Worst conditions you've sailed in?

[Kelpie]

Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

This was prompted by a post on the forum where somebody said they'd never been out in more than f7. Which got me thinking.... what kind of conditions have my fellow forumites endured at sea?

I'm a relative novice, I've owned a Wayfarer since November, and have been crewing for a year or two before that.

My most memorable trip so far has been taking a 33ft long keel sloop across the north Minch, 3 up, f8 gusting 9, big seas, hard on the wind all the way across to Stornoway.
The boat is totally solid and her skipper is an ex CG whom I trust completely. So I was able to sit back and relax, in between bouts of vomiting, whilst we steadily reduced sail to 3 reefs and storm jib through the evening. The end of the boom spent as much time in the water as out, such were the size of the waves. Foredeck work involved a lot of time underwater (although my job was helming, fortunately).

In my own boat, I've bene caught out with full sail in 30knt gusts, but have never had to handle big seas (yet).

I'd be very interested to see what sort of stories everyone else has about rough weather sailing? And how bad does it have to be to stop you going out?

 

[VicS]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Worst I think was coming back to the Hamble from Le Harve . The indicated windspeed was about 42 knots so I suppose that makes it the top of a f8 rather than a f9 as we were hard on the wind.

We left Le Harve during the morning in mild conditions but started getting a few gusts and squalls by late afternoon. One "gust" during the evening just kept going ... all night.
Owner/skipper did not get out of his bunk all night, his wife was not strong enough to sail the boat but was an absolute brick making the two of us who were hot soup at intervals.
Needless to say the wind died as we got back into the Solent around dawn and we ended up motoring the last bit in flat calm.

The boat was a Golden Hind. Handled the weather well although well reefed and definitely not fast.

 

[aknight]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Needles to Cherbourg in a F8 in an ageing Moody 33. I was quite new to sailing and didn't realise how bad it was till we crossed the shipping lanes and I saw how the freighters were rolling round and crashing into the waves - it was the first time I had a sense of scale against which to judge the size of the waves. The owners were raving queens and spent much of the journey worrying about getting sea water on their soft furnishings. I remember wondering at the time if they might not have better spent the time before departure checking the forecast rather than hoovering the cabin sole! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

All that said the boat was sure-footed and despite suffering one knockdown we got there (and back) safely. However I did reach the conclusion, which I have held to ever since, that when it comes to going to France, there's nothing to beat a nice comfy ferry with English breakfast - you can take the car and it still probably costs less...

 

[cagey]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Oct 08 return from St Malo
Stupid weather, checked channel buoys and I was more scared re wave height and wind strength two weeks after the trip
The lighthouse on minquiers takes on a whole new menace in huge seas and squally winds.
5 Very able people and 15 min watches was a wise decision
k

 

[30boat]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Many years ago I was caught in a levante where the needle on the analogue meter never went under 45kns and would swing like crazy and jam at 60 in the gusts wich was most of the time.We probably had 70knots that night.
We had time to lower the main ,tie it with the halyard and go below.The noise was such we had to shout to be heard.The boat, an old Atlantic Clipper took it very well and we rode the storm in bare poles.Beautiful moon and seas.

 

[Bejasus]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

leaving Cape Canaveral in dead flat seas with only light easterlies forecast for the next 24 hours, we decided to head straight to Savannah, GA as I had a flight to catch in 3 days. About 23:00, whilst dozing in the cockpit, awakened to rapidly rising winds from the north and we are out in the gulf stream at this point. Drop the main and furl the genoa so we are just on mizzen and staysail(jib and jigger), but by 07:00 we have to go to bare poles and motor. By 09:00 we are in at least 20ft very confused seas and 35 kts of wind, struggling just to keep the boat from broaching. SWMBO asks if we are going to die now. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
We get opposite St. Augustine, and since we don't know the place and another vessel is calling for assistance at the entrance, decide it's better to stay out to the sea bouy at Jacksonville and the follow the main shipping channel into the river and shelter. Struggle in and the get into the intracoastal and shelter, just for the engine to die as we were motoring into the marina. Another story.

Workwise, a whole different matter, October 2002 F12+ off Denmark, 15mtr seas, best view from the bridge I have ever seen. 65ft to the bridge and green water over the top.

 

[EdWingfield]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Be careful with Wayfarers. They can be difficult to right in a seaway. More exactly they can be righted but can simply flop over the other way.

