Motor boats and sail boats

[MapisM]

Really? The Italian for motor boat is Motorscafo, and the Italian for disgusting is skifo, so guess what Italian sailors call motorboats? ��

Actually "motoscafo" is commonly used for smallish mobos, and the "motoskifo" distortion that I suppose you are suggesting is not common at all.
The most typical sailors' definition of mobos is "ferro da stiro", which is the IT for flatiron.
And TBH, there are indeed some mobos around whose shape remind that...
...though i must say that the latest "space-oriented" design of some sailboats is also fugly!

 

[Nick_H]

Well the Italian yotties I met in Puglia delighted in telling me about the term, in a friendly manner of course as I was visiting a mutual friend. Of course I'll bow to your superior knowledge of the exact meaning of it, and how widely it is used.

I have to say i'm not convinced that sailors in the med don't mind motorboat wash though. I sometimes get a wave of thanks for changing direction or slowing to pass well behind them, which suggests they don't like mobos passing nearby in front of them or on the beam. Maybe they just don't post on the forum

 

[MapisM]

I have to say i'm not convinced that sailors in the med don't mind motorboat wash though. I sometimes get a wave of thanks for changing direction or slowing to pass well behind them, which suggests they don't like mobos passing nearby in front of them or on the beam. Maybe they just don't post on the forum

Agreed. I have the same experience, and even without doing anything special!
More than likely, they just assume I do, but it's just that my old tub is intrinsically slow and makes close to no wake...

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

When in open water it is rare that such happens but again I apologise for posting on your forum, it was a polite request and was not meant to get your hackles up.
Mike

Pagetslady, point taken. The thing is that by posting on the mobo forum you are already preaching to the converted. By definition anybody who is keen enough on their motorboating to contribute to a forum like this is already going to be aware of the need to give yachts as wide a berth as possible. However sometimes in crowded waters it simply isn't possible to give some yachts as wide a berth as we would like. Also you don't see what the motorboat helmsman sees in that he may be navigating a bit closer to you than he would normally do to avoid a collision situation with another vessel. Another point you should appreciate is that speed is not equivalent to wake. On most planing motor boats, the wake they generate at say 10kts is just as large as at 25kts so slowing down won't make you any more comfortable

You can rest assured also that we do wind each other up. Its not just one way traffic. I was out cruising yesterday in the Med in open waters about 10 miles offshore when I saw a sailing yacht crossing our path. I dutifully turned to starboard to pass well behind him when he suddenly decided to tack for no good reason that I could see so I turned hard to port and then lo and behold he decided to tack again almost immediately so I veered back to starboard. The air turned a bit blue on our boat I can tell you but I put it down to experience and it never occurred to me to put a post on Scuttlebutt about silly yotties who tack for no apparent reason in front of 40t of plastic and iron travelling at 22kts towards them

 

[jrudge]

I had something similar the other day. Colregs do make everyone responsible for avoiding a collision and just because its a sail boat it is not exempt!

I do wonder where the alleged sail / motor hostility comes from. Maybe it as I have done almost no UK boating ( and the one time I tried I ended up on Bramble Bank!) but where i boat ( mallorca mostly) everyone is nice to everyone else - taking lines and so on if marinero not there so it really does seem to be a UK thing.

From reading scuttlebutt and so on it does seem UK sail boats are a battle against the elements with canned food and long passages with weather to contend with, coupled with doing everything on a shoe string ( nothing wrong with that but it seem a dominating trend on the forum) and quite a solo activity, whereas in the med it is families going from port to port having a lovely dinner in the cockpit and jumping of the back for a swim in a reasonably modern well equipped boat, and of course in many cases they are on holiday.

The Uk approach would not make me happy, and maybe it does not make them happy either, but I am unashamedly a fair weather sunshine leisure boater.

 

[benjenbav]

I had something similar the other day. Colregs do make everyone responsible for avoiding a collision and just because its a sail boat it is not exempt!

I do wonder where the alleged sail / motor hostility comes from. Maybe it as I have done almost no UK boating ( and the one time I tried I ended up on Bramble Bank!) but where i boat ( mallorca mostly) everyone is nice to everyone else - taking lines and so on if marinero not there so it really does seem to be a UK thing.

From reading scuttlebutt and so on it does seem UK sail boats are a battle against the elements with canned food and long passages with weather to contend with, coupled with doing everything on a shoe string ( nothing wrong with that but it seem a dominating trend on the forum) and quite a solo activity, whereas in the med it is families going from port to port having a lovely dinner in the cockpit and jumping of the back for a swim in a reasonably modern well equipped boat, and of course in many cases they are on holiday.

The Uk approach would not make me happy, and maybe it does not make them happy either, but I am unashamedly a fair weather sunshine leisure boater.

So, Jeremy, if I have it right: you can't blame it on the sunshine, can't blame it on the moonlight, can't blame it on the good times...and what does that leave you with?

 

[jrudge]

So the solution . ... they need a bug battery, hi fi and a sub woofer ( Jimmy The Builder can assist I believe) so they can have the boogie!

 

[shan]

I had something similar the other day. Colregs do make everyone responsible for avoiding a collision and just because its a sail boat it is not exempt!

I do wonder where the alleged sail / motor hostility comes from. Maybe it as I have done almost no UK boating ( and the one time I tried I ended up on Bramble Bank!) but where i boat ( mallorca mostly) everyone is nice to everyone else - taking lines and so on if marinero not there so it really does seem to be a UK thing.

From reading scuttlebutt and so on it does seem UK sail boats are a battle against the elements with canned food and long passages with weather to contend with, coupled with doing everything on a shoe string ( nothing wrong with that but it seem a dominating trend on the forum) and quite a solo activity, whereas in the med it is families going from port to port having a lovely dinner in the cockpit and jumping of the back for a swim in a reasonably modern well equipped boat, and of course in many cases they are on holiday.

