Breaking down near headlands / cliffs

[petem]

We have quite a few headlands close to where we are. Many of them are steep cliffs with a depth of 30m or so immediately off the cliff face. What is the best strategy for coping with a mechanical breakdown with wind that is blowing you onto the cliff? I suppose a Mayday and deployment of all chain (60m in my case) is the only thing you can do (other than start rowing)!?

 

[Bouba]

This would be the perfect time to wonder why you didn’t buy a sea anchor

 

[vas]

This would be the perfect time to wonder why you didn’t buy a sea anchor

would only delay the inevitable though...

no idea Pete other than what you typed

V.

 

[Bouba]

Good time to deploy the tender

 

[Seastoke]

We have quite a few headlands close to where we are. Many of them are steep cliffs with a depth of 30m or so immediately off the cliff face. What is the best strategy for coping with a mechanical breakdown with wind that is blowing you onto the cliff? I suppose a Mayday and deployment of all chain (60m in my case) is the only thing you can do (other than start rowing)!?

Pete I don’t think it’s a mayday , as you could deploy the tender , all are safe , you could even try and tow the s34 ,. It is defo a PAN PAN

 

[Portofino]

Stay further out to give more thinking time .
Tie a long rope to the chain .The bite should be ready to attach .
Everyone should carry a long rope .
This way you will have 50/ 60 M on the seabed .

Then relax and calmly fix the fault(s) after sending a Pan Pan .

Stop worrying.:encouragement:

 

[Robert Wilson]

Pete I don’t think it’s a mayday , as you could deploy the tender , all are safe , you could even try and tow the s34 ,. It is defo a PAN PAN

+1 with the addition of preparing all on board for a possible abandon ship, depending on the sea state and breakers onto the rocks at the cliff base/face(s).

If the wind was light and no nasty swell/breakers I assume it might be possible to sail/beat off?

And start singing the hymn:-
"Will your anchor hold in the storms of Life."

 

[petem]

Stay further out to give more thinking time .
Tie a long rope to the chain .The bite should be ready to attach .
Everyone should carry a long rope .
This way you will have 50/ 60 M on the seabed .

Then relax and calmly fix the fault(s) after sending a Pan Pan .

Stop worrying.:encouragement:

I like your idea of tying a rope to the chain and cutting the bitte end.

I also stay a fair distance from cliffs but am amazed at how close some people go (20-30ft away)!

Personally, as we don't have a tender that can be quickly deployed I think I'd send a MayDay.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Carry a longer chain and a good anchor such that you have a chance of stopping the boat before it hits the cliff
Ensure you have a functioning VHF and you know how to issue a Pan Pan or Mayday call on 16
Ensure your flares are up to date such that you can use them to attract attention of passing vessels
Have a suitable tow rope ready to deploy in an easily accessible locker
If the weather is not too rough consider how you will deploy your tender and attach a line to it so you can attempt to tow your boat away from the cliffs
Ensure your life raft is serviced and suitable for the number of people usually on board and you know how to deploy it
Ensure you have sufficient serviceable lifejackets for all onboard

Then stop worrying about it coz its not likely to happen

 

[julians]

As per the others, give the headlands a wide berth and a longer chain or extra rope , and tow away with the tender if you have one, but I'd think it'd be exceptionally unlikelyto happen in first place given you have a twin engined boat.

I do consider this exact scenario every now and again, my boat only has one engine and no tender/liferaft, so I go with the long Anchor chain and wide berth approach.

It did actually happen to me last year, just rounding cala Figuera lighthouse in mallorca, the engine just cut out dead at the closest point to the rocks(wasn't following my own advice for a wide berth) luckily it the engine started straight back up again, but I was ready to drop the anchor and hope it gripped.

 

[stelican]

Move back to Port Solent

 

[petem]

Move back to Port Solent

Ooh no, far to many things to hit underwater!

 

[Seastoke]

Ooh no, far to many things to hit underwater!

Sounds like you have a submarine

 

[BruceK]

Pete, you describe 90% of the Anglesey coastline. As you know I also have a 34 foot sports cruiser and 50m of chain is as much as I can carry before it adds too much forward weight. However I do not agree in having to cut the bitter end to add rope. Instead I have 100m of rope neatly looped across 2x Z brackets at top rear of the anchor locker that connects to the bitter end and spliced on to the end of the chain. Looped on these brackets the chain cannot over run the gypsey when paying out, however if needed simply pulling the looped rope off the brackets allows for free flow. The only downside to this is it can be a helluva job to pull the rope back up to retrieve the chain so the windlass can take over if in very deep water and your windlass doesnt suit rope. Mine does but it still doesn't like 3 braid nylon anchor warp. Too slippy. If I am using the rope warp in leisure use I attach a carabiner to the end of the chain attached to braid on braid (what yotties use for halyard). The drum on my windlass grips that perfectly while I retrieve the nylon warp.

 

[jfm]

Definitely mayday in my books

Use tender as tow boat if feasible. Drop anchor. Extend chain if sensible. Call a mate. Think calmly about fixing engine.

 

[dehlerdave]

If boat has blown onto cliff then life raft will probably do the same. Salvation needs to be sought elsewhere via VHF.

 

[petem]

Thanks all for the additional answers. Considering there's no tide and little swell where we are, I wonder if ultimately as you got really close to the cliffs the wind might actually bounce off thus keeping you away from an actual impact?

 

[jfm]

It might, but generally it won’t I would say.

 

[scotty123]

We have quite a few headlands close to where we are. Many of them are steep cliffs with a depth of 30m or so immediately off the cliff face. What is the best strategy for coping with a mechanical breakdown with wind that is blowing you onto the cliff? I suppose a Mayday and deployment of all chain (60m in my case) is the only thing you can do (other than start rowing)!?

Often, a vhf signal is rubbish near any high ground/cliffs, so check there are no black spots before relying on same.

 

[jrudge]

I always give headlands a wide berth for exactly this reason. Rope round the prob being to main credible reason for both engines stopping in the absence of running out of fuel.

This was my sole complaint of the Garmin auto route system. Even on wide setting it seemed a competition as to how close it could take you to the cliffs.