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Old 24-05-2015, 02:11   #91
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pirate Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

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Boatman, I do hope that wasn't very recently. Or was it?
Two days ago..
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Old 24-05-2015, 07:43   #92
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

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Two days ago..
So, could you please explain how you regained steering to get on and off the fuel dock and into a slip?

Thanks a lot.

Ann
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Old 24-05-2015, 07:47   #93
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

Prairie Chicken,

Another thing I learned, besides the fender deal you mention and never letting your body get between the boat and a hard place, is with larger boats and breeze, ALWAYS get a whole round turn around a cleat; then you may be able to "sweat" the boat in, otherwise, it goes or both of youse goes.

Good story.

Ann
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Old 26-05-2015, 21:09   #94
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

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In 2009, we were moored up in Christiansted Harbor, St. Croix. I was working on the new desalination RO project at WAPA Richmond. After work on night, my wife brought the dinghy ashore and we went to dinner. It was just dark when we were headed back to the boat when we noticed that there were people on our boat. I sped up towards the boat as anyone would I guess when one of the guys started shooting at us from our own boat as they were jumping into their fishing skiff to make their getaway. We of course headed back toward the boardwalk area where people were and called the police. after a half an hour, we decided the police were not coming, and headed back to our boat. As we were assessing the damage these guys or whoever did while trying to disconnect our electronics a police boat showed up with guns drawn ordering us to stand still and keep our hands where they could see them. I was trying to explain that we were the boat owners and had called them to no avail. One officer was on board ordered us to lie face down in the cockpit with his gun trained on me. I was telling my wife what to do in Spanish ( She's Dominican) and he put his gun to the back of my head telling me if I said another word he would blow my F***ing head off. I really thought I was going to die at the hands of these ill trained idiots. They finally got the just of the situation only after a coast guard skiff showed up (Thank God) and put an end to this situation. I never said a word about these two marine police to the coasties.. I just wanted it over with and for them to get off of my boat. We finished this job two months later, and left St. Croix never to return.
back in '80...when I sailed down islands...there were lots of bad stories about St Croix...sailed there a time or 2, but never stayed anchored more than a nite....
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Old 26-05-2015, 22:36   #95
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

I should write a book....In winter 1982-3 my mate and I were returning to the Exuma's from Conception Island, Bahamas, in my 35' IOR design Morgan sloop...sunny day , surfing downwind, blowing 16-23 knots ...boats doing 6-7 knots....we are alone about 15-20 miles from anywhere...I go down the companionway to see 6 inches of water sloshing around the cabin....scared witless..I frantically ripped everything I could think of... up, out, and off to see where in the heck water was coming in????...after 3-4 minutes I got to the lazerette aft hatch...the 8 inch above stern waterline,.. thru hull, ...for the safety, propane box gas escape... was sucking water in as we surfed down 6 foot waves..the ss hose clamp had come off!!!!....the hose from the propane box was quickly grabbed and forced onto the small bronze thru hull with superhuman strength.
bucket bailing first onto the cockpit floor, electric bilge, emergency grey plastic hand bilge pump all frantically going with the 130 genoa rolled up,.. I was immediately unsure if my 1978ish vhf would, or could raise anyone.... had we continued to take on water.......panic scary for about 4-5 minutes...
that thru hull and hose/clamp, I had installed 4 years before...and had held up thru Many sailing adventures in the Windward Leeward Islands....
such as this one.....
left Dominica one winter day for next Island south...45 miles or so... St Vincent?...don't have a chart now ...this was 35 years ago..
typical winter strong Tradewinds day,...sunny, puffy cumulus clouds..28 knot gusts ..healed over... we stayed up on top of the 20-30 foot HUGE rolling waves for 3-4 seconds at a time....unimpeded all the way from Africa they were, perhaps 2000 miles those rollers had traveled..?.... We were headed south with waves and wind firmly abeam....the top of the waves were maybe 20 foot wide...positively HUGE!!!! the troughs had much less wind... the waves blocked the wind as we rode down, double reefed main, and a small working jib...we sailed at hull speed 7 1/2 knots....suddenly...foolishly..at the top of a giant roller.....in a strong gust...I steered a few degrees to windward.....completely adrenaline rushed by the power and speed, healed well over ...my 35 foot racing beauty accelerated,... then flew off the top...with only the rudder... in the monster passing wave... now airborne.....the bow dropped like a rock.... 30 feet down,.... into a huge trough!!!!BANG!!..... from the helm I could see the entire interior of sv Labadie bend at impact what seemed like 2-3 feet!!! , upon anchoring some hours later I jumped into the rubber avon dinghy, to look at the bow....a hairline crack in the gelcoat well above the waterline, perhaps 5 foot long in an arc, now crowned my awesome sloop port bow.
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Old 08-06-2015, 15:54   #96
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

