What are your worst fear sailing events

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

This sounds right, but there always seems to be possibilities that are difficult to predict. Waking up after the first night's sleep aboard our new boat I looked down from my berth and saw my shoe floating. I wasn't aware that the head was below the waterline and without an anti-siphon loop. This was before the US 1972 Clean Water Act and the common use of holding tanks. The position of the wet/dry flush lever was critical. A few years later we also found sea water above our floor boards when an unsupervised Capuchin monkey opened a hose. I know you said "mostly" lack of maintenance, but these event occurred during the first two years of our cruising life. There's great potential for mistakes among those without experience.

Thanks for this post, Hudson Force. It reminds me of the time, on our previous boat, that had a foot pedal to operate the water inlet for the toilet. My 19 yr. old son had gone below, and reported calmly to Jim that it was a "little damp" down there. Jim went to check, and it was ankle deep in the head (which also meant the bilge was pretty full. This was also during the first two years of owning her. What had happened was that, in a sail change, the sail had been tossed down the forehatch, and landed on the pedal, pushing it down, and filling the boat. The next week, Jim made a pedal guard so that it wouldn't happen again.

Ann

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

Fear: Treading water, watching my lovely sailboat heading away toward the horizon.

Solution: Always use a tether if remaining crew are not likely able to effect a successful MOB retrieval.

unless it is so short that you are virtually lashed to the mast, a tether is not going to help if you are single-handing...although likely will make it easier to find (part of) the body...

personally i never use a tether when single handing...but i do mentally say to myself whenever leaving the cockpit "go over now and you are dead"...focuses the mind wonderfully...

cheers,

[Mr B]

My jackline is under the boom, My chest harness is clipped onto that,
My lanyard is just long enough to walk every where on board except the front of the bow,
I have to reclip to go onto the bow,
But no matter what happens to me, Unconscious or Dead, My body cant go over the side,
My boom is lashed down and central, I dont use the mainsail,
If I am out of the cockpit, I am clipped onto the Jackline, With out fail,

Its very easy to fall over board, One wet spot on the deck, one slip, and your gone,
Lose your balance, nothing to grab onto, Your over the side,

Single handed, In the drink watching your boat dissapear, No Epirb, Its still safely on the boat,
Its a very big ocean and nothing in it except you,
Make sure your tied onto the boat at all times, and cant fall off,

[callistov42]

I've got a weird thing about offshore tows. Twice I have seen the tow boat and COMPLETELY missed the barge (and one time a rig) being towed a half mile behind. I know, radar, lights, all that... just something I worry about. The tow line pulls tight and I go over like a toy boat in a bathtub.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by callistov42

I've got a weird thing about offshore tows. Twice I have seen the tow boat and COMPLETELY missed the barge (and one time a rig) being towed a half mile behind. I know, radar, lights, all that... just something I worry about. The tow line pulls tight and I go over like a toy boat in a bathtub.

It's definitely one of the dangers. We used to know a guy who drowned from his crew not seeing the tow, and the cable sunk their boat. She, abovedecks at the time, survived.

Ann

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Group9

I use a tether religiously, when I am single handing, or in the cockpit alone, with a sleeping partner. When you do that, there is no fear of falling overboard!

100% agreed.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

100% agreed.

I've fallen off docks, about a dozen times in my life. I know I can fall off a moving boat!

[Jdeuel]

Originally Posted by ttex

I may have just finished Master and Commander.

If you want a real treat, I highly recommend the Patrick O'Brian audiobooks narrated by Patrick Tull. Incredible.

[slug]

Originally Posted by chrisr

unless it is so short that you are virtually lashed to the mast, a tether is not going to help if you are single-handing...although likely will make it easier to find (part of) the body...

personally i never use a tether when single handing...but i do mentally say to myself whenever leaving the cockpit "go over now and you are dead"...focuses the mind wonderfully...

cheers,

I don’t understand your issue

Typically a seaman tethers in on the windward side . Tether length keeps the seaman on the deck and clear of being sucked off , overboard , to leeward

.very difficult to go overboard to windward

[JPA Cate]

slug, chrisr sails a catamaran. Somewhat different issues with running jacklines.

