Gordon wrote:
Had a friend that put in many, many thousands of miles with at least
7 round trips between New Zealand and Victoria BC.
In that time he hit one container and one sleeping whale. This was in a
homebuilt 33' steel cutter. Both hits in the South Pacific.

I wonder what time frame this was? I think shipping losses of
containers is much higher in the late 1990s ~early 2000s although they
say it's tapering off now.

I also wonder what happened to the whale.

The container left a good dent in the bow and the whale bent the rudder.
I guess what I'm trying to say is the chances of hitting something
large enough to cause serious damage is very slight and then probably
wouldn't be catastropic


In a steel boat

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
That is somewhere around 45,000 N.M. so if he hit two objects in that
distance it averages one object every 22,000 miles. How many people
will cruise that distance in their whole life.


Lots and lots and lots. Not so many do that many open-sea miles. But
look at the odds another way... if you had a revolver with 1,000
chambers, and "only" one chamber had a live round.... would you spin
the chamber, put it to your head, and pull the trigger? Just for fun?

If the odds are low, but consequences very serious, then it's worth a
little work and study to avoid that BANG. Of course, YMMV

DSK

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:55:28 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Gordon wrote:
Had a friend that put in many, many thousands of miles with at least
7 round trips between New Zealand and Victoria BC.
In that time he hit one container and one sleeping whale. This was in a
homebuilt 33' steel cutter. Both hits in the South Pacific.

I wonder what time frame this was? I think shipping losses of
containers is much higher in the late 1990s ~early 2000s although they
say it's tapering off now.

I also wonder what happened to the whale.

The container left a good dent in the bow and the whale bent the rudder.
I guess what I'm trying to say is the chances of hitting something
large enough to cause serious damage is very slight and then probably
wouldn't be catastropic


In a steel boat

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
That is somewhere around 45,000 N.M. so if he hit two objects in that
distance it averages one object every 22,000 miles. How many people
will cruise that distance in their whole life.


Lots and lots and lots. Not so many do that many open-sea miles. But
look at the odds another way... if you had a revolver with 1,000
chambers, and "only" one chamber had a live round.... would you spin
the chamber, put it to your head, and pull the trigger? Just for fun?

If the odds are low, but consequences very serious, then it's worth a
little work and study to avoid that BANG. Of course, YMMV

DSK

Without researching it I suspect that the number of boats lost to
hitting floating objects is less then the number of aircraft lost
during the same period. Do you carry a parachute when you fly?





Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

wrote:
Gordon wrote:
Had a friend that put in many, many thousands of miles with at least
7 round trips between New Zealand and Victoria BC.
In that time he hit one container and one sleeping whale. This was in a
homebuilt 33' steel cutter. Both hits in the South Pacific.

I wonder what time frame this was? I think shipping losses of
containers is much higher in the late 1990s ~early 2000s although they
say it's tapering off now.

I also wonder what happened to the whale.

The container left a good dent in the bow and the whale bent the rudder.
I guess what I'm trying to say is the chances of hitting something
large enough to cause serious damage is very slight and then probably
wouldn't be catastropic


In a steel boat

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
That is somewhere around 45,000 N.M. so if he hit two objects in that
distance it averages one object every 22,000 miles. How many people
will cruise that distance in their whole life.


Lots and lots and lots. Not so many do that many open-sea miles. But
look at the odds another way... if you had a revolver with 1,000
chambers, and "only" one chamber had a live round.... would you spin
the chamber, put it to your head, and pull the trigger? Just for fun?

If the odds are low, but consequences very serious, then it's worth a
little work and study to avoid that BANG. Of course, YMMV

DSK



Edward retired in San Diego and built a wood cat and sailed it all
over the S Pac sans engine.
He returned to San Diego, sold the cat and built the cutter.
He went to New Zealand and then to either Pt Angeles Wa or Victoria BC
or even farther north where he would spend the summer or maybe a year.
Edward left NZ last spring in poor health and was reported overdue in
the summer. His boat was finally found washed up on an atoll.
Edward was a very safety oriented person. High welded water pipe for
rails with no gates and sissy bars around the mast.
It is thought Edward probably walked off the stern if he thought his
time had come. He was that type of person.
So you can figure the time frame from this narrative.
Gordon
BTW Edward was 82 years old.