Lifejacket safety and crew amusement

[DanTribe]

I was out racing yesterday with a crew of 4 sub 20yr olds, all good dinghy sailors but limited experience on cruisers. There's me at plus 70 tottering about doing foredeck.
Halfway through a spinnaker gybe I accidentally activate my lifejacket. So now I'm struggling to latch the pole on with this hissing beast grabbing me by the neck.
The crew all found this hilarious and found time to photograph me, but no one rushed to help.
Time for some serious crew re-training I think.

 

[capnsensible]

I was out racing yesterday with a crew of 4 sub 20yr olds, all good dinghy sailors but limited experience on cruisers. There's me at plus 70 tottering about doing foredeck.
Halfway through a spinnaker gybe I accidentally activate my lifejacket. So now I'm struggling to latch the pole on with this hissing beast grabbing me by the neck.
The crew all found this hilarious and found time to photograph me, but no one rushed to help.
Time for some serious crew re-training I think.

I used to keep a couple of old inflatable jackets on my school yachts. During Coastal and YM prep courses, i would get a candidate to put one on and together with old rusty cylinders, set one off. Was great for hands on training. Cost virtually nothing.

 

[flaming]

The crew all found this hilarious and found time to photograph me, but no one rushed to help.

But strangely this post was not accompanied by a photo....

 

[Daydream believer]

I was out racing yesterday with a crew of 4 sub 20yr olds, all good dinghy sailors but limited experience on cruisers. There's me at plus 70 tottering about doing foredeck.
Halfway through a spinnaker gybe I accidentally activate my lifejacket. So now I'm struggling to latch the pole on with this hissing beast grabbing me by the neck.
The crew all found this hilarious and found time to photograph me, but no one rushed to help.
Time for some serious crew re-training I think.

Is it not funny how you are the one doing the hard work on the deck?
On the few times I have had a crew I have found a similar experience.
Odd that.

 

[srm]

Is it not funny how you are the one doing the hard work on the deck?
On the few times I have had a crew I have found a similar experience.
Odd that.

I was out racing yesterday with a crew of 4 sub 20yr olds, all good dinghy sailors but limited experience on cruisers. There's me at plus 70 tottering about doing foredeck.

On mid sized and upwards fishing boats there was one sure way to identify the skipper, he was the one wearing carpet slippers.

As skipper your role is to supervise and if necessary instruct your crew, not dance about the foredeck or such like. I followed this policy during my YM exam. The examiner (Rod Carr) had been talking about racing, so, telling him that he was the most experienced helmsman on the boat I had him steer on a beat up a river. He, somewhat reluctantly, agreed but I had to call the tacks.

 

[DanTribe]

Is it not funny how you are the one doing the hard work on the deck?
On the few times I have had a crew I have found a similar experience.
Odd that.

One of my many failings is that I'm not good at delegating. I find it easier to do than explain.
Crew found it difficult to grasp the difference between sheet and guy, not something they experience on asymmetric dinghies. We're working on it!
I could try and get one of the photos but I avoid getting involved in teenagers facebooks.

 

[johnalison]

One of my many failings is that I'm not good at delegating. I find it easier to do than explain.
Crew found it difficult to grasp the difference between sheet and guy, not something they experience on asymmetric dinghies. We're working on it!
I could try and get one of the photos but I avoid getting involved in teenagers facebooks.

Your status on here is totally dependent upon your ability the acquire these photos.

 

[norwill]

On mid sized and upwards fishing boats there was one sure way to identify the skipper, he was the one wearing carpet slippers.

As skipper your role is to supervise and if necessary instruct your crew, not dance about the foredeck or such like. I followed this policy during my YM exam. The examiner (Rod Carr) had been talking about racing, so, telling him that he was the most experienced helmsman on the boat I had him steer on a beat up a river. He, somewhat reluctantly, agreed but I had to call the tacks.

I wonder if you are the same skipper who later took us on another adventure to St. Kilda?

 

[Frogmogman]

I was out racing yesterday with a crew of 4 sub 20yr olds, all good dinghy sailors but limited experience on cruisers. There's me at plus 70 tottering about doing foredeck.
Halfway through a spinnaker gybe I accidentally activate my lifejacket. So now I'm struggling to latch the pole on with this hissing beast grabbing me by the neck.
The crew all found this hilarious and found time to photograph me, but no one rushed to help.
Time for some serious crew re-training I think.

Sounds like you need to join the amalgamated union of foredeck crews and associated trades and get all stroppy with the management down at the blunt end.

I remember the foredeck crew on the Swan 43 I used to race on (a feisty lady dentist from Wales) saying “We’ll only put the f***ing spinnaker up when you’ve learned to steer in a straight line”.

 

[DanTribe]

Trouble is it's my boat and I let the bunch of stroppy teenage kids sail it. They of course know everything about everything, while I've only been doing it for 60 years.
It keeps me on my toes though!

