Compulsory training for raggies?

[Twister_Ken]

Don Street

Cruising Association evening lecture, last week. I believe Iolaire is in Limehouse Basin at the moment.

The lecture series details are here:

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.cruising.org.uk/lectures.htm>http://www.cruising.org.uk/lectures.htm</A>

 

[duncan]

Whilst I agree with your premise I cannot help feeling that it misses the primary issues - which are referred to under the heading of "experience" above - with one notable exception which is 'this is what F7 SW over a spring ebb tide means in mid channel' gets illustrated clearly!
The issues such as Where is the danger, where is possible shelter and what are it's implications, how should I rig and steer for the conditions now and next need some founding in experience simply because 'now' is not the right time to be experimenting! Finally, and bringing back the sail / power issue a bit, without experience it is easy to delay the necessay actions until the conditions arrive, and make them impractical or dangerous in themselves! Getting down the main and rigging a storm jib are not tasks that would trouble most in a F5 with care and attention to safety but get a tide change and wind increase and the significant detioration could well create a problem on deck. For the MB'er getting a bit more thrown around trying to change a fuel filter (for example) may deliver a few more bruised knuckles but you are still in relative safety and rarely called out onto a bucking foredeck festooned with ropes and washed by wind and waves!
Finally, accepting that safe (relatively) passage may also mean going a long way out of your way is also something that seems to be goign out of fashion a bit, especially with bigger and bigger engines in sail boats - I still remember giving up making the last 2 miles up to Fecamp in a NE6/7 after many hours trying (boat was a bilge keel Jaguar about 25ft) and bobbing off down to Le Havre. The skipper had made a poor cal on the nav which left us low - but was determined to 'right the wrong' for around 4 hours! Early calls are the key to much of the safety inherent in a sail craft - especially short handed.

 

[c4pt]

Obeserver must fancy himself as a bit of a fishermen by the way he's realed the 'raggies' in. However the bottom line must surely be that if its training for one then its training all, irrespective as to whether youa have a sail or 6 litre gas waster as a power source.

 

[Eudorajab]

I agree almost entirely. Few more suggestions for experiencing the heavy stuff (a must in order to determine both your boat and your own limits). Never take the wife and daughter. Tends to put them off a bit. Always do it with someone who has the experience the first time or times and if you cant find that someone, do it very gradually yourself. This has a number of benefits as follows:- If you do get caught out you know exactl;y what to do. Secondly, your crew (normally wife and family) will feel a lot less anxious if they KNOW you and the boat have done it before. This in itself makes a huge difference (if not the biggest difference) as you dont have to baby a nervous crew as well as doing everything else that you need to do in order to avoid being a burden on the RNLI.