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powerskipper

powerskipper

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our coastguard peeps around, A yacht got into trouble today , lower attachments for his front sail broke and was flapping in a F6 with the roller thingy still attached, they radioed and asked for help, received some very sound advice from the CG and problem sorted, they then thanks the CG for there expert advice.
Makes you proud to be British. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Julie, I agree that it's very good that we have such services available to us but from another perspective as a sailor I am concerned that people go to sea and cannot deal with what is in effect a typical situation. It wasn't a medical or life threatening issue. it wasn't a Pan pan situation but the crew involved were obviously lacking in the skills to deal with the situation.
Sorry if I have sounded boorish.

regards.

peter.
 
Not at all. A little bit of practical skills and thinking would have recovered a situation like that.
It smacks of the "they should do something about it" society.
Where has personal responsibility gone?
 
Don't agree at all. Nothing wrong with asking for advice and sounds like it was expertly given. Much better to ask early and get it sorted than let a situation develop in to something much more serious.
 
I agree, most newcomers to our "sport" are on a steep learning curve when it comes to seamanship and boat maintenance, and I'm fairly sure that the entry level RYA courses don't spend a great deal of time on the jury fixing of rigging at sea. You rarely find a fool asking for advice.
 
Ok. In retrospect I may have been a bit arsey there.
It is good that we have Coastguards, and it is also a disgrace that so many stations are being shut.
 
I am surprsed that there was a CG officer on duty with the required knowledge for this situation. This is no way meant to be a criticism of the CG, but about 25 years ago we used to take new CGs to sea in a yacht so that they could get an idea of what it was like, most of them having been in the RN or MN before. They were always appreciative of the experience. Sadly, the 5 days courses were stopped because of financial restraints (what else?) after questions in The House about whether this was a wise use of resources.
Have the courses been reinstated, I wonder, or did they just strike lucky and speak to a CG who was also a sailor?
 
I agree that they were lucky to have such a good CG on watch ...
I do think that crew should be mindful of the conditions when they put to sea and shouldn't try to expand their experience too quickly.
But I don't expect anyone that goes to sea to have the experience to effectively deal with all situations. You have to learn from something and loosing the forestay is not one of those things you go out and practice!! If it happened to me I'd probably detail someone to call up CG - whilst I went to see what I could do about it - if the mast went over the side my comms ability would be knocked somewhat.
 
You would ordinarily use a spare halyard from the mast head, such as a spinnaker halyard and make it fast to a strong point at the bow. If your forestay had snapped then to the forestay chainplate. But if like Stingo it is the chainplate that gives way then a strong point such as a cleat possibly, depends on the boat.

For safety you may bring two spare halyards down. The need to get them tight at sea is important as the rope has stretch.

Hopefully Stingo will convey his experience of losing the forestay when no help was available and he had hundreds of miles to go to get to shelter....
 
A lot depends on the conditions, but my first instinct would be to turn the boat down wind so as to take some load off the unstayed mast. Maybe then rig a spare halyard (Spi or headsail) as a jury stay by making off to a strong fitting. With the jib blanketed by the main it should be possible to get a line around the base of the roller furler, or some other point on the forestay, haul down and make off to a stem fitting. Then roll up, or drop the jib, get the boat under control (poss hove to), scratch ones head and sort the mess out properly.
 
with a forestay giving up the ghost, not sure if rolling the genoa is still an option.
It might even be really difficult or even dangerous to take it down.
What do others think?
Rgds
George
 
Agree completely with SturgeonSteve's approach. Turning downwind will have the immediate effect of reducing stress on the rig (more accurately - transferring the stress to the stays that are still intact) while you fit the jury forestay, but it will also have the effect of reducing the apparent wind speed. This, together with the blanketing effect of the main, will make the genoa easier to get under control.
 
I think your missing the point. The CG isn't there to inform you how to take control of your vessel.
Julie said that the bottom of the sail was flapping and I assume by that the tack had come loose from the bow. This kind of thing not uncommon when sailing and you should be physicallyt fit and competent to deal with such problems. Were not talking of rig failure and jury rigging here but a common simple problem for yachtsmen to deal with. If you are not experienced enough then you should not be in charge of a vessel. Thats the big problem. So many people are going to sea who do not understand the dangers, are completely unfit and have a lack of understanding of the basics.

Regards.

Peter.
 
It's a situation where you will be glad of your inner forestay or your Dyneema spinnaker halyard. You do have one or the other...
 
If it was simply a matter of the sail tack coming adrift I would have to agree with you, although I had interpreted the comment about the roller thingy still being attached as suggesting that it was the forestay that had parted.

I still feel that peeps should not be dissuaded from seeking advice, it's not as if the guy had put out a Pan Pan, or Mayday, or had he?

By the way, it wasn't me that made the call!
 
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