What scares you most when sailing?

Singled-handed, I'm terrified of falling down the companion way and breaking an arm or a leg. I got heavy-duty painkillers from my doctor for the emergency kit before setting off round the UK, but what I hadn't allowed for is the debilitating effect of shock. I knocked myself unconscious at home recently and it took an hour before I could move or think straight. Goodness knows what the boat would have done if it had happened at sea.
 
iLens said:
Singled-handed, I'm terrified of falling down the companion way and breaking an arm or a leg. I got heavy-duty painkillers from my doctor for the emergency kit before setting off round the UK, but what I hadn't allowed for is the debilitating effect of shock. I knocked myself unconscious at home recently and it took an hour before I could move or think straight. Goodness knows what the boat would have done if it had happened at sea.
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I once did fall down the companionway, and cracked a rib. I was out of it for several minutes - totally winded and unable to breath, and unable to move for a longer period after that. Fortunately I was tied up in the marina! But I spent the next week (which I'd planned to be spent sailing round the Clyde!) tied up waiting for the pain to subside enough to allow me to drive 400 miles home. Even climbing the companionway or getting on or off the boat were very painful. At the time I was sailing single-handed, and I seriously doubt that I'd have been able to do anything but put out a MayDay if it had happened at sea; the extertions required to manage the boat would have been beyond me.

I have also seriously concussed myself by fainting and banging my head on the way down. That happened at home, so no boating consequences. Recovery from that took months! In fact I was barred from driving for about 6 months because initially they couldn't rule out epilepsy until they'd run some fairly serious tests on me. I always remember that one - my late wife told me that while I was lying twitching on the floor my elder daughter shut herself in her room but the younger said "Don't worry - I know what to do - I 've seen it on Baywatch!"
 
AntarcticPilot said:
I once did fall down the companionway, and cracked a rib. I was out of it for several minutes - totally winded and unable to breath, and unable to move for a longer period after that. Fortunately I was tied up in the marina! But I spent the next week (which I'd planned to be spent sailing round the Clyde!) tied up waiting for the pain to subside enough to allow me to drive 400 miles home. Even climbing the companionway or getting on or off the boat were very painful. At the time I was sailing single-handed, and I seriously doubt that I'd have been able to do anything but put out a MayDay if it had happened at sea; the extertions required to manage the boat would have been beyond me.

I have also seriously concussed myself by fainting and banging my head on the way down. That happened at home, so no boating consequences. Recovery from that took months! In fact I was barred from driving for about 6 months because initially they couldn't rule out epilepsy until they'd run some fairly serious tests on me. I always remember that one - my late wife told me that while I was lying twitching on the floor my elder daughter shut herself in her room but the younger said "Don't worry - I know what to do - I 've seen it on Baywatch!"
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Would going to a doctor not have helped as you were tied up :confused:
 
FlyingGoose said:
Would going to a doctor not have helped as you were tied up :confused:
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It did - when I had managed to recover enough to ring my brother to take me to A&E. That's why I know I could have got a Mayday out if it had happened at sea! However, their advice amounted to "take painkillers and wait for it to heal". As even with painkillers it was still pretty bad, I suspect that anything strong enough to killt he pain would have had me counting the pretty pink elephants.

I actually wouldn't be worried if out in open water, far from other traffic or dangers. But my usual sailing is in busy waters with many hazards close at hand. And the accident certainly had me out of it - perhaps actually unconscious, but certainly unable to do anything useful - for a period of time that must have been at least minutes and most likely tens of minutes.
 
I can relate to Antarctic Pilot's situation. I have learned to treat bosun's chairs with great respect ever since I achieved a high speed descent whilst single handed, long ago, aboard a fortunately rather small boat, fortunately alongside. The memory of coming round lying on the side deck and spending a rather long time thinking about whether I wanted to try wiggling a toe or not, whilst something wet and sticky filled up my right sleeve, stays with me. I have been incredibly pedantic about working aloft ever since.
 
mjcoon said:
Did it work even when not wearing a swimsuit? (Not that I have ever watched Baywatch...)

Mike.
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For all I know, she donned a red swimsuit specially! But as she was around 9 or 10 at the time, I don't think it would have mattered. I was completely out of it, so no first-hand observation. Later I was proud of her no-nonsense, panic-free reaction.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
It did - when I had managed to recover enough to ring my brother to take me to A&E. That's why I know I could have got a Mayday out if it had happened at sea! However, their advice amounted to "take painkillers and wait for it to heal". As even with painkillers it was still pretty bad, I suspect that anything strong enough to killt he pain would have had me counting the pretty pink elephants.