ahh one more...
anchored somewhere in the northern Bahamas in the early '80's..in a nice little anchorage ...open shoals to the west...craggy Bahamas rocks,cays from north to south...light wind from the east....wake up at 2 am , hear thunder...tall towering pillar columns lite up with lightening COMING from the west northwest!!! WHAT?.!!!...this never happens unless a front comes in...none forecast, none arrived... at least 40 knot gusts in the pillar squalls from the west for a short time... as our bows swung to the open west,....all 5 sailboats in the little anchorage had a rocky craggy, shore astern ..scary.....In the rainy thunder lightening...cowering under my trusty dodger...I saw the little trimaran next to us lift off the water, its anchor holding... it actually lifted just a few inches.....it was maybe 27 ft and kinda homemade liteweight.... still....that left a permenant picture in my mind about multihulls...
a 38' centercockpit ketch, with lots of freeboard..dragged anchor a bit...in the morning the skipper asked me to look at his interior rudder box....rudder had banged aground a bit in the forementioned squalls....unfortunately it was leaking, I had to tell him to get to Nassau for haulout/repair...
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Old 08-06-2015, 17:06   #97
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

Being only a few hundred meters from a mid-sized waterspout, mid-race, in a storm when they were developing at random, definitely pegged the adrenaline meter.
Especially as we were loony enough to keep racing. But then what else was there to do, we wanted to get the bleep outta' there ASAP, so...
The fact that she was a 6'ish ton, ULDB racer, definitely added an extra element to things too. Having just moved over to her from a big, heavy Swan, not long before this.

Or... My first night broach, doing 20+ kts, with the kite up in F8 - F9 conditions, when we couldn't help but stuff the bows. Followed closely by a "seawater washing" of our masthead instruments, definitely was exciting as well. And it definitely "jaded" me to most things after that, @ the venerable age of 19.

I wouldn't trade either memory for much of anything.
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Old 08-06-2015, 18:01   #98
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

70 knots wind on the nose for 7.5 hours in a Chicago - Mackinaw 1981.


Waterspouts on a race start. (we won - first to finish)
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Old 08-06-2015, 18:04   #99
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

Finding out after leaving the dock that my second wife of three days really hated and was afraid of the water.
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Old 08-06-2015, 18:21   #100
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

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Finding out after leaving the dock that my second wife of three days really hated and was afraid of the water.
I take it the third wife likes the water?

Sorry, could not resist.

Later,
Dan
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Old 09-06-2015, 16:06   #101
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

^^^^@dannc

Too much water can kill you. I's all a matter of proportion.

About waterspouts....prefer to see them----at a distance!

Whales are good, up close. .....Usually

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Old 09-06-2015, 18:42   #102
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

My father and I purchased a Westsail 32 in Florida at the end of January 1995. We waited for spring to bring the boat back to the chesapeake bay, after spending a couple of months in the Abacos. In April we left out of Cape Canaveral and headed north. We considered heading in to the ICW before Cape Hatteras, had the forecast not been favorable. All weather sources called for southerly winds 10-15 knots which sounded great. We decided to round the Cape and head for the mouth of the Chesapeake. Had a great trip up until we went to round Cape Hatteras about 60 miles offshore. As we rounded Cape Hatteras we listened to some AM radio stations which reported 60Knot gusts and tornadoes in Nags Head, NC. It was a front coming off the coast, we ended up in sustained winds over 45Knots measured on the anemometer for over 12 hours. We expect some of the gusts were over 60knots. As the wind continued to increase we reefed down to nothing but a triple reefed main sailing on a broad reach as fast as we ever saw the westsail go. Shortly after reefing down we were both sitting in the cockpit in full weather gear">foul weather gear awed by the site of large waves breaking everywhere. When a wave boarded the boat near the bow, the wave rushed down the decks and completely filled the cockpit. The aries wind vane was perfect and steered the boat great, despite our poor setup. On my off watch I was sleeping as best I could wedged into the port bunk, my Dad was on watch but was hanging out below at the time. I awoke to what sounded like someone had hit the side of the boat with a sledge hammer. My dad and I looked at each other, he asked me what do we do. I don't think he was impressed with my answer. I asked if there was any water on the floor, he replied No, So I said I good, I'm going to back to sleep wake me when its my watch. The wind abated by morning to around 30 knots and which seemed tame after the night before. We were both very glad of our decision to buy a Westsail, the boat looked after us well. We learned some things about heavy weather, and we learned the boat was very capable. We never came close to that bad of weather again sailing for 3 years around the Caribbean. That was over 20 years ago and I still remember it vividly.