Go here for a sobering yarn.

http://www.bluedome.co.uk/beginners/capsize.html

 

[tcm]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

I've sailed with the scottish lot and everyone in v bad conditions every morning. Para must have said [--word removed--] easily 12 times i.e. F12

 

[ytd]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

I've been caught 3 times in unforecast F10 in southern Tasmania. Luckily running each time and shelter only a couple of hours away. Lessons learned - reef early because even dropping the main in 50+kts is a dangerous activity. Not as scary as being caught on board in a marina during a violent thunderstorm. Wind was so strong that anyone attempting to walk on the pontoon was blown over/off. Boat heeled over to 45 deg for an hour due to windage on the mast and the noise inside so loud you couldn't hear the radio. I kept waiting for cracks to appear and water start rushing in as the boat banged against the pontoon. Next morning surprisingly little damage to the boat. 3 fenders popped but even deflated they still stopped damage to the topsides. No so the houses nearby. Quite a few had lost their roofs.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Biscay - end of October 2006. Several boats lost trying for La Coruna in horrendous conditions.

RN days......typhoon Louise in South China Sea or big storm off coast of Greenland where waves went down the funnel and extinguished the furnace!

 

[Refueler]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Had 2 broaches in confused seas, same day in Solent of all places ! Wind was possibly F7 ... but the IoW and direction of wind caused some awful wind / sea confusion. Wife refused to go on boat again with only us 2 .. always after insisted on a 3rd person !

On ship ? 2 occasions come to mind. Bay of Biscay, ship ST Zaphon, fully loaded and proceeding northwards for Channel. Weather seemed fine, ship rolling a bit to atlantic swell. (Ship was unusual as she was built at 38,000 MT and then jumbo'ised to 69,000 MT by lengthening her. This made her very long and narrow).
Anyway .. chinese crew were painting pipelines on deck .... I was on bridge with 3rd Mate ... at that time I was Deck cadet. Suddenly the ship just shuddered and shook ... it felt like she had just hit a wall !
With the curve of the bow plating and foc'sle ... the wall of water curled up and over ... travelled whole length of ship OVER THE heads of the crew ... and hit the accommodation front aft. We had beautiful teak rails on that ship ... they were ripped off and flying everywhere with water ...
The Accommodation had a false front bulkhead where original midships accoms had been moved and welded on top of aft ... That bulkhead was buckled and the watertight doors were knackered.

Zaphon original build :

Zaphon after new tankage built and inserted :

......

Second was on a similar size vessel, and crossing Indian Ocean. Weather was steadily worsening as we were proceeding westward to get back to Gulf after Singapore. These were days before GPS and all we had was Sextant and RDF. Cloud was 10/10ths and we were DR'g away .. After a few days - (I was 3rd Mate then) I switched on RDF ... big old Marconi job ! And searched for a tone ... blimey ! Got one and a bearing ! Identified the ID ... and then found another ... sorted out the bearings and checked on chart ... No way ... put us hundreds of miles south ...
Couple days later when sun appeared ... turned out the RDF was near enough correct ! We had been pushed an amazing amount south ...
Tired ? When ships roll on beam ends in storms, even in just heavy rolling swell ... it's terrible as you cannot find anywhere to get comfortable to sleep .. plus you work up at top of accoms being swung side to side ...

 

[flaming]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Coming into Jersey from somewhere on the North Brittany coast in a strong Southerly, complete with rotten waves and a swell at 90 degrees to the waves.
Wind solidly in the 40s, with gusts to high 40s.

About 1/3 of a jib out, and a Dufour 40 surfing at speeds well into the teens. Never felt unsafe, but there were a few awkward moments when the bow burried itself in the wave in front and you were left wondering if it was going to rise....

More recently we had a race in 30+ knots, rounded the top mark in company with about 4 other boats, all looking at each other to see if kites were going to go up. We decided to give it a go and stuck the small kite up. At which point a gust of just under 40 came through. Managed to keep the thing on her feet, just, for probably the most exciting "flat water" kite run I've ever had but decided discression was the better part of valour on the second lap!

 

[Impaler]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Not sailing but 125 kts in the northern North Sea on an oil platform. Horrendous noise and the occasional waves breaking on the lower deck which I think was about 70 ft above WL. At sea on a tanker in a typhoon last year in the South China Sea only 85 kts and we had avoided the worst of it. Still at least it was warm.

 

[Dipper]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Two years ago coming out of Fowey very low on fuel we hit a variable Force 0 to 1 in a lumpy sea. Terrible conditions to sail in. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[fireball]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Big boat - not much - F7/8 - but in the solent so not much in the way of "sea" ...

little boat - took an RS Vareo (single handed, mainsail & spinny) out in a F7 for a race (first time in the vareo) - submarined the vessel whilst bearing away - up to my chest in water with the whole boat submerged - it was capsise or recover - nothing I could do to change the outcome - but recovered and carried on /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dinghies - been out in F7-8 quite a few times, but as we don't reef that is about the limit.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

During a Swan week, racing a Swan 411 in the Solent. Wind a solid 45 knots, frequent gusts to 60+ (B&G didn't go any higher). Swallowed so much salt spray that I lost my voice for a day. We came back downwind with an old number 3 jib set as a spinnaker. All the competitors survived without boat/rig damage, but it was a good night to be a sail repairer!

