Abandon ship....

[SpottyDog5]

Following on from another thread I posted, showing a yacht breaking up, the crew had to jump into the water before she sank.
I thought it was scary, not only for what happened, but also how quick it happened.
Another poster thought it wasn't scary at all.
Has anyone on here actually had to abandon ship ?
Was it a calm (what I've been trained for) experience ?
I've done my Sea survival, but I'm still sure I would **** myself.
Was it a scary as I imagine it is ?

 

[elton]

As my boat was on the rocks I was instructed by lifeboat not to abandon ship. Most likely I'd have been smashed to a pulp in the swell. Boat broke up five minutes after rescue.

 

[oGaryo]

I got thrown off the back of a ship once and had to get myself into a liferaft, seriously. alot harder than you'd imagine

 

[SpottyDog5]

elton, difficult to make the best decisions in those conditions, I guess.

 

[rafiki_]

I got thrown off the back of a ship once and had to get myself into a liferaft, seriously. alot harder than you'd imagine

Good practice for the MoB training on your PB2 this weekend Gary. Forgot to wish you all the best for this!

 

[SpottyDog5]

On my sea survival course, it was incredibly energy sapping to get into the life-raft.

 

[oGaryo]

Good practice for the MoB training on your PB2 this weekend Gary. Forgot to wish you all the best for this!

will be interesting to experience it from a boat rather than in the water, I suspect a Westland Wessex won't be there to winch out the fender and bucket on this occasion though was great meeting up today Paul

 

[rafiki_]

was great meeting up today Paul

Yep, good session today, and many thanks for lunch

 

[z1ppy]

I raised an eyebrow at the comment on the original thread that it wasn't scary. I would challenge even the most accomplished seaman not for raise a heart beat at their boat sinking and stepping into the water.

For me, I would be bricking it and I don't mind saying so!

 

[longjohnsilver]

I raised an eyebrow at the comment on the original thread that it wasn't scary. I would challenge even the most accomplished seaman not for raise a heart beat at their boat sinking and stepping into the water.

For me, I would be bricking it and I don't mind saying so!

It must be much less scary when you have a number of fast support vessels only a matter of yards away. But still shocking, none the less.

 

[oceanfroggie]

One of the differences between a yacht and a mobo sinking is the risk of collapsed rigging, mast hitting crew, or rigging entrapping crew. She broke her back so went down like a stone and I'd say they knew they needed to get clear of the rigging as fast as possible. Mobos generally don't sink as fast as they tend not to capsize, even if badly holed they will float for quite a while. Loosing the keel on a yacht is the worst thing I can imagine due to the speed things happen. It just shows you though, these guys had adjacent support craft, whereas cruising moboers may be on their own for anything between 20 mins to an hour, so having the ability to don PDFs in an instant and launch a raft quickly is important. I'm amazed how many folk stow their rafts too far inboard, or worse don't have life rafts but instead depend on deflated tenders stowed away.

 

[SpottyDog5]

Set me thinking about the mobo that caught fire of Calshot a few years back.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?227966-Boat-fire-Solent
Rogerrat, how did things pan out ?

 

[maybh1]

I watched a boat hit rocks and then start to sink just outside Piampol on an MBM cruise many years ago

I don't know how the 4 souls on board felt as they abandoned ship and took to their dinghy but I know that as an observer I was absolutely terrified

Not a sight I would ever wish to see again

May
Xx