crew from hell ?

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by dwedeking2

My crew is obnoxious, has issues with authority figures, isn't a team player and cantankerous... and I'm solo sailing.

I've sailed with that guy. He's also incredibly stubborn.

[Symphony]

Scalloway - you have the best story so far!
I would add Dirtiest Boat stories too - I helped deliver a Freedom which was supposed to be nice. It was a live-aboard for a medical student. The filthiest person in history by the looks of the boat above and below decks.

It was cleaner after a 3 day trip than it was when starting the delivery. 3 guys sailing and motoring day and night -- it was cleaner.

[Lihuedooley77]

crew from hell....

I was a licensed U.S.C.G. Captain, a sailing motor vessel instructor, charter capt, and flotilla leader in tahiti, tonga, and the carbbean and training passages with several boats from Newport to Catalina and Newport to the Channel island.

One of the students in my coastal piloting class , asked me to deliver his beautiful new Ericson 38 back up from Cabo, Mexico, to Los Angeles Harbor.

He and his race crew raced downwind to cabo from southern california, and once at the finish partied down a few days and all of them airline back home.

I was to fly down to Caba San Lucas, and single hand the Ericson back up to Los Angeles. Three bearded fellows from the Sailing Club wanted to go along for the experience. They were not to be paid. They had been trained, some of them by myself. Good , I could use the help. Erica, my lady and real sailor, also volunteered.

Comes down to the only person that I could trust was Erica.

The crew from hell story, And being lied to by the owner as to systems that failed on the way down....when I asked the owner was there any problems or squaws that I should be aware of. NOPE, EVER THINg IS JUST FINE.

The water tanks were empty , and so were the fuel tanks. We topped of the tanks before departure. the anchor and chain were detached and in the bilge area. The auto pilot did not works so it was good I did not single hand back.

I had all of the proper documents completed by an agent, and we also filled extra water tanks and secured them to the lifelines.

I made up a watch standing list so that no one was over taxed.

Weather on the trip would range of beautiful, to calm, to great winds, to storms. rain and large seas. Oh, along with the inip auto pilot, the satnav was tango uniform as well. ( tits up ) NOPE EVERY THING WAS NOT FINE.

The three whiskers loaded on quite a bit of booze, but we would be in route for a couple of weeks with one stop for fuel and rest at Turtle Bay. And then clearing in to the USA in San Diego.

Erica, and i were due to stand the 8 pm to midnight watch, so we hit the rack for a few of hours of rest. I told the three crew members who were dinking out of their coffee cups to mark our course line, and position, speed, and heading and time on the chart. DR, Fix, Estimated position, or running fix.

When we came on watch, it was dark and of course no land marks on shore were visible. I looked at the chart, and nothing had been noted since Erica and I hit the rack.

I asked the watch captain WHERE ARE WE ? I looked at all three of them, and got a blank stare. What speed and heading have you been holding. Another blank stare, and one wild guess. I sat down at the chart table and used used the last heading that we had been tracking before Erica and I went below and the last pos that i noted on the chart. I tracked the dividers up the DR rhumb line estimating 5 kts, and up ahead the chart showed shallows. But, I did not know my exact pos.

I told them turn this vessel out to sea, get on your life jackets, get the VHF on 16, and the HF radio on the emergency channel.

This was just the first of many screw ups by these guys. I could not understand why they could not function as crew should. Simple basic sailing and navigation.

We arrive four days later just off Turtle Bay, Baha Mexico, wind , rain, with somewhat limited visibility, and I had been using coastal piloting and navigation....no electonic black box in those days. Well, the one we had did not work. I put Erica on bow watch, and I had the helm.

We make the approach with no problem and anchor a ways off the pier. We would need to get fuel the next day.

Whiskers one, two and three, all jump in the dinghy and head ashore to find a bar. Erica stayed with me, squaring the boat away, and I finished up filling out the log with our arrival information.

As asked Erica to fish me out a beer....DEN , THERE ARE NO BEERS LEFT.

Hmmmm, well, the had quite a bit of hard liquor, HOW ABOUT A RUM.

NO RUM, NO VODKA AND NO WHISKEY. The even drank the owners wicker bottle of cooking wine.

