Weymouth Cruise - Near Death Experience!!

[brucehawsker]

Various people asked me to re-post this in a more obvious thread. It was a note of what happened off St Alban Head in SW F7 or possibly more with vicious short fetch waves.... :

Landing on the "ass of the boat" after mis-timing coming off a big one when all waves around you are transparent at the tops and very threatening is VERY interesting. I remember thinking we were going to go right over, and was amazed when

1) we were flat in the water the right way up
2) the water was up to to our knees
3) the engine re-started - we had inadvertently pulled the kill cord
4) the elephant's trunk was easy to release - I had checked it before we set off but was thrilled when my son could drop it easily and quickly
5) very quickly we realised we were:

Not dead
Not going to die (at least immediately)
Had a working big engine
Still warm and basically dry
And all the water had exited the boat very quickly

.....to the extent we did not need to declare an emergency.

All credit to the boat designers / builders.

[Nasher]

That bow up vertical experiance isn't pleasent is it

I'll never forget the look on Ollyit's face afterwards when we did it in my boat off Gosport a couple of years ago.
TimM, Ju, and I think Jimbo were also all on board on the day that I should have been strong enough to say NO to lunch in Yarmouth during a F6.

I wondered if it was only the weight of the full tank of fuel that stopped us going right over.

Don't think I ever felt we were going to Die though.

Nasher

[Chris]

I have had this happen to me once, and I even got it on film !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u-Xr3IwqOs

Sorry about the music but watch from about 1.26 minutes in and at 1.36 you will see what I mean. Although I look calm and collected I was just about to jump over the side.

However with my drysuit on and MattH out in his boat as well I never felt like I was close to death. Just close to getting wet

I think it always feels a little bit worse that it actually is (which is probably a good thing)

[Nos4r2]

I came close to doing this on the way back from Yarmouth on the 18th too. Scary-Doggypaddle was following me and even after slowing right down his prop came out of the water on the same wave.

[Tim M]

Originally Posted by Nasher

That bow up vertical experiance isn't pleasent is it

I'll never forget the look on Ollyit's face afterwards when we did it in my boat off Gosport a couple of years ago.
TimM, Ju, and I think Jimbo were also all on board on the day that I should have been strong enough to say NO to lunch in Yarmouth during a F6.

I wondered if it was only the weight of the full tank of fuel that stopped us going right over.

Don't think I ever felt we were going to Die though.

Nasher

I think we all thought we were going over that day. That's the closest I've ever been I think. I remember asking you to take it easy, to be told you were taking it easy!

[Paul Beaurain]

Hello Bruce
When did you make the return passage?
As when we left you you were still discussing a plan.

Hopefully the experience,although not pleasant, will add additioanlly to boating knowledge-
cheers
Paul

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by Nasher

I wondered if it was only the weight of the full tank of fuel that stopped us going right over.

Don't think I ever felt we were going to Die though.

Nasher

You're fuel tank is quite far back isn't it Nasher? Do you think it might have been the cause?

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by Nasher

I wondered if it was only the weight of the full tank of fuel that stopped us going right over.

Don't think I ever felt we were going to Die though.

Nasher

You're fuel tank is quite far back isn't it Nasher? Do you think it might have been the cause?

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Hightower

You're fuel tank is quite far back isn't it Nasher? Do you think it might have been the cause?

Your right, the tank is a little too far back for my liking, however I have plans for next year as its only 130litres anyway.
There is a huge watertight void under the deck in front of the tank that is accessed by a big hatch in front of the console. The void is so big I could easily lay out flat and sleep in there, but I'm toying with the idea of a flexible fuel tank which would get some weight forward. I am trying however to come up with a way of anchoring it in there securely.

Tim
I seem to remember it was a classic case of needing some forward momentum to help, and trying to take it any easier would have been worse.

Nasher.

[kitten]

Flexi fuel tanks dont need as much securing as you may think. On race boats we bolt an eye to a 3" square of laminate with countersunk sets and sikaflex it to the hull, make 4 and fix two either end of the tankspace thread some 8-10mm bungee to one end , then through the eyes on the tank over the tank and trough the eyes at the other end of the tank and secure to the other pair of fixings, then depending on the size of the tank tou can slide it up and down for balence. Whenit is were you want it just ust cable ties to fix the bungee to the eyes. Simple.
ASk Paul Tilly about race bladder tanks.

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by kitten

Flexi fuel tanks dont need as much securing as you may think. On race boats we bolt an eye to a 3" square of laminate with countersunk sets and sikaflex it to the hull, make 4 and fix two either end of the tankspace thread some 8-10mm bungee to one end , then through the eyes on the tank over the tank and trough the eyes at the other end of the tank and secure to the other pair of fixings, then depending on the size of the tank tou can slide it up and down for balence. Whenit is were you want it just ust cable ties to fix the bungee to the eyes. Simple.
.

Yeah, piece of p*** Kitten.

[kitten]

Tis.
Stop being negative you grumpy bugger(missed out the old )

[Nasher]

Sounds easy to me, and will work well in the space I have.
Thanks Kitten.

It was going to be Paul I contacted anyway.

Nasher

[codprawn]

Yup his bladder is 2nd to none!!!

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by codprawn

yup his bladder is 2nd to none!!!

Very Good

[brucehawsker]

We came back on the Thursday in perfect conditions!

Total damage:

- destroyed radar reflector - not going to bother to replace - it was mounted horizontally when it was meant to be vertical!!

- radio - replaced under warranty by Raymarine - many thanks

- Lowrance gps aerial - did not appreciate high g dunking - 3.5 years old - replaced by JGTech at a great price and installed by Andy our excellent local electronics wiz at Haven Quay.

Total cost ~£250 plus rail fares and 4 nights mooring at Weymouth.

Cheap at the price given what we both learned.

And thanks to Paul B who came to Weymouth to help us home!

[Chris]

Fair enough it sounds like you really did take a dunking to do that much damage. Did that happen as teh back of the boat dropped into the water then?

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by brucehawsker

Total cost ~£250 plus rail fares and 4 nights mooring at Weymouth.

Cheap at the price given what we both learned.

Christ if it cost me £250 everytime the RIB was subjected to conditions that they are designed to cope with I'd be a bit peeved.

Seriously, any decently put together RIB should shrug off an incident like that. Or are newer boats a bit more fussy that my tough old beastie?

Nasher

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Christ if it cost me £250 everytime the RIB was subjected to conditions that they are designed to cope with I'd be a bit peeved.

Seriously, any decently put together RIB should shrug off an incident like that. Or are newer boats a bit more fussy that my tough old beastie?

Nasher

You can't blame the RIB for crappy electronics failing when they get a bit wet.

[Nasher]

Its all part of the boat and how its put together.

£250 quids worth of damage is outragous for an incident like that.