What was your most scariest boating moment.

[nmuir]

Capt Phil.I chuckled reading your account of 'torpedoes' off the Oregon Coast. Same thing happened to me late one night on a Canada to Hawaii run. Running 24/7 with only two on board one gets tired. Sure scared the heck out of me before I worked out what they were. A pretty cool experience on reflection and once I had a chance to change my underwear!

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by paulanthony

Sounds like you hit the sub

I had a special opportunity to tour the USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear powered aircraft carrier which was home ported in Everett WA near my home on Whidbey Island.
We were in a small party which got the "extra tour".
We got to spend 20 minutes with the XO in his office for a Q &A.
During his talk, he said there were "classified securities for the carrier".
I asked, "Several times when daysailing in Admiralty Inlet or the Straits of Juan de Fuca in steady wind and pretty flat water with no other boats around, and all of a sudden we get hit with a BIG wake. Is that the wake from a submarine?"

He looked very perplexed, took several seconds to compose himself, then said,
"I obviously can't reveal classified information so I can't answer your question, but I CAN say we are protected 24/7 by two submarines whether we're in port or at sea."

[El Pinguino]

One night at anchor at Colonia, Uruguay, about 0200....

Had spent the day in Monte and had lunch at a nice place in the mercado down by the old port. I had fish... forget what it was called but it wasn't called what it really was...
A several hour bus ride back to the boat... a quiet night at anchor....

At 0200 it happened.... thought I was going to die, turned on the light in the head.... had a look in the bowl and knew I was going to die....

Fortunately we had inet access aboard.....

Escolar: The World's Most Dangerous Fish // Medellitin

Do not eat escolar! However I must admit it was yummy....

Other scary stuff? Being a very slow thinker nothing much scares me at the time but I do wake up screaming from my dreams at times when I think of what might have been...

[Dean Paul]

My scariest sailing moment....we were on a close hauled, port tack, on auto pilot, with a 170 % jib making hull speed, on our Islander 30 MKII. I left my station on the low side to check something, then to my surprise another sailboat passed below us within 3 feet. They were also close hauled on a collision course and did not see us as each of us was in the same blind spot, heading directly for us. A very scary moment as we were about to be in the worst of accidents.....rigs would be intertwined, etc. Been sailing our boat on Lake Michigan for over 40 years...never had a scare like this. Oncoming boat was a Columbia 29. This was the last time I leave my low station on auto pilot....avoided a disaster.

[Stu Jackson]

Old wooden 23 foot sloop on a summer camp lake in the early 60's. Second time out with a sloop, having started on Beetle catboats. Bigger boat, two sails. Cleated the mainsheet off to work the jib sheet. Rounded a headland and got hit with a gust, boat turned over.

Last time I ever cleated a mainsheet off.

[paulanthony]

Originally Posted by Dean Paul

My scariest sailing moment....we were on a close hauled, port tack, on auto pilot, with a 170 % jib making hull speed, on our Islander 30 MKII. I left my station on the low side to check something, then to my surprise another sailboat passed below us within 3 feet. They were also close hauled on a collision course and did not see us as each of us was in the same blind spot, heading directly for us. A very scary moment as we were about to be in the worst of accidents.....rigs would be intertwined, etc. Been sailing our boat on Lake Michigan for over 40 years...never had a scare like this. Oncoming boat was a Columbia 29. This was the last time I leave my low station on auto pilot....avoided a disaster.

A few "what if" nightmares after that I am guessing. Jees.. Lucky or what!

[paulanthony]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Old wooden 23 foot sloop on a summer camp lake in the early 60's. Second time out with a sloop, having started on Beetle catboats. Bigger boat, two sails. Cleated the mainsheet off to work the jib sheet. Rounded a headland and got hit with a gust, boat turned over.

Last time I ever cleated a mainsheet off.

Oiks... How did you get the mishap resolved.. Did it come back up ok?

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by paulanthony

Oiks... How did you get the mishap resolved.. Did it come back up ok?

Good question. I swam to shore, walked back to camp and got the motorboat out to drag the partially submerged sailboat back to shallow water.

I (& only I!!!) spent the rest of the afternoon bailing and cleaning.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by paulanthony

A few "what if" nightmares after that I am guessing. Jees.. Lucky or what!

Let's see, Paul --- two sailboats on a collision course with big deck sweeper jibs and NO PROPER LOOKOUTS.

Luck? Hardly.

No mention of what tack each boat was on either...

[Dean Paul]

Stu, we were on a port tack....the other boat was on a starboard tack...we were clearly the burdened boat and at fault if collided. This happened so fast it is beyond words for the danger/risk to both boats. Each of us did not see the other. You have no idea the emotions for an event like this...never again.

[paulanthony]

My O'lman was rescued by life boat once. He was on one of those 40 foot motor boats with no sails and flat bottoms. (I could never understand the attraction of these) Anyway, I think it was his boss's boat but both engines died.

I don't think they suffered much danger but the boat was pitching like a bucking bronko and they were all badly sea sick. I remember my Dad telling me he was tempted to jump over. (He was semi joking of course but it just shows how dangerous sea sickness can be if it makes you feel like throwing in the towel) How many hump back bridges can the body tolerate.

People got transferred into the life boat and the boat was towed in. They had no radio comms and had to signal for help with flares.

He would never go near a flat bottom boat after that.

