Most challenging passage?

[westhinder]

Isn't it grand, what a fine relaxing pastime sailing is?

Yep, especially the feeling when you’re safely tied up after a challenging passage. That very special mix of tiredness, relief, sense of achievement and pure joy.
What’s more, the human mind has that special capacity of filtering out or pushing into the background the negative emotions you may have had during the trip and retaining and reinforcing the positive ones, especially the elation when it’s all over. So we keep coming back for more.

 

[Roberto]

Yep, especially the feeling when you’re safely tied up after a challenging passage. That very special mix of tiredness, relief, sense of achievement and pure joy.
What’s more, the human mind has that special capacity of filtering out or pushing into the background the negative emotions you may have had during the trip and retaining and reinforcing the positive ones, especially the elation when it’s all over. So we keep coming back for more.

And that final "tap tap" with one's hand over the stern quarter of the boat

 

[mjcoon]

Yep, especially the feeling when you’re safely tied up after a challenging passage. That very special mix of tiredness, relief, sense of achievement and pure joy.
What’s more, the human mind has that special capacity of filtering out or pushing into the background the negative emotions you may have had during the trip and retaining and reinforcing the positive ones, especially the elation when it’s all over. So we keep coming back for more.

One hears that pregnancy is similar...

 

[Roberto]

Every sailor has faced a challenging moment at sea (haven't they?)!​

...

​

What’s the toughest passage you've ever sailed? ​

Challenging/Tough possibly not the same.
Navigationally challenging: to me places with no charts (except satellite), unknown whereabouts, tidal height/tidal stream inversions with X hours differences, unknown sea bottoms, the depth sounder alarm going suddenly off; I rather like (erm, it's the ultimate sailing I am looking for).
Tough: one or two full days mid ocean with swell and no wind, the boat rolls like crazy, sails slam, sbammm sbamm sbamm, one cannot sleep, oldish sails eventually explode; character forming to say the least. Or areas with lightning: being in the middle of bolts hitting the sea surface all around, at unknown distances, God forbid had enough

 

[Frank Holden]

...

Challenging/Tough possibly not the same.
Navigationally challenging: to me places with no charts (except satellite), unknown whereabouts, tidal height/tidal stream inversions with X hours differences, unknown sea bottoms, the depth sounder alarm going suddenly off; I rather like (erm, it's the ultimate sailing I am looking for).
Tough: one or two full days mid ocean with swell and no wind, the boat rolls like crazy, sails slam, sbammm sbamm sbamm, one cannot sleep, oldish sails eventually explode; character forming to say the least. Or areas with lightning: being in the middle of bolts hitting the sea surface all around, at unknown distances, God forbid had enough

Ed Zackery.
To Challenging and Tough add 'down right scary' and ' I'm not doing this again - ever'
I think lightning tops the down right scary group . I don't know what happens to the air when it crosses the Andes but the lightning over the Pampas and then off shore is truly 'electrifying' . See 1st piccy, '+' marks the boat.
Then there is the 'scary nightmare' event.
Sighted offshore from southern Ecuador, I reckon that prop was maybe 2 metre diameter and the ship maybe 80 metres long. Floating around long enough that all the antifoul is long gone. The mate said it was probably full of dead people. And it is still out there!! 2nd piccy.
'I'm never doing this again'?
Last April , central Chile, sun goes down on a clear horizon. Around midnight offshore from Lebu white lights from horizon to horizon. No probs I thinks . Ha!!. Soon its lines of buoys, unlit , maybe 8 metres apart. On a 4 hour watch I maybe ran across a dozen or more. Thankfully the nets were quite deep but it truly was an ' I'm never doing this again' event.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

You don’t have to be somewhere far flung for lightning, we had that in the English channel. Followed by a line squall, and 30 mins of wind in the 40 and 50kn bracket. Not our happiest sail, though maybe our happiest arrival

 

[RunAgroundHard]

In terms of delivery trips, this one was quite challenging!

