onboard video footage

Sailingsaves

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Lots of people have Go Pros etc.

So do you have some nice rough weather footage to show?

I have a decent camera, and a £9.99 cheap waterproof one that sat on the pushpit of this video (ignore time stamp - it can't be set).

Caveat to this video.

I showed this chap how to rig his boat last year.

He wanted some heavy weather training this year, so I said I'd go out with him on this day but I was onboard to fix his lights on this trip really - at least until we reached open sea.

Once on board I went straight to electrical work, I did not check his boat out = mistake. I'd assumed he had set it up as the previous year.

When it became too rough to solder, I came out to put a reef in only to find that all reefing lines were flying loose! Yup not even tied to the clews.

I managed to tie one in (just) but you can see the mainsail is poorly reefed.

I could not tie reefing points because outhaul would not pull tight enough and we all know that the reefing points should not take any strain, just the clew and tack and I did not want the mainsail to rip at the reefing points - hence a lot of loose sail flapping.

Mainsail was missing a battern.

Lines all over the place that seemed to have no purpose (blue one up forward was to hold forehatch open!)

Roller furling genoa had some fault with it (he told me when I wanted to balance the sails) and would not roll in or out.

I tried to have a look at it, but fault was with halyard at top of mast.

What I am saying is this is NOT my way of sailing; just look at the weather helm going on !

I did all the work because he would have gone overboard and not sure he knows topping lift from main halyard.

He is a great bloke, but needs more time before the mast.

I had to suggest he put his coat on when it started to rain (flattened the waves out nicely) and he kept his buoyancy aid on all day when he had a new Kru lifejacket down below ?!

I was not worried at any point (even when the genoa blew out) because we could have just headed out to deeper water to avoid lee shore.

I'd taken all my safety gear with me (because he has none) (handheld radio with emergency vhf aerial to gain extra height, flares, throw rope etc).

I'd untangled his anchor and tied the bitter end on to the boat!

With the main and outboard working (most of the time) we did manage to get to windward (after the genny blew) and in lee of some shore and then tack back up the river.

The numbers on his mainsail started to blow off, but sail held.

Can anyone tell what force the wind was?

I looked up a nearby sailing club's recordings afterwards so I have a rough idea.

So do you have some rough weather footage?

http://youtu.be/8GHRd0-xQCo

It can't be poorer sailing than this, so don't be shy.
 
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Hmm, a bit frantic wasn't it. Sounds like you had your hands full.
Reminds me of the time I broached my way across the North Channel single handed when the genny wouldn't furl.
So, was he happy with his heavy weather sailing or do you think hell give it a miss next time?
 
Hmm, a bit frantic wasn't it. Sounds like you had your hands full.
Reminds me of the time I broached my way across the North Channel single handed when the genny wouldn't furl.
So, was he happy with his heavy weather sailing or do you think hell give it a miss next time?

A lot of it was quite boring actually; like... are we ever going to get to weather?

I was glad I had my immersion suit on and stayed dry and warm (even the forehatch leaked when she took some over the bows)

He was chuffed to bits and really enjoyed himself.

But ignorance is bliss. I don't think he knew a lot about what was going on.

I have suggested he carry some extra gear ( a lot of purchases need to be made) and do a bit of maintenance.

He has asked me back, but I have declined and I know he is not daft enough to go out in foul weather alone.

It did make me consider furling headsails that I used to think were the best; if gets stuck half in or half out they cannot be handed and therefore a smaller sail cannot be raised.

I managed to furl most of his blown sail away but could not get the top bit away and it caused windage and I could not unfurl it completely and drop it.
 
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We came back from the Azores in March and copped some of this.




Unfortunately for us it got really windy overnight...


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Nice boat, looks similar to a Clipper or ex-British Steel Challenge boat.

Everyone looks reasonably cosy.

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We came back from the Azores in March and copped some of this.




Unfortunately for us it got really windy overnight...


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Nice boat, looks similar to a Clipper or ex-British Steel Challenge boat.

Everyone looks reasonably cosy.

Yes one of the Tall Ships Challanger 72's, built for the job really.

Although we were a bit short on numbers, as you can see, the girls have it well under control.

We did have a F10 for approx 10 hours overnight which gave us all a bit of a kicking, just so we wouldn't forget it...

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Has anyone else noticed how a bit of sunshine takes the sting out of a wind strength you would normally be worried by?? Sunny force 5 is a whole different kettle of fish to a grey rainy one.....

Totally,we were once on a force 8+ on my Fulmar after spending the night hove to and in the morning it was nice and sunny.We had to run back to Porto Santo because we weren't making any headway and at one point we were making sandwiches on deck and enjoying the scenry while the boat was surfing down waves, steered by the Monitor and reaching two digit speeds at times.
 
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