What's Your Worst Sailing Experience ?

[Capt Phil]

Don't know whether this is the worst but it ranks right up there with a few others I've had. I signed a crew member aboard with a heap of offshore experience to assist with a delivery from Mazatlan to LA. Asked all the right questions, got all the right answers and his recommendations on his CV checked out fine.
It wasn't until we were about 5 days out doing the 'Baja Bash' when I found out that he was severely bi-polar and had forgotten his meds! Not a relaxing trip for either of us! Phil

[flink]

Ram,

It seems like I read that story in a book or magazine article. Did you publish that story?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by flink

Ram,

It seems like I read that story in a book or magazine article. Did you publish that story?

No I did post it here a year or so ago

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I have gotten into the habit of placing a waypoint over any anchor I drop in the water. Try that without a gps - LOL

Very easy when you take a series of bearings.......big LOL

Don't worry about a comback pal because that is how it is done, that is unless you have found an anchorage out of the sight of land......which probably means you are grounded.....another big LOL

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by Ram

Some of our stupid mistakes we don’t want to tell the whole world, but enough time has went by that I feel ok about fussing up to how I almost lost my boat on the rocks- on June 1 2009- I dropped my main anchor with all chain rode over the edge inside the crater of Santroni- just under OIA- then I dropped a second one to be sure ( the second anchor had 40 feet of chain and the rest was ¾ - 3 strand rode)& tied the stern with 5/8s line to the rocky shore, 50 feet away- This area is usually well protected from the meltimi that blows from the North but will still get 25 knots of wind with no seas bouncing off the inside walls- I had spent 2 months the summer before in the same place- so I knew the place well- On June 1 an unforecast storm out of the south blew up and with winds increasing eventfully to a sustained 50 knots- with gusts 60 -65 knots – the hole in the Southern end of the Calder was wide open but the seas and most of the big waves were hitting in a way where I was not directly impacted unless the wind changed direction- and the wind was slowly clocking around-and I was getting 6 ft sharp choppy seas with about 15-20 feet seas outside I would guess-–my stern was only about 50 feet from the rocky shore and I was not sure what to do –I waited too long to get out of there being so close to the rocks-now I was in trouble- I had a few hundred feet of chain out on my Manson Supreme with 5/8 3 strand snubber taking the shock off the anchor rode- 1 of my engines was not working because I was waiting on a water pump">raw water pump belt that was nowhere to be found in the EU at that time so I had 1 engine in forward running - me at the helm all night steering trying to keep the boat facings into the wind/waves-as the wind got up to 60 knots- - My 5/8 snubber shackle deformed and was destroyed and in those few moments it took me to get another line on the chain the force of it all cracked the FB Glass around the cleat and would have ripped it off in no time- had I not run a snubber through the chain and secured it-I went through 3 snubber in 24 hours because they kept chafing through- daylight came and the wind was still blowing with no sign of letting up – I had one guy onboard with me so this helped-I was very worried that this chain was going to fail as the seas were increasing as the wind kept clocking around to give me more of a direct hit through the South opening- My dinghy broke its painter in the night and was long gone- and I had to make a decision , drop the anchors and rode and try and make a run off the rocks using both engines or sit there and pray the chain/shackle did not break -with the wind slowly creeping toward a more direct hit I decided to make a run for it- (to this day I’m not sure what I would do if I had to do that again,) I could use the second engine for a little while long enough to get out of there I thought- So this was the plan- anyway we dropped the first anchor rode off and let it clear the boat then I freed the chain and let it run free and ran back to the helm both engines were running and as luck would have it we pulled forward about 20 feet , but then one prop got caught in a small mooring line and hung us up and we lost power and steerage as the wind now caught us on the side and within seconds we would be in the rocks , I looked down and we were within 10 feet of the rocks now and I managed to pull the Jib out and it caught the wind with a bang that sounded like a shot gun - we shot out of there like a cannon ball, all the time keeping the wind close to the sail as not to blow it out- I made it – I was very did I say VERY lucky- that mistake cost me a few thousand in chain and anchor and dingy but that was a price I happily paid- the locals said they never seen a storm come up from that direction with that severity in 50 years- I went back to recover the anchor & chain, using scuba I went down as deep as 150 feet and could see to 200 or so but it was nowhere to be found-For a moment there I really thought I lost the boat and would have, but luck was with me- The reason I waited too long to move was its normal to get 25-30 knots in that area from the North and at that time it was not coming in from the south-but this time it clocked around -I spent many of sound sleeps with that set up – so I was thinking ok soon the wind will die down but, it increased and in a few hours it was so strong I could not move without putting everything at risk- and I could not stay either-anyway _ bought a new & bigger Mason Supreme, chain & Dinky - then 2-3 weeks later passing through I saw the dink tied to a mooring and picked it up - Now I had 2 of them -Everyday I’m out there is a blessing!-