Long years ago, I was in a very serious auto accident that included a soundly smashed face and nose, skull fracture,and concussion and broken bones, and last rites. The main outcome of that was that I cannot smell anything. So, when I thought those three were drinking coffee or tea, they were slugging down the booze every waking moment, and drank several cases of beer, a case of wine, and several bottles of hard booze.

To verify their addiction, as soon as we anchored, they jumped in the dink to find a rum shop or booze hut ashore. NO LIQUOR STORES.

well, now my dumb ass has it figured out. Erica and I will take the mid watch from midnight to 4 am, and a all other times, we will take care of the navigation during the day, with one of us on watch with these bozos. I made it like they were an auto pilot, and could only be counted on to maybe hold a heading.

Erica had to leave the boat in San Diego to return to her supervisory job at the L.A. County Health Dept.

I have the three and me now from San Diego to Los Angeles. Long trip.
But, as we are sailing off oceanside and camp pendleton, one of the three says, OH, I HAVE THE OIL PLATFORMS IN SIGHT. Say what, the oil island and platforms are many miles ahead.

It is now night time, and I asked what kind of lights could they see.

RED WHITE RED...... hmmmm, are they vertical ?

Yeah, how'd you know ?

Well, do you remember the signal lights and day shapes class ?

How about Red White Red... RWR....Restricted with reason.

What you are looking at is an aircraft carrier launching and recovering aircraft and are restricted to holding a steady course.

Stay Clear !

Now go back and remember when the three crew headed a shore in turtle bay.

A few minutes after they rattled off, I heard a sound bump on the starboard quarter. I looked out the port light, thinking it was the boozers returning.

Nope, it was a bearded , sarape wearing pirate, beginning to board our vessel. I loaded the very pistol... metal flare gun, and took care of that situation. I greeting the brigand as he started to climb over the lifelines.

He alerted with huge eyes as he sees me in the companion way, shooters stance, and the very pistol pointed at this chest.

But that is another sea story for another time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the delivery...

We made the owners slip up in L.A. HARBOR about 1 am. Flaked the sails, cleaned up the vessel, coiled the lines, took off the trash, and secured the boat.

Last time that I ever sailed with those donkeys. But, it was an interesting trip and we had good winds. We did motor sail a bit so we could head up closer to the wind, and not wind up on a tack to Oahu.

I did skip some of the other incidents, with the crew, but they did not have any more booze from Turtle Bay to San Diego, and then San Diego to Los Angeles.

It felt good to be back home.

[rockDAWG]

It is not too complicated to find good crews. Due diligence is the name of the game. Good communication and clear objectives help.

1. Ask for his or her sailing resume, study it carefully
2. Check reference from the captains they have served
3. Interview them on the phone or in person if local.

In my day job, I have interviewed a few hundred candidates and hired hundreds of professionals. It is not too difficult to screen out the undesirables. Remember there is no bad dog, only bad owner. There is no bad children, only bad parent, and there is no bad employee but the bad employer. If you are the captain, you need to show your leadership besides your sailing knowledge. These are two different things.

It will get easier in time. Good luck!!!

[rockDAWG]

Geezzz, I didn't realize there is another thread on the same topic? Why?

[Hoodsail]

This was a 50:50, 1 crew and cap'n, not really from hell just a bit infirmed. Flew to Bermuda to be 1 of 4 to bring a IP38 back to her home port of Annapolis. Never met any of the other 3. All were very capable, except.... cap'n was about 6'8" tall, 65-70 yo, ex-college basketball player, whose knees were shot. To stand he had to throw a line around a winch and pull himself up. 1st mate was about 65-70 yo and deaf in both ears. Hearing aids in place, but discovered on night watch while taking a bit of a soaking that they were not water proof. Soooo...with no functioning autopilot/wind vane, hearing aids, quirky frig/freezer, no radar, a generator fire enroute, we made it from Bermuda, up the Chesapeake bay (good deal of it at nite), and to Annapolis in 10 days...whew....but nice boat.
4th member of the crew was a 50yo, in great shape and also was a competent sailor.

[bumpman]

Another type of 'crew from Hell' is when crew you need to depend on just freeze up and go comatose in a tough situation or in rough seas and cold weather, or they get seasick and do just the opposite for getting better. Then suddenly you're not only solo sailing but also playing 'doctor' to a zombie crew. This has happened to me a couple of times in rough seas off New England. On shore they're perfectly capable, but some folks just can't handle life-threatening stress.

