Your Thoughts on Floating Debris Avoidance?

[Leventdelamort]

YouTube - Researchers- Hawaii may get hit with trash from Japans tsunami

We all must deal with the threat of striking floating debris. But I am curious as to how forum members deal with that possibility? Also,how will the impending islands of tsunami junk affect your sailing plans?Tsunami Debris Will Wash Up on Pacific Northwest Shores | Daily Sailing News from North American Sailor

[boatman61]

Yawn.... its not in the Atlantic... so I'll adopt a US view... your problem mate

[Alecadi]

Le Vent de la Mort?
mmmm I'm more worried about that than anything else..
The Wind of Death...
Yeark

[Leventdelamort]

It's ok Alecadi, Im a old Zane Grey fanatic.

[Pelagic]

Maintaining a good lookout and reducing speed at night are basically all you can do when you see evidence of tsunami flotsam during a passage

Sailing at relatively slow speeds with a good steel hull and a full heavy keel gives me a reasonable sense of confidence that the boat would survive most collisions, but I do carry damage control materials in case we get unlucky.

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by Leventdelamort

It's ok Alecadi, Im a old Zane Grey fanatic.

I thought so.. But I would rather had you as: TheVirginian, or PurpleSage, or even TheLoneStarRanger... it's less frighteniiiiiiing.... Atelang, Atelang !!!

[Nicholson58]

Japan's stuff gets stuck in the N Pacific gyre. Ours winds up in the Phillipines. - not that I think that is wonderful...........

[MichaelC]

How did Lewis Wetzel get into this thread? Or Buck Duane? Or Lassiter, for that matter? Oceanic debris has been around a long time, it is just that this tsunami debris from Japan might include houses, which I would rather not encounter after dark. All you can do is what has been suggested. Slow down, keep a good lookout. what else is there?

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Yawn.... its not in the Atlantic... so I'll adopt a US view... your problem mate

You are 100% wrong, mate. That's because you have never sailed from Caribbean to the Azores!

I think only the big debris is a hazard and the lines, nets, etc. - if you motor.

We have never hit anything that dangerous, but I did see things that could surely sink my home if the boat were there rather than here.

Drive slower, have stronger boat?

b.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

You are 100% wrong, mate. That's because you have never sailed from Caribbean to the Azores!

I think only the big debris is a hazard and the lines, nets, etc. - if you motor.

We have never hit anything that dangerous, but I did see things that could surely sink my home if the boat were there rather than here.

Drive slower, have stronger boat?

b.

Rolf.... sorry Barnie... done the W - E from St Martin, BVI's and NC in the last 10 yrs... seen some stuff but never hit anything big... just the odd oil cans.
Did see a lot of whales, dolphins and turtles... and a Dutch 4 man rowing team...
Mind.... I was solo so I may have been sleeping when I missed it...

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Maintaining a good lookout and reducing speed at night are basically all you can do when you see evidence of tsunami flotsam during a passage

Sailing at relatively slow speeds with a good steel hull and a full heavy keel gives me a reasonable sense of confidence that the boat would survive most collisions, but I do carry damage control materials in case we get unlucky.

I am in a similar situation, but sometimes there is not much you can do with semi-submerged objects etc. I managed to pick up something huge on my prop in rainwater months back. While it instantly fractured an already stressed engine mounts and I am sure my prop shaft is bent the nature of the object still remains a mystery. Maybe it is time to invest in a feathering prop?

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Rolf.... sorry Barnie... done the W - E from St Martin, BVI's and NC in the last 10 yrs... seen some stuff but never hit anything big... just the odd oil cans.
Did see a lot of whales, dolphins and turtles... and a Dutch 4 man rowing team...
Mind.... I was solo so I may have been sleeping when I missed it...

OK, now you are talking. But read your original comment where you said +/- in the Atlantic the problem does not exist.

Wondering who is throwing the oil cans (which I name barrels), seen them too.

BTW The biggest pieces of junk we met in the Indian - huge logs of wood maybe up to 40 feet long and 5 feet diameter - awash. Later, in RSA, I talked to local boat people and they claimed the logs came from a boat that lost the cargo two years earlier, just off their coast.

And the zillions of jandals, but these at least cannot hurt my boat.

Cheers,
b.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

OK, now you are talking. But read your original comment where you said +/- in the Atlantic the problem does not exist.

Wondering who is throwing the oil cans (which I name barrels), seen them too.

BTW The biggest pieces of junk we met in the Indian - huge logs of wood maybe up to 40 feet long and 5 feet diameter - awash. Later, in RSA, I talked to local boat people and they claimed the logs came from a boat that lost the cargo two years earlier, just off their coast.

And the zillions of jandals, but these at least cannot hurt my boat.

Cheers,
b.

LOL.... that was a reference to the floating house's and cars.... the crap problem exists everywhere from giant tractor wheels to freezers dumped with their lids closed (English Channel)... and wooden pallets abound.. handy though... some are made with really good timber... which I sometimes grab.
Trees are common along N.Spain and Portugals coast during heavy winter rains... seen them up to 50m offshore...

[sailorboy1]

Just more things that I can do nothing about so I try to not spent a lot of my limited brain energy on!

Wonder if there is a market for a removable sailboat fender system that would extend out around the boat :-)

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Just more things that I can do nothing about so I try to not spent a lot of my limited brain energy on!

Wonder if there is a market for a removable sailboat fender system that would extend out around the boat :-)

Collision bags Don... come up with something that inflates instantly on impact like a cars airbag and you'll have a winner...
Extra handy on bows for bad parkers....