Long Distance Solo Sailing

[Surveyor]

I would like to see a single handing sub-forum added and feel it could serve as a positive addition and provide a place to exchange ideas on the subject for those inclined to sail alone.

But sad to say it will not work on this forum. There are people here who will walk all the way across the zoo just poke the gorilla with sticks and remind him how unworthy he is because he does not have the same opinions. Take the infamous $500/month thread for instance. For every one positive comment, there are 10 negative comments and some are outright rude. Why do these people even bother to look at a thread in which poverty is the main theme? To call everyone idiots and tell them they cant do that, over and over, of course!

A single handing sub-forum will only degenerate into a frenzied orgy of antagonism by the "anti" crowd. There is at least one other forum out there that includes singlehanding as part of their focus and the information is passed in a friendly manner. It will have to do for now.

[ty.gregory]

Gorilla Pokers! Can't stand 'em. The type that gets out of the shower at home to take a piss...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

Gorilla Pokers! Can't stand 'em. The type that gets out of the shower at home to take a piss...

Singlehanded there is no one to watch having a piss......

..........for some that would (clearly ) take all the fun out of being a Skipper........

I feel there may be a new sub-forum topic in there somewhere

[knottygurl]

Originally Posted by markpierce

You had said "not illegal" so you've introduced a red herring of "a criminal act." And you are making unsupported and incorrect conclusions about my attitude toward single-handed boating.

Check out the USCG's navigation rules:

http://www.uspowerboating.com/USCG_Navigation_Rules.pdf

Note partcularly Part B, Section 1, rule 5 -- look-out. The rules for provide for civil penalties of up to $5,000 per instance and possible vessel seizure.

Of course if someone dies because of your gross negligence (such as not maintaining look-out), you'd be a prime target for being accused/convicted of manslaughter.

But I will stand by a statement I made recently on another thread:
"It REALLY bugs me when people operate their boats as if they are the only ones there."

I guess the true question is If my boat hits your boat (while i am singlehanded), what was your watch doing at the time, were you following rule 6 and did they implement rule 7 ?
let's remember that there are always two partys to a collision.
If boat A is heave to, and boat B does not alter course then boat B is responsible for the collision ( singlehanded or not).
if boat A is singlehanded and sleeping below with a radar alarm and or AIS alarm, and misses the alarm and boat B gets hit with there full crew, why did boat B not implement rule 7 and act accordingly.
The way I see it, if you have a proper watch and still get hit by a single hander then its still the full crews fault. If two singlehanders hit each other, then RUM must be exchanged a shake of hands and a heartly fair well.
imho

And im all for the single handed subform

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by knottygurl

... If two singlehanders hit each other, then RUM must be exchanged a shake of hands and a heartly fair well.
imho

There's a real million to one shot eh?

And what if the two solos happen to be of the opposite sex? I'm thinking an exchange of bodily fluids other than rum may be the order of the day.

jes saying

[knottygurl]

Originally Posted by tgzzzz

There's a real million to one shot eh?

And what if the two solos happen to be of the opposite sex? I'm thinking an exchange of bodily fluids other than rum may be the order of the day.

jes saying

After the Rum, anything goes........

[Astrid]

Depends on how much rum.

[James Baines]

A great subject with strong opinions on both sides of the argument.
I have always been a “Safety First” sailor but I confess to having gone solo across the Pacific, Atlantic, and places in between using an oar lashed to my tiller as an autopilot and a wind up alarm clock set to go off every four hours in days gone by. And strangely enough, I lived to tell the tale.
These days, with all the up to date wind and solar powered electronics and radar alarms loud enough to wake the dead, and being rather older than I once was, I still do it and I get way more sleep than I used to.
Am I a danger to shipping?, I really don’t think so, I assume that every blip on the radar is a raving idiot and on those very rare occasions when I do see a radar blip, I take steps to avoid them.
I don’t go “Coastal Traffic” sailing in my sleep, I plan ahead to ensure that when traffic is likely to be around, I’ll be topside and wide awake.
I understand the concerns raised, and for the purely coastal sailors they are most valid, but out there in the wild blue yonder, seeing another boat, on radar or with the Mark II eyeball is something so rare that it is almost cause to break out the Champaign.
But that’s just me, maybe you almost ran me down when I was asleep…

[sailorboy1]

When I first opened this to read it went to the middle of the thread. Based on this after a while I had to go back and read the start to see if the title was wrong because it seemed to have become a sea lawyer battle.

