OUT OF THE BATHTUB! (Part 3)

     Or, The buck stops here!

______

May 18, 2013

     “The chance of mistakes are about equal to the number of crew squared."

Ted Turner

Tom and I were in a bit of a pickle, in waters way too rough for either our experience or the boat’s size and equipment, and with multiple things going wrong. I had friends who had attempted something extremely dangerous trying to help us. It was time to take definitive action, and I called for Boat US on channel 16 to come and get us (they had us switch to channel 68), which at least ended attempts by crew from other boats to somehow climb onto ours. While a pair of experienced hands might have been helpful, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that we were overpowered for those winds and waves. Our most fundamental problem would still be there. I was also very concerned that if we lost steering, the waves would push us into the shallows, where the boat could get quite damaged.

Boat US recognized that we were potentially in serious trouble, and said they would make us their top priority, and get there as soon as possible. I told them what our new sail plan was. They called us every five minutes for updates of our latitude and longitude, which a handheld GPS provided (two boats from BCYC stayed near us, and if our GPS had malfunctioned, they could have provided that information also –- sailing with another boat can be quite helpful in a variety of ways.) Boat US warned me that because of the conditions, I might have only one chance to catch the tow rope. I looked at the skinny, bouncing bow, not relishing the idea of going back up there for a one-handed catch.

However, Boat US wasn’t the first “Help Boat” to arrive. I looked up to see a boat pounding toward us. It was from EC-SAR –- Eckard College Search and Rescue. Eckard College, a small school in South Pasadena, FL, runs a co-curricular search and rescue program staffed by highly trained, dedicated and brave students. I looked at them in surprise and said, “Boat US is coming for us.”

“We know,” was the reply. “We’re here because we heard them tell you that you would have to go to the bow to catch the tow rope. We’re here to fish you out if you fall in.” Boy, was I glad to hear that!

Well, Boat US did find us; I did catch the tow rope, I didn’t fall into the water, and the team from EC-SAR waved goodbye and scooted away to help someone else in trouble in those messy seas.

When we were under tow and safe, Tom went below to check out what the other two “thumps” were. I think he already had an idea.

The first thump had been his backpack rolling off the V-berth on to the floor. The second thump was the porta-potty, which flipped itself over the bungee cord and spilled its contents –- on to Tom’s back pack!

LESSONS LEARNED:

FIRST: So far I’ve only talked about what I did right that day, but I made several mistakes, one of them a “no excuse” goof: I did not decide for myself whether, when and where I should be sailing my boat. I should have checked the weather reports myself. Twin Dolphin Marina had a computer for guests, and the information was available to me. Instead, I entrusted that decision to “more experienced” sailors in the group. The problem with that is that they made the decision to sail based on their experience and their boats –- not mine.

If I had seen the wind and wave prediction, I would have done two things. First, I would have put Tom on someone else’s boat to go home, as he had to get to work on Monday, and second, I would have stayed at Twin Dolphin until the wind died down and the waves decreased (waves will continue to be riled up for some time after weather has settled down). I didn’t even have to know all that. If I’d asked questions of the other sailors about the next day’s forecast, the answer would have been enough to raise alarm bells in me. The staff at Twin Dolphin could have advised me.

I would have had to bring the boat back by myself (although someone from the club might have been willing to make the half-hour drive to accompany me back), and I could have gone back up the “ditch” along the Skyway Bridge, a much more sheltered sail than along the west coast of Florida.

Another option, had we had a little more experience, would have been to reef at the dock before leaving. However, if we had done that, I might not have realized how inadequate my reefing plan was for a while.

SECOND: As we left to sail south on Saturday, I told Tom we could “co-skipper” the boat, since we had similar levels of experience. But when things get bad, one person has to be the skipper, and typically that would be the owner of the boat (I would have had no problem turning the helm over to an experienced sailor in this situation, but we didn’t have someone like that on board). Our agreement on Saturday made it harder for me to assert myself as skipper on Sunday when most of the trouble occurred. My personal opinion is that if it’s your boat, you have to do the scary stuff. Tom wanted to go up to the bow both times it was necessary, but I felt that I had gotten us into the predicament we were in, and that I was obligated to do the dangerous stuff if I was able to.

THIRD: I let someone with inadequate skills work on my boat. If I had asked around the club, I would have found out that the fellow who “installed” the gas tank and the porta-potty didn’t exactly have the best reputation for quality work.

