Sailing Is a Joke, You Say ?

[sarafina]

*grin*

thats ok, I scare lots of men....

but usually in a good way once they get past my predilection for edgy adrenal charged activities...

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Not quite Randy…. ......Hmmm …..if I were to follow your analogy;


Racing is more like having sex with a transvestite insofar as you never quite know which end

Thats exactally my point.. If you spent the time on a race boat under full on race conditions, in the roughest weather possible, pushing yourself to the EDGE, to the point where you didnt know which end was up,
Then CRUISING in rough conditions would then be a piece of cake, and you'd find that instead of giving up the boat and calling the costies, or heaving to and having the crap beat out of you, you'd trim your sails,
and sail the hell out of there.. rough as it might be.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

Thats exactally my point.. If you spent the time on a race boat under full on race conditions, in the roughest weather possible, pushing yourself to the EDGE, to the point where you didnt know which end was up,
Then CRUISING in rough conditions would then be a piece of cake, and you'd find that instead of giving up the boat and calling the costies, or heaving to and having the crap beat out of you, you'd trim your sails,
and sail the hell out of there.. rough as it might be.

Hear Here

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

..... If you spent the time on a race boat under full on race conditions, in the roughest weather possible, pushing yourself to the EDGE, to the point where you didnt know which end was up,
Then CRUISING in rough conditions would then be a piece of cake, and you'd find that instead of giving up the boat and calling the costies, or heaving to and having the crap beat out of you, you'd trim your sails,
and sail the hell out of there.. rough as it might be.

Ok Randy, we better forget the analogy as Sara is getting all worked up.

Here is my view….. Seamanship is not about pushing your boat to the extreme because in survival mode (out there) you need to leave something in reserve in case the boat or the crew breaks.

But my experience is that racers feel they have that EDGE and can sail themselves out of trouble rather than taking conservative measures to minimize the dangers to the crew.

I have been in survival storm conditions 80nm off the Columbia River in December delivering a maxi from Vancouver to Antigua with some of the racing crew.

The damages that were happening was because some of the racing crew were trying to sail out of a survival situation

I finally decided to lay ahull get everyone down below and ride it out.

1 freighter and 3 fish boats were lost in that storm…. We were ok except for the unnecessary damages I mentioned.

Consider the speed of a storm and the speed of a sailboat in heavy weather…..



You can not sail out of a storm if it is overtaking you


Have fun racing around the bouys with a rescue boat nearby but please don't pretend that it prepares you for survival conditions.


I believe it can make you a liability because of the mindset to push just a little bit longer and harder.

[E.L.Green]

and another

YouTube - Conrad Humphreys BT Global Challenge

[CarlF]

Now add 10 knots of boat speed -

This is apparently shot in "good" weather

YouTube - The best of PUMA - VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2008/9

Carl

[Ahnlaashock]

Looked like a blast to me! Would have to know the men I went out with like my brothers.
Don't know about paying for the privilege tho.
Isn't that kind of like the prize fighter putting up the purse?
How big were those waves? Other than the obvious push for best speed in interesting conditions, would this have been considered dangerous seas?

[Mariness]

Originally Posted by bewitched

so she goes on a boat for a year with a small bunch of guys who won't shower for weeks on end....

see ..... barking mad

I don't know, could lead to better marital harmony. After that, socks left on the floor and toilet seat left up won't seem quite so important, eh?
But I wouldn't do it and certainly wouldn't PAY to do it!

[Zednotzee]

... my favourites:

YouTube - War of Attrition - Volvo Ocean Race 2008/9

1:10 boom to the head!
1:48 Puma's boom breaks
2:47 Green Dragon crew takes cover from a breaking wave

or...

YouTube - The Furious Fifties - VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2008/9

at 42 seconds the guy on the coffee grinder is underwater, but notices a line is off the winch & goes to fix it.

[BubbleHeadMd]

God, those videos are beautiful. I want to DO that! That is challenge, adversity. Man vs. Earth, the ultimate contest.

Human vs. Human is so feeble, so pale in comparison.

I've been on the surface, on a submarine, in that kind of weather but it just wasn't the same. After my shift on the bridge I'd go below, grab a hot cup of coffee and a shower and go to sleep knowing that I was in an armored tube, perfectly safe. (Ok, relatively safe considering that I slept next to torpedos and a nuclear reactor)

But to do that? Who knows when you might rest? When you might be safe? Will you break first or will the storm?

The closest thing to that for me, was a frostbite race in Solomons, MD on an Antrim 27. I'll never forget it.

[Ahnlaashock]

Wonder how bad the guy that took the boom to the head got hurt? He disappeared like a baseball off a bat.

[sailorboy1]

I just don't want to do the race hang on to my ass edge thing and wonder how anyone really can support this as lessons toward cruising. Cruising is about enjoying the trip and having nowhere to be and no schedule to get there so to enjoy the journey. This is the opposite of racing where it's ALL about a place to be and a schedule to get there first. If I really believed you had to experience sailing on the edge as in these videos I doubt I would sail at all (time to get into RVing instead). Why is it that people believe racers are better sailors just because they are willing to experience greater risk?

[sarafina]

Don't think it's about cruising per se... more like going into the crucible and coming out stronger.

crazy maybe, but stronger and with a proven experience in dealing with incredibly demanding conditions.

Couldn't hurt if while cruising you found yourself in challenging conditions...

[Serenity_]

Bring it on......

[Zednotzee]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Why is it that people believe racers are better sailors just because they are willing to experience greater risk?

I don't think anyone said that, at least not on this thread. The OP felt the videos prove sailing is a sport, which it is... more so than basketball or soccer. I mean, what are those guys risking? A torn ACL, or a repetitive strain injury?

As for the rest, the Volvo boats don't even meet some sailors' definition of seaworthy since they ship so much water over the deck. They are to cruising boats what an F1 car is to your street legal sedan: the slightest of similarities.