Getting Aboard in the Rough?

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by RunningLemur

Once it's that bad, get a hotel room and hope your ground tackle holds.

Conditions were bad but not extreme. If it were your boat and probably without insurance would you still go and get a hotel room?

[Charlie]

Think of where they were. Pitcairn Island. Remote place. I would have tried to save the boat in those conditions with that equipment. Who knows if they had insurance? Anyway I think that it is a good reason to keep as physically fit as possible. In my 20's I could have done it easily, in my 30's I could have done it, now in my 40's I would need some luck to accomplish it. Time to do some pull ups.

[zeehag]

insurance be damned--the folks owning the boat were probably notified of impending storm and disregarded that info or just didnt get back in time.
the boat was in a bad spot for the weather--is good someone went to save that boat.
those big beauties usually have remote for windlass and electrical one at that. i wouldnt worry about how he raised his anchor--would be more concerned about the shore there being rocky and does engine start immediately.....and was key left in the ignition.....was house locked or open....lil things that save boats on rocky shores as storms build....

[Cheechako]

This video should be passed along to those asking "hard dingy or inflatable"! Should answer that question once and for all....
It's excruiciating to watch! It seems he's almost thrown into the boat a couple of times, but chooses instead to use outstretched arms and try to pull him self up into the boat using his feeet on the slippery sides! The final attempt is perfect.... just step aboard! I guess it all looks easier from a distance...

[Azul]

That's a storm? Looks like a typical marlin fishing day during the Big Rock to me, but then I rarely see sailboats going out the inlet unless the conditions are "just right." Guys in 14 foot john boats going spanish mackerel fishing yes but not sailboats. Maybe we are wussies? Biggest point I notice is heck of a choice for an anchorage (is that Sword of Damacles Point?) and no swim ladder deployed. Bad enough to worry about the swim ladder whacking you in the head without having to do the "flounder fling" up the side. If people think this is bad they don't want to try to board a dive boat 30 miles offshore in 5-7 with full dive gear.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Azul

Maybe we are wussies? Biggest point I notice is heck of a choice for an anchorage (is that Sword of Damacles Point?) and no swim ladder deployed. Bad enough to worry about the swim ladder whacking you in the head without having to do the "flounder fling" up the side. If people think this is bad they don't want to try to board a dive boat 30 miles offshore in 5-7 with full dive gear.

There are no good anchorages on Pitcairn. You have to play ring-around-the-island.

[DeepFrz]

If people think this is bad they don't want to try to board a dive boat 30 miles offshore in 5-7 with full dive gear.

Have done that in my 50s but it was easy because of the ladder. I just waited until the stern was down, put my foot in the ladder and stepped up. I used the boat motion to help me stand at the top of the rise. Easy Peasy.

[zeehag]

i board midships where motion is minimal... and my stormiest boarding was only half that size----my ladder jumps off--i do tie it onto boat---but, i think i ' d - a checked the local reports of weather changes prior to heading to shore----must keep on top of it or is like this, dang it-- hard job , someone has to do it.....LOL

[Azul]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Have done that in my 50s but it was easy because of the ladder. I just waited until the stern was down, put my foot in the ladder and stepped up. I used the boat motion to help me stand at the top of the rise. Easy Peasy.

Yep, getting up is easy if you are in good shape and have good timing. The hard part is avoiding the anvil I mean ladder of a large crew boat violently coming down on you underwater at great speed where the consequence of bad form is being knocked unconscious and floating off in the three knot current.

This video reminds of the old SuperDave vignettes, especially the one where the guy says "Hey watch this!" as he attempts to ride a motorcycle through a brick wall, bounces off and the wall falls on him.

[Charlie]

LOOK AT POST #12. THE GUY WHO WAS ON THE BOAT FIRST REPLIES TO WHAT HAPPENED. End of Story.

[RunningLemur]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Conditions were bad but not extreme. If it were your boat and probably without insurance would you still go and get a hotel room?

Yes. Standing on the beach, my life is not in jeopardy but the boat is. Once I attempt to board it like in that video, then both are at risk. You can always get a new boat. Dead is dead.

Obviously I'd pick my anchoring location better or choose to move the boat before weather hits so that I wouldn't be in a position to make that choice.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by RunningLemur

Yes. Standing on the beach, my life is not in jeopardy but the boat is. Once I attempt to board it like in that video, then both are at risk. You can always get a new boat. Dead is dead.

Obviously I'd pick my anchoring location better or choose to move the boat before weather hits so that I wouldn't be in a position to make that choice.

The situation off Pitcairn Island is vastly different than anywhere I am likely to sail, and I have my boat fully insured. Nevertheless I watched the video thinking that if they had something like a climbing net that they could have pulled down, maybe that would have been a better way to get aboard? It always surprises me when experienced sailors have no way to drop their ladder from the water. That was pounded into my head by others when I first started out on this adventure.

[carstenb]

Storms can blow up quickly - but not instantaneously. The real issue here is that this couple did not return to the boat when they should have. I happily admit I have never been to Pitcairn, but from pictures - this is not an enormous island. Had they been on the ball, they would have seen the deteriorating weather and gotten bad before boarding became life-threatening

Moral of the story - always keep an eye on the weather

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Charlie

LOOK AT POST #12. THE GUY WHO WAS ON THE BOAT FIRST REPLIES TO WHAT HAPPENED. End of Story.

and on youtube comments as well

Hi Yeh it was a Formosa Taiwanese built Ketch, fiberglass hull. Totally unsuitable! it had taken a battering as we had sailed from Samoa . In this video we were anchored but stupidly unmanned. Not a good idea. When we were both on board Captain turned the engine on and brought the boat forward, i set to winching the anchor up. The winch post was tearing off the deck under the strain like paper and was going to give any second but we saved here and took the yacht round the lee side of Pitcairn.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by dafid

First post - so please be gentle I want to cruise the world on a small-moderate cat with my partner. <snip> I am after thoughts from those that have been out there, and how they would approach this problem. Dave

On my last cat and the one I am doing now, aft of the back/main beam I had an additional beam to support a back patio/slatted deck area for lifting the tender onto.

So thats a platform about 700mm deep (on the 30 fter) x width between two hulls at bridgedeck panel height (800mm) off of the water.

It was a good spot to throw stuff onto as you came up in the dinghy and in conditions such as this it would be relatively easy to throw yourself up onto it as well.