Nervous crew

ghostlymoron

ghostlymoron

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My crew is very nervous about 'heeling' or 'leaning' as she calls it. (She also refers to 'mooring' as 'parking' - but I digress.) This started when we had a serious broach on a Greek flotilla holiday. Is there any course she could go on to restore her confidence as at the moment anything over 5 degrees is seen as a potential capsize.
 
You are right to look for an external expert to explain as no crew or that kind ever believes her skipper! You are probably best off with a friendly chat with an experienced expert in a yacht club or marina such as a broker or local marine architect. All yachts lean but a broach is a result of your yacht being over canvassed when going fast often when surfing down a massive and steep wave. Excusable with a novice skipper or when a completely unforeseen gust or squall strikes. The point is that the angle of heel for most boats is very high before the righting moment caused by the keel starts to reduce. Even if in a big sea the yacht were to go right over, the keel almost guarantees that she will self right. So get an experienced expert, preferably a woman to explain all this with diagrams and you stand a chance of being believed.
 
Try putting her on the helm. Giving someone control of the ship can make a huge difference in their precieved comfort level. It's like being a passenger in a speeding car as opposed to driving fast yourself.
 
Try putting her on the helm. Giving someone control of the ship can make a huge difference in their perceived comfort level. It's like being a passenger in a speeding car as opposed to driving fast yourself.
 
On the lee rail

Yes, come to the Caribbean and sail with us...our 55 ft boat spends alot of time on the rail; the profile pic is Moon Dancer in the BVI with 1700 sq ft of sail up in 20 knots. Last week my wife made some RFA officers nervous, but that 8 ton keel keeps her from falling over.
 
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Nervous crew...

If your crew doesn't yet know how to helm,wheel or tiller, may I suggest that you let her try it.
Part of the nervousness with novice crews is because they are sat down facing the lower side of the boat when heeling. They cannot balance properly and vertigo cuts in. Getting them to stand athwartships where they can pivot with the motion to port or starboard will help.
My sailing partner has Menieres disease which affects her hearing and balance; standing upon an irregularly moving pontoon is enough to set the vertigo off; but on the boat she has learned to bend with the motion and keep an upright stance.

ianat182
 
ghostlymoron said:
My crew is very nervous about 'heeling' or 'leaning' as she calls it. (She also refers to 'mooring' as 'parking' - but I digress.) This started when we had a serious broach on a Greek flotilla holiday. Is there any course she could go on to restore her confidence as at the moment anything over 5 degrees is seen as a potential capsize.
Click to expand...

I am going through the same thing with my wife at the moment. I have looked at photos taken on out first trip and the boat is well over, dont know what made her change.
What I am doing is taking it real easy reefing way before I would normally not doing any "trips" just going out day sailing (or half day) in calm weather (less than force 3) and very slowly building up her confidence in both the boat and me.
The last trip out was good because we came back on a positive (nothing spooked her).
She is talking about doing a comp crew course but in her time and place and with who she chooses. I think that this may improve matters more.
Take it long and slow, don't push, let it be at her pace.
 
My wife was and still is nervous of the first time we heel. After a few minutes of tacking she just forgets about it. I think I have said enough times that a 38' boat cannot capsize. I have asked her to show me a capsized cruiser in the Solent. That is generally on the first day of our 10 week cruise and it might occur again as we set off after being in a marina for a few days. I just ignore it and she gets distracted by something else and that is generally the end of the problem. In the early days I suggested she went and made a cup of tea, which she did although quite a feat when heeling. My advice is not to rise to it and try and distract her into doing something other than staring down at the water from the windward side as suggested by a previous reply.
 