FOURTH: I did not check the work done on my boat the day before. Even the best, most reliable people can make serious mistakes (see my story, “Your Boat Could Sink! Really!” for an example of that).

FIFTH: I did not double-check information I was given about my boat. If I had asked virtually anyone at the club about my so-called “reefing system,”  each sailor would have pointed out the obvious risk and encouraged me to install a better one, something I did more or less immediately after getting back from this trip.

I DID DO SOME THINGS RIGHT: I studied the chart before sailing. I moved the boat away from the lee shore (over the protests of my crew). I took steps to keep the boat from rounding up so easily. I had a knife tied to my pants, which meant I couldn’t drop it overboard while freeing the headsail. I went forward to the bow prepared to do everything necessary to deal with the sail (bungee cord). I refused to allow a dangerous attempt at boarding my boat. And, importantly, I had towing insurance. While EC-SAR will sometimes tow disabled boats in, they are a search and rescue organization, not a towing service. If someone else had called them with lives on the line, they would have released me, as protecting people is their priority (see tomorrow’s story, “Oh, Dorothy!” for an example of how they do that.)

The major lesson learned was that you are the skipper of your boat –- and that with that comes responsibilities. Study the weather reports yourself. Be prepared to make hard decisions, such as not to sail –- or to not follow the advice of well-meaning crew. Tom, not realizing the danger, was having fun as the boat repeatedly attempted to broach, which is why he did not want to spill the sails. In addition he had not studied a chart of the area, so even if he had realized what the boat was trying to do, he might not have recognized that the “lee shore” shallows at that spot (off Bunce’s Pass) extend far out into the water.

Even more experienced sailors may overlook something you believe to be a significant problem. Or, they may engage in wishful thinking (“Oh, that won’t be a problem!”) These things are not for the crew to decide, although you should listen to what others think when there’s time to do so. But ultimately, it’s your boat and your insurance on the line, and you are responsible for the lives of those on your boat.

By the way, it turned out that the nuts on the bolt holding the tiller to the rudder mechanism were loose. They were easily accessible and easily tightened, but it took two monkey wrenches, and I only had one on board. Sometimes having extra tools is not a bad thing.

In addition, I put netting on the front of the boat after our return. If we had managed to drop the sail from the cockpit, the sail could easily have been blown off that tiny bow into the water – where it would have filled with water and created a true crisis. Make sure you can control your sails when they come down.

EC-SAR is a phenomenal organization. If you live or sail along the central Florida coast or Boca Ciega Bay, you should have their phone number on your boat: (727) 864-8288.  Also see their website at http://www.eckerd.edu/waterfront/ecsar/.  

After EC-SAR has come out to help me, which they have in  a highly skilled way more than once, I always give them a generous donation (whatever cash I have with me). Both times, they helped protect me and my boat from serious harm in a remarkably well-coordinated and efficient way. 



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Courses at the Coast Guard Auxiliary

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May 8, 2013

     There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats.”

Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows)

I started sailing by taking the Basic Sailing course at Boca Ciega Yacht Club (BCYC). There are other schools in the area, including University of South Florida and Eckerd College, that can get you out on the water in a small boat, really controlling the boat you’re on, but BCYC is the one I’m familiar with.

And it’s a lot of fun. You learn the points of sail, or the position of the sails in relation to the wind; how to tack (turn the bow through the wind to sail in a different direction); jybe (turn the stern through the wind to sail in a different direction); backwind the headsail, which makes tacking easier in light wind; heave to, or set the boat at a slow and controlled drift so you can do things like eat lunch; dock; and rescue a person who has somehow managed to fall off your little boat in spite of your expert sailing skills. Hey, anything can happen!

Learn those things at BCYC and you get the treasured little card that says you are qualified to take out their 16.5’ Catalinas on your own (with a sailing partner – they’re designed to be sailed by two people). I’m sure all the small boat sailing classes in the area are very good, but of course I have a bias for my club.

However, there’s still a lot more to learn about sailing. You’ll find, when you sail on a bigger boat, that although the principles of things like tacking and jybing are the same, the execution will be somewhat different. In addition, a number of extra pieces of equipment will be on those boats that you haven’t yet learned how to use, such as reefing systems. To sail safely on bigger boats, it’s crucial to know how to use that additional equipment.