The Uk approach would not make me happy, and maybe it does not make them happy either, but I am unashamedly a fair weather sunshine leisure boater.

My OH and I have a small sailboat and I have to agree with most f what you have said. I have never understood why one would want one's sailboat to be an endurance of hardship! I like my luxuries and that includes good meals, good wine & yes, a dehumidifier and an auto flushing fresh water loo! I won't tolerate a smelly loo at home or a damp smelling house; why would I tolerate it on a boat? Enough thread drift from me.... I do think sailboats can be oblivious and somewhat bloody minded in terms of what goes on around them. I also think mobos could do to learn to give a bit more clearance when possible when passing BUT the works of the lot has got to be BLOODY JETSKIS! I HATE them with a passion. Inconsiderate tw*ts. Especially in Oxwich bay.

 

[aquapower]

BUT the works of the lot has got to be BLOODY JETSKIS! I HATE them with a passion. Inconsiderate tw*ts. Especially in Oxwich bay.

Comments like that are out of order, it's the same with anything you do, there's always some that will behave this way to give others a bad name and that includes yotties.

 

[jrudge]

Jet Skis are a problem, especially kids using them off the back of big boats round and anchorage.

In mallorca this year ( may have been last year as well but we left in May and returned in September) the swim areas are much bigger and all rental jet skis now have the play only in a large yellow buoyed area well offshore. This is not perfect but I assume was done to keep swimmers and jet skis apart, with some success.

The rules are >300m from shore and 100m from any boat if more than ( I think) 5 knots. This year it seems more respected than in the past, but spain unlike France has little in the way of on-water enforcement.



Jeremy

 

[benjenbav]

I think this may be the Needles Chapter of the Jet Ski Club of Great Britain:

Holding a reasonably tight formation.

 

[shan]

Comments like that are out of order, it's the same with anything you do, there's always some that will behave this way to give others a bad name and that includes yotties.

I have now had ample experience of the jetskis in Oxwich and I am yet to encounter a polite one. They pass at top speed within a couple of meters of the boat. We had one really close to the anchor chain which could have been a rather nasty accident and one who could see we were fishing and chose to go within a few feet of our fishing lines.

I feel really sorry for the canoeists, with the jetskis whizzing by. Bound to cause a nasty accident.

 

[Offshore57]

I think this may be the Needles Chapter of the Jet Ski Club of Great Britain:

Holding a reasonably tight formation.

That looks like the annual RTI run by Solent Skiers for the GAFIRS charity. I did that about 12 years ago...went straight over the handlebars round the back of the island....continued a lot cooler....

 

[oldgit]

[The rules are >300m from shore and 100m from any boat if more than ( I think) 5 knots. This year it seems more respected than in the past, but spain unlike France has little in the way of on-water enforcement.]

I was chased back to the boat and told off in no uncertain terms,when returning from beach in inflatable dinghy.
Went just inside a bouy marking the swimmers only section of the beach in Cala Mondrago.

 

[benjenbav]

That looks like the annual RTI run by Solent Skiers for the GAFIRS charity. I did that about 12 years ago...went straight over the handlebars round the back of the island....continued a lot cooler....

I was anchored in Alum Bay at the time. They made a splendid sight, were very considerate about wash/distance and seemed to be a cheerful bunch.

 

[BruceK]

Just as we were finding common ground..................:nonchalance:

 

[TSB240]

Quote of the week, from the second video,
"Shitin' 'ell"

Made me smile!

The good lady quoted is also an Ex moboer! and many will be familiar with her and her husband on this forum.

Their 20 tons of steel Bruce Roberts Ketch was being tossed around like a cork.
The same treatment on our 30 foot lightweight shallow draft german floating caravan was a little more extreme!

I suspect she spilled her rum and coke! My crew had to get changed after we shipped an unexpected wake into the cockpit!

I would rather have a rant about the numbers of " idiot boaters" at Moelfre Lifeboat day not wearing kill cords or life jackets!

With regard to most boats not able to do 30 Knots the lifeboat was flat out doing probably in excess of 35 knots at times and it was not easily shaking off lots of followers on its wake including an ex lifeboat!

I think any boat doing 30 knots has a duty of care to be doing so well clear of any static or moored boat so why not a boat in open sea?

All good fun but it could so easily have turned nasty, serious, fatal?

 

[benjenbav]

Leisure boats are one thing but I was recently watching these babies at work in Burrard Inlet in BC. To say the wash is steep-sided would be putting it mildly:

 

[BruceK]

The good lady quoted is also an Ex moboer! and many will be familiar with her and her husband on this forum.

Their 20 tons of steel Bruce Roberts Ketch was being tossed around like a cork.
The same treatment on our 30 foot lightweight shallow draft german floating caravan was a little more extreme!
..........
All good fun but it could so easily have turned nasty, serious, fatal?

So Steve, you old pirate. Now that you have experienced what a real wake can do, maybe you'll be more kindly and not call the rozzers out on me next time I bimble past PD at a considerate 14 knts trying to make Caernafon Bar before the tide has left

 

[kennyh]

Leisure boats are one thing but I was recently watching these babies at work in Burrard Inlet in BC. To say the wash is steep-sided would be putting it mildly:

I had the misfortune of coming up behind two of these tugs in the Clyde (after they escorted a nuclear sub out of Faslane).

It took me 15mins to pluck up the courage to cross the VERY sizeable wake in front of us, and at that time I was I a very top heavy 25ft'er.

It wasn't pleasant but we survived; but certainly wouldn't want to encounter them on a daily basis!