Do you worry enough, aka boat paranoia

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eddystone

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My big worry about my boat is whether I am worrying too much or not enough and also whether I have my worrying priorities right. I'm also very worried that if I didn't have a boat I might have more time to worry about more important things. However I'm worried I could never achieve that situation because of the market for second hand boats. If I sold it I'd probably worry for the rest of my life about whether I could have got more money. (rather like how I still worry about whether I paid too much when I bought it.)

So I'm really happy I have got a boat that I can worry endlessly about that stops me worrying unnecessarily about important things. And if it turns out I should have worried more, the worse that can happen is I might drown. No point in worrying about that.:)
 
8 week summer cruise - seacocks left unmolested. Leave the boat for a couple of days in a marina whilst we go ashore sightseeing - every seacock nipped up so tight they're practically seized. Bonkers.
 
eddystone said:
My big worry about my boat is whether I am worrying too much or not enough and also whether I have my worrying priorities right. I'm also very worried that if I didn't have a boat I might have more time to worry about more important things. However I'm worried I could never achieve that situation because of the market for second hand boats. If I sold it I'd probably worry for the rest of my life about whether I could have got more money. (rather like how I still worry about whether I paid too much when I bought it.)

So I'm really happy I have got a boat that I can worry endlessly about that stops me worrying unnecessarily about important things. And if it turns out I should have worried more, the worse that can happen is I might drown. No point in worrying about that.:)
Click to expand...

Would you describe yourself as a worrier?
 
At what point in the age of a boat do you worry least? We started out with a fairly old boat and I was always terrified that something critical was about to wear out leaving us adrift and about to be wrecked on a lee shore. Then we bought a brand new boat and I was worried that everything was unproven and there had not been time to find and fix any build faults - which were waiting to wreck us on a lee shore. I can't get away from the impression that the "happy" zone between these two is very narrow - some time soon I'm going to develop confidence in the boat and have a few days of worry free cruising, but then I'm going to wake up the following morning and start worrying that the engine has gone past 500 hours and the rigging is more than five years old - and everything is on the point of breaking! :-)
 
If you aren't worried about the plastic bath tub you use to go out into the harshest environment on the planet... the one that's maintained on never quiet enough money by an enthusiastic amateur and before the amateur owned it, well who knows... you're nuts. Still... not that many accidents do actually happen based on my insurance premium!

I think the Black Box theory still holds true though...

http://www.goodoldboat.com/reader_services/articles/blackbox.php
 
Now you got me worried if we have enough water to last the next few days and it not , am worrying we may not find any where to fill even if we do I worryed that it may not be good quality for our tanks , now am worried if the co skipper read this she going to be worrying too , need to find some thing else to worry about so to stop worrying about our water situation .
 
I didn't used to worry, but having read this, I have started to worry that I may not be worried enough. Or.. is it that being too worried is a worry and that could make me worry even more when I never used to worry at all.
 
I have found this thread quite comforting (as well as amusing). At least I know now it's not just me that worries.

My take on it is that more knowledge equals more worry. Or at least, more to worry about.

I know some boat owners who go everywhere and anywhere almost without a care, and to be fair almost without incident, yet they are or seem to be blissfully unaware of all the things that could go wrong; little time is ever spent on essential maintenance or what are to me vital checks.

Yet so many weekends when they're off out and say to us "Are you coming" I decline because I've got to just check this or take that apart and inspect it, or give something a clean up and check over which could take as long as half a day.

It's partly my engineering knowledge, knowing how it all works and therefore what could go wrong.
It's partly my cautious nature, making sure I've covered every angle.
It's partly this forum, which has increased my knowledge enormously but in so doing has revealed a whole host of extra things that could go wrong because it's happened to others.

And then there are the two conflicting sayings.
1. "What's he worst that could happen?"
2. "Worse things happen at sea"

:eek::eek:
 
I, too, have found comfort in this thread. I am always asking myself what will I do if the mast goes/sheet failure/engine stops/genoa rips/
hull punctured etc all at the worst possible moment. I think its to do with sailing solo and working out the best plan for that moment should the worst happen. It is of course wearing on the nerves and does detract from the joy of sailing, which I do get and most welcome they are.
 
"Just because you are paranoid does'nt mean they are not out to get you"

Paranoia / worry is an important part of sailing isnt it?
Knowing what to do if there was a foot of water above the sole is worth some thought.
The marine environment is a hostile one and will combine boat weaknesses and random events into a potential dangerous event, given the chance.

That said, sailing is one of the least legislated and policed environments available to us.
My childhood is peppered with challenges and long awaited land falls that have helped to make me "the man I am today". The stillness of an anchorage after a blustery day. The edginess of a lee shore and a dropping tide. The adventure of a sail change on a plunging fore deck.

Are we risk averse these days, or just sensibly cautious?
We each of us decide for ourselves where the line is.

But I love that is it is my decision and I am not being shepherded through life by some nanny state beaurocracy. Even my small East coast passages have just enough risk for me to feel a sense of adventure and just a bit like my destiny is my own (with the mobile phone and the RNLI comfortably close to hand of course).
 
stu9000 said:
"...

Knowing what to do if there was a foot of water above the sole is worth some thought.


....
Click to expand...

In a storm, in the middle of the night, in our first boat, all hell broke lose with pumps running and alarms going off. I reached down out of bed and found water on the floor, so woke my wife up. She asked how deep it was and I replied "about half an inch" - she told me to wake her again if it got up to a foot...

I spent an hour searching for, and fixing, the disconnected pipe....
 
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