Bay of Biscay in a motorboat ?

[Trazie]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

I did the crossing with tcm and we had the range to do it directly.

When I did it in 45 footer we did a leg from Royan to Santander because of the fuel situation. I would do it again though.

 

[ClassicPlastic]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

Just a point about all this comms kit:

The things that will kill you in the middle of Biscay cannot be prevented or mitigated by communicating your plight with others. If you are going to do a long remote sea leg on a mobo, don't even think about spending money on comms kit until you've completely sorted out all the things on the boat that need attention. Then, prioritise the life raft, grab bag, immersions suits, etc. Then, and only then, should you ponder a shiny new radio.

There's also the philosophical point that, once you've got yourself out into the middle of the Bay, you, and only you, should be responsible for finding dry land again.

PS A friend of mine lost his life off Coruna, when a winch rescue went wrong. His yacht was recovered several weeks later, undamaged other than the rudder failure which caused them to seek rescue in the first place.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

This is bollox. Before the road weight limits were increased (I'm talking 70's and 80's here) most motor boats went to the Med on their own bottoms and, for delivery skippers, time is money so they would go in virtually any conditions. In fact some owners would accompany the delivery skipper and treat the trip as a shake down cruise
It's true that nowadays most medium sized boats go by road and some larger ones as cargo on commercial ships but the main reason for this is time and money rather than some inherent lack of seaworthiness

 

[tcm]

xmas card list, spare fuel, prinny 60

gosh, steverow is top of my xmas card list! I don't think i have *ever* had a comment which includes "tcm is absolutely correct". Plenty of the opposite tho...

Fuelwise, we had a good hunt around for spare/lashable canisters, but i really really did not fancy it. There are people (inlc on this forum?) who can fabricate a proper extra tank to fit low in the bilges which would be best of course. Square-shaped tank on the swim platform is an option if it has some decent lashing points and can take the weight limit, (as with prinny60 i think?) but blimminek, i wd want to get it pumped off into the main tank asap we were doing some good crashing about. Swim platform is a good spot cos if something goes wrong at least it has flippin gone, not bouncing down the foredeck into the cockpit ouch crunch.

Helicopter wise i *think* still in range. But i think you would really only need this for medical emergency. Far more likley is mech prob. We had big parachute anchor, 2 liferafts, monster underwater hole-patching gear, drysuit and wetsuits and dive tanks for if things got really bad. Didn't have satphone tho.

With a mate elsewhere once we lost an engine cos he tuned it off and turned the battery off as well, and it stayed off even when i sed "is the battery isolator on?" after which we DIDN'T call the coastguard as my mate suggested (to say - what? - "this boat is poxy - it only does 9 knots! Come and get us this minute!") but trundled along. At this point you are only in about the same amount of mechanical do-do as a sailing boat when it sets off

 

[tcm]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

I agree, very good point. To a large extent, the best person to sort things out is yerself, and by preparation before the trip. If it floats, i wd stay on it, and not necessarily feel the need for immediate calling out to unknown mayday types with helicopter. V sad to hear of people dying by jumping off too early - or being winched off when rescuers take control.

 

[tcm]

Re: 60 foot prinny, and \"out of touch\"

we saw a 60 foot prinny from about ten miles out coming into la coruna. Wonder if it was the same one? Early may i think we were there, last year.

I wdn't be too wurrid being "out of touch". Are we a bit too wurrid about this? I was out of touch until about 1969 as we only had a poxy wireless and a tv, no phone or anyhting. More recently, if you go hillwalking even in the english lakes, there's no mobile recep so we just have to sort ourselves out, somehow.

 

[burgundyben]

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzhmm?what?yawn....me?zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ

 

[MedDreamer]

What about the ironing?

 

[Gludy]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

I would agree with you that sorting out everything before the trip but it is not an either/or situation.
Good comms as well as a well equiped boat and a crew with the skill to do it safely are all requirments.

"There's also the philosophical point that, once you've got yourself out into the middle of the Bay, you, and only you, should be responsible for finding dry land again."

I totally agree with that, that has to be the right approach but you still should have the comms gear and that as SteveRow states should be an SSB radio and maybe a backup sat phone.

 

[tcm]

Ironing

good point, i forgot to mention that an iron and ironing board are essential. Of course, I didn't do any ironing in Biscay, as that would be just stupid, really.

 

[steverow]

Re: 60 foot prinny, and \"out of touch\"

Yeah, about the right timescale...she was/is called "Time Flies" and is now at Villamoura.
She was skippered by a local Marine engineer/Del skipper in Swansea, with his wife, and the guy and his Mrs from a boat on the same pontoon as Gludy's boat and my boat (Right next to us in fact) crewing.
The owner didnt go on the trip. Boat last heard of being a marina cottage/large sunbed and up for sale, so Ive been told.

Steve

 

[Trazie]

Re: Ironing

You're right there, ironing whilst doing 25 knots across Biscay would be stupid even in extreme circumstances - especially on the swim platform /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[capsco]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

One point not mentioned is that to carry extra fuel on the Broom 345 would mean on the aft deck, which would not help a lot with stability and the aft deck which is not very big, would be very crowded conclusion Truck it !!!