Shout and be damned.

[Peppermint]

Jools got me thinking.

I've never been on of the shrinking violets that thought shouting had no place in the skippers armoury. To many it is a sin to shout but I think this stems from the boors we've all seen berating the crew over some minor thing and looking a prat as a result.

A raised voice and a quickening of the speech can be an invaluble attention grabber and result getter if you only use it when genuine urgency is required.

A loud clear hail to another vessel who's conducy is causing you concern is also perfectly seaman like.

Shouting is an effective nautical tradition not to be squandered.

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[Sybarite]

Agreed. Just be sure though that you are in the right.

John

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[tome]

Strangely enough, I had cause to raise my voice on Saturday for the first time in recent recollection. I was on board a 200 ton tug which was coming alongside using a forward spring. As the spring came under tension, I saw my wife was standing close by and unaware of the danger.

I think it's only in such a situation I would ever raise my voice, and my wife reacted quickly. Probably because she's never heard me raise my voice on board before.

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[Twister_Ken]

Try shouting at Madame...

...and she will either cry her eyes out, give you a good slapping, or both.

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[bedouin]

Re: To true

One of the most serious problems about sailing with SWMBO is that there is nothing I can do to make her obey any request without questioning.

With anyone else on the boat I can say - "If I shout it's important - do it immediately" and there is a good chance they will, but with SWMBO it just doesn't work

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[Sybarite]

Re: To true

Try getting your wife to go forward to release a mooring when its blowing a near gale and you're close to a lee shore and ..... she does it in high heels..... strapless sandals... TRUE. No good speaking to her either.

John

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[Andrew_Fanner]

Re: To true

SWMBOs view when the issue was discussed:

"We agreed to be equal partners in our life together, that means we discuss everything before making a shared decision"

Children's view

"If Daddy shouts its because he is cross, it might be with us, so we have to be good and keep out of the way"

Shouting seems to be a problem! Nobody is convinced that there can ever be much urgency and SWMBO finds it hard to accept that doing something for the boat needs to take priority over changing a nappy or wiping a small nose.

Still working on this one...

<hr width=100% size=1>Two beers please, my friend is paying.

 

[cameronke]

Good point Peppermint. But we must remember the boy who cried wolf. If someone shouts (or swears) all of the time then it becomes the norm and no exceptional notice is taken. But if a normaly quiet person shouts (or swears) then the act takes on an emphasis. I think.

Regards
Cameron

<hr width=100% size=1>Work to live, live to sail

 

[tcm]

Re: Silent mooring

I am making decent headway with the idea of "silent mooring". Silent mooring means just that - if all goes to plan, then there need be no words at all. On a large boat, especially a stinkpot, mooring must be essentially silent because of the racket of the engines or the sheer distance between bow and stern, and in these circumstances the only info the helm needs and can have in a manoevre that goes to plan is a number of fingers held up fore/aft/wherever by crew to indicate the number of metres to the hard bits nearby in the marina. Shouting during the manoevering is therefore reserved for anyone who sees danger to self or boat, and therefore usually doesn't happen. It does make the proces far less stressful i must say. I inadventently tested this a while ago by finding myself unable to turn down a far-too-loud cd player, and instead of going down to get the thing to switch it off, we proceeded to moor up without the ability to speak, and it worked quite well.


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[SlowlyButSurely]

Re: Silent mooring

Yes, quite agree with silent mooring. We've always done it. We have simple hand signals which the foredeck crew uses to direct the helm and it works without further comment.

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[david_e]

A gift from Neptune (God)

Ever wonder why we were given the natural ability to raise our voices before we were given toys to float about in?)

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[Peppermint]

Re: I suspect we were all

with you till the CD bit.

At least you didn't do what a visitor to Shamrock Quay did last year.

He used the loud hailer. No problem being heard. Football fans at St Mary's understood perfectly what was required.

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[Becky]

Re: Try shouting at Madame...

Or more likely do it better.
But to pick up on this thread of shouting, there is no doubt that someone who is uncertain of what they are doing, or not a good leader, or hasn't decided what he intends to do until it is too late to explain to his crew, betrays the fact that he feels incompetent by making a lot of unpleasant noise. Silent berthing indicates competency and a co-ordinated crew. I know who I would rather sail with. This is the therapist in me coming out.

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[tcm]

Re: Psycholgy dept.

I admit that i have tried both the shouting and non-shouting. The non-shouting does need explanation to crew beforehand as to wot exackerly you are planning to do. There is no doubt that it's the helm (usually also the shouter) who crashes the boat, and the others are the ones who might or might not save it. I have not yet saved a crunch by shouting, so i packed it in. I did explain that it's me who crashes, and them that might possibly rescue a cockup, tho the best possible outcome is that their fenders remain unsquished.

Mind you, it might be a bit off to have a therapist on board: "aha, tcm, i see you are attempting to feign expertise by explaining your plans in advance and trying for a silent mooring, when in reality you'd love to just wing it and shout - admit it!!" This is the anti-therapist trait in me coming out



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[tome]

Re: Psycholgy dept.

Hah!

A reformed tyrant, brought to his knees by inevitable fatalism and the certain knowledge that if it's going to go pear shaped shouting won't help.

Me too. Much better to smack the dock with indifference, with or without the therapist.

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[tcm]

Re: Psycholgy dept.

hah, there, I've smacked the dock, see! That Becky thinks I'm all upset but actually it's just part of my crew training procedure.

Now then, crew, see this crunch on the gelcoat? WELL DON'T EVER LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!

still some way to go, ahem.

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[tome]

Re: Psycholgy dept.

My salvation came when I found a gel coat repair man who wondered what the fuss was all about, and charged bugger all to repair it. That's the day I sacked my therapist. Mind you, that's when the twitch started.

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: Psycholgy dept.

My salvation came when I found a gel coat repair man who wondered what the fuss was all about, and charged bugger all to repair it.

It may have cost b.a. in gel coat repair bills, but the drinks bill has to be seen to be believed!


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[tome]

Re: Psycholgy dept.

Too true - hence the wallet twitch.

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[tcm]

Re: Free gelcoat repairs

These are available in any locked marina.

The way to do it is to hang back so that you are first into the lock. You need a paper and pencil handy to take down the details of the attacker, possibly also a dinghy so you can haulem back from their pontoon to inspect the inevitable damage.

If your boat is biggish, they always put you in first anyway. Then the poor sods who come in second have to get into the lock (not too hard) but then slot their boat down the gap alongside you only a few metres wide, or if your boat is bigger or a cat, perhaps only as wide as their boat. This is not at all easy, so regardless of how many fenders you might have set they crunch in, address please, nice new gelcoat and thankee very much. Alternating going in port/stbd side to ensures that each side gets suitable dinging/fixing/polishing up.