There’s also a whole world of rules and regulations that don’t apply to small boats sailing in very restricted areas during daylight. So how do you learn those next steps? BCYC has only the 16.5’s for instruction. You can go sailing with others on their boats, but that instruction will be hit-or-miss, and if you study more systematically, you’re unlikely to miss the important things.

Coast Guard Auxiliary to the rescue! The CGA in St. Petersburg offers a year-long cycle of supplemental classes for both power boaters and sailors. In addition to a basic boating safety class which lasts six weeks, they have a more in-depth one that lasts 13 weeks and a wide range of supplemental classes including coastal navigation; how to use your chart plotter; reading charts; anchoring safely; and hurricane preparedness. I have taken a number of them. They were all well organized, well taught and extremely useful on a day-to-day basis.

In addition, if you take the six week class and pass the test, you are then eligible to join the Coast Guard Auxiliary yourself, which is likely to get you a discount on your boat insurance.

If you live in the United States and have access to sailing, there may well be a Coast Guard Auxiliary near you. Check it out and see what they might have to offer you.

However, don’t completely ignore the value of reading. I don’t believe anyone can really learn to sail from a book; but once you get the basics down, books can tell you about finer points. I have said before that Sailing for Dummies was tremendously helpful to me once when I got caught in a bad situation, and that’s the truth. But try other books as well. If they don’t make sense, set them aside for now, but come back to them later. Find supportive sailors around you and ask questions about what you read, and sail on other people’s boats every chance you get.

Once you’ve started sailing, don’t ever stop learning about it, and don’t ever be satisfied with your level of skills. There will always be more you can learn. Those things may make you and your boat more safe, or it may just make sailing more fun, but either way it’s a win.

Saving a Boat from the Rocks

     Or, Whadda group of people!

_______

April 18, 2013

      “You can’t believe how bleeding scary the sea is! There’s, like,

whales and storms and shit! They don’t bloody tell you that!”

 Libba Bray, in Beauty Queens

 

In the summer of 2012, a large tropical storm named “Debby” harassed the Tampa Bay area for several days. Most of the time, a tropical storm doesn’t have to be a crisis if your boat is in a slip, but not everyone keeps their boat in a slip. A good friend of mine kept his boat anchored in Boca Ciega Bay. With no hint of bad weather looming, he and his family had traveled to the panhandle of Florida for a family reunion.

While they were gone, Debby moved in. Somehow his boat broke free of her anchor and dragged to a most unfortunate place – wedged between a cement wall and a pile of rocks. With every wave his boat bounced up and down on the rocks, just across a canal and in front of the sailing club we both belong to. A boat can only take that kind of pounding for so long, and it looked as if my friend was going to lose his boat.

See the video above. While that is not as high as the water got, it shows my friend’s boat caught on rocks and rubbing against a cement wall. As I’ve said before, boats hitting hard things break boats.

However, this boat owner was a knowledgeable man who shared his expertise freely and had often helped others. Members of the club looked at his boat and decided that they had to try to do something to save his boat. But what to do?

The solution was plain old plywood. A number of brave, strong men (you know who you are) climbed on to the rocks. When the water lifted the boat up, they slid pieces of wood under the boat. With each wave, they put another protective piece of wood under, and eventually the boat was bobbing on the much more protective wood instead of banging on to sharp rocks and a cement wall.

The owner of the boat had been notified that his boat was on the rocks and was racing back as fast as he could, but Debby made that a most difficult drive. By the time he got to his boat, the rocks were completely lined with plywood, and all he had to do was climb aboard and put her in reverse, and she slid right off the boards into the water. He motored to a safe location and re-deployed his anchors. This time his boat stayed secure. The boat needed some repair – at two places on the waterline, the rocks had worn the fiberglass down to about ¼ of its normal thickness, but the boat didn’t sink.

LESSON LEARNED: Sometimes when sailors help each other out it’s quite dramatic. Other times it’s far simpler. Join a good sailing club.

BCYC welcomes all levels of experience and skill from rank beginner to advanced expert. We have an outstanding beginning sailing school. The photo below shows our true keel instructional boats (16.5' Catalinas) lined up and waiting for a Sunday morning class.

 
Once you've finished that class, we often have extra workshops. Topics have ranged from reefing systems to reading the weather to what bridge tenders do. It's a tremendous asset to immerse oneself in the company of other sailors.

Sometimes you’ll be part of the solution, and sometimes you’ll be the recipient of most excellent help and advice. And you’re likely to have a very, very good time.