toad_oftoadhall
Well-Known Member
Now that is a cool story!
Scuttling to safety!
- Thread starter jimi
- Start date
Now that is a cool story!
Ubergeekian
Well-Known Member
Actually, sensible yachts have the lead inside ...
Wandering Star
Well-Known Member
Kilters and Jimis subsequent endorsement echo my way of thinking. I'd stay with my boat with the liferaft inflated alongside until she was ready to sink. There's be need to scupper her, she'd either sink naturally or I'd still be on board looking for ways to plug any leaks or whatever.
I suppose it depends on the design of the boat and the medical/psychologigal strengths and weknesses of the crew but I like to believe the loss of a rudder on any boat I sail wouldn't present more than a possibly serious inconvenience/delay. That said, I read somewhere of a boat with a jammed rudder who was lifted off (I think) after 3 months of sailing in circles. I think after that length of time I might throw the towel in too and accept a lift if one was offerred!
Cheers, Brian.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
So you decided you were going to abandon your boat, and presumably get into a liferaft?. In what way were you going to be any better off?
toad_oftoadhall
Well-Known Member
So you decided you were going to abandon your boat, and presumably get into a liferaft?. In what way were you going to be any better off?
I think it was pretty blatently implied that he was going to flag down a vessel within radio range/sight rather than stepping off the boat into a liferaft in the middle of nowhere.
HTH.
Boathook
Well-Known Member
Not keeping a proper lookout.
.... Of course, all multihulls should be sunk, whether abandoned or not.
Come into shallow water and say that !
blackdogsailing
Well-Known Member
So you decided you were going to abandon your boat, and presumably get into a liferaft?. In what way were you going to be any better off?
Sorry, you've missed the point or I didn't explain it well. I was going to abandon the boat when help arrived. In fact when the ship that rescued me answered the radio call he was initially going to pick me up with the ships lifeboat. He then decided to try and lift me out of the water.
Chris
blackdogsailing
Well-Known Member
Sorry Toad, didn't see your reply !
Malcolm3
Well-Known Member
Im not sure. Doubt it makes a great deal of difference. I have seen a half submerged boat in midatlantic and a lot of other flotsam too. I am certain I wouldnt have seen it at night running at 7 knots in waves in time to do anything. Nor do I think that I would see an unlit yacht dismasted unless it was a very clear night. Having said that the odds against hitting anything are high and I doubt willbe significantly altered by one or two yachts floating about for 8 months or so. So I think decide at the time whats feels best and do that.And if i can i will ask the insurance company first
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
What ever happened to the 'stiff upper lip' and the principle of going down with the ship
Kilter
Well-Known Member
What ever happened to the 'stiff upper lip' and the principle of going down with the ship
If that is your choice sobeit!
Bishop Terrorchoke
Well-Known Member
Have you got headlights on your boat?
There is no way you would see an unlit yacht with no sails hoisted on a cloudy pitch-dark night at sea in time to avoid hitting it. You would however be extremely unlucky to do so - it is a big ocean out there.
BishopT
Not keeping a proper lookout.
But what's all this about a mostly submerged yacht? They either float or sink (unless an Etap or similar).
Of course, all multihulls should be sunk, whether abandoned or not.
There is no way you would see an unlit yacht with no sails hoisted on a cloudy pitch-dark night at sea in time to avoid hitting it. You would however be extremely unlucky to do so - it is a big ocean out there.
BishopT
DJE
Well-Known Member
When submerged the lead is marginally heavier as it displaces less water!
Not all daft questions are as daft as they look!
NDG
Well-Known Member
Chris,
That sounds like a really interesting story. Is it written up anywhere?
Nick
Evadne
Well-Known Member
A ton of lead, of course. Unless it's internal ballast.
Bajansailor
Well-Known Member
Here are some details about the latest (?) ARC casualty 'Pelican' that has been abandoned after losing her rig :
http://www.pbo.co.uk/news/433224/arc-crew-evacuated-from-yacht
Hopefully she will drift across 'under her own steam' now, and folk in the Caribbean might intercept her before she piles up on a reef like what First Light did a few years ago here in Barbados.
