Boating chit chat thread.

PhoenixParker

There've been a few instances like that. Hans Horrevoets is the one that sticks out in my mind. Crew going one by one to put their harnesses on when the weather took a turn for the worse. He was the last guy to go and got washed over (and drowned).

Reading a few more articles forums on C.R. it seems like they didn't check the cabin for bodies when they confirmed the presence of the life raft.

Stheno

PhoenixParker wrote: »

There've been a few instances like that. Hans Horrevoets is the one that sticks out in my mind. Crew going one by one to put their harnesses on when the weather took a turn for the worse. He was the last guy to go and got washed over (and drowned).

Reading a few more articles forums on C.R. it seems like they didn't check the cabin for bodies when they confirmed the presence of the life raft.

That's the one big fault I have with the USCG, would it have been a massive effort to check for bodies?

Assuming two were resting and two on deck, are there two bodies down there that could be returned to family for burial?

Or given what miss no start said, is it right to assume all four were on deck and lost?

spaceHopper

Stheno wrote: »

There's a link further up this thread, of a sailor in hairy conditions who went overboard, due to him needing to retrieve a knife and unclipping himself.

Spent well over an hour in the water iirc

That was the clipper 70 race he was on an irish boat and spend 90 minutes in the water nearly broke his leg off the rudder. He was wearing an dry suit which saved him

http://afloat.ie/sail/events/clipper-round-the-world-race/item/24775-man-overboard-%E2%80%93-derry%E2%80%93londonderry-crew-man-rescued

Steve

It was nice to see a few forum members around on Saturday - on the water and after the race

Tough day's racing - I could hardly move today..

Stheno

Steve wrote: »

It was nice to see a few forum members around on Saturday - on the water and after the race

Tough day's racing - I could hardly move today..

The photos show my fright when the main guy on the boat I was on called "the main is gone" until they explained it meant it was out to the max, I thought they had lost it.

Steve, I use electric blankets after a day like yesterday, really seems to help, into my pit I crawl and stay there until the heat has taken away the aches

I'd a super time, loved getting out and having a very small part to play on a class one boat, and I learned loads

pedroeibar1

Stheno wrote: »

That's the one big fault I have with the USCG, would it have been a massive effort to check for bodies?

Assuming two were resting and two on deck, are there two bodies down there that could be returned to family for burial?

Or given what miss no start said, is it right to assume all four were on deck and lost?

It is scarily dangerous to dive on a sunken yacht, all sorts of standing and running rigging floating and swaying about below the surface.

Those guys were (hated typing that) pro’s. Nobody was asleep.

My guess on what happened - Two were on deck, hooked on, one on helm, the mainsheet is played by the other to minimise strain, the jib is furled (or main is stowed and they are using the jib); other two are below bailing and trying to find a solution to stop the water coming into the hull. It becomes very clear that the keel is losing ‘adhesion’ to the keelson; the more the boat works, the more the keel moves about, the more water gets in. Spells with the bucket, everyone cold, tired and wet. After banging about for a while in the swell (remember it is dark and the keel is outside their line of sight) the keel is held by just a few bolts and is hanging off, so crew drop all sails to minimise leverage. Boat is heeled right over due to weight of mast, water below and windage; wave motion has the keel banging off the hull (see below waterline damage in photo in #530.) Helm stays hooked on and tries to keep steerage. Decision is taken to remain with the boat rather than take to the liferaft - not incorrect, given the weather conditions at that time. Also, launch a lifraft in those conditions probably would capsize very quickly with nobody in it. Keel eventually falls off, boat turns turtle (violently) and their lifelines drag the cockpit two under. They have to unhook but cannot keep contact with the hull. The two down below try to get to the liferaft but cannot. Probably injured, stunned, whatever...............
Very sad.

spaceHopper

Read fastnet force 10 or left for dead and you'll get an idea of what could happened.

Very sad for the families left behind RIP

Stheno

spaceHopper wrote: »

Read fastnet force 10 or left for dead and you'll get an idea of what could happened.

Very sad for the families left behind RIP

Yeah I watched a documentary on that and the Sydney Hobart tragedy.

Horrid

spaceHopper

Read fastnet force 10 or left for dead and you'll get an idea of what could happened.

Very sad for the families left behind RIP

HeidiHeidi

Stheno wrote: »

The photos show my fright when the main guy on the boat I was on called "the main is gone" until they explained it meant it was out to the max, I thought they had lost it.

You should've been on our boat, where the main really WAS gone :eek::eek: That put a stop to our gallop fairly sharpish unfortunately, although it was so horrible that none of us complained too loudly, and the beers made up for the disappointment.

That was my first time out this season on the bigger boat, and I've got toe-rail bruises on the back of my legs and a sore arse and pains and aches in bits of me I'd forgotten about. Ouch! MUST FIND MY KNEEPADS.

