Brown trousers?

30boat

30boat

N/A
Joined
26 Oct 2001
Messages
8,558
Location
Portugal
Visit site
Have you ever been in a really scary situation?
I had to dodge a few large breakers the other day,the second time in two months,whent entering harbour in Tavira.Those things can turn you turtle if they catch you sideways.Not fun.
 
I agree, lightning puts the willies up me. I have a length of chain with a snap shackle which I attach to the leeward shrouds and let dangle in the water, the chain is shrink-sleeved to protect the topsides.

However, not sure if I'm actually making the boat more attractive to hit !
 
Seajet said:
I agree, lightning puts the willies up me. I have a length of chain with a snap shackle which I attach to the leeward shrouds and let dangle in the water, the chain is shrink-sleeved to protect the topsides.

However, not sure if I'm actually making the boat more attractive to hit !
Click to expand...

The theory goes that PROVIDED you have a good connection to Earth, then the mast will protect everything within a cone 45 degrees from the vertical around the top of the mast. That should be ample for a sailing vessel; not so good for a motor boat, whose bow could easily project beyond the cone of protection, especially if pitching a lot! HOWEVER, I think a better connection than a snap shackle would be best to ensure a good connection; you could potentially be getting significant current flows through the rigging - that's why lightning conductors on buildings have a large cross-section and are made of copper.

I've been out in an electrical storm, a long time ago; even knowing the theory it is a bit scary to know that the top of your mast is the highest thing for miles!
 
My boat has the mast foot step bolted to a stainless steel compression post inside the cabin, under the cabin sole there is a copper strap between the compression post and the keel. I dont know how effective that would be though, as the mast step is painted and so is the keel.
 
Yes, very very thick fog, breaking seas, chartplotter died & suddenly could hear waves breaking on rocks :eek:
Took a minute or so to calm down & steer a good course.
 
30boat said:
Have you ever been in a really scary situation?
Click to expand...

Very thick fog in the Channel, in a shipping lane, with no radar or AIS.

Nothing else to do except get on a course at right angles to the lane, make all possible speed, unclip our safety harnessses, put our lifejackets on and hope for the best.
 
galadriel said:
My boat has the mast foot step bolted to a stainless steel compression post inside the cabin, under the cabin sole there is a copper strap between the compression post and the keel. I dont know how effective that would be though, as .
Click to expand...

To lightning, paint is a negligible insulator.

When my mast was made I specified a lightning conductor down the centre that connects to a hefty piece of wire that comes out of the bottom of the bridgedeck. If lightning threatens I lower the wire into the water. Never had cause to find out if it works but it makes me feel better.
 
Last edited:
AntarcticPilot said:
The theory goes that PROVIDED you have a good connection to Earth, then the mast will protect everything within a cone 45 degrees from the vertical around the top of the mast. That should be ample for a sailing vessel; not so good for a motor boat, whose bow could easily project beyond the cone of protection, especially if pitching a lot! HOWEVER, I think a better connection than a snap shackle would be best to ensure a good connection; you could potentially be getting significant current flows through the rigging - that's why lightning conductors on buildings have a large cross-section and are made of copper.

I've been out in an electrical storm, a long time ago; even knowing the theory it is a bit scary to know that the top of your mast is the highest thing for miles!
Click to expand...

I was crossing the Channel Binic - Plymouth once when a severe electrical storm turned up; it looked so bad we actually tried altering course ( not done lightly as this was all DR before Decca & GPS ) to no avail, then a ship nearby was hit - no apparent effect - and lightning begn hitting the water around us - my crew said " it's a matter of time isn't it ? " and started inflating the dinghy !

Got away with it of course, another time I was approaching the River Frome in the wide bit of Poole harbour when a savage storm broke, and I made full pelt for the river with the taller masts there; on the way we spotted a chap in a Mirror in trouble, so slightly reluctantly stopped & took him in tow, on the premise that if we didn't we deserved to get hit.

My supposedly 'tough as any man' feminist ex-wife went below and refused to come out to help during this...

That 'rescue' worked, not only didn't get hit but got bought beer all night ! :)

At my club moorings, a 20' yawl with short wooden masts was hit and a plank blown out of her side, yet she was surrounded by much taller alloy masts...
 
