Yachtie wash problems (yes, again!)

[ari]

Tend to agree with you Mike.

I also think there is a danger that people will receive this minimal training, get their cerfificate and think "right, I'm an expert now, lets go across the channel this weekend for our first trip".

At the moment the vast majority of new boaters seem to take it very steady till their confidence builds, starting with small trips and working up. Also there is a tendancy to take training as they need it. Bring in a driving licence situation and people will just pass it and assume they're qualified.

Yes of course there will always be idiots that get their boat and charge off untrained into the wide blue yonder. But will compulary training reallty stop an irresponsible person from being irresponsible?

Ari.

 

[tcm]

Re: Yottie stinkers, stinkie yotties

Hi jeremy. A few hereabouts do both, me included. So we make the transition several times a year.

Wash problems (i beleive ) are caused by a small minority of stinkies. Unfortunately, a minority can cause all the problems. I've not seen a post that says "every single stinkie knocked us all over the place". More like "we were approaching beaulieau in flat water once when xxx came past at 18-20 knots on the transit".

On a yacht, the ONLY powerboats one sees are the idiots who come too close. So it's hard not to arrive at the conclusion that WITHOUT EXCEPTION they are brainless, selfish, untrained morons - because all the considerate ones are "miles" away, and never seen. It (incorrectly) follows that nobody on a powerboat would/could ever appreciate the peaceful beauty of making way under sail, and the surprise of many (perhaps you too?) that anyone could "cross the floor".

Secondly, I also believe that the quasi-sea that is the Solent, with its flat water, very high concentration of mid-size sailing yachts from a massive conurbation within 1-2 hours drive, and it being a destination crusing area rather than an area thru whichj one passes on the way to open sea, means that this area is the place to suffer stinkie wash more than almost anywhere else.

Thirdly, as the solent is best suited to sailing rather than stinkpotting, sailors easily outnumber stinkies.

These three reasons explain (but don't justify) the often unwelcoming and sometimes quite hostile attitude of many solent sailors towards solent stinkies.

But to try both isn't easy. The magazines did it recently, but not in flat water with low wind (so the sea was choppy anyway, and sailboats "ride" wash better under fuller sails) and not with a very adverse combination of sailboat/powerboat size, and neither did the powerboat give the sailboat a heavy wash before/after putting up sails, when effects of wash is worst.

Of course, there are also financial considerations - if you have a sailboat, how would one also justify having a powerboat? and vice versa.

Personally, I think that powerboating in the UK a poor show - too windy, a relatively small number of marinas (it being less conforatble to anchor out in generally shallower-draught powerboats) and in the solent, for example, it's too easy to "do" the whole area in a few seasons, as many posts ("where to go now?") on MBC seem to show. Many powerboats are built for sunnier climes. Even for those that aren't, powerboating ipso facto means relatively less time in transit and more time at a destination - and we all like sunnier weather at any destination. Windy weather is the price of a good sail, but the bane of powerboating.

Myself, I powerboat in the med where the winds are fluky or non-existent or onshore/offshore afternoon gales for sail esp in summer, and charter sailboats in the solent and caribee.

Interestingly, there are far fewer problems between larger powerboats and sailboats. The very largest do approximately the same speeds, between 10 and 20 knots, neither feels the wash of the other. But I don't understand why the superyyachts don't have sails and achieve 15 knots for nothing at all. They must be stupid!....

 

[sailbadthesinner]

No
I am ultra cautious and tend to plan for every passage and include a worst case scenario bolt hole.
I have a mate who i went sailing with once for a week.
he had never sailed before but had windsurfed.
next year he went off on his own bareboat charter with just his girlfriend in thailand. you'll never stop people like him.

...It was like that when i found it!

 

[Jeremy_W]

I\'m worried

I agreed with all of that. I'll have to go sit down and look at photos of last year's holiday on a square rigger until the feelings of tolerance have diminished.

Expect a "total rubbish - what does he know - rich stinkpotter hob-nobbing with soapstars?" rant shortly!

 

[ari]

Re: I\'m worried

Are you a hobnobbing with soapstars then!?

Do tell....!!

Ari.

 

[Jeremy_W]

Re: I\'m worried

No, but a friend of mine is an extra for Corrie and Merseybeat - reflected glory or what?

 

[tcm]

Re: att: worried

Um, I can confess to having kids who went roller blading up and down the pontoon (very loud!) at 7 am on a sunday when we did have a powerboat in the solent - does this help return you to normality?

 

[ari]

Re: I\'m worried

"Poster: Jeremy_W
Subject: Re: I'm worried

No, but a friend of mine is an extra for Corrie and Merseybeat - reflected glory or what? "


Good enough!!!

:-D

Ari