[witzgall]

Originally Posted by somanyboats

The movie was Dead Calm. Nickol Kidman and Sam Neill, forgot the crazy guy's name

Billy Zane as Hughie Warriner

[ferrailleur]

Too bad that there are more negative stories that positive experiences here...
I know for sure that I'm more than an ideal crew for any sailing over the Chesapeake Bay!
Forgive the hyper bragging tone... Just my humble me.
I'm going Sunday to the Annapolis Boat Show and later to the Spin Sheet party....
Hope to meet a "captain" as amazing as me!!!!

Cheers

[SFS]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

If you bailed on me I wouldn't pay you either.

I suspect you would not have operated the boat in a manner that put all our lives in jeopardy (like refusing to acknowledge an active gasoline leak into the bilge, rendering the boat not only uninhabitable, but a floating bomb). But I acknowledge the ingenuity of your business model.

What we should have done, upon stepping on board and seeing the misrepresentation, was say "we don't associate or do business with liars", and left then. But the guy was a friend of a friend, and I try not to let friends down. I will make an exception for those trying to claim a Darwin Award.

[gmakhs]

Hmm,
I have a bad captain story , leaving from Volcuno , me and one inexperienced crew in my 26 feet boat heading to Majorca got hit from a storm 40 to 45 knots of winds ,I knew about the storm and was planning to use it to get there faster , but God know how lucky we where and how inexperienced and cocky I was back then ... The storm hit us after 2 days of sailing ,it suppose to be from the north north east but came from the north west building huge waves (this particular arrea in med is known for nasty waves during north winds ) and a lot of rainfall , when the storm hit my crew was seasick for 2 days allready , the autopilot decide to give up so I had to hand steer, after few hours in the storm the bilges where full of water , my crew was incapable of staying inside without puking so I gave him the tiller , to go inside trace the leak and empty the water , at that moment he had no life jacket and no life line , while I was inside cleaning suddenly a breaking wave knockdown the boat ,I fly from the chart table to the galley and I see my crew from the companion way to fly from one side of the cocpit to the outer stern side of the boat hanging there from the tiller (my boat has an transform hanging rudder and that saved his life ). I from the other side i hit and crack my rib on the galley , I was dizzy from the pain ,was imbossible to breathe and I was trying to stand up and shout at him to leave the tiller (sonthe boat will stabilize) and hold from the running backstay rope ,but he couldn't hear me .Trying as hard as I could I went outside help him get on the boat puke on him from the pain, and set the boat back on course , gave him my life jacket and life line , went down and passed out. Woke up after 2 hours wet from the bilges ,the water had raised again , I put on his life jacket and stand up to ask him how the thinks where , it was night and rainy and the breaking wave where coming on the cockpit from the back , I hove to,leash the tiller and told him to.come down .
We spent the rest of 3 days heave to ,me in pain and he sea sick ,discussing of our wrong decision to leave with the storm(he had a plane we wanted to catch )and taking water out .
Finally after a lot of painkillers I manage to get the boat in Corsica which i stayed until.my rib got better and he flew back since his vecation time

From this incident I learnt a lot about the boat and myself ,I was lucky to have someone whos been saillling with me multiple times and has experience on the boat almost the same as me .

I found out the water source 2 months later in Majorca ,it was from old though holes on the deck closed with silicon putty that had gone bad ,I repaired those with fiberglass and now the boat is been dry the last year's .
Sorry from my bad English .

[gmakhs]

Originally Posted by ferrailleur

Too bad that there are more negative stories that positive experiences here...
I know for sure that I'm more than an ideal crew for any sailing over the Chesapeake Bay!
Forgive the hyper bragging tone... Just my humble me.
I'm going Sunday to the Annapolis Boat Show and later to the Spin Sheet party....
Hope to meet a "captain" as amazing as me!!!!

Cheers

I once had a crew that was seasick all the way from Gibraltar to canaries and he refused to help me with steering when autopilot couldn't keep up , but once the tiller broke , he did his best to assist with the repair and take care of.my needs.food and coffee , so he was inexperienced,seasick and scared but was trying hard and i will always admire for that .

[FlyTheCoop]

Originally Posted by somanyboats

The movie was Dead Calm. Nickol Kidman and Sam Neill, forgot the crazy guy's name

Crazy guy was Billy Zane. Filmed mostly in The Whitsundays, Australia.

