Oh, summer can't be far

[anigo]

I finished reading the Sidney-Hobart race story the other day and, having never really sailed offshore in what you'd call "extreme" weather, I was curious and dashed off an email to our Captain asking him if he'd ever turned back, or not bothered to even start a race, or if he was more of a 'play it by ear' kinda captain - let's go until we break some gear, kinda thing. His response here:


hey Gina
nice to hear from you, Juan says she misses you (ain't she sweet), wants to do sushi some time ... not sure why I am in the middle here but my best advice is somebody should call someone ;-)
re:weather
I have not raced on an occaisional day I figured was only going to be a gear breaker
... often we end up survival sailing more than racing per se ... I recall motoring for some time during a Marblehead race, trying to keep the boat under control and the boom inboard while we put the third reef in ... trying to avoid putting crew in jeapordy hanging over the side while reefing
we did turn back one day trying to get out of Hfx harbour ... green water regularly back to the mast, water leaked in the old deck hatch and around the mast and shorted out the VHF ... did not seem like it was going to be any fun anyway especially given I did not have wet gear !!!! so we turned her bak for port and probably had a cocktail instead
FYI I try to plan a safe harbour or two when looking at off-shore passages, and keep appropriate small scale charts for those areas on board ... last summer Negro harbour and Seal island in the Tusket islands were the designated bail out areas but as you noticed first night out, sometimes one just has to tuff it out, (to read about that evening, go here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/anigo/4324.html - I didn't think it was *that* bad, in fact, I'd have to rank it up there with one of my most exciting sails!!) there is not always time or space to avoid squally type weather and that is part of the situation the Sydny-Hobart fleet found itself in not to mention the poor weather forecasting and slow issuing of advisories ... the authorities could/should have warned the fleet in CAPITAL LETTERS once they realized the weight of the storn that was building ... Wind speed is only indirectly a consideration for safety, one can always continue dropping sail area assuming storm sails are on board we could maintain control and manouverability unless it just became as fucking nuts as the Bass Straight conditions ... then everyone is into survival conditions without a 'stop' button ... assuming a competant crew the more critical issue is sea state because for a boat like DML with low freeboard and a fine bow it will bury the bow in waves ... it is not an offshore (blue water) boat and you can't expect it to stand up to open ocean conditions ... I would not take it to Bermuda even though if the weather cooperated it could be done ... the day we turned back while still in Hfx harbour it was probably 30 gusting 40 but the waves ... they were piled up on top of each other, probably only 10-12' waves but only 10' between them ... all that weather was funnelling into the harbour and we were having problems trying top make any distance to weather ... had we been able to get outside of Sambro it would have been a very short ride to Chester
does this answer your question?
later
tl
PS: have you heard any whispers about a card party?

So, all things being equal, I'm glad I asked - I always figured he had a clue about when to call uncle, but it's rather reasuring to know he has a clue as opposed to figuring he has one. It's always nice to know as well that somebody has equally crappy spelling habits as well.

Oh, and the poker party's coming up. The party that always causes stress in the Anigo household, as I am the only woman who goes to this all night drunken debaucle.



Yes, be afraid, be very afraid. The season will be upon us soon enough and before you know it it's all I will be rambling about once again.