Ann

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

slug, chrisr sails a catamaran. Somewhat different issues with running jacklines.

Ann

Ann, chrisr should know that there is nothing to fear if you have a catamaran. The cat owners on CF keep repeating that.

I watched the 1998 Sydney Hobart film again last night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5554FxUXwg

The offshore breaking wave about 30 seconds into it gave me bad dreams. That was some serious weather. Sure glad I did the Pittwater to Coffs Harbor instead.

[Jdege]

Is no one worried about falling over the edge?

De Chelonian Mobile!

[JPA Cate]

@jedge.

No one'd fall over you, you're too nice.

@donradcliffe,

Yes, there was horrendous enough wx that a bunch of skippers anchored in Eden and waited for the worst of it to blow through. And of course, the loss of lives.

It's why the Bureau of Meteorology weather forecasts include the warning, "Wind gusts may be 40% stronger than the averages given here."

Ann

[Mr B]

I find video's of sailing in extreme weather, Dont really show how bad it can be out there,
To When your actually in it,
Sydney Hobart race is a good example of this, A lot of the video footage looked like they were sailing in near flat, but very turbulent water,
Very deceptive to the watcher,
Some of those flat looking waves were 90 foot high, Reported by the Helicopter pilot doing the rescues,

Bass Straight is a great place to sail, But it does have a very nasty side to it,
You dont want be be out there when it turns nasty,

But if your caught in it, There is not much you can do about it, But just keep sailing hopefully to a protected area where you wont get wrecked by the storm,

Travelling East in Bass Straight between Port Phillip Bay, (The Rip) and Western port Bay, There are no safe anchorages, Its all rocky cliffs, 200 feet of water under me,
The storm hit at about 10-00 PM, Im in a washing machine,
My safe anchorage is in Western Port bay, Going thru the RIP at night in a violent storm, Hahahaha, Dont even think about it,
The Motor stopped a couple of times with blocked diesel filters,
I cant use the Genoa as it will be torn to shreds,

Which proved to me that heaving too and waiting for it to blow over was out of the question, Im 5 miles offshore with a wind blowing strongly towards the shore,
I need my motor going again, Fast,

Im in a Cat thats bucking all over the place, spinning around as the waves catch it,
Going out on deck, Hahahaha, Only if the mast snaps off and it will be to cut it free,
I do carry large bolt cutters for this reason,

I did have serious concerns that the mast would snap off in the conditions,
It was getting battered very harshly,
I turned my spreader lights on entering the channel into Westernport Bay at 2-30 AM,
They light up the sea in front of my boat like daylight for about 100 yards,
I didnt like what I saw and turned them off again,
Confused seas and a very strong out going tide, Since then, I bought myself a hand held wind gauge, And I know now that the wind was well in excess of 30 Knots on that night,

Depth sounder and GPS is all I wanted to look at, Hand steering the boat and going from lock to lock to keep it straight,
Amazingly I dont have water coming over my bows or any where else, I stay perfectly dry, I have an enclosed cockpit too,
Using the light house light to keep it on course as the GPS couldnt keep up with the revolving boat,
Its also the first time that the cockpit wasnt flat and level, It was at appprox 45 degrees quite often,
But it did prove to me how safe my Cat is in a violent storm, Im very happy with it,

Just my 2 cents worth,
Brian,

[seandepagnier]

That cruisers who are already an overwhelmingly over privileged group will continue their wasteful and immoral practices that is mainstream cruising today.

This group made up disproportionately of professions that cause more harm than good: bankers, executives, pilots etc.. who spent their whole life taking advantage of others and causing irreparable damage to the natural world then go in retirement and buy a boat much too big for them to handle under sail.

They then pollute their way along further sealing the fate of the last coral reefs so they can motor leaving an oil slick in one of the least polluted places in the world just to go 100 yards to the island (rather than rowing) so they can have a cruisers "potluck" on suwarrov and discuss why oil spills "aren't that bad" while they sit around eating lamb.

I fear there will be nothing left to cruise to, no places not destroyed, chaos making it dangerous almost everywhere.