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Reality at Sea - For Cruisers, Singlehanders, and Normal People.

109K views 374 replies 87 participants last post by  snippys_dad 
#1 ·
I put this post in the BFS thread, then decided it deserves its own thread. I think it's pretty damn interesting - and will definitely spark some thought...if not wild-eyed, spittle-flying discussion. Great stuff.

Fire in the hole!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Below is a series of 6 videos that, I think, show the very stark reality of cruising (especially singlehanding). It's sure to raise some hackles and fire off some vitriol (which is always fun) - but it's one of the most informative, honest, unadulterated, unglamorous, and real accounts I've seen.

Many of you will be seriously rolling your eyes and getting annoyed in the first three minutes of the first vid...but you should really just buck up and watch all 6 - then feel free to erupt...or sympathize...or whatever...

DrakeParagon and the "NYC to Bermuda Nightmare" in his Westsail 42:













This series kind of covers the gamut of issues faced and lessons-learned. And despite it all, he made it.

Thoughts?
 
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#30 ·
I haven't had a chance to view the videos yet, but I was able to read the text of the link posted above. Is the picture of hull damage above, also a broken chainplate?

I think I'm in agreement with ChrisnCate on this one- I'd rather have a smaller, simpler, 100% maintained vessel than a large yacht in poor condition, that I can't afford to repair, and that I can't trust.

Based on my current pay and financial obligations, my Pearson 30 is all the boat that I can afford to own and maintain in peak condition.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Very interesting read

A very interesting read, thanks for posting. I think this should be required reading for all those people who post here saying that they have been sailing twice and have a $10,000 budget to buy a bluewater boat to sail around the world.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Drake. I think he found himself doing something that was more than he was prepared for. He did his best with the tow of the other boat - so good on him.

Some specific comments based on my experience and his:
  • Fatigue is a terrible thing and will reduce your mental and physical capabilities enormously. At one point I was wondering why he was making a video telling us he was exhausted. He should have been sleeping.
  • He seemed inexperienced for the voyage he took. For example, not really having figured out when to reef (and importantly, when to shake out the reef and make some miles.) Also, did not occur to him that you will be deploying the drogue when the conditions really suck - that is what it is for.
  • He did not seem to have tested the boat and his knowledge base enough. For example, vane steering requires practice and possible adjustments to the installation based on trials - you don't do this on the way. Also no ditch bag and little things like no stoppers in the jib sheets. Can't imagine why the compression strut for the mast would bend - that is certainly scary.
  • He had too much sail up the first time it got nasty and then over-reacted by keeping a double reef in when it appeared that the winds might have been 10 knots. He made a comment about not wanting to reef at night, you have got to be able to do it, no matter the conditions - is he always going to have a single-reef, what happens when he needs the second one?
  • He seemed too willing to fire up the engine. It is a sailboat and you only use the engine for specific purposes, not general progress on an offshore passage.
  • I got the impression that a lot of things he knew came from books and not from experience. I think having read too many of the standard books and thinking that gives you experience is dangerous.
  • NYC-Bermuda is not a casual undertaking, especially single-handed and especially since it seemed he lacked experience. Get a crew to Bermuda. If he wants the single-handed experience the next stage from Bermuda to the Virgins (I am assuming that is the target) would make much more sense - better weather, much less traffic.

I don't want to be too critical of the guy, we have all been there and realize later that we could do better - hell, I am still there, always learning. He deserves the credit for doing it, while many people only talk about it. I hope his cruising experiences have continued and been pleasant.

I have major problems with the owner of the other boat, Cha-Cha. A boat that size floats on a small (or larger) sea of money. If he wants to go out in such an ill-prepared boat that is his business. He should not be taking along crew who might not know enough about cruising to realize that she is seriously taking her life in her hands.
 
#17 ·
I have major problems with the owner of the other boat, Cha-Cha. A boat that size floats on a small (or larger) sea of money. If he wants to go out in such an ill-prepared boat that is his business. He should not be taking along crew who might not know enough about cruising to realize that she is seriously taking her life in her hands.
Yup, that's the major lesson to be taken away from this one, alright... You're far better off all alone out there, than having to share the ocean with a clown like CHA-CHA's skipper, and the possibility of getting caught up in another's incompetence...(grin)

too bad this goes down as another example of no good deed going unpunished... Two months ago, I departed Hampton at approximately the same time as the Caribbean 1500 fleet, and the possibility of getting drawn into another boat's drama was most definitely on my mind, and was a major factor in sailing due East out of the Chesapeake initially, in an effort to separate ourselves from the herd as they headed down the beach to cross the Stream closer to Hatteras...