I actually wouldn't be worried if out in open water, far from other traffic or dangers. But my usual sailing is in busy waters with many hazards close at hand. And the accident certainly had me out of it - perhaps actually unconscious, but certainly unable to do anything useful - for a period of time that must have been at least minutes and most likely tens of minutes.
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:encouragement: thanks for the feedback
 
FlyingGoose said:
Would going to a doctor not have helped as you were tied up :confused:
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There isn't much they can do for cracked ribs.

I cracked two whilst sailing down the Chenal du Four, but luckily managed to find vacant berth in Camaret. It was very painful so I went to a doctor there who told me to take Paracetamol and not to sail for a couple of months. After a weeks rest I was able to motor the boat over to Brest marina and fly home. A few weeks later, I was well enough to return and carry on south. The marina staff at Camaret and Brest could not have been more helpful.
 
Poignard said:
There isn't much they can do for cracked ribs.

I cracked two whilst sailing down the Chenal du Four, but luckily managed to find vacant berth in Camaret. It was very painful so I went to a doctor there who told me to take Paracetamol and not to sail for a couple of months. After a weeks rest I was able to motor the boat over to Brest marina and fly home. A few weeks later, I was well enough to return and carry on south. The marina staff at Camaret and Brest could not have been more helpful.
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OUCH :disgust:
I am pretty robust person and dont get to phased with anything, misspent child hood :rolleyes:
But what scares me the most is know my daughter is with me out sailing and I have this underfear of always needing to know were she is , and therefore I have took my risk level way down.
It is a conflict I constantly have, but always ere on the Safe side now/
 
My first really big fright was in the 70's when caught in my Stella in F9. A massive wave broke in front of me & the foam completely covered the whole boat & I screamed in fear. With an open cockpit I had to pump every 15 minutes. I had to work the boat to keep water from coming over the side into the cockpit as much as I could. I soon realised that a wave that had broken had less power than one about to break (which is like hitting a brick wall) . Fortunately I was able to heave too very easily (I actually went to sleep due to exhaustion for 3.5 hours), I was OK & after that & it was no big deal. I have only been in one other F9 offshore since & the experience of the first helped.

As a single hander I am always conscious of going over the side. If I do I am dead. That being said I have been over the side 3 times in my sailing life. As a dinghy sailor I have been in the drink hundreds of times, so with my PLB I might just be able to survive long enough to get help. Depends where I fall in.

I also suffer badly from seasickness & migraine. I have learned to handle those to an extent, but my current boat will not heave too so it makes stopping to recover very difficult.
My biggest fear now is that my migraine has started to develop into vertigo & if I get that whilst sailing, then I am dead, as I just cannot move or do a thing.

I certainly understand the fear some get when making the decision to leave a marina. If it looks a bit rough & one has got a bit " marina bound" it can be daunting to make it out . But once underway one usually gets over it- sometimes!!
 
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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?
 
Eric Hiscock, that great seaman, wrote of: “…. the baseless feeling of apprehension from which, I believe, most people suffer before the start of any venture in the successful conclusion of which they have to depend on themselves; and which is usually aggravated by the knowledge that they will be out of touch with the rest of mankind for a time.”
 
birdseye said:
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?
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One of the many things that made me love my gaff cutter was that with heavy galvanised 7x7 rigging to deadeyes and lanyards and 14mm forestay just hand tight there was no wind noise, under and circumstances short of F12, which we never experienced at sea. The October ‘87 hurricane did produce a howl, but the old girl was in her mud berth.
 
On a humorous note what I mostly worry about is tangling up my mooring trots as wind always blows us across then and almost impossible to bring boat to dead stand in the tideway, that and running out of tea.

On a more serious note I fear going over the side as even when sailing with the Navigator I don't believe she would have strength to get me back onboard (I listened to Mayday on similar and the person in water was not retrieved to helicopter arrived)

I also fear serious injury to us. The Navigator has poor sense of balance so I worry about her falling badly and injuring herself. As a result I normally do the foredeck work and fight with reefing, roller furling etc, so I worry that if I was injured she would have difficulty dealing with the sails if needed. Perhaps we should arrange that she does that on less rolly days so she retains familiarity, and perhaps she would manage fine anyway but it worries me.
 
Drowning,
I can't swim but have developed very good grip and used to stay dry during a capsize while
dinghy racing by staying high side. Bloody hate being in the water, love being on it!
 
oldmanofthehills said:
On a more serious note I fear going over the side as even when sailing with the Navigator I don't believe she would have strength to get me back onboard (I listened to Mayday on similar and the person in water was not retrieved to helicopter arrived)
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That is my worry too - She would get back to me but what happens next is the issue for me- The dinghy lives in davits and our plan is to lower it down to the water, which works fine when its daylight and we are both prepared.....
 
claymore said:
That is my worry too - She would get back to me but what happens next is the issue for me- The dinghy lives in davits and our plan is to lower it down to the water, which works fine when its daylight and we are both prepared.....
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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.
 
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