[lifeofreilly57]

Can't really say it was scary so much as exciting.
Sailing toward home port at night with all the canvas up in 14 knts on a really nice tack on my 38' racer/cruiser.
We saw a line of thunderstorms off in the distance, right off at the edge of my 16 mile radar when we were hit with a microburst, I watched the knot meter bury the needle(it only went up to 60 knts) and the boat laid right over, put the mast in the water and started filling the cockpit. No one had enough time to be scared, just enough time to jump into action. My experienced friend grabbed the dog so he wouldn't get washed out of the cockpit but the inexperienced crew member just froze when asked to let the jib sheet go. I managed to get the boat to turn into the wind but then it just flipped to the other side, the water in the cockpit sloshed accross and out, then started flooding back in from the port side, andagain it put the mast in the water. As luck would have it, when the boat flipped over to the port side the cleat for the head sail was right next to my head, so I was able to uncleat the sheet and let the headsail go.
That let the water drain out of the headsail, the boat to come up and weathervane with the mainsail, which then allowed me to get the boat under control. ROlled up the headsail and dropped the main in under a minute, it wasn't pretty but it was effective.
THe cockpit drained, the wind dropped to 30 knots shortly after and we got everything tied down, the dog just gave us a confused look like we were playing a practical joke on him.
I never did get scared, there wasn't enough time, I do remember looking toward the lee shore and thinking "no problem" I could swim long enough to get to shore, I really thought we were going to lose the boat, but it wasn't like a panicked feeling, more like a backup plan in my head, I felt surprisingly calm.
All this happened in under two minutes but seemed to take forever. We started the motor and started motoring home, by this time the clouds had moved in the moon was gone, as we motored up the bay something ran across out path like a shadow, it was hard to discern from the background since it had gotten very dark. Then we saw it, it was what appeared to be a pirate ship, all blacked out with black sails and no running lights, once it passed astern we could make out a feeble stern light. We just looked at each other like, did you see what I saw? Now we were creeped out.
Found out the next day that the sloop "Providence" had headed out that evening to sail down for filming of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, they had blacked out everything on the sloop to give it a more menacing look. It sure worked on us. Damn, they need some new running lights.

I've had many interesting experiences over the years but nothing I would say that was scary or terrifying, maybe we'll just say they were learning experiences. I do have ultimate respect for the sea and weather gods though, it keeps me humble.

[paulanthony]

Originally Posted by lifeofreilly57

Can't really say it was scary so much as exciting.
Sailing toward home port at night with all the canvas up in 14 knts on a really nice tack on my 38' racer/cruiser.
We saw a line of thunderstorms off in the distance, right off at the edge of my 16 mile radar when we were hit with a microburst, I watched the knot meter bury the needle(it only went up to 60 knts) and the boat laid right over, put the mast in the water and started filling the cockpit. No one had enough time to be scared, just enough time to jump into action. My experienced friend grabbed the dog so he wouldn't get washed out of the cockpit but the inexperienced crew member just froze when asked to let the jib sheet go. I managed to get the boat to turn into the wind but then it just flipped to the other side, the water in the cockpit sloshed accross and out, then started flooding back in from the port side, andagain it put the mast in the water. As luck would have it, when the boat flipped over to the port side the cleat for the head sail was right next to my head, so I was able to uncleat the sheet and let the headsail go.
That let the water drain out of the headsail, the boat to come up and weathervane with the mainsail, which then allowed me to get the boat under control. ROlled up the headsail and dropped the main in under a minute, it wasn't pretty but it was effective.
THe cockpit drained, the wind dropped to 30 knots shortly after and we got everything tied down, the dog just gave us a confused look like we were playing a practical joke on him.
I never did get scared, there wasn't enough time, I do remember looking toward the lee shore and thinking "no problem" I could swim long enough to get to shore, I really thought we were going to lose the boat, but it wasn't like a panicked feeling, more like a backup plan in my head, I felt surprisingly calm.
All this happened in under two minutes but seemed to take forever. We started the motor and started motoring home, by this time the clouds had moved in the moon was gone, as we motored up the bay something ran across out path like a shadow, it was hard to discern from the background since it had gotten very dark. Then we saw it, it was what appeared to be a pirate ship, all blacked out with black sails and no running lights, once it passed astern we could make out a feeble stern light. We just looked at each other like, did you see what I saw? Now we were creeped out.
Found out the next day that the sloop "Providence" had headed out that evening to sail down for filming of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, they had blacked out everything on the sloop to give it a more menacing look. It sure worked on us. Damn, they need some new running lights.

I've had many interesting experiences over the years but nothing I would say that was scary or terrifying, maybe we'll just say they were learning experiences. I do have ultimate respect for the sea and weather gods though, it keeps me humble.

That is a great story. Enjoyed reading it! It just makes you wonder.. How can 14knots become 60 plus in such a jiffy. But it can! I bet you sail now with one hand on the ejector seat at all times.

Nice story. Did the "Providence" get knocked also.?

[Cheechako]

not as bad as this guys!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Dean Paul

Stu, we were on a port tack....the other boat was on a starboard tack...we were clearly the burdened boat and at fault if collided. This happened so fast it is beyond words for the danger/risk to both boats. Each of us did not see the other. You have no idea the emotions for an event like this...never again.

Dean, oh yes I do. Our winds blow west to east here, and most upwind work therefore requires N/S and P/S headings. When ever I'm on port tack I'm (just as) vigilant as I am on starboard, but it becomes even more acute.

Glad you turned this into a learning experience.

I raised our jib years ago to avoid the blanket syndrome.