Latest La Vagabond dragging anchor situation

Yellow Ballad

Yellow Ballad

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I have to admit I've not been to bothered about La Vaga recently it seemed to be lots of whinging and the videos seem to come across as a bit of a chore for them (who can blame them with 350k subscribers and only 1600 tappers as Dylan likes to call them) but they still net enough money for them to do it.

But the latest one was a good watch, fair play to them for keeping the cameras rolling and showing what happened. It was eye opening to see how they delt with it. As it's winter and we can all be a bit of an armchair sailor now and then I was just wondering how others thought they handled it and or if they would do anything different?

Personally I think they mananged to get out of the situation pretty well, without being there and knowing what the details were we can only speculate about other possible outcomes. I don't think I would have dived under the mobo myself and trying to free the chain but Riley is a pretty good freediver so I can understand he wanted to find out what was causing the trouble. The only other thing I would have done as a plan B would be to pull the mobo chain up with the cat holding both, untangle La Vagas and redeploy the mobo anchor, moved the crew from the mobo to la Vaga then dumped La Vagas chain from the cat and get everyone back to port.

Thoughts?


 
Yellow Ballad said:
I have to admit I've not been to bothered about La Vaga recently it seemed to be lots of whinging and the videos seem to come across as a bit of a chore for them (who can blame them with 350k subscribers and only 1600 tappers as Dylan likes to call them) but they still net enough money for them to do it.

But the latest one was a good watch, fair play to them for keeping the cameras rolling and showing what happened. It was eye opening to see how they delt with it. As it's winter and we can all be a bit of an armchair sailor now and then I was just wondering how others thought they handled it and or if they would do anything different?

Personally I think they mananged to get out of the situation pretty well, without being there and knowing what the details were we can only speculate about other possible outcomes. I don't think I would have dived under the mobo myself and trying to free the chain but Riley is a pretty good freediver so I can understand he wanted to find out what was causing the trouble. The only other thing I would have done as a plan B would be to pull the mobo chain up with the cat holding both, untangle La Vagas and redeploy the mobo anchor, moved the crew from the mobo to la Vaga then dumped La Vagas chain from the cat and get everyone back to port.

Thoughts?


Click to expand...

Dutch flagged mobo but they sounded Italian? He wasnt doing much! The way it was going my plan B would have been to cut my anchor free, let the mobo go, then get him to pick up the tangled front bits of HIS cock up and then take the mobo in tow.
None of that going under boats in that sort of weather! That was brave or foolhardy! he nearly got clobbered for good!
Stu
 
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They may end up with a whopping bill from the fishing boat they said the coastguard had sent and probably should as they needed rescuing too.

Bouying and releasing the anchor chain after a tangle is the well rehearsed tactic so why they didn't do this quickly I don't know. That way they regain control and could aid the other boat. Plain strange and very dangerous for a situation which is far from being unusual (although the distance they covered being chained together was).
 
Never heard of them until a short while ago. They are currently moored by one of my yachts. Said hello the other day, seem a very nice couple.

Good luck to them. :encouragement:
 
The obvious solution was for one of them to throw out a second anchor, however I suspect that is the one crucial item on a cruising boat neither of them seemed to have. Even my little lightweight tri carries a kedge capable of holding me in 30+ knots.

The other thought that occurred to me was why they didn't turn everything around so they were stern to wind and able to stop/reduce their drift with the cat engines in reverse. I know they're not as efficient like that but as they were they actually had to keep reversing away from the mobo drifting down on them anything would have been a bonus.

I think you would need to be there to judge the wisdom of diving on the mobo. Riley seems quite a capable chap and if it had been simply a case of lifting a wrap off and restoring drive to the mobo then the drama would have been quickly solved. My view is all credit to him for trying and then stopping once he realised it wasn't a simple fix.
 
Triassic said:
The obvious solution was for one of them to throw out a second anchor, however I suspect that is the one crucial item on a cruising boat neither of them seemed to have. Even my little lightweight tri carries a kedge capable of holding me in 30+ knots.
Click to expand...

Given that Vagabond had a working engine, and that its anchor was attached to the mobo, would it not have been possible to detach the anchor from Vagabond, then get Vagabond to tow the mobo back to the marina, then sort it all out? That way Vagabond, mobo, and both sets of anchors all make it back to somewhere safe without needing a tow.
But it's hard to tell what would work in these situations without being there.
At least they managed to work out something that got them safe, although I agree Vagabond could have given a tip of the hat to the fishermen that rescued them in the video.
 
newtothis said:
Given that Vagabond had a working engine, and that its anchor was attached to the mobo, would it not have been possible to detach the anchor from Vagabond, then get Vagabond to tow the mobo back to the marina, then sort it all out? That way Vagabond, mobo, and both sets of anchors all make it back to somewhere safe without needing a tow.
But it's hard to tell what would work in these situations without being there.
At least they managed to work out something that got them safe, although I agree Vagabond could have given a tip of the hat to the fishermen that rescued them in the video.
Click to expand...