A secondary function of lightning conductors is to discharge the clouds by spraying them with oppositely-charged ions. The electrostatic charge gradient makes the conductor polarised and it emits ions from the tip which are attracted to the cloud and help to reduce the local charge. The discharge is more effective if the top of the conductor has multiple points. That is why you sometimes see a wire brush on the top.
 
Fog, once just off Weymouth and once in the Baie of Seine, in both cases made for shallow water and skulked, all that could be heard were fog horns and prop noises.

Bit better equipped now with radar, ais and gps, so would go from absolutely terrified to frightened.
 
Rounding the Mull of Kintyre at midnight after 22 hours of sailing.
Forecast was F1, if that and when we went past campbelltown at tea time it was a beautiful day just as the forecast said. Then as we were half way to Jura the wiind appeared, steady F8 gusting 10, black dark and running down wind. All i remember was standing in the cockpit and turning around to see the white horse breaking at a guess an easy 8 feet above my head. Got to jura and dropped the hook behind the rock at the entrance and hit the sack, couldnt have cared by that point if the anchor dragged or not. Was up at 5 am and ashore until 9pm until the wind died. Worst bit was watching my grandad disappear on deck to drop the main which meant turning side onto the monster waves while i kept the spotlight on him.
 
Scary moment

Spinnaker up and racing in a Nic 55 in fresh conditions. The pole downhaul parted and the pole skied then pulled clean off the mast. The pole on those boats is a two man lift, but it was being flicked around all over the place as if it weighed nothing. Fortunately we we able to drop it into the sea and recover it without damaging the boat or crew.
 
Approaching and entering Barbate in fog, knowing there was a tuna cage closeby and wave break inside harbour - not nice.

Waterspouts mid-atlantic, what would those things do?

Trying to enter Gib straights with Levante blowing, engineless and tired, eventually turned back only to be becalmed for day or so (not really brown trouserish but very frustrating)
 
Scary moment.

Crossing the channel on a dark night with no moon. Under motor we approached the East bound traffic. There was a big gaggle of shipping heading east, then one isolated ship with lots of lights on deck, looks like a fishing boat we decided, but we could not distinguish the nav lights with all the deck lights. Behind it, we could see the faint glimmer of the port light of another ship, some miles further west. We had turned west earlier to save crossing amongst the gaggle, but now felt safe enough to resume our course south behind the 'fishing' boat, as we approached his stern, he lit a huge search light facing aft, with that we could just see in its light the hulk of a dead bulk carrier or tanker under tow!! We immediately did a 180 turn to starboard to see this massive hulk slide past, the 'dim distant' port light was infact dim, but not so distant.

This was before AIS, and as it was a clear night, albeit very dark we had not put the radar on.
 
Crossing the channel there was a slight fog. Suddenly I realised the fog had really closed down. I went down to turn on the radar as I started to hear big engines and as I waited for it to start up heard a call on the vhf to a vessel by lat/long. As I realised I was at that position someone else replied with their position not far from me. The ship said "no not you". I then responded and his first words were "do not be afraid"!
 
When running North in the Gulf Stream 60 miles off the Carolinas the forecast gave notice of an unexpected and rapidly developing low which gave strong winds from the North.

Trust me you do not want to be out in the stream when it is blowing 25knots plus from the North.

It is the only time I had waves coming in rolling green over the deck and hitting the dodger with a thud that shook the boat and the only time I thought I could get rolled by a wave.

Ryton 38 steel ketch.
 
Up at the crack of dawn (05:00) in Loch Sunart heading for Ardnamurchan.
F1, so I hoisted the Gennaker/Spinoa single handed before the rest of the family were awake.
Super sail past Tobermory, but hadn't noticed the E wind increasing up the Sound of Mull.
Before I knew it I had 15-20 kts and was way over-canvassed.
And then the inevitable wind shift that blew us into Kilchoan bay.
I was eventually able to stow the sail about 200m from the shore, but it was an interesting time.
Brown trousers would have been useful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

W
Downsizing to your boat.
2
Replies
28
Views
666
Wansworth
W
DangerousPirate
Boat vibrating in high winds??
Replies
13
Views
460
DangerousPirate
DangerousPirate

Share this page

Top