George Wade]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

..... the crew that fell asleep turned out to be a psyco.... ) If you have a psyco/funny crew story please share.

This is not as funny as I thought

I don't know how funny my story will be either, Ocean Girl: I'm an attention deficit, hyperactive kid; used to be obsessive about sailing, too. What is interesting is that once I get onboard: I become normal. This seems to be well documented and understood in the psycho/funny community.

Of course I do have quirks. Like needing to be rested before doing sight reductions; unless I've been doing them for the last 3 months and can do them in my sleep. Can often spot other psycho types before they rise over the horizon, even; offer an overnight trial sail to figure things out: see how they like the boat . Now I'll read the rest of the topic...

[George Wade]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

Does anyone here with a real psychiatric background have any idea what disorder would lead to rocking and growling? Just curious...never know when ya might run into this sort of thing...

My real background is practical.

Anything from heavy metal / multiple pesticide and plastic leaching toxicities. Vaccine damage...

The psychiatric definitions prevent any improvements or cures, mostly. OrthoMed invites designing cures.

[George Wade]

Originally Posted by silvertongue

Heavy-metal-itis?

Including or excluding silver...? But you are dead right about "Heavy-metal-itis" O silver one. It is the 'Dead' in my expression that makes me cautious.

[Randy]

I like the issue in taking care in choosing crew. On my crossing from Maui to Pt Townsend WA, I took a fellow sailor I knew fairly well and he was a good sailor but after about 20 of the 24 day crossing he started to get agitated. He was a former special forces soldier (3 Vietnam tours) & it seemed to me that he was disappointed that the crossing was uneventful - wanted something to happen so he could save the day - I don't know.
Another short story. I've got a cousin in the SF Bay area who raced his Moore 24 in last years Pacific Cup (doublehanded). His crew was a former national champion in the Moore 24's. Turned out the crew got seasick and had a bad reaction to his seasick meds so my cousin ended up essentially singlehanding the race.

At any rate care in picking compatible crew for passages can't be overstated as Erica & others have noted.

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

the guy grabbed my leg and nibbled my ankle, I looked at the captain and said "You got to be kidding?"

In my county, ankle nibbling is a standard greeting. What do you use there?

[Ocean Girl]

Why do I have the feeling I should of kept that story to myself?

BTW-you guys are hilarious.

Erika

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

Does anyone here with a real psychiatric background have any idea what disorder would lead to rocking and growling? Just curious...never know when ya might run into this sort of thing...

I was thinking he must have hit some great bars non-stop during the week before the voyage Would have been good to swap notes

[SkiprJohn]

Grrr (Rock) Grrr (Rock) Grrr. Retired Navy disorder.

J

[shadow]

I can assume that the rocking back and forth with the growling is just his coping mechanism. He was just exerting his frustration and anger inwards. The problem is that some patients end up cutting themselves in order to "release" that anger from inside. Others reach a certain point that they can't hold it inside any longer and they just physically go nuts and start destroying things and people.

Luckily that big guy didn't get to that point. You guys were savvy enough to just let him alone to deal with it.

Crazy and funny story..

[Ocean Girl]

Thanks for being so kind Shadow (calling us savvy)
I agree it was definately a form of "anger management" and a good warning signal for others, kinda like a rattle snake shaking his tail. Thank God I wasn't the Captain, cause there was a life raft with his name on it if I was.

[David M]

I wonder is there is any sort of examination a layman could administer to potential crew that would help weed out the bad ones?

Other than knowing people a head of time, it seems there must be a better way than playing Russian Roulette with potential crew members.

[Ocean Girl]

Well references is a big start, The captain did not get references from people who had actually been on a boat with this guy.
All my crewing was by word of mouth, It gets around fast if your good crew people will refer you to other boats. I loved kids so parents loved having me aboard because I just didn't do watches and duties but I also played/looked after the kids. In the Rio Dulce, I started a little day care for the cruisers at Marios marina watching them for 2 hours/day for free real easy for me, gives the parents a chance to have the kids off the boat and I get good contacts for future crewing jobs.
Sorry off topic-
Erika

[Live to Dive]

I have a very similar story as well.

I got married once and.............