You might also look up some righting charts (I have seen ones refer to self righting from 135 degrees over)

It may also help to do a bit of dingy sailing so that she understands (in a safe environment) what a capsize is etc. I've done a lot of 18 foot cat racing and my new crew (now wife) was a total beginner. Pitch-poling aside, a capsize in a cat with its 7 foot drop to the water once on its side, can be remarkably slow and calm and builds confidence in that they know what happens etc.

mjcp
 
My crew has done competant crew and knows the theory and practical skills and she often helms and usually handles the sails - we have been considering hypnotherapy.
 
you could try inviting additional confident (esp female) crew along. she may have lost her trust in what you are telling her but if she sees others feeling totally at ease with your skippering and the boat healing over (in fact - actually enjoying the boat healing over) this can have a positive reinforcing effect. also, i think many people are a little embarrassed to make as much fuss in front of strangers so this too can help readjust the response.

the other thing is fitness. personally i think fear can rise in proportion to your own perceived inability to physically cope with a situation (particularly if the worst happens). the stronger and fitter you feel, the more capable and less defenseless, then the less fearful you (generally) become. doing some other sort of fitness building (including strength and cardio training) might help.
 
Lots of threads on this, and one with a less than satisfactory outcome (but no doubt it was in the wind anyway).
Some people can overcome the nervousness caused by inexperience and lack of familiarity with sailing.
It has to be accpeted that some people, try as they might, will not get used to the feeling of unease. It's not a logical problem. So logic will not always help.
Mrs Lakesailor is fairly easy with sailing and heeling. Certain aspects of it worry her. One is "being close to the water". She prefers boats with more freeboard and a proper cockpit. The Foxcub, whilst being a very stable boat with a gentle heeling motion, was not her favourite yet the clinker dinghy, which I do tend to sail more upright, doesn't worry her that much, despite being on a level with the water. Slinkyspring's MG Spring didn't worry her at all (hang on......... is it me she doesn't trust?)

SlinkySpring_1.jpg

I find a similar thing with driving off-road. Some people sit in the passenger seat huffing and puffing and grunting as you drive up a fell track, others have no problem. Those that find it hard work seem to lean back against the seat whereas it's much more comfortable to sit a bit forward and absorb the motion with your body.
Finding your own comfort zone is the way to deal with it. But you can't always learn to overcome fears. Some people will never get there. It will always be an alien experience.
 
Talk to SWMBO

We have the opposite problem .. SWMBO is fine but it puts the wind up me surfing into the Deben .. I have also tried surfing into Southwold .. This is by far the worst because if you get it wrong their is knowhere to go .. I sailed a Finn for a number of years and still find it strange that its not going to fall over .. A sailing trip to Turkey helped as I realised that everyone else on the flotilla had considerably less time on the water than me and most had never sailed yet they let them loose in a boat .. We went to Gibraltar a couple of years ago .. Allaboard .. Great bunch of people .. Very helpful and learned alot .. You just have to get it set in your mind that yachts tip .. BUT not over .. Shouting at someone to get over it will never work .. Putting someone on the helm can frighten them and they may never want to try it again .. Try one of the sailing schools .. Competent Crew is something to aim at .. A couple of weeks of good safe training is worth its weight in gold .. Not cheap but you will reap the rewards .. We sailed across the Straights in a F5 . SWMBO stood on the side and talked to the Dolphin's and I missed the enterance to the harbour by 100m .. Not bad after 15nm .. Suppose at the end of the day its confidence .. Takes some building and very easy to destroy .. :eek:
 
Wives on boats

Wives get nervous on 2 counts the first being simply for their own safety and getting her to helm and control the mainsheet is the best solution.
They also get nervous because they see it as their own (our) boat managed by a husband whom they know from experience has flaws ie is prone to stuff ups. They are nervous because they might see themselves as responsible and required to help solve the problems. This is worse if they are a mother.
This latter can be eased by getting them experience on someone else's boat with another skipper. Not that he will necessarily be any better but it is not their own boat and they haven't had the experience of previous failings of their own husband.
Ironically they are more inclined to trust their lives to a stranger than to their beloved.
good luck olewill
 
How true. Wise words olewill! I think the main answer is to keep sailing to build up her knowledge and experience that the boat will cope, fallible husband notwithstanding!
 
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