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Nothing too scary wind strength, but a hell of a fright with the tide. We were making our way through the dutch canals and like most brits stupidly hanging back in the queues for bridges and locks. We gradually learnt our lesson and kept in the middle or front of the groups (otherwise you don't get through, it's like Germans and beach towels, but using 5 tonne yachts). We were hanging around outside Dordrecht for a swing bridge where a large stretch of water narrowed to about 20 metres and all the Dutchies were hanging back; we moved to the head of the fleet very sure of ourselves, and then it was like cresting the top of a roller coaster and plummeting down the other side, the current grabbed the boat and threw us towards the still closed bridge. We have a cat with a central 10hp outboard and we don't exactly turn on a sixpence, I revved as high as I could and frantically turned to port whilst screaming at my wife to get below but the boat just turned side on to the current and shot towards the bridge, I was moments away from jumping below to try and avoid the inevitable falling mast when the boat just eased round into a turn and we clawed back through the current at about half a knot. As soon as we were safe we tied up, opened the scotch and ciggies. We left it 2 hours before trying the bridge on the next opening. My hands were till shaking that evening.

 

[Hermit]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

In the early nineties I was offered the chance to crew a 38 FP Antigua Catamaran from St Malo to Santander. Didn’t know the skipper or any of the crew and I hadn’t done much offshore sailing (I was 20). On getting off the ferry in St Malo I was met by the skipper who said he was glad to have someone who could sail onboard as he got a bit sea sick…alarms bells should have started!

Set off within about an hour of arriving – me, Skipper (40ish), his mate, (about the same age only ever been in RIBs to go diving) and 18 year old dinghy sailor.

We naively bounced (me regretting the trip more every day) along the north French coast and made the hop through the round Ushant and into Biscay. The skipper was in his bunk from the St Malo buoy - seasick. Right in the middle of the bay got hit by a F8/9 with massive seas. Smallest reef on the main was still huge and the jib just turned us down sea. Couldn’t go down sea for fear of pooping into the huge (and thin) plastic patio door access to the main cabin. Spent 36 hours motoring at 20 deg to the seas doing 30 minutes about on the wheel with the 18 year old lad. However, he was nervous and didn’t like me to leave the cockpit so I got snatches of sleep in the corner. The diver wasn’t happy to steer but kept a track of where we were and provided moral support from the cabin. Couldn’t use the cooker as it wasn’t gimballed and didn’t have any fiddles so ate cold rice pudding out of the tin (I have always hated rice pudding).

Learnt an awful lot but not keen to do it again!

 

[Chris_Robb]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Around 1968 in a Class 1 "Outlaw", we experienced a force 10-11 on the Cork to Brest race.

Outlaw was an unusual boat for her time, cutter rigged with a large beam, 12 foot draft on a narrow fin keel, with loads of lead down there, with the rudder on this, so she was fairly uncontrollable down wind. To make matters worse she had a reverse shear which made the foredeck an extremely wet place to be.

We left Cork with a forecats of F6 to 7 on a close reach, and rompt away as you can imagine she was extremely stiff and carried her sale well. During the evening we reduced sail to staysail and roler reefed main, with still plenty up. with around 40 knts and lovely long easy swells. by midnight we had deap reefed the main, and the anemometer was against its stops steadily at 50knt. Suddenly we heard the most incredible noise of a machine gun. this turned ut to be the staysail braking its deck fitting, and shearing all its hanks, leaving it flying out from the masthead and shaking everything to bits. We set about hauling it in with the sheets and lowereing the halyard, but the sail disintergrated as we got it in.

Before we had fully recovered this the main disintergrated into rags, leaving us with nothing up, and nothing else to set, other than the rather larger sails. As we werer now approaching Ushant and the Channel de Four, we diecided we had better make sure the engine was running. No; as usual, the fuel was full of water, so quick change of filters - bleed and away again. This unpleasant job, with head below the floor, always fell to me as I was brought up on a farm with tractors!!

The remarkable thing was that the seas were so long that the motion was easy, so different from the channel in 1/4 of the wind. We would take the odd breaker clean over us, as we were beam on still reaching.

We made it into Brest and had a right pasting in the channel de four.

 

[Superflid]

Re: Worst conditions you\'ve sailed in?

Out through the Freeman channel in The Wash, wind died completely. Water was like glass all bloody day. Had to use the engine all afternoon just to get back to Boston!