A few years ago I went through a phase of wanting to own an MFV. I was prepared to pay £100k. Over 2 years I looked at 5 vessels and all of them were dogs with significant issues, although some looked very pretty. Talking to an ancient boat builder in Saint Monans, who worked for J W Miller & Sons Ltd, he said that fishing boats were built with low cost materials and not expected to last a long time. I have given up on that phase.

 

[matt1]

Many years ago, pre AIS and with no radar I was on passage from France - St Lucia and called in to La Coruna having mostly motored across Biscay. Arrived in the fog, departed in the fog so you can imagine my relief when the fog lifted as we approached Finistere but what a shock! It was very busy with a lot of traffic (which we obviously hadn’t previously seen so you can imagine how relieved we all were…….only for the fog to suddenly descend again and we found ourselves back in the mix with all that traffic as we rounded Finistere! That night the wind rapidly increased and we had a 4 day gale which pushed us south very quickly but with the biggest seas I’ve ever seen. I’ve had a strong respect for Finistere since!

 

[Wansworth]

Many years ago, pre AIS and with no radar I was on passage from France - St Lucia and called in to La Coruna having mostly motored across Biscay. Arrived in the fog, departed in the fog so you can imagine my relief when the fog lifted as we approached Finistere but what a shock! It was very busy with a lot of traffic (which we obviously hadn’t previously seen so you can imagine how relieved we all were…….only for the fog to suddenly descend again and we found ourselves back in the mix with all that traffic as we rounded Finistere! That night the wind rapidly increased and we had a 4 day gale which pushed us south very quickly but with the biggest seas I’ve ever seen. I’ve had a strong respect for Finistere since!

Was that in August there are terrible fogs off the coast almost black that an decend rapidly and sneak into the rias sometimes you can see the tops of ships but not their hulls

 

[Supertramp]

A few years ago I went through a phase of wanting to own an MFV. I was prepared to pay £100k. Over 2 years I looked at 5 vessels and all of them were dogs with significant issues, although some looked very pretty. Talking to an ancient boat builder in Saint Monans, who worked for J W Miller & Sons Ltd, he said that fishing boats were built with low cost materials and not expected to last a long time. I have given up on that phase.

They were strong and built for hard use but not long life - a private boat wants to last many decades with relatively little use. Same was and probably is true of early steel hulled boats - few made it past 25-30 years in active service. Watching the Scottish inshore fleet at work gave me a lot of respect for the men and boats. Near Picton in NZ is the beached Edwin Fox which we looked over 25 years ago - built using teak in Calcutta and still in use after 100 years (museum now).

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I think there was poster called Jelly Ellie who had a fishing boat that had been converted. It too started smoking badly towards the end of its first long motor having been laid up for years. The exhaust lagging got too hot, IIRC set fire, or charred some wood. I think there was a big issue with a prop shaft as well earlier in the trip; both resulted in RNLI call outs. Her stories were very interesting and she demonstrated a lot of grit and determination, which I think you need for an old fishing boat conversion, that and a dash of madness.

 

[bikedaft]

good thread, thanks.

i didn't think i had had a really bad passage until i read the one about being a kid on board...

Dad took us from port Ellen to Bowmore in a 27 footer, i was about 12, my sister 9. little wind, so he motored with the tide around the Mull of Oa. tide against westerly Atlantic swell. dad hid his fear, i loved the wild ride up and down and up and down, bowsprit under most of the waves etc. unfortunately my sister spent the whole time spewing. dad must have cleared that up whilst i steered, i cannot remember.

years later he said he nearly sold the boat afterwards...

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Many years ago, pre AIS and with no radar I was on passage from France - St Lucia and called in to La Coruna having mostly motored across Biscay. Arrived in the fog, departed in the fog so you can imagine my relief when the fog lifted as we approached Finistere but what a shock! It was very busy with a lot of traffic (which we obviously hadn’t previously seen so you can imagine how relieved we all were…….only for the fog to suddenly descend again and we found ourselves back in the mix with all that traffic as we rounded Finistere! That night the wind rapidly increased and we had a 4 day gale which pushed us south very quickly but with the biggest seas I’ve ever seen. I’ve had a strong respect for Finistere since!

