Over to the dark side

[Deleted User YDKXO]

We were in Spain over the New Year and were invited out for a sail on a friend's new Jeanneau 37 saily thingy. I was quite looking forward to it as I had'nt been on a yacht for years and I was keen to see how the experience compared to a power boat
Although there was a forecast of a F6/7, the day turned out to be mostly calm but the sea state was sloppy due to the previous day's strong wind. We spent the majority of the time motoring because the wind was too light/wrong direction (delete as applicable). The first surprise was just how much the boat moved about in the sea conditions. I was expecting a steadier ride but the feeling was'nt much different to a power boat at displacement speed. Maybe this is because the Jeanneau is a light boat and maybe a deeper/longer keeled boat would have been kinder. The second let down was the cockpit. You sit on thin little pieces of foam with your back largely unsupported because the cockpit coamings are so low and the most comfortable position was leaning against the back of the saloon looking backwards which probably accounts for the fact that most yotties have'nt got a clue whats going on around them. Personally, I cant comprehend how human beings can spend hours and days perched in the cockpit of these things especially since the engine was every bit as noisy as a power boat as well. Went for a walk around the pointy end to get away from it and stretch the legs and nearly fell overboard after tripping over one of the dozens of bits of rope cluttering up the deck
All in all, progress at a heady 6-7knots was stultyfyingly boring and I was well pleased when the marina finally hove into view. It compares somewhat to driving a vintage car; mildly interesting for an hour or two but mighty wearing thereafter. I can just about see the attraction on a warm sunny day but quite why so many people take to the water in the cold and nasty English Channel in these things completely mystifies me
Mine's a lump of plastic with a bloody great big engine then, preferably two


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[itsonlymoney]

I take it then that you wont be trading in for a Raggie !!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Play the best game you can with the cards you've been dealt ! ! !

 

[hlb]

You got foam seats, gee!!

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn

 

[jimi]

Must admit that motoring for any length of time in a sailboat is only outranked in the tedium stakes by Saltcoats on a dank November evening ...

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[tcm]

Ragging explained

oh dear, it seems that the skipper didn't properly introduce you to sailing at all, although i agree that it should have been a bit better if it was sunny.

First off, note that on a saily boat you can make massive fry-up breakfasts cos the airborne grease will help preserve the fabric of the boat, whereas in a nice comfy powerboat it would cause untold damage and cause a nasty pong for ages. Also, since sailyboats are a bit manky even when new, it is fine to drop brown sauce or red wine or anything anywhere. Making massive greasy breakfasts without fear of wrecking the boat is the main advantage of ragboats.

Then you can go sailing IF there is at least one other boat out on the water. Get other people to hurl up every single bit of sail you have got. Find a likely looking (smaller) victim boat whilst the sails are going up and thrash the engine to get up alongsidem. Then sail past being all smug, or if they start coming back, tack and go somewhere else, or take down the sails which means they lose cos the race is over. After the fry-ups, this is the second most important aspect of sailing. Note that instead of whizzing past like on powerboat the overtaking is nicely drawn out so you can enjoy the extended process of them being slow and rubbish hur hur. Or at least more rubbish than you.

This explains the looking backwards - he is desperate not to be the victim of all the other raggies who would otherwise sneak up behind and do the sailing past smugly thing. He would be ready to tack regardless of anything else, and the indeed importance of these race-avoiding dodges etc are the whole point of colregs - powerboats hardly ever do anything like this. The sneaky inter-raggie racing has been going on for centuries, so they can't be allowed to get in the way when raggies need to avoid (or win) a race at a moment's notice. Historically, the sneaking up was followed by robbing the victim of anything on board - hence looking backwards was vital and the captain's cabin was at the back and had nice big windows like on the Victory, for example. Things are a bit more restrained nowadays cos all the descendants of the robbed raggies are of course skint, unlike their ancetors who habitually sailed about with a box load of treasure rather like leading boatie types in proper stinkieboats these days with a nice Rolex, for example. By contrast, modern day sailing boats are carefully designed have nothing in them worth pinching whatsoever, not even the cushions, as you have discovered, and the most stripped-out and dead cheap sailyboats like Bavaria are the most popular for this reason.