Wow. Reading this makes me break out in hives.

[FFishing]

some nice stories here

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

Very easy when you take a series of bearings.......big LOL

Don't worry about a comback pal because that is how it is done, that is unless you have found an anchorage out of the sight of land......which probably means you are grounded.....another big LOL

In defence of Ex-Calif there is great benefit in having a waypoint over your anchor. If the wind shifts direction it's easy to see when you are simply swinging around your anchor, or moving backwards.
This works in any visibility, any conditions.

Transits are a great and more accurate method, but they require good visibility, sometimes daylight hours, and while they are very accurate if the wind direction does not change it difficult to judge if you are dragging when the wind changes direction.

A plotted 3 bearing fix fix works, but is too slow if you are worried about dragging.

This sort of plot on the GPS tells you immediately if you are swinging around the anchor or dragging. The waypoint 611 is where I dropped the anchor.

The constant distance from the waypoint where the anchor was dropped indicates there is no dragging, despite the change in Position.

[JazzyO]

Originally Posted by sneuman

Wow. Reading this makes me break out in hives.

I visited Santorini last October, so that made it even more interesting. What a story.


Onno

[carstenb]

I convinced the wife we should buy a sailboat. Pick it up in the middle of march, slushy ice all over the place in the habour. Sailing home, I decided to rig the spinnaker. 15 minutes later a heavy gust drops us right on the side, speaders in the water.

Got everything righted and reset the spinnaker,15 minutes later it all happened again. Left the spinnaker down and sailed the rest of the way home.

Bad experience. Good experience is that the wife didn't let it scare the crap out of her. She still sails and is good at it. Loves to have the gennaker up on our new boat.

[svrodeorm]

Worst sailing experience? In about 35 years of sailing haven't ever had any really bad stuff happening on the water. Ran aground a few times, but never scary, just some laminatng to do on the next haul-out.

Honestly I can say that for me the worst experience is whenever I have to g into a marina. It' s like living in an apartment building but even more confined.

Love life at anchor and at sea.

[Tonyjay]

Last summer in the North Channel in Lake Huron. We along with about 20 other boats were anchored and watching a thunderstorm (on radar) roll in.

Thunderstorm turned into a squall that lasted 2 hours. High winds, waves - kind of like being in a washing machine. Our 42 sailboat with its delta and all chain rode held fine. In fact the next day the biggest issue was pulling up the anchor since it set so hard into the mud/clay bottom

Unfortunately a totally unprepared sailor's boat didn't. He ended up dragging the entire length of the harbor - broadsided a big powerboat ahead of us then bore down on us and hit us with a glancing blow ($10k worth). Powerboat damage (mucho bucks) Next morning he comes over from his piece of crap boat that looks like it hasn't been maintained in 50 years and says don't worry his insurance co will take care of it. Gives us a copy of an expired insurance certificate - says he doesn't have a current copy. Famous last words. Turns out he let his insurance expire 5 years ago and defaulted on his commitment to 'take care' of the problems.

