in message , New
Conservative ') wrote:

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 22:32:34 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:

Hi Larry,

[survey info snipped]

Makes no difference. You get there when you get there, if you get
there at
all. You are at the total mercy of wind and waves and storm fronts
and your own incompetence.....

You have two problems. Single handed isn't really legal by
international law as you must "Maintain a Sharp Lookout" so you don't
run into anything. Around The World Alone races are simply overlooked
because they move lots of expensive products with the
gunwale-to-gunwale advertising, so they get
away with it. NEVER SAIL TO SEA ALONE is good advise. I don't care
if you're a world class triathelon champion, the sea will wear your
ass down in no time at all and you'll think you just can't lift
another arm or take another turn on a winch, having given up hours ago
because your arms feel like lead and you can't keep your eyes
open.....This is why we stand 2 hour watches with the OTHER CREW
MEMBERS who've been tossing and turning in their almost sleep trying
to get some sleep before it's their turn, again.

By day 6, noone talks to anyone any more. They're all too tired from
being
thrown about, 24/7 for 6 days to talk. If it's calm and everyone gets
to rest, we don't GET ANYWHERE just sitting there with all the dirty
laundry
flapping restlessly NOT pulling the boat through the water. If it's
windy, it's rough and sleep is hard, even though you're exhausted.

Now you put it like that, single-handedness is losing its appeal...

The trouble with newsgroups is that you have to judge for yourself to
what extent the people on it know what they're talking about.

Yes, there is a question mark over the legality of single handed
sailing, because of the watch keeping issue. There always has been -
this isn't some new rule. In practice, if you're sailing a small boat,
this isn't a problem.

If you have reasonable self steering gear the boat is going to look
after herself a great deal of the time. In my (limited) experience, the
main problem with cruising single handed is taking enough books to
read. Yes, there will be some days of bad weather, and you will need to
know how to look after your boat through those. Yes, there may be some
days of flat calm, which are pretty trying in my experience. But going
to sea is not generally some dreadful experience, and the people who
are claiming it is have probably never tried it. If your boat isn't
comfortable, that's your problem for having chosen the wrong boat or
for not having equipped her right.

I would not advise you to buy a boat and immediately sail across the
Atlantic single handed. In fact, I would very strongly advise you not
to. I'd advise you to go sailing with different people on different
boats to learn what sort of boat you like and to gain experience before
you buy anything at all.

But if sailing across the Atlantic without experience is what you want
to do it is not /outrageously/ unsafe. You have a better than evens
chance of making it, and, in my opinion, a better than 90% chance of
surviving it. You'll also learn a lot about yourself in the process.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Anagram: I'm soon broke.