What could I have done?

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Cheeky Girl

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What does the panel think?

Could I have done anything to avoid what happened?

We (myself, SWMBO & 2 children 6 & 8), were sailing in Turkey last week on a Sunsail flotilla out of Gocek. The boat was a Sun Odyssey 34.2. We had left Fethiye and were heading for a bay known as Tomb Bay.
The weather was sunny with light winds (F0-1) we were drifting along at 2-3 knots with the engine ticking over to keep the beer & wine cool.
We entered the passage between Tersane Adasi and Domuz Adasi and headed north. This passage is about 1.5 miles long and 0.25 miles wide. We were goose winging in the middle of the channel with the boom on the port side about 2/3 rds of the way up the channel.
A motor boat passed us and we looked down the channel to see her pass out of sight. The wind then picked up to 10 knots then we broached with the wind hitting 35-40 knots. With the starboard side of the channel being the leeward shore.

All hell then broke loose.

We managed to release the genoa then the main at this time the boat was being pushed sideways with the water lapping up at the salon windows. I tried to reverse away from the rapidly approaching rocks but as the boat moved astern a bit the stern rounded to the wind and the main refilled and sent us forward again. I could not get enough head way to get the boat into the wind. We then hit the rocks then bounced back a bit then this happened again and again.
At the same time a small Turkish fishing boat appeared and he tried to get a line to us. Eventually we managed and we were pulled clear. The boat was damaged at the bow but no water was coming in. We managed to anchor in the a small bay on Domuz Adasi. The fisherman came on board and was more concerned about the kids and invited us to his house in the bay.
Once wind had died down a bit we head back to the Sunsail base in Gocek. Where we warmly greeted and offered another boat straight away. Thankfully by this time the kids had calmed down and were happy to carry on.

If that Fisherman had not been there I do not think that I would be back home typing this.

But the nagging thought is could I have done anything to stop the boat hitting the rocks?

Sorry for the long post but I have to get this out of my mind.

Graham
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Without being present it is difficult to comment, but it seems simply a case of inexperience. The best way to handle the situation is to avoid it in the first place; i.e. don't broach on a close lee-shore.

Having said that, I think your question relates to what to do once in the situation. I don't think there's any magical boat handling technique to pull out of the hat. Possibly have the anchor ready to go, do you think that would have helped if you had dropped it soon enough?

Otherwise live and learn, and be thankful it wasn't rougher weather, and no one was hurt.
 
As soon as it became obvious that the wind was getting up, it may have been better to have used more engine power to turn into the wind, going astern in those conditions was always going to be dubious. Once into wind it should have been fairly easy to furl the genoa & drop/furl the main.
I.m sure that at the time it was perhaps not so easy to make the best call, at the end of the day at least you & the family were OK. I know from experience that sudded wether changes like you describe do occur sometimes & can catch
people out, saw similar in Aegean this year.
 
very hard to say, and hard to criticse at this distance. But it seems that you were pre-ocupied with using the engine while the sails were, at best, shaking. With that much wind and that much sail up, the engine is not going to achieve anything. My preocupation would have been to make the sails work for me, or at least not work against me.
 
What could I have done? - probably a lot!

That having been said however ....... A lazy sunny afternoon on a family cruise, flat water, gentle breeze, expectation of mooring up in a secluded cove.

There but for the grace of God........!
 
Fear not, while you will get lots of advice and criticism the sailor who has never made a mistake is a mythical creature. Sounds like you were caught in a sudden squall in otherwise calm conditions. Easy to say how we might all react, but you are doing the right thing trying to learn from the exercise.
My first reaction is always, when carrying a lot of canvas think about how you will depower the sails if the wind comes up suddenly. You should be able at the very least to release all sheets which will leave you upright with a lot of flapping canvas.
Then the job of motoring into safety in your case would have been easy. You had the engine running luckily but for the wrong reason! In any narrow channel, if sailing, you should be able to motor if the wind shifts, dies or increases. Finally if you are looking at a chart and see a place called "tomb bay" ask yourself why it has a name like that! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Phew....

Sounds hairy!

Not easy to tell from your description what anyone could have done.... kind of a 'need to be there' situation...

Good on you for being brave enough to tell the story though... and really glad that it doesn't seem to have put your family off....
 
When in a broach, it pays to release the main first, leaving the genoa powered up to pull bows back on to a run.

As others have said, the engine isn't going to pull you back against that kind of power so if you do use it, go forwards to gain some steerage. Even if this sems counter-intuative heading for the lee shore. Not sure quite how close you were when it all happened, so maybe there was nothing you could do. I guess either side could have become the lee shore so mid-channel was probably the right place to be.

