What's your worst guest/crew experience?

[MargotJefferson]

Hey guys

Writing a blog post about the nightmare sailing can be with the wrong people.

Anyone got some funny stories to tell about messy sailors, knowitalls or head-hoggers, please share

[atoll]

Originally Posted by MargotJefferson

Hey guys

Writing a blog post about the nightmare sailing can be with the wrong people.

Anyone got some funny stories to tell about messy sailors, knowitalls or head-hoggers, please share

pretty much always had great crew,it's the boat owners that can be a nightmare

[Mycroft]

First and only post is this?

[zeehag]

rodlmffao.. cannot relay so many stories here...

[Pelagic]

One wouldn't leave... forcing me to marry her.

[skipgundlach]

Two granddaughters who fought constantly and were outraged at the thought that they'd have to eat "boat food" (what we cook aboard).

Both are now certified divers, one graduates from HS this year and the other wants to come cruise with us, on our terms.

Could be worse ☺

[Cap Erict3]

When dealing with a young couple as crew, machismo has come up a few times.

A young sailor standing with the back of his head inches from the clew of a flogging jib, his hands balled into fists, because he is angered with himself for making a small mistake.

All because his lady was watching.




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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[pschleck]

I had an alcoholic crew with me on a passage from USVI to Florida. I was aware that he had a problem but he was the only crew available. I told him no drinking while underway but allowed him to bring a bottle of rum "for his mother" in Ft. Lauderdale which was stowed with my liquor in an unlocked compartment. He did not appear under the influence on the passage but when we reached Florida I realized (after he had disembarked) that most of my supply was missing and I never saw him remove the "gift" for his mother.

[dahshore]

Lengthy subject - however remember if you start a trip as crew and you find the captain intolerable you can jump ship. For example- Ft. Lauderdale to Bermuda and you can not work with the captain. Upon arrival leave and go to customs and inform them you are leaving the boat.

The point in this long story of mine is when we decided to leave the boat it was after customs check and we were on the hook. Capt would not take us to the hard so we flagged down another boat and he helped get us in.

We are at customs, capt arrives and customer tells him 'IT IS THE CAPTAIN'S RESPONSIBILITY TO REPATRIATE CREW TO LAST PORT! I think this is a international law ? Needless to say he was pissed!!!!!!!!

So we got 2 one way tickets to FL, spent a week on the island and relaxed and had to leave due to the overbooking were we were because of the NP to Bermuda race. There is more but Captains and crew should be aware of this detail !

[s/v Beth]

She's digging for dirt...funny. How about a charter captain who blows the engine and then is mad at you for an oily bilge? Or crew that drive straight for the rocks because " my route is quicker and I have to be home ". All to true and stranger than fiction

[hamburking]

I took my wife, my 2 kids, my sister-in law, her husband, and their two kids sailing with me on a fine summer day. They have come down for one night to visit from a nearby city. As always, I made the rules perfectly clear...I'm responsible for the boat, the other adults are responsible for their own kids.

Long story short, the other adults were preoccupied with themselves while the kids were playing below. The cabin doors have a little hole for your finger, to release the latch, to open the door. The kids were peeking at each other through the hole, laughing their heads off. One cousin pulls the swatter part off a fly swatter and jams the pointy metal stick through the hole, right into the other cousin's eye.

I'm on deck, the sailing is excellent, we are 5 km from our home dock. The inlaws rush below to tend to their kid. I'm on deck, steering, have no idea whats going on below. No one below knows what to do or will tell me anything...they all just clam up. I'm wondering if I should call a mayday for medical evac, but can't get an adult below to talk to me. I alter course for a closer marina, and press the boat for full speed. We are flying on a broad reach, faster than the engine would move us. Below they are now getting sea sick.

We finally reach the marina, and I jump the queue at the service dock and force my way alongside. We get the injured boy ashore to a first aid station near the service dock. His whole family gets in a cab to the hospital. Still, I have no idea what happened at that point. We leave the dock and sail back to our home dock.

At the hospital they had to "stitch" his eye, and it was saved. However, he could not travel, so his entire family stays with me another whole week before they could go home...a very grim week to say the least.

The saddest part of the story is that the sailing that day was the best I have ever experienced with guests aboard. But no one seemed to care about sailing at all (before the accident)...too wrapped up in their own selves to notice what was going on around them. "is this my drink?","does this hat look nice?","what kind of sunblock should I use?" If any of them had shown the least interest in sailing, or what was happenning around them, the whole incident might have been avoided.

[scottydaum]

I was skipper on a large chattered power boat. The charter party was just one guy and his Girl. His in at ructions were for me to get offshore, get her up on plane and stay that way.
I do that while the couple has sex in every space and on every surface on the boat.
The bad part was the boat had a bathtub. They had filled it, had sex in it , then left it full to slosh nearly all the water out as we pounded the waves. Both heads were jammed full and soapy water flew everywhere in the main cabin. Took me days to get it all cleaned up. The tip was pretty good though

[hamburking]

Oh sorry...forgot its supposed to be a funny story....let me try again:

So I'm sailing with my two young kids (4 and 6 years old) on my C&C25 for a few nights int he thousand islands. We are at a quiet anchorage. I had spent some time teaching my kids to be really careful because there is no one there to help us if we get hurt. I tell them how careful I AM because I'm the only adult, with 2 little kids in my care.

So later, after swimming, we are below, and I'm setting up the DVD player for them. And, like a dummy, a smack my head on the overhead beam of the bulkhead between the main cabin and the head. I smack it hard. It makes a loud "thwack" sound. I think I might pass out...so, wanting to give some valuable instructions to my kids before I pass out, I say "Oh great, now I'm dead". As I collapse onto a bunk, they start laughing uncontrollably. Belly laughs till tears are rolling down their faces. I guess after all my talk about being careful, the idea of me cracking my own head open was just hilarious to them. 20 minutes of laughing later, I'm still checking my head for concussion, and they still think its hilarious. Fortunately, I was alright.

BTW, The first thing I taught my kids on the boat was how to call a mayday on the VHF. I always leave it on 16, and they just have to PTT. I tell them if something happens to me, thats a mayday. We had a serious discussion later, about if I had really hurt my head. The irony was that I was hurt below, when nothing was going on...not during the difficult sail to the anchorage in 20 knot winds, not during an accidental gybe, or while anchoring or raising/lowering the heavy outboard.

[Leo Ticheli]

There are many pleasures offered by sailing and having guests aboard is one of the best for me. I've never had a bad guest experience.

Fair winds,

Leo

[MarkSF]

Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.