How things can go wrong, grounding on a reef

[JeanneP]

I'm interested in what others think of this.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFly...og/message/136

[Gallivanters]

Several items jumped to my attention from this guy's log.

It sounds like he's "nickel & diming" the maintenance of his engine by installing used spare parts given to him by strangers in the boat yard, instead of using the specified genuine parts.

He's also relying heavily on a used chartplotter, recently given to him, and which he seems unfamiliar with. He keeps referring to checking his position / progress on the plotter and never mentions fixing these positions on a paper chart.

"Gybed the main on the first tack" ?

He admits to being sleep deprived before they even cast their lines.

His mate is overdosing on sea sick meds.

Tries to heave to with only the main up.

Blaming the broken radar.

Wrong charts.

Nobody on watch.

Gear adrift on deck.

etc.

etc.

etc.

Personally - I'm kinda glad he ran aground before reaching the Virgin Islands because I'd hate to be sharing a confined piece of water with this guy at night.

Fortunately for the rest of us, sailors like this will often put themselves on the rocks long before hurting other people... kinda like a nautical version of the Darwin Awards.

Kirk

[Trim50]

20 - 30 knts? Sounds like a nice day of sailing to me.

[JeanneP]

What set Peter off about this grounding was this statement by Scott at the end of his posting: "If you haven't been aground, you haven't been around. That's because, regardless of experience, wisdom, draft (how deep your boat is) and all the rest, every sailor goes aground, most, many times in a trip, let alone a lifetime, and the subject of nearly any full-time cruisers' discussions inevitably turns to the groundings one has experienced. Thus, we can say we've really been around."

Peter reminded me that with Watermelon's 7'2" draft we have only been aground twice in the past 25 years, both times in broad daylight and with no damage to the boat. First time was in Aruba harbor (!) onto a sand bar that we needed no help getting off. Second time was in the Mary River in Australia. That one was truly our fault, and we had to wait many hours for the tide to come back in and float us off.

Does that mean we haven't been around?

He was not experienced. He failed to reef his main until very late. They should have never tried to sail overnight with their limited experience AND their destination, the Florida Keys that are tricky, and VERY shallow. he didn't understand that the Gulf of Mexico there is very shallow, so the seas get very not-nice very quickly.

And all else that Kirk said.

Question: I don't understand why their insurance will only pay for $7,000 of the $30K salvage costs. Can anybody explain that? I'll ask on the SSCA board, too.

Darwin awards indeed!

We're off to drive around the Florida Everglades. peter is looking for a large alligator to help him get his no-fault divorce. Hah!

[Harbor_Pilot]

This is what I do not want to do, once we cast off.

It would be loose canons like this that make a good argument to insist on a 24 watch.

His equipment, maintenance and spare parts inventory sounds indicative of his life and their mis-adventure.

In his story, he seems very aware of went on, from the time Lydia convinced him to get some more overdue sleep, until he was jolted awake by the grounding. Maybe he has total recall of a self-inflicted nightmare.

Lydia seems about as useful and helpful as an anchor without a chain.

While the skipper seemed to have a sleep deficit, yet stated he was capable of functioning longer, and knowing he was in foul weather, and knowing he was not really on his desired course, and knowing he had drifted in a potentially heavy traffic area, and in his words was "Total Dark", he decided to go below, without his first mate knowing important information, and her being in an ill state, decided to go to sleep. What the h...? What in the world was he or she thinking?

It takes all kinds to make the world go around.

[JeanneP]

He doesn't like me very much, I'm afraid. With reason, I guess.

Anyway, here's his reply to my comment that experienced cruisers don't go aground very much, contrary to his statement:

"Nigel Calder (is that a reasonable authority and seasoned sailor?), in his talk in Melbourne last year, commented on the thousands of times - sometimes dozens of times in a single trip - that he'd gone aground, some of them very recently, in case you were thinking it was when he was wet behind the ears. Some of those included hard groundings (but not to the destruction level of ours). He was able to laugh about it."

[xx(]

[Duane2312]

I senced I was reading a novel. And a laundry-list of excuses.