I remember sailing from L'Aber wrap'h to Fowey and at about 5 miles out when you could see the coast lights quite clearly, it being a clear night and about 2.00 am when suddenly it was as if there had been a power cut, the lights went out. I had fitted an early Raymarine Radar and entered Fowey with the radar not seeing either side of the entrance other than on the radar.

 

[capnsensible]

I remember sailing from L'Aber wrap'h to Fowey and at about 5 miles out when you could see the coast lights quite clearly, it being a clear night and about 2.00 am when suddenly it was as if there had been a power cut, the lights went out. I had fitted an early Raymarine Radar and entered Fowey with the radar not seeing either side of the entrance other than on the radar.

Some time ago I made a passage across the Gib Straits and encountered thick fog. I had AIS and Radar so I was able to show my students how to use these tools in collision avoidance.

We made a radar entry into Marina Smir and went to the reception dock, cleared in and were allocated a berth. All good. Except being over smart, we left reception and got rather lost for a few minutes in the basin....

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Some time ago I made a passage across the Gib Straits and encountered thick fog. I had AIS and Radar so I was able to show my students how to use these tools in collision avoidance.

We made a radar entry into Marina Smir and went to the reception dock, cleared in and were allocated a berth. All good. Except being over smart, we left reception and got rather lost for a few minutes in the basin....

When I first had Radar and on a cross channel passage a big rain squall didn't half have me guessing till I could see it visually
Much later Radar overlay on the chart plotter was very comforting just to know everything lined up.

 

[Blueboatman]

Was invited to dinner on board ship once , the captain said of all instruments he trusted the radar above all.
He also said that the worst seas he had ever encountered were on the Great Lakes ..

 

[Stemar]

Many years ago, pre AIS and with no radar I was on passage from France - St Lucia and called in to La Coruna having mostly motored across Biscay. Arrived in the fog, departed in the fog so you can imagine my relief when the fog lifted as we approached Finistere but what a shock! It was very busy with a lot of traffic (which we obviously hadn’t previously seen so you can imagine how relieved we all were…….only for the fog to suddenly descend again and we found ourselves back in the mix with all that traffic as we rounded Finistere! That night the wind rapidly increased and we had a 4 day gale which pushed us south very quickly but with the biggest seas I’ve ever seen. I’ve had a strong respect for Finistere since!

The most frightened I've ever been on a boat was crossing the Channel. As dawn broke, we were in thick fog, with no AIS or radar. We started to hear a ship's engines, but impossible to tell where from. They got louder, and we knew the ship was close. It eventually passed, maybe 200m ahead of us. Never been so relieved! As it was a coaster, I've no idea if they'd seen us on radar, but that's as close as I want to be to a moving ship, even in perfect conditions.

 

[dovekie]

Most challenging for me: 27 footer, 1980-ish, flat calm, Largs to Cambeltown, to pick up my wife for Hebridean trip. Pretty new to sailing and first time single handed. All nerves! There were no problems at all.

 

[Stemar]

That reminds me of my first time as the only person on board who was supposed to know what he was doing. I came with a couple of my children to sail with a friend. Friend said, "I've got a couple of things to do. You take my boat out"

Everything was fine, pottering around. A couple of turns around a US aircraft carrier anchored in the middle of the Solent, then it was time to head back to Gosport. The wind took us off towards Ryde and everything was great. Then we met the Round the Island race coming the other way...

 

[mjcoon]

That reminds me of my first time as the only person on board who was supposed to know what he was doing. I came with a couple of my children to sail with a friend. Friend said, "I've got a couple of things to do. You take my boat out"

Everything was fine, pottering around. A couple of turns around a US aircraft carrier anchored in the middle of the Solent, then it was time to head back to Gosport. The wind took us off towards Ryde and everything was great. Then we met the Round the Island race coming the other way...

Sometimes it must be tricky to decide which is the worst marine hazard, a Race or a Bore!