[ferrailleur]

Thanks for your long but interesting story.
A short answer/question for what it's worth:

Why in the world did you ever trust these "three bearded fellows from the sailing club"?

Originally Posted by Lihuedooley77

crew from hell....

I was a licensed U.S.C.G. Captain, a sailing motor vessel instructor, charter capt, and flotilla leader in tahiti, tonga, and the carbbean and training passages with several boats from Newport to Catalina and Newport to the Channel island.

One of the students in my coastal piloting class , asked me to deliver his beautiful new Ericson 38 back up from Cabo, Mexico, to Los Angeles Harbor.

He and his race crew raced downwind to cabo from southern california, and once at the finish partied down a few days and all of them airline back home.

I was to fly down to Caba San Lucas, and single hand the Ericson back up to Los Angeles. Three bearded fellows from the Sailing Club wanted to go along for the experience. They were not to be paid. They had been trained, some of them by myself. Good , I could use the help. Erica, my lady and real sailor, also volunteered.

Comes down to the only person that I could trust was Erica.

The crew from hell story, And being lied to by the owner as to systems that failed on the way down....when I asked the owner was there any problems or squaws that I should be aware of. NOPE, EVER THINg IS JUST FINE.

The water tanks were empty , and so were the fuel tanks. We topped of the tanks before departure. the anchor and chain were detached and in the bilge area. The auto pilot did not works so it was good I did not single hand back.

I had all of the proper documents completed by an agent, and we also filled extra water tanks and secured them to the lifelines.

I made up a watch standing list so that no one was over taxed.

Weather on the trip would range of beautiful, to calm, to great winds, to storms. rain and large seas. Oh, along with the inip auto pilot, the satnav was tango uniform as well. ( tits up ) NOPE EVERY THING WAS NOT FINE.

The three whiskers loaded on quite a bit of booze, but we would be in route for a couple of weeks with one stop for fuel and rest at Turtle Bay. And then clearing in to the USA in San Diego.

Erica, and i were due to stand the 8 pm to midnight watch, so we hit the rack for a few of hours of rest. I told the three crew members who were dinking out of their coffee cups to mark our course line, and position, speed, and heading and time on the chart. DR, Fix, Estimated position, or running fix.

When we came on watch, it was dark and of course no land marks on shore were visible. I looked at the chart, and nothing had been noted since Erica and I hit the rack.

I asked the watch captain WHERE ARE WE ? I looked at all three of them, and got a blank stare. What speed and heading have you been holding. Another blank stare, and one wild guess. I sat down at the chart table and used used the last heading that we had been tracking before Erica and I went below and the last pos that i noted on the chart. I tracked the dividers up the DR rhumb line estimating 5 kts, and up ahead the chart showed shallows. But, I did not know my exact pos.

I told them turn this vessel out to sea, get on your life jackets, get the VHF on 16, and the HF radio on the emergency channel.

This was just the first of many screw ups by these guys. I could not understand why they could not function as crew should. Simple basic sailing and navigation.

We arrive four days later just off Turtle Bay, Baha Mexico, wind , rain, with somewhat limited visibility, and I had been using coastal piloting and navigation....no electonic black box in those days. Well, the one we had did not work. I put Erica on bow watch, and I had the helm.

We make the approach with no problem and anchor a ways off the pier. We would need to get fuel the next day.

Whiskers one, two and three, all jump in the dinghy and head ashore to find a bar. Erica stayed with me, squaring the boat away, and I finished up filling out the log with our arrival information.

As asked Erica to fish me out a beer....DEN , THERE ARE NO BEERS LEFT.

Hmmmm, well, the had quite a bit of hard liquor, HOW ABOUT A RUM.

NO RUM, NO VODKA AND NO WHISKEY. The even drank the owners wicker bottle of cooking wine.

Long years ago, I was in a very serious auto accident that included a soundly smashed face and nose, skull fracture,and concussion and broken bones, and last rites. The main outcome of that was that I cannot smell anything. So, when I thought those three were drinking coffee or tea, they were slugging down the booze every waking moment, and drank several cases of beer, a case of wine, and several bottles of hard booze.