No emergency tiller of some sort on a boat with hydraulic steering? Wow... And, he shows up in Bermuda on a POS 52-footer with no engine, no steering, blown-out sails, and claiming "he has no money for anything"??? Bermuda is a wonderfully hospitable place, but I doubt you'd get very far arriving in such a boat, then claiming to be destitute... (grin)
 
#8 · (Edited)
As far as I've seen - yes. He does a lot of big sailing in a lot of nice places on a lot of nice boats. It's not like he's a complete newb.

Check out his YouTube channel.

(PS - I like the part where he admits his real fear in some pretty scary conditions, and I like that you can see him really mulling over what it will mean to answer that Pan-Pan. It's really great stuff. From a joyous dinner on night one to 6 more days of exhausted hell. His boat sure did right by him.)
 
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#44 · (Edited)
I always catch crap for this - but I honestly don't think it's possible to really "be prepared" - in the true meaning of the word - before setting off.

I don't care how good of a sailor you are, you're going to miss something that was right in front of your face. You're going to overlook a problem that had a simple fix. You're going to make a bad decision when the crap hits the fan. You're going to have not seen a weak spot that had been hidden. You're going to screw up. Period. Look at the VOR.

To think any other way is pure hubris.

Drake's problems started when he got hit with a fairly serious storm (F8?). It was that single moment that exposed all the problems (reefing, exhaustion, drogue, chute, no ditch bag, etc.) all of which cascaded very quickly. This to the point that he was ready to ditch what obviously turned out to be a rock-solid boat. You would "never do that"? Okay.

Let's just take the sails and the drogue for example. If you are really going to prepare yourself for what happened to him, you actually need to intentionally take your boat out into an off-shore gale of 40+ knots and 20' seas. And you need to practice...with the sails....with the drogue...and hope that something doesn't break or you don't blow it. That's the bottom line.

Think about it. It's always easy to take this "how could a person go off-shore without experience" and/or "I would never..." viewpoint when it comes to systems, etc. - but there's only one way to gain the experience of how to deal with a storm.

So, who around here is going to really practice and prepare...and walk that walk...intentionally?
 
#13 · (Edited)
Conditions were as to be expected. Preparation was not. The most distracting for me was the blue masking tape around the companionway!! :)

Paragon may not have been the best ship at sea, but clearly wasn't the worst and seems to have made it. No vid of landfall?

Edit: I should have given kudos to Drake for coming to Cha Cha's rescue. Good on ya!!
 
#14 ·
Wow! That was one hell of a trip! I think the biggest thing I took from his experience was just how fatigued he was near the end. I could be wrong but as he was towing Cha Cha, the vessel was veering off to Paragon's port side. Upon the arrival of Titan 14, Drake reported that as he was towing Cha Cha the boat was veering to starboard. If I got that wrong, I apologize. If I'm right, poor Drake was so exhausted that not only did he NOT catch that but he looked as though he could have fallen asleep where he sat.

So, now I'm curious as to what techniques single-handers use for watchkeeping and sleep management?

I was surprised that he didn't have a ditch bag, although I assume he made one in a hurry, and seemed short on spares. His opening video, judging from his enthusiasm, the weather forecasts, and his emphasis on the chartplotter led me to think he had planned his trip carefully. Unfortunately, everything that actually happenned on his trip was apparently not planned for.

These videos really validate the my belief that if you forgot it, Mother Nature will remind you of it. It was a shame that Drakes boat got damaged while he was trying to help out Cha Cha. A+ for effort in my book.

On a side note, the head injury during the storm that the skipper of Cha Cha suffered highlites the wisdom of wearing a helmet during heavy weather regardless of how uncool one may look. This was discussed in another thread but I wanted to point that out since that was my first thought when I heard the head injury report over the VHF.
 
#15 ·
First impressions of Drake...while he assumed that he was prepared for what he was undertaking, he was not prepared for things that could go wrong. Installing your own equipment is great and gives you a good deal of knowledge on how things operate. But for goodness sake test it out before you need to depend on it. I'm a noobe and even I know that the waters off of NY are major shipping lanes, plan on being well past them before you're too sleep deprived to put in a reef or run out a droge.

As for Cha-Cha... to be given a boat of that size and value and then to put it before the well being of your life and crew, well I just hope I never hear a pan-pan from him.

I hope one day to be in a position to make a trip like that. But before I do I will have practiced with all of the equipment I'll need. I'll have been out with someone who knows what to do and when it needs to be done, I'll start with small steps and small sails, LFS as apposed to BFS and work my way up.
 
#18 · (Edited)
#19 ·
Drake posts here... He also posted on Sailboat owners that after he made it to bermuda he was forced to limp back to the US for repairs. His bowsprit and other stuff up front was all FUBARED... But he met a lady and will be taking her along, so good things did happen in the end...
He seemed like a pretty cool personality in the vids, hopefully he reads this and chimes in. Gotta love the Drake?
 