It sounds like a nightmare and I know that in similar situations (without the rocks!) it is the noise of the sails that scares children the most, closely followed by Mum & Dad yelling at each other. Hope everyone is still up for a sailing holiday next year.

Sounds like Sunsail behaved admirably and don't you just love the Turks. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Thanks for the comments.

Last night after posting was the first that I have slept fairly well. Talk about reliving it over & over again.

As an aside one boat was lost in the bad weather and numerous were damaged.

Graham
 
It’s easy to advise whilst sitting at my computer and having no responsibility for a wife and children in a sudden and dangerous situation but here are my thoughts which are in line with what others have said.

Putting the engine into reverse was bound to cause the stern to turn into the wind as the sails and most of the rigging are ahead of the propeller. Instead, you needed to use any forward momentum of the boat (including full ahead on the engine if necessary) to turn it round to face the wind. Yachts can turn very sharply.

Of course, you would have been reluctant to go ahead with rocks straight in front of you and at the end, there may have been no room to do so. Your situation was similar to an aircraft stalling at a low altitude. Despite natural instincts, the plane would need to be put into a steep dive towards the ground to pick up speed in order to gain control again.

Once you were in the situation of being stern to the wind with the main filled, you may have needed to haul the main in tightly to reduce the wind pressure on it whilst you reversed away. This would be quite difficult to maintain as eventually the main would catch some wind and spin the boat round. At least you would now be facing away from the shore.

On the bright side, the boat didn’t sink and the family unhurt. It’s just possible that the actions you took did save the day by providing a few minutes respite that was just long enough to allow your rescuer to come to your aid. You have also had some very valuable experience which you are obviously determined to learn from. Not only that, you are passing this on to others who may not realise that the Med can throw up nasty surprises to the unwary yachtsman.
 
In Turkey it seems to me that very sudden increases in wind strength can occur, particularly when close to land, though 35-40 knot winds out of nowhere are generally associated with thunderstorms. I know that channel, and it can funnel the wind, so that a gentle breeze at the entrance can build as the channel narrows. I personally only goose wing my boat in open water, and then only with a boom preventer rigged to avoid an involuntary gybe. I presume that your mainsail gybed before the boat broached, and it was the gybe that brought about the loss of control. In a channel like that it is safer IMHO to use genoa alone if the wind is behind the beam. Close to land the wind is much more prone to sudden changes in direction, which can bring about an involuntary gybe.
You were lucky the boat did not take on water, but once again my faith in the good nature of ordinary Turks has been vindicated. You are always told that in Turkey if you take a line from another boat then you are risking giving away your boat as salvage, but here the fisherman was concerned for you and your children.
 
its a good endorsement of the Sun Oddysey that it was able to sail away after.

Difficul;t to say what action you should have taken .Probably rounded up into wind started the motor and got sails off ASAP. it sounds aas if you may have been hit by a savage downdraft rather than a normal squall.They usually occur where high ground comes close to the shore.Usuall symptoms are no wind followed by terrific gusts from odd directions.

Only real way to avoid them is to keep a healthy distance off a windward shore.Obviously thats not an option going through a narrow passage .

At the end of the day nobody got hurt so put it down to experience.
 
Tomb Bay is named for its Lycian rock tombs, and is a beautiful place, with a well sheltered anchorage, and restaurants ashore. The name is nothing to do with unfortunate mariners.
 
Scary!!!!!! This weekend we're off for two weeks in Turkey, and Tomb Bay is on our itinerary. We are forwarned!
Have often experienced sudden violent gusts in the Adriatic, when eg passing between islands, and although my sailing status is "not quite criminally incompetent crew", am beginning to identify and anticipate places which look like they might get hairy.
You didn't say what boat it was - guess a Sun Odyssey, or other AWB. They do get very tippy in gusts, and many suggest using a lot less canvas than on something more robust. Am still trying to convince my husband (ex racer) about that!
 
[ QUOTE ]
"not quite criminally incompetent crew",

[/ QUOTE ]

My examiner said I wasnt quite up to the standard for that award yet /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

PS it was a Sun Oddysey
 
We cruised off the Italian Amalfi coast this year and had a similar experience. The rate at which the wind goes from virtually nothing to F6/7 is hard to believe for people who only sail in UK waters.

Luckily I was not near to lee shore when the wind came up like a jet engine exhaust, it was actually trying to blow us off shore.

I immediately turned the engine on, near to full throttle, and turned directly into the wind until I could get the sails down, (another story). Gave us all a shock though.

Its what you call as a decision in the seconds it takes to change that makes or breaks it – very difficult.


By the way I admire your candour in posting, I hope every one is positive in their remarks.
 
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