Modern Technology

Re: Density of shipping - foolish?

This entire thread is a bit of a mystery to me.....
I only bought a GPS last year, and that is hand held. I have a piece of gash plywood for putting the chart on, and covering with plastic so I can use pencil and chinagraph. Good old NASA log/depth and a couple of compasses.
Some years ago, I had a Decca which (if everyone remembers) used to drop a chain or two in the fog, and was accurate to anyones guess. I crossed the channel then regularly by passage planning, and still use the same method now. The virtues of not having a reliable engine compounded with a non-boaty bank manager meant that electric use was a very harboured resource anyway. I had separately switched log and depth even (and a trailing log too as backup).
I do advocate the use of liferafts when more than a few miles offshore, and particularly in the shipping lanes of the channel where I know that I am invisible to big steel things from Liberia/Panama.
In fact my insurance brokers expressed some surprise and concern when I said I wanted cover from Brest to the Elbe on a 23 footer. I once found 3 lunatics in a Corribee in Ijmuiden who had come through an F8 from Hull to be there, and they didnt even have Decca.

I relish hearing the tales of derring do arising from this proposed jaunt, and who will be YBW Champion Navigator.


<hr width=100% size=1>Second Chance - First Love. Still no wind instruments, c'mon peeps its for (my)charity
 
Yep I did three of the fastnets in the 60's & 70's and as I remember all we had were the usual wind instruments water speed and compasses also the bloody RDF which always made me ill in anything of a seaway. Sitting in the companionway vainly waving the compass thingy and listening for nothing!
One problem was that there were no good cross bearings to be had between Lands end and the Rock... So we never won!
Wouldn't go near the offshore scene now. At least we slept in our bunks when we were off watch.. Sitting on the side like a roosting cormorant ain't my idea of fun.
Happy days.
Which 55 footer ??? (I was on Sunmaid V and Gunfleet for my Fastnets)
Cheers Bob E..

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Heart of Darkness

Was a major book by Joseph Conrad .. Heart of Gold OTOH was a song by Neil Young .. Heart of Glass .. Blondie .. Heart of the Sun .. Pink Floyd

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha
 
Looks like your suggestion of a good debate was justified!

In terms of a minimalist approach, there was an interesting article in January's Voile & Voiliers about two unemployed brothers (twins)who built a prao in their attic and decided to cross the Atlantic without any navigation aid whatsoever, ie no instruments, no charts, no time-piece , no compass, no radio.

The main hull was 6m50 long and 0.80 wide, weight 300kg ! The outrigger was much smaller.

Their destination was La Désirade in the Caribbean. They crossed in March last year choosing the equinox so that they would have the sun in their back in the morning and in their face in the evening. They also chose a departure time when they would expect to arrive with a new moon in order that a bright moon would not obscure the stars they intended to observe.

They left the Canaries (having first arrived there through a F9 off Portugal) and sailed roughly south west until they could pick up the Southern Cross which they en kept just above the horizon. They then let this lift in the sky until they could pick up the "Mouche" (Fly?).

The end result was that they arrived directly on La Désirade. Their original stated objective was to arrive within 20 miles of their destination.

They embarked 15 kg of grilled corn flour "gofio" (apparently a Canaries dish) 90 tins of sardines, 6 litres each of powdered milk and sugar, 100 litres of water in bottles. They fished on the way and ate the catch raw.

Incidentally they had previously crossed in a 4m20 boat they also built themselves; that time the destination was Florida.

Their name is Berque - no obvious jokes please!

John



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Re: Dedicated board

Tom. Ive been thinking about this. I've come to the conclusion you're a right b@st@~d. There was Bigmart heading towards his first ton up post (apart from perhaps his interminable drink fuelled late night dialogues with BrendanS) and you spoil it all by getting Kim to open a new forum. The depths some people will stoop to .. really .. how much did you lose BigMart?

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha
 
I must go down to the sea again

Jim, I feel all guilty now.

Looking through the posts on here, all I see is a bunch of rambling old gits and gitesses who just talk a good e-sail from their sanctimonious keyboards. Dribbling out their pathetic words of dubious wisdom whilst their bony knees rattle under their vomit-stained blankets. Occasionally one of them rears up in a minor display of petulance, then quicky freezes in the headlamps of the responses.

I'd bet at least half the forum have never even clapped their blinkered eyes on a boat, let alone know how to sail one. How many of them could bring a boat into a tight berth single-handed using a scandalised spinnaker on their backstays, and with a genuine smile on their face?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by tome on 19/03/2004 13:15 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Re: Heart of Darkness

Oh well, goes to show that I have an eclectic literary taste. Never read Cunliife's books though.

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.
 
Re: I must go down to the sea again

Erm need a it more info before I can give a measured response. What kind of boat is it, twin or single backstays, heavy or light spinnaker,uptide downtide crosstide, wind direction, use of sweeps allowed, John Goode on hand for advice? You know the usual stuff. Of all the old bozzo's I know, I seriously think BigFart's the man for the job though!

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha
 
Re: I must go down to the sea again

How many of them could bring a boat into a tight berth single-handed using a scandalised spinnaker on their backstays, and with a genuine smile on their face?

Piece of pus (spelling mistake)

Try doing that with a bacon sarnie in one hand, the engine control lever jammed up the leg of you oilies, your best sailing specs splintered on the cockpit floor and your mobile phone going off. Now that calls for respect.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>
 
Re: I must go down to the sea again

Now there speaks one who sails from the Hamble. I can sympathise having had to come alongside at Hamble marina, suddenly engineless, downstream (tho' not on purpose). I find non-breathable oilies' legs make for more precise engine control than the over flexible goretex types; its also best not to drop your pipe dottle down your wellies at that point. (Another good reason for never wearing wellies on board).

To change the subject slightly, on this particular thread, could I ask the advice of more experienced posters? I normally read a thread "flat", which can make for some interesting juxtapositions if the Celts start posting on a totally irrelevant sideshoot, midstream. I tried reading the stuff "threaded", but I tend to lose my way, as the message and thread are no longer on the same page, especially when the thread gets long, as it does when it's interesting. How does the forum normally view a thread?


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Re: X-channel minimum

Earwigoagin.... bloody southerners fixing to have fun crossing their easy bit of water...

Why not come up to the east coast and do something interesting like crossing the Thames estuary with your bit o' string and a needle.

Gimme GPS, Depth, WInd, Log and I'm your man ! Hmm, whilst I'm at it, I reckon a nice microwave to hot up some eats on the way across... and....

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all
 
Had to make the 100th post to celebrate your 1000th.

For what it's worth I think you lot are completely barmy, give me technology any day. Next you'll be saying bring back The Plague because there was real skill in avoiding The Grim Reaper. I'd put some kind smiley thing after this if I could work out to do it, I'll ask my grandkids like I do for the phone, the video, etc.

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