Getting anchor chains snagged is so common where we sail that everyone (I thought) was ready for bouying and releasing their chain at a moments notice in the unlikely event that the snagging causes them to drag. Clearly the crew didn't know and thought they were permanently attached.
 
Just to follow up on a few things, rading the comment replies they didn't think their twin 30hp engines would be we able to tow both the cat and mobo in the breeze and swell.

Elayna did say in the video they could have saved the cat by cutting the anchor rode an option that passed their minds.

What I did notice was lack of life jackets, more so with the kids on the other boat. I know it's personal but in a sticky situation, or even just in a blow I ask my crew to put them on if I'm not happy with what's going on.

I have to hand it to Riley he didn't just cut loose and leave the other boat to sort it out, especially with kids on board but I hadn't noticed the lack of appreciation to the fishermen on the video, although I'm sure they were.
 
Yellow Ballad said:
Just to follow up on a few things, rading the comment replies they didn't think their twin 30hp engines would be we able to tow both the cat and mobo in the breeze and swell.

Elayna did say in the video they could have saved the cat by cutting the anchor rode an option that passed their minds.

What I did notice was lack of life jackets, more so with the kids on the other boat. I know it's personal but in a sticky situation, or even just in a blow I ask my crew to put them on if I'm not happy with what's going on.

I have to hand it to Riley he didn't just cut loose and leave the other boat to sort it out, especially with kids on board but I hadn't noticed the lack of appreciation to the fishermen on the video, although I'm sure they were.
Click to expand...
Fair do s to him, as I said, dangerous situation. I am confident that the fishermen were well looked after!
Stu
 
Yellow Ballad said:
Just to follow up on a few things, rading the comment replies they didn't think their twin 30hp engines would be we able to tow both the cat and mobo in the breeze and swell.

Elayna did say in the video they could have saved the cat by cutting the anchor rode an option that passed their minds.

What I did notice was lack of life jackets, more so with the kids on the other boat. I know it's personal but in a sticky situation, or even just in a blow I ask my crew to put them on if I'm not happy with what's going on.

I have to hand it to Riley he didn't just cut loose and leave the other boat to sort it out, especially with kids on board but I hadn't noticed the lack of appreciation to the fishermen on the video, although I'm sure they were.
Click to expand...
I think some of the grumps on here miss the point, times are a changing, more and more people are watching Youtube and such as a different option to watching terrestial TV. The ones who begrudge the Patreon thing should think on about the money they pay indirectly to TV and movie stars! This new world of Youtube, just a different way of watching "movies" is in its infancy, La. Vaga, Delos and such are the new "movie stars" Our very own Dylan scented it and got in in the early days, unfortunately he didnt hit the mass market "spot" La Vaga and Delos plus others have done! They found the market and have addressed it, if they fail to keep peeps on board and interested then market forces will prevail! However at the mo they are hitting the spot, so the best of luck to them!
They are the Tom Cruises etc of the Youtube world.
Stu
 
On a proper boat with two hulls... (no bias there).. your props are actually quite vulnerable to lines and ropes as they are very mush closer to the sheer line from the sides to the prop tips. To offer a perspective, I can easily touch my props with a broom when standing on the pontoon.

La Vagabond will need to be very careful about fouling her gear is she attempts to manoeuvre close to a casualty... especially in reverse.
 
skipper_stu said:
I think some of the grumps on here miss the point, times are a changing, more and more people are watching Youtube and such as a different option to watching terrestial TV. The ones who begrudge the Patreon thing should think on about the money they pay indirectly to TV and movie stars! This new world of Youtube, just a different way of watching "movies" is in its infancy, La. Vaga, Delos and such are the new "movie stars" Our very own Dylan scented it and got in in the early days, unfortunately he didnt hit the mass market "spot" La Vaga and Delos plus others have done! They found the market and have addressed it, if they fail to keep peeps on board and interested then market forces will prevail! However at the mo they are hitting the spot, so the best of luck to them!
They are the Tom Cruises etc of the Youtube world.
Stu
Click to expand...

Totally agree, I have to admit I have been very close to "tapping" a few due to the fantastic quality of the content and athough I'm lucky enough to manage to own a boat, I live pretty frugally to do so, when I do have a bit of spare cash there's always something that needs fixing. I would be quite happy not to watch any if they decided it was pay per view.
 
greggron said:
No word of thanks for the guys in the fishing boat that got them safely back to the dock - what does that say?
Click to expand...

I heard insurance mentioned. Perhaps it was a salvage agreement.
I think after all else had failed. I would have let out all my chain. Cut or disconnected from the chain from the boat or from any warp attached then taken the Mobo under two in a forward direction. They were always going to get the chain and anchor back.
 
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