The poor ISORA boats got hammered around the place - again - those guys are really due a break soon! Hopefully that break will come on the next race(s), which I'm doing . Unfortunately, the boat, which should have been left in Liverpool over the weekend is still in Holyhead.... we all have flights booked to Liverpool.... dunno how that circle is going to be squared, but I'm expecting a phonecall any day now along the lines of "how do you fancy a little delivery".......

Stheno

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

You should've been on our boat, where the main really WAS gone :eek::eek: That put a stop to our gallop fairly sharpish unfortunately, although it was so horrible that none of us complained too loudly, and the beers made up for the disappointment.

That was my first time out this season on the bigger boat, and I've got toe-rail bruises on the back of my legs and a sore arse and pains and aches in bits of me I'd forgotten about. Ouch! MUST FIND MY KNEEPADS.

The poor ISORA boats got hammered around the place - again - those guys are really due a break soon! Hopefully that break will come on the next race(s), which I'm doing . Unfortunately, the boat, which should have been left in Liverpool over the weekend is still in Holyhead.... we all have flights booked to Liverpool.... dunno how that circle is going to be squared, but I'm expecting a phonecall any day now along the lines of "how do you fancy a little delivery".......

Lol reminds me of one day last year, when we were short of crew, and it was gusting goodo.

Boat heeling like a mad thing, we decided to furl the jib.

As I get to the leeward side of the boat with water sloshing in, a stray sheet goes flying past me into the water.

Brain freeze set in, then I eventually realised it was the fupping main sheet (skipper refused to put a figure of eight knot in it)

Cue me, then clinging onto the guardrail and leaning out as much as possible to catch the flipping thing, while the rest of the crew look on reporting on progress or lack thereof!

I'm covered in bruises, and my back is in bits!

THe one person I know on the ISORAs didnt' arrive into Holyhead until about half nine Saturday night!

Enjoy your possible delivery!

Stheno

Beautiful day for sailing today.

apart from our idiot tactician!

Vexorg

Stheno wrote: »

Beautiful day for sailing today.

Its was nice.

apart from our idiot tactician!

Bit harsh - I think they are doing a pretty good job.

HeidiHeidi

We'd have hockeyed the whole fleet (well, Asterix anyway, and Gung Ho wasn't out) if it wasn't for the MASSIVELY skewed start line (it started off nice and straight, in fairness to the RO), which threw us into a flat spin. As it was, we started the full length of the start line behind everyone else, and never quite made it all up.

Next lesson learned - cop the line bias early and know what to do with it!!! (we did both, acutally - but it just never quite translated into a decent start somehow!)

And then, these big FO boats with their HUGE sails keep appearing and getting in our wind..... how's a little tub like us meant to keep up our speed in the shadow of half an acre of canvas, eh??? Feck off around to leeward of us, please!!

But quite the beautiful day it was indeed - may there be many more!!!

cricalix

Not racing - the C-i-C to Greystones and back was great fun. Single-handed with the assistance of my First Mate GOR (Good Old Rope) for the trip down, had guests on the way back up. Navionics reckoned I was doing about 6 knots over ground, but at least 1 - 1.5 of that was tide. Doesn't beat the 8.7 knots she achieved when surfing a wave the other day though.

Leg down was so easy with Gor that I almost cat-napped on one of the beats. Nothing for miles, and had Aslana so well balanced she was going in a straight line; wasn't even scalloping up to wind and back down.

HeidiHeidi

cricalix wrote: »

Not racing - the C-i-C to Greystones and back was great fun. Single-handed with the assistance of my First Mate GOR (Good Old Rope) for the trip down, had guests on the way back up. Navionics reckoned I was doing about 6 knots over ground, but at least 1 - 1.5 of that was tide. Doesn't beat the 8.7 knots she achieved when surfing a wave the other day though.

Leg down was so easy with Gor that I almost cat-napped on one of the beats. Nothing for miles, and had Aslana so well balanced she was going in a straight line; wasn't even scalloping up to wind and back down.

When was that??? Sounds idyllic!

Wasn't Aslana in C4 at some point? Or have I got the completely wrong boat in mind?

cricalix

We went down Saturday just after lunch (catching the ebb tide), hit up the Beach House and GRC (they invited us when they heard we were coming down), then came back on the Sunday flood tide. Some folks came down after the DBSC racing too.

Bugger all wind off of Bray Head on the northern run, but it filled in to a nice 12 - 15 knots across Killiney Bay. Furled the genoa and threw up the gennaker instead (spinnaker is in my apartment, and without a trained crew, I'm not going to try flying one) and had a blast; there was a First 26 who left around the same time, and for a while I was edging ahead Didn't stand a chance against Wild Goose though; even with only a genoa up, that catamaran is faster than me

Aslana was indeed C4/C3 - IRL 481. I bought her from Brian Mulkeen back in 2012, replaced a bunch of bits and added more bits to make her more amenable to single handing.

