Andrew E
Well-Known Member
Anything to do with spinnakers!
What scares you most when sailing?
- Thread starter thecommander
- Start date
Bru
Well-Known Member
Possibly because of your imagination?
As in you;ve already imagined all the things that could go wrong and you're mentally prepared when one of the things you imagined happens. You may not have thought through a solution but you aren't thrown by the unexpected. Maybe. (It's me to a T, that)
Babylon
Well-Known Member
Good analysis Bru
Pre-passage anxiety (in moderation) focusses the mind on preparation, and training and experience go a long way to overcoming irrationality.
Last summer, due to cross back over the Channel for the first time singlehanded, after a good early supper I drew up an action-list of essential jobs. The first item was 'kettle-on' the last one was 'clip-on'. I came to at 0430 in a half-sleep of irrational, pit-of-stomach anxiety. But as soon as I was propped up in my bunk with a hot cuppa, I had quelled myself and was in mode, checking the latest forecast and mentally ticking off my capabilities against the basic tasks.
... which didn't stop me from arriving at the Needles a little too early and nearly wrecking the ship on the Shingles!
Pre-passage anxiety (in moderation) focusses the mind on preparation, and training and experience go a long way to overcoming irrationality.
Last summer, due to cross back over the Channel for the first time singlehanded, after a good early supper I drew up an action-list of essential jobs. The first item was 'kettle-on' the last one was 'clip-on'. I came to at 0430 in a half-sleep of irrational, pit-of-stomach anxiety. But as soon as I was propped up in my bunk with a hot cuppa, I had quelled myself and was in mode, checking the latest forecast and mentally ticking off my capabilities against the basic tasks.
... which didn't stop me from arriving at the Needles a little too early and nearly wrecking the ship on the Shingles!
KREW2
Well-Known Member
Floaty things grabbing you down below.
It generally happens when there is no wind, and you have your engine running, as it did to me last summer.
Luckily we were 19 miles from shore so no immediate danger.
As has been mentioned after the initial... OH F@#k! all on board stayed focused.
Here is a piccie of what we caught.
It generally happens when there is no wind, and you have your engine running, as it did to me last summer.
Luckily we were 19 miles from shore so no immediate danger.
As has been mentioned after the initial... OH F@#k! all on board stayed focused.
Here is a piccie of what we caught.
Major_Clanger
Well-Known Member
Please would you let me have your co-ordinates at the time? It's been a long time since I've been grabbed by anything down below....
mjcoon
Well-Known Member
harry potter
Well-Known Member
BUGS!! and VERMIN!!
NEVER BRING CARDBOARD of any type onto the boat, and paper labels should be sprayed with insecticide to get rid of potential eggs, or also removed before storing away. If this seems a lot of work, just remember it’s less work than getting rid of the cockroaches.
2. Keep all opened foodstuffs, and unopened grain products in AIR TIGHT PLASTIC CONTAINERS, or zip-lock bags. This prevents spreading of bugs if they already contain them. Insert a couple of BAY LEAVES when doing this.
3. If weevils are already there, either MICROWAVE the offending food item for five minutes or DEEP FREEZE for two hours. Then, when clear, insert the BAY LEAVES (or VACUUM PACK (CRYOVAC) if this is possible). This is for pasta, flour, muesli, rice, biscuits etc., all grain products.
4. BUY AND CARRY a RAT TRAP on the boat, but if there are rats on the wharf, prevent them running up the lines by putting a FUNNELS OR FLOUR POTS upside down on the boat lines (close to the boat not near the wharf if the line can drop into the water - the rats can swim around it).
5. To kill cockroaches, forget the commercial products – they only kill a few. Mix BORIC ACID AND ICING SUGAR, roll into balls and drop everywhere all over the boat, especially into all lockers and dark corners. They will eventually dissolve, but if you want to retrieve/replace them later, put them on small pieces of alfoil.
6. MOSQUITO COILS, available in all mosquito prone areas of the world, will last overnight, and keep away all mosquitoes or midges from the most sensitive skins. They should be burnt upwind or at the hatchway or other boat entrances.
