THAT SINKING FEELING

On occasion I will have a dream that my boat is sinking for no reason or doing something impossible like moving along a creek bed. Though one time it was moving through the streets of Manhattan. Strange that these dreams seem to only happen when I'm not living on board. They are sometimes very disturbing (especially the sinking ones) that is until I come awake and realize they were just dreams. But, for some unfortunate sailors in St. Martin recently it was not a dream:

)

WHY BOATS SINK: Things that go bump in the night!

I was sitting on a beach chair out on the eastern end of the Isle of Long staring out into the Atlantic about two weeks ago. About fifty feet away from where I was sitting was this:

It was part of a tree about thirty five feet long that was partially buried at the high tide mark another 12 foot piece of the same tree was lying a few feet away. It looked pretty nasty down by the root end:

As thought about the tree and wondered where it came from. I was thinking it is probably a traveler left over from Hurricane Sandy's vist to the area last fall:

I wondered how many other tree trunks were floating out there in the Atlantic vagabond leftovers from the storm? Depending on  the boats construction and how it hits such a piece of debris it could severely damage a boat or maybe damage a prop. It would be hard to see to especially at night. Just another thing to be aware of out on the waters. Coincidently, the tree was located at almost the exact spot that I saw an immense log rolling around in the surf a few years ago. Here is some video of that hull crusher I took with a cell phone:


As I sat back down in my beach chair I made a mental note myself to remember even on a beautiful sailing day there are still things lurking just below the surface that could ruin your day.

ADRIFT

A number of years ago I read the book  Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea by Steve Callahan. A sailor who was sailing across the Atlantic when one night he awoke to find his boat sinking. He had just a few minutes to get into the life raft he had on board and spent the next several months at sea before being rescued. He never did find out what his boat had hit that caused his boat to sink. On a online cruising forum in a discussion of why boats sink I read this:

"When we were in the river system off Brazil ... we had huge logs coming down at speed ... river was doing about 5 knots ... if one of those hit us..." 

 I was reminded of something I saw on the beach of eastern Long Island a few years ago. A large eight foot long log had washed up on the beach and was rolling around in the surf. It look like Mahogany or some other exotic tropical wood. As it rolled around in the surf I wondered how far it had journeyed before it landed on the beach. Perhaps as far away as Brazil. 

FIXING A HOLE

Fixing A Hole

You  might be breezing along one day doing six knots enjoying the ride when all of a sudden there is bang and the boat suddenly stops and you hear water flooding in down below. What do you do? Hopefully you never have to answer this question.  Happily, the folks at Yachting Monthly have purposely holed their test boat and tried several methods to stem the incoming flood of water on their "crash boat". Their tests and results are worth a look so if you should happen to get a hole in your boat you'll know what to do to save it.

THE SQUALL RULES!: Anatomy of a sinking.

Recently I was listening to reports on VHF radio from the Coast Guard of a sunken vessel north of Ellis Island in New York Harbor. I was wondering how that vessel got there. A post at Learning To Sail  I think has the answer to my question:

"Yesterday evening a squall rolled through the harbor with terrific force. The anemometer aboard Willy Wall, our floating clubhouse, registered a peak of Force 9--that's a "Fresh Gale" on the Beaufort Scale, meaning up to 54 mph of wind.  The Manhattan Sailing Club's Wednesday round of racing was caught squarely in the middle of it, as well as some other sailboats in the middle of what was otherwise supposed to be a splendid sunset sail."

What could go wrong here? Julian at Learning to Sail has the photos and story of the sinking along with some really good advice that all sailors should think about before and after heading out on the water like:

"Whether you are planning a long car trip, an aircraft flight, or a sailing trip, risk assessment and risk mitigation are important parts of the go/no-go decision. Weather is one of those risks that applies to all souls on the road, in the air, and on the mane. Apps abound to watch it from afar, but looking up and around is free, and there's always Hal on WX-1."

"It's better to be on the dock wishing you were out sailing, than out sailing wishing you were on the dock."

"We lost one boat last evening, and it would have been more if some frisky, on-the-ball sailors hadn't been able to STRIKE SAIL, NOW! Can't do that if your halliards are thrown down the hatch in a ball instead of figure-eight coiled on your winch. Can't do that if you hung 'em backwards."

The sinking of the Grand Republic also dramatically makes the case of why you and your crew should always  be wearing a PFD  when getting on the boat.