AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
And I feel nervous with single figure depths! Tacking on the 10m line was usual on the West Coast; even then you often felt very close to the shore.
A confession
- Thread starter justanothersailboat
- Start date
johnalison
Well-Known Member
I'm happier in single figures, but have got used to around 50m in some of our travels. I suffered from vertigo when it went off the scale at 200m+ in the Kattegat off Stromstad but realise that pelagic sailors will view this with condescension.
PeterWright
Well-Known Member
While I find the mud and shingle comforting, I shied away from it on one occasion nearly 12 years ago.
We took delivery of our current Wild Thyme at Rosneath on Gare Loch, where the previous owner had agreed to commission her rectifying any defects. We waited around while he replaced the auto pilot drive motor, but he was getting nowhere with fixing the echo sounder, so the pcb from the instruments was sent to Lymington for repair and we agreed to pick it up on the way back to Harwich, assured that it would fix the problem.
We collected it and installed it, the other cockpit instruments came back to life but the echo sounder remained useless - with 6 foot draft we abandoned the planned route across the Thames estuary and opted to go outside around Long Sand Head. A proper investigation once in SYH showed the transducer to be dead, replacing that fixed the problem.
We took delivery of our current Wild Thyme at Rosneath on Gare Loch, where the previous owner had agreed to commission her rectifying any defects. We waited around while he replaced the auto pilot drive motor, but he was getting nowhere with fixing the echo sounder, so the pcb from the instruments was sent to Lymington for repair and we agreed to pick it up on the way back to Harwich, assured that it would fix the problem.
We collected it and installed it, the other cockpit instruments came back to life but the echo sounder remained useless - with 6 foot draft we abandoned the planned route across the Thames estuary and opted to go outside around Long Sand Head. A proper investigation once in SYH showed the transducer to be dead, replacing that fixed the problem.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
The depth sounder was routinely off the scale crossing the bottom of Loch Fyne, from the Kyles of Bute to Tarbert. You don't need to go to the Kattegat for that!
Tasape
Active Member
Tasape
Active Member
My incident , the second in three years of re learning so far went thus . Attempting to reverse out of my pontoon as the boatyard staff do . My boat pulls to the left , when facing the stern , so they allow the stern to pull left and reverse her up to a turning area stick her in forward gear and motor through the boat yard and out on the river . This was our first attempt to perform this manoeuvre so as I could take the boat out solo and increase my sailing hours , not relying on crew , we normally walk / reverse her out and I or a crew member push the bow away from the end of the pontoon climb aboard and we potter off through the boat yard without any reversing . Whilst attempting to perform the former a 17 knot gust ? appeared from nowhere and pushed the stern sharply to the right 180 degrees , the forecast wind speed was 7 kts , high tide . How would a more seasoned sailor deal with this scenario , the pontoon spacing is “ notoriously tight “ apr 30 / 35 feet from the stern of mine to the other boat . I am considering a bow thruster ? , or a larger boatyard , 3k ? For a bow thruster , £500 per annum increased mooring fee ? .
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
In all fairness some boats will only reverse in one direction unless a good speed can be obtained & there is no side wind. So the helmsman has no choice, but to reverse in a curved direction, then use prop wash to get the nose round in the direction one wants the boat to go. If space is tight this can be a very difficult task & some do panic.
The thing is not to start worrying just because people are looking. Concentrate on the task in hand. Many do not do this & the panic sets in. I know one couple who had an issue the first time they visited a marina; got so upset that they are now selling their boat, because they can no longer get on & off their boat whilst on a mooring. They are too scared to use the marina, which they could easily afford.
My boat does not suffer from steering problems, but it is not unknown for me in, tight spots ( St Peter Port comes to mind) , to call out to surrounding boats. Tell them that I am single handed & ask them to stand by in case I have an issue. So far I can never recall needing their help. But I do recall a few cheers & claps from relieved owners.
johnalison
Well-Known Member
Still foreign though.
johnalison
Well-Known Member
People vary greatly in their spatial awareness and ability to manoeuvre in tight spaces. What you say is mainly true, but all boats will steer straight astern when out of gear. Even with my saildrive I have some propwalk, which runs counter to my usual exit from my home berth, and unless the wind is being particularly helpful normally knock the engine out of gear as soon as sufficient way has been gained, a technique which has often been mentioned in these columns.