 

[MADRIGAL]

Actually, that sounds great to me. I love the fact that those stroppy lads want to sail with you

 

[Skylark]

I had a life jacket inflate on me last season. It was quite a lumpy sea at the time and the rain was lashing down, too. I needed to go to the foredeck. Not sure if I accidentally snagged the toggle on a shroud or if it fired due to wet and spray but it was quite a shock. It was impossible for me to reach the clips to remove it and it quite quickly became claustrophobic. I was ready to put a knife into the bladder but, fortunately, a member of the crew succeeded in releasing me. Not a pleasant experience.

 

[DanTribe]

Actually, that sounds great to me. I love the fact that those stroppy lads want to sail with you

Actually not all stroppy, not all lads. I like to speculate on their futures.
13 Yr old girl, quiet, watches, listens and remembers. Barrister.
16 Yr old lad. Knows everything, loud, not his fault when proved wrong. Politician.
20 Yr old girl confident, good all rounder. Could do anything.
20 Yr old lad.sensible, cautious. Safety officer.

 

[Stemar]

Throw the 16year-old overboard immediately

 

[mjcoon]

Throw the 16year-old overboard immediately

Unfortunately he is bound to survive and thus reinforce his conviction that he is the Chosen One. It's the opposite of the Impostor Syndrome...

 

[srm]

I wonder if you are the same skipper who later took us on another adventure to St. Kilda?

I've only taken two charter crews out to St Kilda, both sailing from Scalloway Shetland. That was way back in the 80's. The boat was "Hermes of Lune"

 

[MADRIGAL]

Unfortunately he is bound to survive and thus reinforce his conviction that he is the Chosen One. It's the opposite of the Impostor Syndrome...

Perhaps sailing will teach him a thing or two. Next time there's a halyard to retrieve from the masthead: "You're up, Mr Confidence..."

 

[MADRIGAL]

Actually not all stroppy, not all lads. I like to speculate on their futures.
13 Yr old girl, quiet, watches, listens and remembers. Barrister.
16 Yr old lad. Knows everything, loud, not his fault when proved wrong. Politician.
20 Yr old girl confident, good all rounder. Could do anything.
20 Yr old lad.sensible, cautious. Safety officer.

Sounds like you have a well-rounded crew. Well done, Skipper.

 

[jbweston]

I think it's great that they sail with you and that you're willing to sail with them.

I leaned so much from more experienced old guys, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time. One of my earliest nautical memories (I was maybe 4) was at Sawley Cut aboard a boat called Kupacha (not named after a Persian princess or waterfall in the foothills of the Himalayas, but Kupacha as in 'My cup of cha', and painted brown inside and out in a shade reminiscent of a mug of builder's tea) where the elderly skipper, Bob Mince, used to tip buckets of canal water into his bilges (he called them 'billages') for me to operate his semi-rotary bilge pump to pump it back out into the canal.

Although he was doing it to keep me busy while my mum enjoyed a cuppa with Mrs Mince, he showed me kindness, spent time with me and engaged me in a genuine, if unnecessary, nautical task. As a result I've had a soft spot for bilge pumps for over 65 years now.

Bob was an interesting character. When I was old enough to see beyond his patchy shaving and his bobble hat and had long grown up past calling him 'Mister Mints', my father told me Bob was a retired Nottingham taxi driver, already old when I knew him. He had started work as a lad when cabs were horse drawn long before the First World War.

Thanks Bob.

 

[DanTribe]

I think it's great that they sail with you and that you're willing to sail with them.

I leaned so much from more experienced old guys, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time. One of my earliest nautical memories (I was maybe 4) was at Sawley Cut aboard a boat called Kupacha (not named after a Persian princess or waterfall in the foothills of the Himalayas, but Kupacha as in 'My cup of cha', and painted brown inside and out in a shade reminiscent of a mug of builder's tea) where the elderly skipper, Bob Mince, used to tip buckets of canal water into his bilges (he called them 'billages') for me to operate his semi-rotary bilge pump to pump it back out into the canal.

Although he was doing it to keep me busy while my mum enjoyed a cuppa with Mrs Mince, he showed me kindness, spent time with me and engaged me in a genuine, if unnecessary, nautical task. As a result I've had a soft spot for bilge pumps for over 65 years now.

Bob was an interesting character. When I was old enough to see beyond his patchy shaving and his bobble hat and had long grown up past calling him 'Mister Mints', my father told me Bob was a retired Nottingham taxi driver, already old when I knew him. He had started work as a lad when cabs were horse drawn long before the First World War.

Thanks Bob.

I agree, I believe there is much to be said for kids and olds to mix socially and boats are an excellent way to do it. Much to be learned in both directions>
However nowadays we have to recognise the fear of peadophilia rampant in current society. I sometimes take parties of beginner sailors out as part of a club session but always insist that one of the parents is on board. Sad really but you have to be careful.
As a kid I think I gained a lot from sailing with old guys. I guess my folks kept an eye out but it was never obvious.