On the bright side we - crew and equipment are now even more confident in anchoring in crappy weather. Also our insurance company was literally waiting for us at the dock when we pulled into our dock. Boat looks like new although we are out the deductible.

[Lajos]

Just came back from a one week charter on a 51 Dufour.... Boat was super nice, clean, well maintained, weather was nice..... Captain/owner was from hell!!!!!! We where 2 couples, the cap was my friends buddy from high school, thing went to hell the moment we set foot on the boat; don't touch this don't do that, condescending attitude, don't get up early in the morning, get out of my way when I'm in the galley, and on and on and on..... I would have gotten off the boat on the second day when he just dropped us off on Pinel for 2 hours and came back after 5 hours but since he was my friends buddy, I did not want to mess up there vacation... I just came back from breakfast with them and it turns out they felt the same way!!!! We should have made him walk the plank!!! Worst vacation ever!!!!.... I could go on and on for pages about all shitty things he did but bottom line: I just needed to vent a bit... The only thing I can figure is that he bought the boat with partners, they had a falling out, he bought them out but now he has to charter to meet the payments but bottom line; he hates it....

Thank you all for listening! :-)

(just sent an email to his girlfriend asking if we did something wrong, she was super nice to us and I just can't figure out why we got the attitude, maybe she will enlighten us...)

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Lajos

Just came back from a one week charter on a 51 Dufour.... Boat was super nice, clean, well maintained, weather was nice..... Captain/owner was from hell!!!!!! We where 2 couples, the cap was my friends buddy from high school, thing went to hell the moment we set foot on the boat; don't touch this don't do that, condescending attitude, don't get up early in the morning, get out of my way when I'm in the galley, and on and on and on..... I would have gotten off the boat on the second day when he just dropped us off on Pinel for 2 hours and came back after 5 hours but since he was my friends buddy, I did not want to mess up there vacation... I just came back from breakfast with them and it turns out they felt the same way!!!! We should have made him walk the plank!!! Worst vacation ever!!!!.... I could go on and on for pages about all shitty things he did but bottom line: I just needed to vent a bit... The only thing I can figure is that he bought the boat with partners, they had a falling out, he bought them out but now he has to charter to meet the payments but bottom line; he hates it....

Thank you all for listening! :-)

(just sent an email to his girlfriend asking if we did something wrong, she was super nice to us and I just can't figure out why we got the attitude, maybe she will enlighten us...)

I depise the kind of person that wants to know "when you are going to wipe there ass "for allowing you on their boat..

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Lajos

Just came back from a one week charter on a 51 Dufour.... Boat was super nice, clean, well maintained, weather was nice..... Captain/owner was from hell!!!!!! We where 2 couples, the cap was my friends buddy from high school, thing went to hell the moment we set foot on the boat; don't touch this don't do that, condescending attitude, don't get up early in the morning, get out of my way when I'm in the galley, and on and on and on..... I would have gotten off the boat on the second day when he just dropped us off on Pinel for 2 hours and came back after 5 hours but since he was my friends buddy, I did not want to mess up there vacation... I just came back from breakfast with them and it turns out they felt the same way!!!! We should have made him walk the plank!!! Worst vacation ever!!!!.... I could go on and on for pages about all shitty things he did but bottom line: I just needed to vent a bit... The only thing I can figure is that he bought the boat with partners, they had a falling out, he bought them out but now he has to charter to meet the payments but bottom line; he hates it....

Thank you all for listening! :-)

(just sent an email to his girlfriend asking if we did something wrong, she was super nice to us and I just can't figure out why we got the attitude, maybe she will enlighten us...)

Too bad you didn't find out your friend's feelings during the charter. Maybe he should ask the captain why the nasty attitude. I would be inclined to ask for a refund

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Lajos

Captain/owner was from hell!!!!!!

I dont think I'd charter from a Captain/Owner. Far too protective, or set in their routine/SOPs.

Had a firend how charters his boat and he wont let the guests use the washing machine. Guests are paying $20,000 per week and he wont let them wash and spin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He tells them to go to shore and do them in a laundry.