What scares you most when sailing?

[Muddy32]

Running out whisky at the end of a passage.

 

[Daydream believer]

Having now read this thread I now have another fear

All the sailors who seem to organise their sailing activities around alchohol:ambivalence:

Makes me wonder if the next generation will be/are running theirs around wacky baccy, or whatever it is called

 

[STATUE]

I am the same, but once I let the mooring go, all is well. BUT not always - if I do cop out, I record it in my NO GO LOG which enables me to look back and check the logic used when triggering NO GO.

Nothing much scares me when sailing but the noise of the wind makes me as nervous as hell when trying to make the decision whether or not to drop the mooring.

Fears are often irrational. I ride my motorbike at speed and it never worries me yet the risk is orders of magnitude greater than sailing offers. Indeed I've already been helicoptered into A &E once after a bike accident. So why does the wind noise frighten me and not the bike?

 

[Birdseye]

SWMBO moans that once I have plucked up courage to leave, I never turn back whatever the conditions. And whan I think back, she's right.

 

[zoidberg]

"He who knows not, and knows not he knows not...."

 

[claymore]

"He who knows not, and knows not he knows not...."

OR

We don't know what we don't know...

 

[zoidberg]

Sotto voce whispers in the cockpit, in the dead of night.... "D'you think we should tell the skipper?"

"It's all right. He's seen us...."

"There's a lot of water down here...."

"That doesn't look like the Needles Fairway Buoy!"

 

[Wansworth]

The more experienced you become the better your decision s and you get that from being on the water.The professional seaman has so many more references to count on as he works his way up to skipper that in general they decide to go and go without wring of hands or asking opinion of anyone else......as they are ultimately responsible

 

[Seven Spades]

Mooring charges.

 

[Kukri]

Sotto voce whispers in the cockpit, in the dead of night.... "D'you think we should tell the skipper?"

"It's all right. He's seen us...."

"There's a lot of water down here...."

"That doesn't look like the Needles Fairway Buoy!"

That’s a pretty good list.

 

[ProDave]

"It's all right. He's seen us...."

Yes add to the list "boats with nobody on watch

Had that yesterday. Approaching another sailyboat Looked to be on a collision course so we altered course. Other boat alters course to match, back on collision. We alter course again. Other boar alters course. WTF. Getting close thinking of a tack in a hurry to get out of his way, a head pops up and suddenly the other boat starts steering a course to avoid us, then gives a polite wave as he passes.

 

[BigJoe]

Motorboats.................................

 

[oldmanofthehills]

And in your advanced state of geriactitude could you bring your navigator back on board? I think we need an acceptable protocol, e. g. towing the (eventually) deceased back to port, and how to notify the loved ones.

I think age has very little to do with it. Unless you have 3 fit young men lurking in a storage locker and able to assist you will have difficulty getting anyone back on board. Hoisting up via mainsheet is possible but mainsail maybe already up as most likely it was boom that swept you over the side. So mainsail needs lowering, hoist needs rigging and by then you've probable got a hypothermally deceased in the water. Scary!

 

[Genoa]

I find it very useful to know that I am not the only person who is not super-confident at all times when afloat.

+1

 

[Still Grinning]

The wind, the tide, the depth, the sails, the engine, the anchor, the Skipper (me).....

Other than that, it's all good!!

 

[capnsensible]

People who ignore the lights prescribed in IRPCS and think they are being smart putting on wrong lights or strobes ' because it makes me more visible'.

It doesn't. It causes confusion, the misunderstanding puzzlers.

 

[johnalison]

Rule 13, observance lack of.

 

[webcraft]

.
Coming into or leaving a marina in my Albin Vega with anyopne watching.

I can park and manoever a modern 45ft boat I have never sailed before as if I have been doing it all my life, but I have owned the Vega for 16 years and sailed her over 20,000 miles, but I still get the willies in a confined space, particularly if I think I may have to reverse. I can hear the whispers as they watch me screw it up.
'He told me he was a Yachtmaster Instructor, and he can't even control that tiny little boat . . . '

- W

 

[Stemar]

Yep, I recognise that fear. In my case, it's going astern in my Snapdragon. She was entirely predictable - kick the stern to port then weathercock stern to windward, except that the only time I absolutely relied on her doing that she did something completely different.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Me also.. I had a Macwester 26 that did all manner of awkward things while berthing. I used to dread taking into marinas. It also wouldnt tack except in high winds so we sold it. I was worried I would find our LM27 difficult with its long keel, over small rudder and unresponsive engine after our highly responsive Westerly but no, that Macwester had seemingly honed my boat wrangling skills considerably.