Quote:
Originally Posted by foggysail
IF YOU SAIL INTO/OUT OF AN ANCHORAGE where it is impossible to stop, where there can be people in the water, people in small dinghies, you are exactly what my prior post was about.
You think your skill is suburb just as drunk drivers think of their skills. If you ever hurt someone by entering a crowed anchorage because you could not stop, I hope it costs you dearly. There are no right conditions in a crowed anchorage! |
I'm offended by your comparison. Life has few absolutes and we all must make our decisions.
You never specified a crowded anchorage until your last post. You said any anchorage. Certainly there are some
anchorages where sailing in might not be the best idea, depending on the
boat, crew, and conditions. In light winds and little
current in an anchorage with room to maneuver, there is no risk to other boats. If I arrive and find that there are
children in the
water close to where I want to go, I can always turn around, douse sail and
motor back in. Not sure if that's any better for the
children, though. Dinghies are very maneuverable, and I've never seen a
collision between a 35' sailboat doing 2 knots and a
dinghy ripping by at 15 knots or being rowed at 2 knots. Surely everyone will just see each other and turn?
I'm not that great a sailor, really. My fiancee and I sailed off the
anchor in Bedwell Harbour a week and a half ago. We really enjoyed it. It's so nice not to start the
engine. There was maybe 6 knots of
wind and only a half dozen boats around, only a couple of them between us and the entrance. We're not blindfolded, so we could see that there were no other obstacles. We raised
anchor using the
windlass. There was so little
wind that the
boat easily moved up on the anchor and then had plenty of steerageway to slowly ghost out of the harbour under main alone while I squared away the anchor and wandered back to release the
genoa.
It was quiet and peaceful and totally safe. If something was in the way that we hadn't seen, we could have simply turned (we have a
rudder that helps us with that). I honestly can't think of a situation in that case that would have meant that we would have had to stop quickly.
On the other hand, I've only sailed through Tsehum harbour once and won't try it again unless I have an
engine failure. Because of the effect of the land, the wind was really fluky and there was enough traffic and anchored boats that I inconvenienced people too much as I tried to make my way upwind in very changeable conditions. Far from dangerous, but I don't like being a pain to other boaters. Different conditions, so different correct decision.
. 
/ practicing or due to no engine) If sailing boats are around, gotta expect some to be sailing..........albeit in practice I would be more concerned about numpties (of all ages) in RIBS than folk under sail. 
But of course that involves getting off own ar#e rather than expecting others / the world to revolve around your conveniance.
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