WNS (What Now Skip) June

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timbartlett

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I've lost track of which month I'm supposed to be writing for: as it is now early March, I guess this What Now Skip will probably just about squeeze into Motor Boat and Yachting's deadline for June. So please imagine that it is summer time....
Never one to learn from experience, one of our Hero's mates is about to get married for the third time. Our hero has invited him and half a dozen of "the lads" down to the boat -- a 46 foot Grand Banks -- in Falmouth for a stag do. The plan is a trip to the Scillies on Friday and a couple of nights out in St Mary's, followed by a big breakfast and the return trip on Sunday.

But it's been a windy week, and just as "the lads" turn up on Thursday, the early evening weather forecast on TV is talking about "strong west or south westerly winds continuing into the weekend". Our Hero is sure the boat can make it, and "the lads" are keen to go, despite the fact that at least two of them have never been on anything smaller than an Irish Sea ferry, and an uncomfortable voyage followed by two nights on a bumpy mooring in the Scillies, could be exactly what they all don’t need. What Now, Skip?
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As usual, please bear in mind that:
* The idea is to offer a nautical puzzle, which experienced skippers will (hopefully) find interesting or entertaining, from which the less experienced may be able to learn something, and from which we can all pick up ideas.
* The WNS skipper is a fictional character. Any resemblance to a real individual is purely accidental, except that he occasionally makes mistakes, and he is not able to make time run backwards. So having got into a situation, he can't get out of it by wishing that he had done something different.
* WNS is not a competition to see who can match some hidden but predetermined solution. Of course I have an answer in mind (you wouldn't like it if I gave you an impossible situation, would you?) But mine may not be the best or only answer.
* If you think I've missed something or given confusing information please ask for clarification.
* Attributed extracts from selected posts will appear in the next issue of MBY.
 
I wouldn't dream of going to the Scillies with a forecast like that and an inexperienced crew. I would stick around the Falmouth area, maybe visit Helford. Just as much fun to be had without the long rough passage.
 
yep, don't go.

One possibility is nosing out of the harbour just to prove it's awful, and then coming back exactly as you secretly planned all along. Alternatively, if they're a very gung-ho lot, flick some battery switches and turn off fuel so, tsk, darnit, it won't seem to start. This is risky cos someone might easily fix it...

For reasonable lot, you can just tellem - altho it seemed that from the question that just telling them isn't an option - they want to go...

No chart in front of me and erm forgotten the local area but there gotta be a few places to pootle to/from in and around Falmouth harbour itself. South west and westerly could perhaps mean it'll be okish to sneak along to the east in not-so-bad seas, a bit, maybe.

Another good plan could be to encourage massively excessive drinking on the thursday night so nobody feels up to more than gentle staggering along the pontoon the next day.

My ultimate fall-back plan would be to call up the prospective wife, and grass him up! Tell her that despite the very adverse weather he seems hell-bent on going to the Scillies, very dangerous, storm, doom etc. etc. and perhaps she can talk some sense into him? Hah! That'll definitely put the tin lid on him making any trip to the Scillies, ever.
 
Dont make the trip. It'll be horrible. Skipper will need to deploy strong powers of persuasion. Drive to Penzance and on the way there book helicopter flights and hotels on blackberry, or call travel helper to do all that for you, and carry on with stag do as planned.
 
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third time lucky: the marriage info??

erm, i'm just wondering... most of the answers (including mine above) have IGNORED the fact that this is the guy's THIRD stag do, THIRD prospective marriage. So, he's been married twice before and hence perhaps an absolute glutton for punishment, dyathink? So, it'll be okay to go, maybe? Third time lucky? Maybe he needs the chance to a stop his awful life getting even worse and a "celebratory" trip to the scillies and leap over the side is just what he wants?

OR, since he's de-hitched twice already, perhaps might just dump this idea too, if the going gets tough and he'll want to get off? Not sure.

OR he might have been widowed once or even twice, so again, that puts a different complexion on things as well. He might be a serial wife-killer, even? Should you even have allowed him on the boat?

Thing is - is the question (and your answer) changed by this trip being a stag do for someone's THIRD marriage, hm? How about if it was their first or second marriage? Or on the other hand - what if it was their fourth?

Anyway, hopefully Tim (or others) has some fabulous insight that i've missed...
 
Drive to Exeter.
Take flight to Amsterdam with Flybe.
Tell wife to be all about the terrible weather/seasickness/boredom in Scillies.
 