Looking at a photo taken by someone else that day, I think she's a bit stern heavy at the moment, so need to shift some weight forward.

HeidiHeidi

cricalix wrote: »

We went down Saturday just after lunch (catching the ebb tide), hit up the Beach House and GRC (they invited us when they heard we were coming down), then came back on the Sunday flood tide. Some folks came down after the DBSC racing too.

Bugger all wind off of Bray Head on the northern run, but it filled in to a nice 12 - 15 knots across Killiney Bay. Furled the genoa and threw up the gennaker instead (spinnaker is in my apartment, and without a trained crew, I'm not going to try flying one) and had a blast; there was a First 26 who left around the same time, and for a while I was edging ahead Didn't stand a chance against Wild Goose though; even with only a genoa up, that catamaran is faster than me

Aslana was indeed C4/C3 - IRL 481. I bought her from Brian Mulkeen back in 2012, replaced a bunch of bits and added more bits to make her more amenable to single handing.

Looking at a photo taken by someone else that day, I think she's a bit stern heavy at the moment, so need to shift some weight forward.

Golly, and I was proud of us getting the spinny up two-handed :eek:

cricalix

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Golly, and I was proud of us getting the spinny up two-handed :eek:

Ah, well I only had two guests on board, both of whom zero to minimal sailing experience. Gennaker is safer at that point, and doesn't require faffing with a pole, uphaul, downhaul and so on.

At some point I will work out how to fly the spinnaker by myself for downwind runs - potentially without the pole. It's the dousing that's the biggest problem; I know a theoretical technique for doing it that involves pulling it in tight and blanketing it with the main, but it's then releasing the halyard (which is run to the cockpit) without dumping it in the sea...

HeidiHeidi

http://www.morganscloud.com/2014/06/05/cheeki-rafiki-tragedy-time-for-changes/

interesting take/thoughts leading from the Cheeki Rafiki tragedy.

PhoenixParker

Anyone know what's going on with yesterdays race results for the DBSC?
They seem to have left out half the 31.7s who did compete.

miss no stars

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

http://www.morganscloud.com/2014/06/05/cheeki-rafiki-tragedy-time-for-changes/

interesting take/thoughts leading from the Cheeki Rafiki tragedy.

Yeah, it's a fairly sane take on it. I'd argue with this, though:

You see, engineers know, to a high degree of accuracy, how much strength common construction materials lose over millions of load cycles. And so it is perfectly possible to design keel to hull joints so that, even after decades of hard sailing, there is more than enough strength remaining to do the job. We must insist that we will only buy boats that are engineered this way.

It's just not true. Engineers can ESTIMATE with a reasonable degree of accuracy the likely degredation from millions of known load cycles, but the loads at sea aren't known to a sufficiently high degree to allow a high degree of accuracy in fatigue calculations. High degree of accuracy is a misleading way of phrasing it, saying that engineers can make a reasonable judgement on the loss of strength due to fatigue is far more sensible.

Stheno

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Anyone know what's going on with yesterdays race results for the DBSC?
They seem to have left out half the 31.7s who did compete.

Same with white sails, four out of seven boats down as DNC

PhoenixParker

The 31.7s seem to be fixed now, woohoo first on echo!
Not sure about the others.

Stheno

PhoenixParker wrote: »

The 31.7s seem to be fixed now, woohoo first on echo!
Not sure about the others.

fixed for us too, congrats!

pedroeibar1

miss no stars wrote: »

Yeah, it's a fairly sane take on it.

I’d agree – had a quick flip through it, makes sense generally but the author obviously does not know much about aviation; a pilot must complete a walk-by visual checklist before every flight, along with many other cockpit checks. Also, many yachts now have their keelbolts glassed in. For the longer offshores I can envisage a pre-race engineering 'scrutiny' type procedure (as in motor racing events) for competitors. However, for regular events it's hard to imagine many of the skippers I know going over the side on the moorings to do a visual on a keel/rudder/skeg - and drying out on a slip is a probable cause of damage to keel/skeg.

Skipper: Boatman, could you please do a circle around my boat as I want to do a visual on the keel and skeg.

Boatman: Certainly Mr. XX; (sotto voce, 'WTF will you see from here, ya eejit, get your effin head back in the launch and sit down, your ar$e is in Mr. Y’s face!!')

Tom Dunne

So I got to take a Hobie Cat out for the first time yesterday, at the helm. Usually, I'm just a passenger.

I was quite apprehensive at the thought of being in control of such a large craft (I learned in a Laser Pico), but I absolutely loved it. The wind was a nice 12-15 knots, so it was enough to get up a reasonable speed, but not enough to scare a newbie like me.

I enjoyed it so much, that I am now in the process of buying the boat. This is the start of something beautiful.

Vexorg

Congrats, put up some pics so we can be envious.:)

Stheno

Enjoy it !

Stheno

Does anyone know when the DBSC series splits?

i.e. when the first half is over and it moves into the second half?