Now all I can say is bring it on because this could take the place of gun threads for a good armchair read

[knottygurl]

Originally Posted by James Baines

A great subject with strong opinions on both sides of the argument.
I have always been a “Safety First” sailor but I confess to having gone solo across the Pacific, Atlantic, and places in between using an oar lashed to my tiller as an autopilot and a wind up alarm clock set to go off every four hours in days gone by. And strangely enough, I lived to tell the tale.
These days, with all the up to date wind and solar powered electronics and radar alarms loud enough to wake the dead, and being rather older than I once was, I still do it and I get way more sleep than I used to.
Am I a danger to shipping?, I really don’t think so, I assume that every blip on the radar is a raving idiot and on those very rare occasions when I do see a radar blip, I take steps to avoid them.
I don’t go “Coastal Traffic” sailing in my sleep, I plan ahead to ensure that when traffic is likely to be around, I’ll be topside and wide awake.
I understand the concerns raised, and for the purely coastal sailors they are most valid, but out there in the wild blue yonder, seeing another boat, on radar or with the Mark II eyeball is something so rare that it is almost cause to break out the Champaign.
But that’s just me, maybe you almost ran me down when I was asleep…

I gather from your avatar pic you do not use the oars anymore

[James Baines]

Originally Posted by knottygurl

I gather from your avatar pic you do not use the oars anymore

These days, I generally reserve the oars to beat off people who try to steal my rum...

[Blue Crab]

I'm new to the forum so forgive me if this is a really stupid question: A solo sailor is asleep while hove to in the Gulf of Aden just off the coast in 30' of water in a light breeze. As every armchair admiral knows, she is underway in the legal sense but do any rules count in this lawless area?
She has placed defensive tacks on deck to nail barefoot intruders.

All her lights are off as she is smuggling heroin under the guise of a RTW voyage wearing just a string bikini. [Cue music: there's a thong in my heart...] She is heavily armed, yet quite shapely. Her batteries died on her GPS and she is seriously considering using the ones from a personal appliance instead.

A collision ensues with a Somali pirate vessel crewed by sleeping heathen bastards obviously not keeping a proper watch which is quite fortunate since their "religion" forbades them from looking at a virtually nekkid woman even if she's offering slugs from an AR15 or Pyrat rum. Pyrat rum being the best rum on the planet altho that fact is unknown to these religious "pilgrims" who are not supposed to drink.

In the resultant shouting match, all hands decide to anchor while they work things out with the pirates all wearing headgear to avoid seeing the shapely solo sailor. It's a sandy yet grassy bottom.

My girlfriend says to use a Fortress anchor set on the shollow mud option. I say this is a clear case where I would use my genuine Rocna. What say ye more experienced voyagers?

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by tgzzzz

I'm new to the forum so forgive me if this is a really stupid question: A solo sailor is asleep while hove to in the Gulf of Aden just off the coast in 30' of water in a light breeze. As every armchair admiral knows, she is underway in the legal sense but do any rules count in this lawless area?
She has placed defensive tacks on deck to nail barefoot intruders.

All her lights are off as she is smuggling heroin under the guise of a RTW voyage wearing just a string bikini. [Cue music: there's a thong in my heart...] She is heavily armed, yet quite shapely. Her batteries died on her GPS and she is seriously considering using the ones from a personal appliance instead.

A collision ensues with a Somali pirate vessel crewed by sleeping heathen bastards obviously not keeping a proper watch which is quite fortunate since their "religion" forbades them from looking at a virtually nekkid woman even if she's offering slugs from an AR15 or Pyrat rum. Pyrat rum being the best rum on the planet altho that fact is unknown to these religious "pilgrims" who are not supposed to drink.

In the resultant shouting match, all hands decide to anchor while they work things out with the pirates all wearing headgear to avoid seeing the shapely solo sailor. It's a sandy yet grassy bottom.

My girlfriend says to use a Fortress anchor set on the shollow mud option. I say this is a clear case where I would use my genuine Rocna. What say ye more experienced voyagers?

Your imagination runeth over! I can not answer your question but I do thank you for the Pyrat tip!

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Ignoring for now whether one agrees or diagrees with singlehanding or not, to justify the legality or morality of any act because someone else did it is not valid.

Bonnie and Clyde succesfully robbed a lot of banks (for a while), were quite famous and popular (except amoung bankers) but I don't think that makes it OK to go rob banks.

Yes I know the example is somewhat silly but it does illustrate my point.

solo sailing and bank robbing...immoral?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Arclight

solo sailing and bank robbing...immoral?

Well I do see the humor, after all I did say the example was silly. However, the point I was attempting to make was not whether singlehanding was moral, legal or ethical, BUT that saying something must be OK because someone famous did it sucessfully is not a valid argument.