(more details of this at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111396& - there is still a large section of her hull on the beach a few miles south of where she came ashore)
Or maybe somebody else sailing along will see Pelican and do a bit of salvage, and perhaps take her in tow to the other side.
I would like to think that I would only abandon a boat when I had to climb up off the boat into the liferaft (or the rescue craft).
If she is floating, and drifting, I would make every effort to ration food and water as required (and do a bit of fishing and catching rain) and stay with her, especially if she is in the tradewinds.
First Light drifted approx 800 miles in 4 weeks (at just over 1 knot on average) before she 'arrived' in Barbados.
To everybody who jumps on the band wagon of the abandoned boat being a hazard to navigation, please remember that there is an awful lot of rubbish floating about out there.
Including substantial trees and containers that have jumped off ships.
If you are planning an Atlantic passage, with the outlook that you would happily scuttle your vessel if you decided to abandon her in mid Atlantic (lets hope this never happens), and you are worried about the boat being a hazard to navigation, why not ensure that you have a solar panel capable of putting in enough amps to keep an all round white light burning?
Then you could just abandon her happily, and hope that somebody else will manage to salvage her.
We nearly ran down a yacht in mid Atlantic on a very dark night - we were both sailing downwind on similar courses, and we gradually caught them up.
They had no lights on (we had a tricolour on), and no crew replied when we shouted at them as we quickly 'swerved' just before we hit them.
http://www.pbo.co.uk/news/433224/arc-crew-evacuated-from-yacht
Hopefully she will drift across 'under her own steam' now, and folk in the Caribbean might intercept her before she piles up on a reef like what First Light did a few years ago here in Barbados.
(more details of this at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111396& - there is still a large section of her hull on the beach a few miles south of where she came ashore)
Or maybe somebody else sailing along will see Pelican and do a bit of salvage, and perhaps take her in tow to the other side.
I would like to think that I would only abandon a boat when I had to climb up off the boat into the liferaft (or the rescue craft).
If she is floating, and drifting, I would make every effort to ration food and water as required (and do a bit of fishing and catching rain) and stay with her, especially if she is in the tradewinds.
First Light drifted approx 800 miles in 4 weeks (at just over 1 knot on average) before she 'arrived' in Barbados.
To everybody who jumps on the band wagon of the abandoned boat being a hazard to navigation, please remember that there is an awful lot of rubbish floating about out there.
Including substantial trees and containers that have jumped off ships.
If you are planning an Atlantic passage, with the outlook that you would happily scuttle your vessel if you decided to abandon her in mid Atlantic (lets hope this never happens), and you are worried about the boat being a hazard to navigation, why not ensure that you have a solar panel capable of putting in enough amps to keep an all round white light burning?
Then you could just abandon her happily, and hope that somebody else will manage to salvage her.
We nearly ran down a yacht in mid Atlantic on a very dark night - we were both sailing downwind on similar courses, and we gradually caught them up.
They had no lights on (we had a tricolour on), and no crew replied when we shouted at them as we quickly 'swerved' just before we hit them.
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Brian blue bear
Well-Known Member
Brian blue bear
Well-Known Member
why?
I cannot understand why anyone would Abandon a boat which was not sinking unless it was on fire, if it was left During a rescue, and it could not be towed, then possibly a securitee message would alert other vessels. Containers etc, washed from decks of cargo vessels pose much more of a problem keep a good lookout! I would be very unlikly to scuttle.
blackdogsailing
Well-Known Member
Apologies for the delay in replying, been away for a few days. I am actually typing it up at the moment from the log book. ( My handwriting is appalling ! ). All my friends say I should have published it somewhere but I just never got round to it.
To the posters who say they would not have abandoned..
The decision I took to abandon was not taken lightly. It's very easy to make a hypothetical case for not doing so, just try drifting for 8 days and seeing ships pass within a mile of you without seeing your flares, or sailing for 2 days and making 16 miles easting, then the wind died and the current pushes you back to within a mile of your starting point ! A generator failure and much much worse..not enough gin !!
Chris
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