7. DO THE SHOPPING: rat traps, zip-lock bags and/or air-tight plastic containers; Bay leaves, lots; Boric acid; icing sugar; alfoil; funnels or flower pots; mosquito coils.*
NEVER BRING CARDBOARD of any type onto the boat, and paper labels should be sprayed with insecticide to get rid of potential eggs, or also removed before storing away. If this seems a lot of work, just remember it’s less work than getting rid of the cockroaches.
2. Keep all opened foodstuffs, and unopened grain products in AIR TIGHT PLASTIC CONTAINERS, or zip-lock bags. This prevents spreading of bugs if they already contain them. Insert a couple of BAY LEAVES when doing this.
3. If weevils are already there, either MICROWAVE the offending food item for five minutes or DEEP FREEZE for two hours. Then, when clear, insert the BAY LEAVES (or VACUUM PACK (CRYOVAC) if this is possible). This is for pasta, flour, muesli, rice, biscuits etc., all grain products.
4. BUY AND CARRY a RAT TRAP on the boat, but if there are rats on the wharf, prevent them running up the lines by putting a FUNNELS OR FLOUR POTS upside down on the boat lines (close to the boat not near the wharf if the line can drop into the water - the rats can swim around it).
5. To kill cockroaches, forget the commercial products – they only kill a few. Mix BORIC ACID AND ICING SUGAR, roll into balls and drop everywhere all over the boat, especially into all lockers and dark corners. They will eventually dissolve, but if you want to retrieve/replace them later, put them on small pieces of alfoil.
6. MOSQUITO COILS, available in all mosquito prone areas of the world, will last overnight, and keep away all mosquitoes or midges from the most sensitive skins. They should be burnt upwind or at the hatchway or other boat entrances.
7. DO THE SHOPPING: rat traps, zip-lock bags and/or air-tight plastic containers; Bay leaves, lots; Boric acid; icing sugar; alfoil; funnels or flower pots; mosquito coils.*
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Jamesuk
Well-Known Member
The kindle/alcohol combination
Kukri
Well-Known Member
That is the best advice I have read in twenty years of reading ybw.com
Could you elaborate on the bay leaves?
Babylon
Well-Known Member
That is the best recommendation I've ever read for confining my sailing to Northern European waters!
mjcoon
Well-Known Member
Years ago a pot-luck flotilla crew member complained she had a hamster in her cabin (shades of Manuel from Faulty Towers!). My mate calmly extracted a rat trap from his luggage and baited it and set it in her cabin. The rat was duly caught and dispatched. The cabin owner didn't want to go back in, though!
The flotilla leader was faced with the decision of whether to tell the other yacht crews...
Mike.
Kukri
Well-Known Member
Experts.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Just at present I fear the threatened closure of the lock at Arzal due to the shortage of rainfall, leaving my boat trapped in the Vilaine River 
jac
Well-Known Member
Yard bills and marine tradesmen sucking their teeth saying "it might be pricey "
Stemar
Well-Known Member
Vega1447
Well-Known Member
12 Year Plan B-)
Well-Known Member
In tidal estuaries, engine failure and/or loss of apparent wind due to currents. I keep my kedge handy, ready to throw over. This alleviates some of the anxiety...but only some of it...
RupertW
Well-Known Member
Why not your main anchor?
Barnacle Bill
Well-Known Member
The first time I skippered my yacht away from land, into an ocean, heading for a small island.
It suddenly struck me how much trust I was placing in a chart and a small hand-held GPS. A piece of paper with some printing on it? Numbers displayed on a screen? And we're heading day after day into open ocean...
I wasn't exactly scared, but I suddenly realised how precarious it all was, and how much trust we were placing in these things. And I was extremely relieved when we spotted Porto Santo in the sunset. I never got that feeling on subsequent voyages.
It suddenly struck me how much trust I was placing in a chart and a small hand-held GPS. A piece of paper with some printing on it? Numbers displayed on a screen? And we're heading day after day into open ocean...
I wasn't exactly scared, but I suddenly realised how precarious it all was, and how much trust we were placing in these things. And I was extremely relieved when we spotted Porto Santo in the sunset. I never got that feeling on subsequent voyages.
[70521]
Well-Known Member
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