Lessons learned:
If planning to run downwind, the staysail or storm jib would have been a much better choice. The aries worked really hard to steer the unbalanced boat with just the main, we ended up breaking one of the control lines a day later.
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Old 10-06-2015, 07:45   #103
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

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Originally Posted by jjernigan1972 View Post
My father and I purchased a Westsail 32 in Florida at the end of January 1995. We waited for spring to bring the boat back to the chesapeake bay, after spending a couple of months in the Abacos. In April we left out of Cape Canaveral and headed north. We considered heading in to the ICW before Cape Hatteras, had the forecast not been favorable. All weather sources called for southerly winds 10-15 knots which sounded great. We decided to round the Cape and head for the mouth of the Chesapeake. Had a great trip up until we went to round Cape Hatteras about 60 miles offshore. As we rounded Cape Hatteras we listened to some AM radio stations which reported 60Knot gusts and tornadoes in Nags Head, NC. It was a front coming off the coast, we ended up in sustained winds over 45Knots measured on the anemometer for over 12 hours. We expect some of the gusts were over 60knots. As the wind continued to increase we reefed down to nothing but a triple reefed main sailing on a broad reach as fast as we ever saw the westsail go. Shortly after reefing down we were both sitting in the cockpit in full foul weather gear awed by the site of large waves breaking everywhere. When a wave boarded the boat near the bow, the wave rushed down the decks and completely filled the cockpit. The aries wind vane was perfect and steered the boat great, despite our poor setup. On my off watch I was sleeping as best I could wedged into the port bunk, my Dad was on watch but was hanging out below at the time. I awoke to what sounded like someone had hit the side of the boat with a sledge hammer. My dad and I looked at each other, he asked me what do we do. I don't think he was impressed with my answer. I asked if there was any water on the floor, he replied No, So I said I good, I'm going to back to sleep wake me when its my watch. The wind abated by morning to around 30 knots and which seemed tame after the night before. We were both very glad of our decision to buy a Westsail, the boat looked after us well. We learned some things about heavy weather, and we learned the boat was very capable. We never came close to that bad of weather again sailing for 3 years around the Caribbean. That was over 20 years ago and I still remember it vividly.

Lessons learned:
If planning to run downwind, the staysail or storm jib would have been a much better choice. The aries worked really hard to steer the unbalanced boat with just the main, we ended up breaking one of the control lines a day later.
I thought that was considered perfect sailing weather for a Westsail?
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Old 10-06-2015, 19:47   #104
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

Standing at the nav table so tired and fatigued that i did not have the confidence to mark an X on the chart for a simple lat and lon in some really bad weather approaching a coast line with reefs! Lost my MOJO there for a bit
Many lessons learned on that race
1 electronic aids are wonderful
2 sleep is very important
3 having backup person who understands navigation
4 slow down/ heave to
5 too many to think of at the moment
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Old 10-06-2015, 20:01   #105
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Re: What was your most scariest boating moment.

I'll add mine in here...

Our first night out of France after picking up our boat, we were in the Bay of Biscay and it was my wife's turn for her first night watch. We were both a bit nervous given the reputation of the Bay, but my wife is a trooper and went on watch so I could head down and get some shut eye.

About 20 minutes after I fall asleep, I hear a loud pounding on the deck with my wife shouting my name. Never before have I leapt out of bed so fast, fearing that something was about to hit us, we were about to hit something, the weather had gotten worse, we were sinking, or a million other things that ran through my head in the 5 seconds it took to dash from the berth to the helm.

Fortunately, it turned out that we had been joined by a pod of dolphins who were lit up as they were swimming through bioluminescence and my wife just wanted to share the experience with me. It was one of the coolest things we saw on our Atlantic crossing, but we both learned a quick lesson in how to call the other on deck!
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