As soon as they arrive Thursday 'start the party' tell them about the weather and give them an alternative put it to the vote, if they force the issue then carry on drinking but make sure yours has plenty of water with it and go for the 0430 start, pop into Fowey or if it is really bad anchor up the River Fal after getting knocked about in the Roads, dinghy ashore for more provisions and find a Pub, head back to Falmouth 0430 Saturday morning ,
Once you have them all back safely in Falmouth you can enjoy a great stag party as the hero getting your mates to/from the scillies while they were fast asleep and hung over, and hope they don't catch on. :D
 
If he insists on doing it....

Well, if you're going to go to the Scillies in dodgy weather, a GB 46 is a good way to do it, though she will probably roll a bit. My instinct would be to give it a go, you won't be long out of Falmouth before you discover whether or not your mates are up to the trip and if they're not, you can turn round and go home. As with any heavy weather voyage, make sure that everything is properly stowed, nav and safety gear is working, passage plan (including suitable refuges) is in place, filters and fuel are clean and there's lots of hot soup and sarnies available to sustain everyone. Discourage everyone from going on the piss too much before both passages (I know this isn't ideal for a stag do) because even the slightest hangover will increase susceptibility to mal de mer. Wallop down some Stugeron, or other drug of choice, well in advance and insist that everyone else does it, irrespective of their claims to having a cast-iron stomach.

With the wind from the W or SW St Mary's is going to be uncomfortable and, as holding isn't brilliant, you may embark on an unscheduled trip in the middle of the night. Therefore I'd recommend anchoring in Porth Cressa instead, which will be far more sheltered and which still isn't far from the fleshpots of St Mary's. Coming back, the wind will be behind you, so if you manage to make it out there, the trip back will be a breeze - if that's the right word in the circs.

Or else, stay in Falmouth :D
 
Change the passage plan

Instead, turn left out of Falmouth with a rising tide, to go with the wind and waves, and go to Fowey. By Sunday wind probably would have gone through for a comfortable return to Falmouth.

However, check Skipper's sanity - who in their right mind takes a stud party to the 'fleshpots of St Mary's'!
 
tcm said:
erm, i'm just wondering... most of the answers (including mine above) have IGNORED the fact that this is the guy's THIRD stag do, THIRD prospective marriage. .... Thing is - is the question (and your answer) changed by this trip being a stag do for someone's THIRD marriage, hm? How about if it was their first or second marriage? Or on the other hand - what if it was their fourth?

Anyway, hopefully Tim (or others) has some fabulous insight that i've missed...
Click to expand...

You're reading a bit more into this than I intended. All I was trying to do (without being too specific about it) was to convey the impression that the group, as a whole, are in their forties and fifties rather than in their teens and twenties.
 
I would be rather cautious about going but would certainly not make my decision based on
an early evening TV forecast. I find the shipping forecasts to be not that accurate so I most certainty would not put to much faith in the level and accuracy of weather info on a TV forecast.

I would inform the crew of the situation and make a decision in the morning having once gained a much more detailed weather forecast.
If its a no go then up the Fal then into the Truro River. Moor just below Malpas. Few jars in the Heron then a ten min walk into Truro or call a Taxi.
 
our plan for a diving trip to scillies

coincidently last week we had a meeting with the "lads" about the planning of our diving trip in september to Scillies.
We agreed that if weather forecast is ok, we will base ourselves in Penzance, and then do day trip's to Scillies, and if the weather forcast is very good, make it a 2 or 3 day trip.
If the forecast is really bad, we will base ourselves in Falmouth, and even without the diving I would expect we can enjoy the trip exploring or visiting interesting places in that area.
We will make detailed planning for all options, so that we can change plans at the last moment.

Just like in this WNS scenario, I believe it should be the aim of the captain, to make it a enjoyable and save trip, and every serious "lad" will understand that a trip's destination might be changed for that reason.
 
Weird WNS, this one

I read the OP before any reply was posted, but not knowing the places, I decided to step aside, awaiting to read some interesting "solutions".
But now, seeing the overwhelming consensus for a no go, I'm wondering what the wns was all about, to start with.
Maybe the most elegant way to tell the crew that the plan must be changed?
Well, if so, I must be a very simple mind, because any time I had friends on board and had to change plans due to sea conditions, I just explained them the reasons for my decision, period. Democracy is a great thing, but not in these matters.
 
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