The trick is always to use the wind and not fight it when in marinas. If you can't go out forwards, then go out astern against the wind, something that even the most ill-mannered boat should be able to do easily. There is only one constant, which is that you must not strike another boat unfendered. I allowed my boat to kiss another boat at 0.001 knots in Heybridge Basin in 1972 and have never touched another one since (including St Peter Port on the right under the walkway).
Cobra
Well-Known Member
As we are playing confessions of cock ups we have made, I feel I have to add my own faux pas.
A number of years back we were heading into Bradwell Marina in our Cobra 850 and were in Bradwell Creek just after half ebb on a spring tide. Three large motor boats came out of the marina, and I rather foolishly decided to go inshore of a (as I discovered shortly afterwards) 30 footer that was obviously afloat as she was moving on the ebb tide. Shortly after passing her stern we slowed and stopped in the ever so welcoming Bradwell mud!
As the tide continued to ebb, this 30 footer was still bobbing about...strange. I called Bradwell on the radio and told them that our arrival would be delayed a bit and told them where we were and if they wanted they could send a beer out...they helpfully pointed out said 30 footer had a lifting keel.
I so enjoyed paying my fees on Sunday morning!
A number of years back we were heading into Bradwell Marina in our Cobra 850 and were in Bradwell Creek just after half ebb on a spring tide. Three large motor boats came out of the marina, and I rather foolishly decided to go inshore of a (as I discovered shortly afterwards) 30 footer that was obviously afloat as she was moving on the ebb tide. Shortly after passing her stern we slowed and stopped in the ever so welcoming Bradwell mud!
As the tide continued to ebb, this 30 footer was still bobbing about...strange. I called Bradwell on the radio and told them that our arrival would be delayed a bit and told them where we were and if they wanted they could send a beer out...they helpfully pointed out said 30 footer had a lifting keel.
I so enjoyed paying my fees on Sunday morning!
justanothersailboat
Well-Known Member
I'm really. Really. glad I live & am learning in the age of the depth sounder. I can kind of imagine what it was like learning to go somewhere new before that and it must have required people to be made of sterner stuff than I suspect I am. I can now get home without the sounder if really needed but there aren't many other things I would be happy doing without it. I've never yet been somewhere where the sounder gets out of range of the seabed, look forward to it one day but it'll be quite a journey...
Kukri
Well-Known Member
Every time that I have seen your boat, it has been securely lashed to a pontoon
[/QUOTE
Thank goodness that two touch and go groundings, two engine failures and a handful of unintended gybes passed un-noticed?
Kukri
Well-Known Member
“Wooden ships and iron men…”
Considering that the writer was a distinguished military man, that’s the finest backhanded compliment I have been paid. ?
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Touch & go groundings are not mistakes. They are part of everyday sailing on the east coast, to be treated as "navigational checks", on the charted contours, whilst dodging adverse currents or taking short cuts. I do it regularly, to clean the weed off the very bottom of my keel, where I cannot reach with the antifoul, when on the hard. I tend to look for a nice cockle bank if poss.
But engine failures & unintended gybes-- well what can one say ????
justanothersailboat
Well-Known Member
Kukri, is that this book? Looks interesting if so...
Triumph and Tribulation
(if so, reading the subtitle... thank goodness my Tabasco is safely aboard... at least that's one mistake avoided).
Triumph and Tribulation
(if so, reading the subtitle... thank goodness my Tabasco is safely aboard... at least that's one mistake avoided).
Kukri
Well-Known Member
Yes, indeed. “Like onions, no ship should be without Tabasco Sauce. It gives a relish to the plainest fare, and is probably a powerful germicide.”
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AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
johnalison
Well-Known Member
On our first trip to the Frisian islands in our then Sadler 29 the echo sounder self-destructed soon after we got to the Netherlands (Navico of course). It was quite interesting, but we stuck to buoyed channels.
The Q
Well-Known Member
Some years ago during a race I cut across an old ferry slipway, the boat behind be followed... There was a long bang as they stopped dead... my boat of the time drew 18inches... theirs? 3 ft....
justanothersailboat
Well-Known Member
I know nothing of the Frisian islands really but it does sound like the one place a sounder might be even MORE handy than the Thames estuary. Even if the buoys are good I'm still impressed by toughing it out without, but it's a big enough trip that what else could you do? My sounder went awry for a while and would start reading random numbers at the most inopportune moments, round about the time I discovered the GPS on my phone navionics occasionally gets a bit laggy, which was what I'll term "a useful learning curve" through somewhat gritted teeth... it's not a great combination... some upgrades in my future I hope.
