Are stinkiepots scarier than ragboats?

[tcm]

Brendan and/or some others raised this issue below.

I've been on sailing boats and on stinkie a fair bit in adverse conditions, and wd say that powerboats give that slightly scary feeling more often.

Initially, i wasn't sure if this is an advantage, except that it is of course very useful if ever a trip on a sailing boat is taken as one is far more innured to stuff breaking, stuff sounding as though it is breaking, charging up/down/through waves, things going very wrong very quickly and so on. I often feel a bit of wimp on powerboats but seem to find I am branded a "nutter" when under sail. Not sure if this last bit adds to the argument at all, but anyway, let's face it, all sailing boats except the most stripped-out racers are invariably a bit girly, especially with all that quiet contemplation plus the other bits about examining the flow of air over the sails and the billowiness of the sails frexample. Whereas all powerboats (except a few electric riverboats) are definitely somewhat brave and blokey. I think.

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[ChrisE]

Is that why most of them (Stinkies) only go out in f3 or less then?

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[BrendanS]

Seeing as my name has already been mentioned...I'm a powerboater (most of the time) and get bored below F4. Quite happily go out in F7, though as it's only a 21'er, have to be a little careful

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[Twister_Ken]

Agreed

Coz if something motive powerish (wind) breaks on a sailyboat, there are usually a good few things you can do to fix it or work around the problem. Whereas on a smokie when something motive (diesel horses) goes pop, you just have to telephone the guys in the yellow oilies with the big blue and orange motorboat, and read Penthouse until they arrive in the nick of time.

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[Benny1]

Re: Agreed

No-no-no

Stinkies don't need Penthouse & tissues 'cos they usually have a good selection of scantily clad real live girlies on board (usually to be found on fore and aft sunbeds...even in N Wales (though admittedly not in december)).

This will aslo be the reason they do not do out in rough seas. The 'ladies' do not like to get wet while they sunbathe.

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[tcm]

Re: Agreed

this thread isn't at all going as planned, because i put it on the wrong blimmin forum. Not to worry, i will now raise some obscure theoretical nav/colregs/ensign question on mobochat, and then possibly a question about buying something expensive on PBO...

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[ChrisE]

Are stinkie forum users worse at navigating...(nm)

.

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[BrendanS]

Re: Agreed

Put the same question on mobochat, and then see how differently the two threads turn out

<hr width=100% size=1> I asked an economist for her phone number....and she gave me an estimate

 

[zefender]

Re: Driver, not propulsion method

On a motorboat, there's very little time to be scared, cos you've usually arrived before you've had a chance to suggest stopping/slowing down, phoning RNLI etc, even if your petrified whimperings could actually be heard. Also, on certain motery boats there's usually some super efficient young lass of obvious breeding, chucking lots of grape juice down your throat so it all fogs up really quickly. Now on sailyboats, if you wanted a drink in ruffty-tufty conditions, you end up pouring it all over the floor, having a mouthfull of glass fragments or drinking straight from the bottle, which gives the impression of actually needing to drink the stuff and unsettles others sailing by.
The reason why you are "branded a nutter" when going to the other side is that you maybe consider maximum speed to be the only thing worth doing on a boat (destination, not journey, see). I suspect you would probably drive a Morris Traveller rather too fast round bends too. This may be a blokey condition, rather like penis envy, but not something to be so open about surely? Sailey people, apart from the racing nutter brigade (who really should be powerboat racing anyway) are more at ease. They certainly seem to dress in a more blokey sort of way than their rather more fey diesel guzzling brethren - though I'm not sure that's an entirely good thing. Top Gear is very very blokey, cos it's all about speed. But driving, like boating, isn't all about speed is it? I'm sure you're not suggesting slow is feminine and thus bad, are you?

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[Peppermint]

They are to me

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[Twister_Ken]

Decree nisi

I've used the excuse of mistakenly putting something in the wrong place before. It didn't work.

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[Sybarite]

Re: Agreed

While I would like to agree with you (if only to avoid being verbally cut to ribbons when I don't) I must observe in this particular case that it is some time since life-boats were powered by sail.