To verify their addiction, as soon as we anchored, they jumped in the dink to find a rum shop or booze hut ashore. NO LIQUOR STORES.

well, now my dumb ass has it figured out. Erica and I will take the mid watch from midnight to 4 am, and a all other times, we will take care of the navigation during the day, with one of us on watch with these bozos. I made it like they were an auto pilot, and could only be counted on to maybe hold a heading.

Erica had to leave the boat in San Diego to return to her supervisory job at the L.A. County Health Dept.

I have the three and me now from San Diego to Los Angeles. Long trip.
But, as we are sailing off oceanside and camp pendleton, one of the three says, OH, I HAVE THE OIL PLATFORMS IN SIGHT. Say what, the oil island and platforms are many miles ahead.

It is now night time, and I asked what kind of lights could they see.

RED WHITE RED...... hmmmm, are they vertical ?

Yeah, how'd you know ?

Well, do you remember the signal lights and day shapes class ?

How about Red White Red... RWR....Restricted with reason.

What you are looking at is an aircraft carrier launching and recovering aircraft and are restricted to holding a steady course.

Stay Clear !

Now go back and remember when the three crew headed a shore in turtle bay.

A few minutes after they rattled off, I heard a sound bump on the starboard quarter. I looked out the port light, thinking it was the boozers returning.

Nope, it was a bearded , sarape wearing pirate, beginning to board our vessel. I loaded the very pistol... metal flare gun, and took care of that situation. I greeting the brigand as he started to climb over the lifelines.

He alerted with huge eyes as he sees me in the companion way, shooters stance, and the very pistol pointed at this chest.

But that is another sea story for another time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the delivery...

We made the owners slip up in L.A. HARBOR about 1 am. Flaked the sails, cleaned up the vessel, coiled the lines, took off the trash, and secured the boat.

Last time that I ever sailed with those donkeys. But, it was an interesting trip and we had good winds. We did motor sail a bit so we could head up closer to the wind, and not wind up on a tack to Oahu.

I did skip some of the other incidents, with the crew, but they did not have any more booze from Turtle Bay to San Diego, and then San Diego to Los Angeles.

It felt good to be back home.

[Swammy]

Originally Posted by rockDAWG

It is not too complicated to find good crews. Due diligence is the name of the game. Good communication and clear objectives help.

1. Ask for his or her sailing resume, study it carefully
2. Check reference from the captains they have served
3. Interview them on the phone or in person if local.

In my day job, I have interviewed a few hundred candidates and hired hundreds of professionals. It is not too difficult to screen out the undesirables. Remember there is no bad dog, only bad owner. There is no bad children, only bad parent, and there is no bad employee but the bad employer. If you are the captain, you need to show your leadership besides your sailing knowledge. These are two different things.

It will get easier in time. Good luck!!!

And from the Crew's perspective:

20 deliveries as a crew and 22k miles and 7 different captains. 5 out of 7 Captains I had great experiences with professionals and learned skills that I will always use. You see a few of them on this forum like Gareth ( good leadership skills, sailing skills, and a good navigator). I had one other captain that in 10 foot seas and 30knt winds where he lost it and went to his berth and hid for 12 hours in an "emotional time" and so left the three of us to make it ourselves. It was my first delivery. He was not a good dog trained poorly, he was a bad dog.

I interview the captain when I don't know them. I get assurances on safety gear, working condition of critical components and what is not that good on the boat from his/her perspective. I've had guys say that they are not to happy with the water tanks so we made adjustments for example. I have them give me 2 examples of times where past crew did well on their watches and 2 examples of when it did not go so well. I am looking actually for him/her to describe how he /she handled the situation to find out if this person is an Ahab or a reasonable captain. Getting stuck with a guy that says "reefing is for pussys" was my first clue of one captain and his comment that "I don't let anyone adjust anything unless I see it first" shows me that it will be a trip from hell (I didn't go with this guy, and he is on this forum and all his crew's thinks he has a Napoleon complex). I personally do not go on deliveries where the captain has really cheap poor nutritious food or I have to hot bunk.

Last, I went on one delivery where the owner was a crew member and it was quite pleasant. I can imagine times where the owner puts themselves in a second mate situation and does not know how to be a #2 and it could be a problem.

So crew from hell? The due diligence can get you so far. I have been on vessels where a crew member cannot function in high stress instances and safety becomes a concern for that person and we have to take care of them. When that occurs, it must be pointed out and adjustments made.