#21 ·
Ok I watched them all and I'm thinking (keep in mind I'm a non sailor for now anyway)

Ever heard of a ditch bag, Sat phone, SSB, shake down cruise. Neither boat sounded prepared for a trip like this. Makes me think that after yrs of island hopping and coastal cruising they thought why not head out to Bermuda???
 
#22 ·
I have a question for everyone here.

At what point does a skipper decide to "NOT" tow another vessel? In this case we had a 42 ft boat with a solo sailor being asked to tow a 52 ft boat that is completely disabled.

Would Drake been within his rights to refuse to tow them? I would have probably been more than worried. Another concern at least for us parodied ppl is what if the crew 3 strong took your boat over. Pirates?? You are in the middle of the ocean. They could throw your ass over board and claim they found your boat drifting.

If I were Drake once the first freighter showed up I would have stop the tow and told them to take a ride on the big ship. Putting my ship at risk to save CHA CHA's POS would not happen. Saving the crew is one thing saving his boat is another. Like one poster already said CHA CHA was broken and broke. What did he plan to do to fix his boat anyway with no money.
 
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#25 ·
I have towed boats on Lake Michigan a few times. But they were only a few miles from port and the conditions were perfect. I could not imagine 150 miles on the open ocean, towing a boat with the rudder locked to one side. Than the guy refuses to pay for any damage or extra fuel cost. Give me a break.
 
#27 ·
No obligation for anybody to save anybody else's vessel. Maybe their lives, if they are willing. To put your own life, vessel and crew to save somebody's boat? NO. This is reality, offshore...
 
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#28 ·
Not maybe saving their lives. If a Mayday is issued and people are in imminent life danger you have an obligation to assist and if possible save their lives.

But I agree, this is not normal. If someone needs a tow it should resource to professionals that deliver that service. Having an amateur given help may damage both boats as it happened.

This is not reality, unless it is BWS reality:D It had to do with guys that go to sea with boats in bad condition and not insured. If the boat was insured the tow service would be provided.

This is a kind of advise to the guys that think that by buying a used supposedly seaworthy big boat (and spending all of its money on the initial purchase) they are ready for the big adventure. An used big boat needs normally big money to put in seaworthy condition, the maintenance is very expensive as well as the insurance.

So, if one guy takes its risks and go out on the big blue without any insurance and in a boat in bad condition it is reasonable to expect that responsible guys with insured boats in good condition, that minimize their risks, take big risks (out of the insurance) to tow a boat of an irresponsible guy?

Their lives is one thing, their boat is another.

Regards

Paulo
 
#29 · (Edited)
Drake seems like a nice person trying to do his best in a trying situation. I am not sure he was obligated to do anything beyond relaying the Pan Pan to the Bermuda harbormaster and offering to bring them in on his own vessel. He was a good samaritan going above and beyond his obligations in attempting to tow Cha Cha to Bermuda, and endangered his own life and vessel in the process due to Cha Cha's frozen/inoperable steering system.

Although Cha Cha was disabled and the skipper was healing from a head wound, there was no immediate danger to life or health. It seemed there was sufficient food and water for Cha Cha to survive for the indefinite future. Everything that was done was done to preserve property, not protect lives. Paragon could have offered to take them onboard, just as the freighter did, and bring them in to Bermuda. As close as Paragon was to Bermuda, the only other thing Drake might have done was offer them his EPIRB, if they did not have their own (to be returned when they made Bermuda) so they could have summoned help if and when an emergency developed. Once arriving in Bermuda, Drake could have done everything he could to alert those responsible for rescuing Cha Cha to its situation.
 
#32 ·
While there is an obligation to assist a vessel in distress, there is NO obligation to endanger yourself. If sea conditions are such that simply sailing to the vessel in distress would endanger your crew, or you would run out of fuel or run out of food/water, you are not obligated to go.

Drake went above and beyond to agree to tow their boat and learned the hard way why it was. Conditions and his stores seemed to dictate that he should respond, but was only obligated to either take them aboard or remain on scene until more capable help arrived, which it did.

I assume most know this, but Bermuda does not have a Coast Guard, nor ocean rescue capabilities, and you are well outside the USCG range. Contacting Bermuda Harbor radio is little more that contacting most harbor masters. They will, of course, try to coordinate a volunteer to help, as any of us would.
 
#34 ·
Here is Drake on SBO's

Hi Larry,

Thank you.

I missed a bunch of clues when talking with Cha Cha's captain on the radio. All I could think of at the time was that we had just been through the worst storm, and that they were badly damaged, in danger, and in need of assistance.