John

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: Agreed

Scary, them lifeboats. Especially the amount of money they attract.

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[tcm]

Re: rationale

Powerboating is scary for lots of reasons. The boat is designed to sit on rather than in the waves, and his tips around more drastically in heavy sea, and slams are really big slams when they happen at 25 knots. Light sailing boats do all this a litle bit, and they'd do it more with no sail up.

Lots of reasons why saily boats are less scary. Sailing boats sit in the sea, so their motion is always quite easy and fairly predictable, even with waves several times the height of the boat. It's quieter with no engine (or an engine smaller than some gennys), and this reduces the stress levels too. I wonder if even the white water spray, every present around or at the helm or a powerboat only turns up in a sailing boat in more extreme conditions.

Not sure that the idea of powerboats is invariably to reach a destination faster. It's not THAT much faster anyway, and someone with no time at all would drive a car or whatever. Powerboating offers a more reliable route back, the option to include other activities in a day, and usually more upholstery, space and comfort.

I think that some of the really speedy guys in powerboats are ex-yotties - "power at last" - the sailing tendency (or requirement on a racing sailing boat) is to extract towards the upper end of performance (it's free anyway) whereas stinkies on a trip of any distance are more likely to rumble along at somewhat less than their maximum cruising speed - cos the last little bit of extra speed is the most expensive of all.

I wasn't a derogatory remark either way, although determined types could turn the argument in favour of either saily or raggie: In a given sea, a planing motorboat will be more leapy and lurchy, which ain't great. It makes the same conditions (or much worse) on a sailing boat much less alarming, or some others might say less "exciting", others might say that the sailing boat is more suited to adverse conditions F3-8 whereas most powerboats aren't really aimed at sea conditions above say F5.




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[kingfisher]

Horses for courses

Boats are designded with their intended use in mind:
BenbavJens are designed for port use and light winds, and they are good at that. But damn uncomfartable in a blow.
The Swedes are designed for extended blue water cruising, so they can take all but everything thrown at them.
Same with Mobo's I guess: most of them are intended to be used to 3 Bft max, so are designed as such.

Did anyone ever ride in a Sovereign class lifeboat through bad weather or a miitary small craft (PT boat or something) ? So actualy used a heavy weather designed mobo?

<hr width=100% size=1>Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
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[BarryH]

Depends who's at the helm. I've been on a stinkipot with someone who really knows what they're doing with the boat. Reads the water and wave's etc. Didn't feel scary at all. Yet I've been in a sailing dinghy with somepne who knows bugger all about it, scared the wits out of me.

There have been times when I've been on a stinkie with a fairly inexperienced helm when I've call enough and taken over.

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[MADFISH]

I've been more scared on a motor boat than a sail boat. I think it has got something to do with ballast ratios!

The motorboat that scared me was a 52ft long displacement motor cruiser (my wifes' former home) in a beam sea going to Cowes in December in a SE gale. It rolled so far over that the port prop would cavitate unloading the engine and the turbo would cut out then back in again!

All this with 3 piece suites, TV,s and christmas trees shifting around!
Didn't break anything though...

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[Mirelle]

You want a safe motorboat?

Take a long, hard, look at your local lifeboat.

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[Birdseye]

Re: You want a safe motorboat?

Wonder how many MOBO members own lifeboats? They have about the same relationship to the average Princess that ENZA has to my Prout.

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[Dave1258]

Re: You want a safe motorboat?

Most MOBO's have a tender lashed on the back of the boat, (could be used as lifeboat if needed) and a lot of larger motor boats have cassette type life boats on deck anyhoos,
If you have powerboaters in mind when generalizing about MOBO then I can state that the majority have undergone courses covering pilotage, first aid, engine maintenance, VHF, passage planning and sea survival to name but a few.
Most MOBO are club members who are governed by a body responsible for minimising the loss of life for seafarers and coastal users,responding to maritime emergencies.
What's a Prout btw, some small green vegetable often eaten at xmas? /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>If you don't make mistakes, you aren't really trying.