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#1
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Seamanship Question #31
You are sailing in gusty winter conditions, in an
area with only one other boat in the area. None of your crew is wearing lifejackets. The boat is heeling and waves are regularly breaking over the bow. After tacking you see the leeward jibsheet fouled on the cleat located in a centeral position on the foredeck. What is the best way to clear it? |
#2
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Seamanship Question #31
Bart Senior wrote:
You are sailing in gusty winter conditions, in an area with only one other boat in the area. None of your crew is wearing lifejackets. The boat is heeling and waves are regularly breaking over the bow. After tacking you see the leeward jibsheet fouled on the cleat located in a centeral position on the foredeck. What is the best way to clear it? I guess what you're trying to say is that none of the crew should go forward. If only one sheet is fouled, you can go back on the other tack... some boats will not tack with a fouled sheet, so you'd have to gybe.... except that the sheet might free itself if you aim the boat down wind, so be watching for that as you bear away. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
#3
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Seamanship Question #31
Not wearing life jackets in gusty conditions, you deserve a knock down
to convince you otherwise. |
#4
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Seamanship Question #31
This actually happened to me yesterday. I was wearing
a lifejacket and the others were not. Nor did I insist that other wear them. I did not feel the conditions merited lifejackets. However, the boat was very stable and the water was cold enough to kill such that a lifejacket would not have saved anyone if the boat went down. I did not allow anyone to leave the cockpit. See my reply to Doug. Bart wrote Not wearing life jackets in gusty conditions, you deserve a knock down to convince you otherwise. |
#5
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Seamanship Question #31
Doug, Good answer! 1 point to you!
This actually happened to me yesterday. After tacking the jib sheet was snagged. I was at the helm and one crew started to go forward and I stopped him. Instead I bore away and headed nearly directly down wind while warning the others to watch the possible gybe while focusing most of my attention on the main. I was told the jib sheet had cleared on the first attempt so I headed up. Focusing my attention back on the snag, I saw it wasn't clear so I repeated the operation. The second time was the charm, and it came clear with the force of the jib pulling the sheet forward. Careful attention to the jib sheets will usually prevent this sort of a snag. However, I've seen it happen several times in the last year on these boats often enough. I've practiced using the wind to clear the snag in warm weather, so I knew it would work. Sailing downwind leveled the boat out and made it a much more stable platform, such that if someone had to go forward, and only with a lifejacket, it would have been safer. The bottom line is, why go forward? I was worried we might have to add another tack to clear the island, but decided I'd rather do that than take foolish chances. It turned out we easily cleared the island despite heading down wind twice and reached down the channel nicely. It was a great sail, and we had fun navigating through the islands using both our depth finder and chart reading skills. Everyone had fun, without the risk of someone falling in. Even a slight risk can have tragic consequences. Long Island Sound temperatures peaked at 40 degrees yesterday. It might have been even colder, as the low in Norwalk harbor was about 36 degrees. We all know cold temperatures raise blood pressure which increase the risk of heart attack. 40 degrees is cold enough to induce a heart attack from the shock of hitting the water. Cold water also speeds heat loss due to conduction by a factor of 25 compared with heat loss through the air. So 30 minutes immersion is about the maximum a healthy person could handle, and just a few minutes is enough to inhibit muscle function cause a fatality. Going forward would not have been wise, and in any case, I would not have allowed it without a lifejacket. With a lifejacket a person overboard, could try to retain heat, without one, in such conditions, a person could die in minutes, even if recovered. "DSK" wrote Bart Senior wrote: You are sailing in gusty winter conditions, in an area with only one other boat in the area. None of your crew is wearing lifejackets. The boat is heeling and waves are regularly breaking over the bow. After tacking you see the leeward jibsheet fouled on the cleat located in a centeral position on the foredeck. What is the best way to clear it? I guess what you're trying to say is that none of the crew should go forward. If only one sheet is fouled, you can go back on the other tack... some boats will not tack with a fouled sheet, so you'd have to gybe.... except that the sheet might free itself if you aim the boat down wind, so be watching for that as you bear away. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
#6
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Seamanship Question #31
Bart Senior wrote:
You are sailing in gusty winter conditions, in an area with only one other boat in the area. None of your crew is wearing lifejackets. The boat is heeling and waves are regularly breaking over the bow. After tacking you see the leeward jibsheet fouled on the cleat located in a centeral position on the foredeck. What is the best way to clear it? On out boat you can throw open the vberth hatch and unfoul it from there but I'd make sure to pull the bedding and cushions off fiest so that we didn't have to sleep in a wet mess....I'm wondering why no one is wearing a life jacket in those conditions...with a jackline system up you could also clip yourself off at the mast and use a dockpole to flip the line off the cleat... |
#7
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Seamanship Question #31
"Bart Senior" .@. wrote in message ... You are sailing in gusty winter conditions, in an area with only one other boat in the area. None of your crew is wearing lifejackets. The boat is heeling and waves are regularly breaking over the bow. After tacking you see the leeward jibsheet fouled on the cleat located in a centeral position on the foredeck. What is the best way to clear it? Send someone forward .. and bear away just enough to ease the pressure on the sheet. Regards Donal -- |
#8
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Seamanship Question #31
After further consideration, I agree is was a mistake
not to make everyone on board wear a lifejacket. While these particular boats don't get knocked down in such conditions, it is always a good idea to wear a lifejacket-- 1) When the water is cold enough to kill 2) At night, 3) In big waves, 4) When it is windy 5) On the ocean, and 6) When you are farther from land than you can swim. In this case, "the water was cold enough to kill". I'll give myself a dozen lashes for not following my own rules. wrote Not wearing life jackets in gusty conditions, you deserve a knock down to convince you otherwise. |
#9
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Seamanship Question #31
Good for you! Only fools fail to learn from their own mistakes, and you
never impressed me as a fool. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com "Bart Senior" .@. wrote in message ... After further consideration, I agree is was a mistake not to make everyone on board wear a lifejacket. While these particular boats don't get knocked down in such conditions, it is always a good idea to wear a lifejacket-- 1) When the water is cold enough to kill 2) At night, 3) In big waves, 4) When it is windy 5) On the ocean, and 6) When you are farther from land than you can swim. In this case, "the water was cold enough to kill". I'll give myself a dozen lashes for not following my own rules. wrote Not wearing life jackets in gusty conditions, you deserve a knock down to convince you otherwise. |
#10
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Seamanship Question #31
In the first place, the skipper has failed in his primary
responsibility, maintaining the safety of the crew. As to what should be done, on our boat, I would have one of the crew go forward in the cabin and reach out to the cleat from the forward hatch. - If it's too far to reach, he should try working the fouled sheet with the hook on the docking pole, normally telescoping. If this doesn't work, attach a harness and safety line and crawl out on the forward deck through the hatch nearest the cleat. Jim Cate Bart Senior wrote: You are sailing in gusty winter conditions, in an area with only one other boat in the area. None of your crew is wearing lifejackets. The boat is heeling and waves are regularly breaking over the bow. After tacking you see the leeward jibsheet fouled on the cleat located in a centeral position on the foredeck. What is the best way to clear it? |
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