I mistakenly thought that their engine had failed due to something that happened in the storm... I didn't realize that they had actually left Newport without a working engine... that it was suffering from overheating which is usually something very easy to fix... I also mistakenly thought that their staysail roller furler had become damaged in the storm, but later realized that they left Newport to go out in the Atlantic in a season plagued with high wind storms with a completely inoperable staysail roller furler as well.. probably the most important sail to have in a storm... I also thought their steering was somehow completely disabled by the storm beyond repair at sea... but in Bermuda my friend went aboard, tightened a hydraulic fitting with a 1/4 turn with a wrench, and they regained steering....

Had I realized that they weren't ready for this kind of voyage from the start, then I think I would have been much more cautious...

Cha Cha's rudder was locked steering them hard to port 100% of the time, and she constantly wavered between being directly behind me or 90 degrees to my port. Occasionally with her additional 10' LWL she would actually gain speed and pull ahead of me by as much as 50 feet... So we had a agreement. Since I was single handed and the tow was to last for days I would have to cat nap for as much as 10-15 minutes at a time.. With two aboard their vessel they would take watches to keep a constant lookout for possible collision. He didn't. At one point I saw that our boats were dangerously close to each other and just waited and watched. With binoculars I could see that no one was in their cockpit keeping watch. No one sounded the alarm.. Minutes later the boats drifted further apart and then I saw him come out in the cockpit... This was my biggest mistake... I should have screamed that they weren't keep watch and keeping with our agreement... I should have told them that if that had happened again or if I found them not keeping watch again then I would discontinue the tow... But I was so sleep deprived by this point that I just let it go... I thought "We're almost there... Just one more day..." Nothing like being woke up from the deepest sleep, in the middle of the night to the violent sound and shaking of a head on boat collision.. My adrenaline hadn't been that high in years if ever...

Immediately after we cut the tow line and I put safe distance between us I asked.. The captain said that it all just happened too fast for him to realize that we were going to collide... But I suspect that he was asleep..

I would do it again, but I'd be a heck of a lot more cautious.. I'd want information about why their boat had failed.. And I'd keep a watch on them keeping watch..

To this day I never thought about taking them aboard my boat before the tow... Maybe we should have done that! They would have been a lot more useful keeping watch with me on my boat than they were on theirs.

I'd like to point out that the 1 crew aboard was completely new to that boat... With very limited offshore sailing experience, she had just responded to the captain's ad on 'findacrew.net' and flown over from England to make this voyage. She tried for days to fix their SSB radio to call for help... and thank goodness she was aboard and understood that they could broadcast a pan pan on their VHF and did so every 15 minutes.. I'm scared to imagine what would have happened if she had not been there to understand that they could do that..

Drake
 
#35 ·
About the accidental jibe...

I had that accidental gybe in 25-30 knots at night because I didn't have an adequate preventer... One of the invaluable lessons I just learned from Eric Forsyth on Fiona was how to correctly rig a preventer... I think I'm just getting used to new Aries wind vane... it works well, but just not as great as the old discontinued Aries Lift-up wind vane which is what I was used to from my previous boat (Westsail 32.)
 
#36 · (Edited)
Damage done to his boat...

Hi RB, thanks for watching the Bermuda Nightmare story...

Here's a small excerpt from an article I wrote for the SSCA about it...

--------------------------
We cut the towline, and I put safe distance between us. No one was hurt. We both drifted under bare poles. I wanted to cry when I saw the damage. Paragon's enormous stainless steel bowsprit was bent badly all over and in different directions.The thick steel attachment points to the bow sides were bent up by 20 degrees. The bobstay turnbuckle bolt was bent 20 degrees. I was worried about any of it failing and losing the mast and so tied a halyard to a bow cleat. Such misery!

We were in range of Bermuda Radio and reported everything. Throughout the night as Cha Cha drifted helplessly under bare poles, I motored circles around them as we waited for a towing vessel arranged by Bermuda Radio. In the morning we attempted several times to continue our towing, but soon gave up as the winds and seas and exhaustion made it too difficult to even get the towline across. Finally in the afternoon a 150' mega-yacht sailing vessel named Titan 14 arrived to continue towing Cha Cha, and I sped off for St. George's, praying to make it into the anchorage without any more problems and before dark.

This was one of the most difficult and nightmarish sailing experiences of my life. The damage to Paragon's bowsprit and rig forced me to put off plans for sailing on to the Pacific, and instead I had to limp back to North Carolina for repairs. Today I'm thankful beyond words for everything that happened. If I hadn't returned to the states then, I wouldn't have met the most wonderful woman! Now Monique and I are preparing to sail aboard Paragon on to the Pacific and around the world as many times as we can.
------------------------------

Since then I've replaced the bowsprit and repaired the other damage and we're looking forward to pushing off from North Carolina in the Spring, headed to Boston to spend the Summer on a mooring ball.
 
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