But why the solent? Well, the wide availability of lots of victim boats is obviously an attraction, but these weren't there to start off with - the place was empty. Historically, the bacon etc for breakfast all came from abroad so it landed there first, hence the greasy fry-up started there and all the sailing there continues unabated.

Since then the Solent has always been very popular indeed with raggies, and remains so to this day with a plentiful supply of medium sliced bread and nice bacon etc in those Tescos all around portsmouth and southhampton, all with decent car parks and massive selections of bacon including maple-cured.

Whereas for example in plymouth the blimmin supermarket is miles away on the ringroad, and in London sailyboating has almost died out since there was only 1 nasty Asda on the isle of dogs until recently.

Note how lots of breaksfast-related solent names include pork-chester, chichester (originally "chicken chester" for the eggs) also Cows for beef sausages, Ham-ble, lots of other examples.

I hope this explains the sailing thing, and the solent.


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[jimi]

Re: Ragging explained

And a huge big chimney at Calshott to smoke it all in ..

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[tcm]

Re: Cauli-shot

...is the original name, which is what happened when some scottish type tried to get away with making an inappropriate contribution towards the breakfast.

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[jimi]

Re: Cauli-shot

Egypt point cos mummy cooked the porridge .. Or Osborne Bay cos an Assie slept in a cowshed there?

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[Dave_Snelson]

Re: Ragging explained

I do look very stupid when I burst out laughing in the middle of my open plan office!!

OK, I look stupiod anyway!

<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: beneteau spokesperson ...

Dear Mr Deleted User

sorry to hear of your recent experience. however, you must have been on the export version which has fewer, shall we say, creature comforts than we normally supply elsewhere. Indeed, the spanish variant has far less facilities, even, than the normal. i hesitate to ask but note that you omitted any reference to the "facilities"? we guess you found the bucket comfortable? and the engine a trifle noisy? well, these are optional extras built for our more discerning clients and rarely, if ever, for that market so we are at a loss there. the issue of greasy breakfast shouldn't have troubled you as there is no stove.

yours sincerely ...
etc etc



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[ccscott49]

1) you were in a jeannau thingy, crap cushions etc.
2) you were in the meddy
3) it is a well known fact, that there are two types of boats in the med, motor boats and motor boats with masts.
4) In the meddy the wind is either too weak, too strong or in the wrong direction for sailing. Where you want to go anyway.
5) sail boats wallow like a cow in a bog, without wind.
6) if you must have a sailboat in the med, get a motorsailer, with insulated engines. Preferably a heavy one.
7) if I was staying in the meddy, I would havea big old classic motorboat. without the huge fuel consumption of fast boats, but having ocean cruising aspirations, i'll stick to amotorsailer.
8) there is no 8.

 

[Renegade_Master]

Mike, just a bit of constuctive criticism make more paragraphs, a lot easier to read and take in than huge sentence IMHO of course.

Have to agree that trips on saily things whilst being very peaceful, can be tedious.

Trouble is if you wanna move up a gear you cant. CCS makes valid point about the Med, either too windy or not enough. Most of the raggies in my marina wait for bugger all wind then go out and cruise under power.


<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.suncoastmarine.co.uk>Sun Coast Sea School & Charter</A>

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

OK,
I.
will.
try.
to.
remember.
that.
some.
people.
have.
difficulty.
with.
long.
sentences.
and.
prefer.
paragraphs.


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[jimi]

Your punctuation is over the top. Please try again.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I've edited it with a liberal sprinkling of full stops. Is that better, Sir? Can I go and play now?

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[jimi]

Dear,dear .. unless you read the question properly you'll never pass your exams!

<hr width=100% size=1>.. when's that again, but ..