One of the most important things you should do, as a skipper, is brief your crew about the safety equipment you have on board. In an emergency you will not have time to issue detailed instructions on where the life jackets are stowed. Everyone aboard should know this information even though, like insurance, we hope we never have to use it.
Read what I wrote about this and other sailing safety issues in a recent Newsletter – Safety first! + Piracy and Berrimilla Updates.
The recent report of a French navy frigate capturing 11 suspected Somali pirates who had mistaken the military vessel for a merchant ship brought some humour to an otherwise very serious situation.
The incidence of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden is so high that ISAF (International Sailing Federation) has published a set of Guidelines for yachts who are considering making a passage through the area.
Points covered in the Guidelines include:
At this stage, it is recommended that a yacht with an AIS class B transponder should leave it on while in the Gulf of Aden “so that the warships know where they are”. It would be too bad to be mown down by a naval vessel after avoiding the pirates.
My recent post about the Frenchmen going to sea in fog reminded me of a cruise we made in the Greek Islands some years ago. Towards then end of the second week, a meltemi blew up. Ferries were cancelled and shipping stayed put in the ports.
We were securely moored to a dock in the south of Kos but, after 24 hours of staying put, were ready to move on. The Greek skipper of a water carrier tied up nearby, gesticulated wildly that we should extend our stay there until the conditions had settled down more.
As it was, the cockpit had taken on a desert-scape, with sand piled up on the leeward side. This had to be swept up before setting off, to prevent it blocking the cockpit drains. The cabin’s portholes had all been sand-blasted.
During the height of the meltemi, wind on the yacht had ‘put us on starboard tack’ even though only the bare mast and boom were above the dock.
When we prepared to leave a day later, the crew of the water carrier again tried to dissuade us but we could see that the wind had dropped considerably so we freed our mooring lines and motored out. They weren’t to know that our crew of four were all offshore sailors, with far more experience between us than the average yacht charter crew.
And yes, we did get wet but we reached our destination after an exhilarating day sailing without incident.
There are two things that are essential for any single-handed sailor – jackstays and lazy jacks.
Tethering yourself to a jackstay running the full length of your yacht will allow you to move forward safely in all kinds of weather.
Lazy jacks will enable you to control the dropping of your mainsail in windy conditions as the following story illustrates.
An old mate of mine recently told me how he had been caught out on his yacht in a serious blow while sailing on his own. He found it so hard to control the mainsail as he dropped it that he almost lost it overboard. He’d subsequently had a set of lazy jacks made and fitted.
