Nautical Insanity: That's not a leak you're sinking

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Nautical Insanity: That's not a leak you're sinking

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I learned a few interesting things today:

1. California requires registration for any sailboat over 8' in length
2. The El Toro is a popular dinghy design in the Bay Area which is 7'11" in length
3. El Toros can be acquired for under $500 with some looking
4. I think I could fit an El Toro through the door into the crawlspace next to the garage...

I'm enjoying dinghies at CSC, but the idea of throwing a dinghy in my pickup and launching 10 minutes from home is pretty attractive and getting better every time I spend an hour in traffic coming back across the Bay Bridge.

# ? Aug 26, 2022 04:22

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# ? May 23, 2024 20:21

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Never sailed an el torro myself but they're certainly a very popular class in the bay area, I think designed and started at RYC for use in the bay. Not a terrible choice.

RYC in richmond has an enormous, active fleet, not sure if they do adult racing. RYC is a pretty laid back club with a large number of active sailors/racers

# ? Aug 26, 2022 04:29

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Hi, fellow idiots! (well, I feel like one anyway).

I'm now a boat owner. I've been on boats a bit. Didn't grow up with them, had sailing team buddies in college, did a few trips with them, but mostly don't know my rear end from my elbow when it comes to boating. My wife has been bugging me about getting a boat for a few years now, we live near a bunch of good reservoirs and lakes, have space for it, tow vehicle, etc, but the main number one thing I've always known about boats is that they're expensive, and not much else, so I've been pretty hesitant.

However, we're in a very comfortable financial situation and recently her cousin let her know that he was selling his ski boat (because he upgraded) and asked if we wanted to buy it. I am in a sort of semi-mid-life-sorta-crisis YOLO mentality at the moment, and I had literally just bought a bicycle for ~1/3rd what he was asking for the boat (for same YOLO crisis reasons), so I caved and said gently caress it, sure, let's do it.

She drove down and picked it up from him while I was working a week or two ago, and then we both took the CA boater safety class. He (cousin) wants to come up and go out on one of the busier lakes in the area over labor day weekend, so we're like, poo poo, we better get this figured out a bit better first.

So today we took it for a quick test spin. This was (for both of us) our first time launching, being the primarily responsible individuals on the boat, and loading it back on the trailer, and I have some but not much experience driving with a trailer. We decided to go to the slightly further reservoir because the boat ramp there has a dock, whereas the closer and more popular one does not, and we figured the dock would make launching a bit easier.

Should have scoped it first because they're doing some work on the dam and the water level was below the bottom of the dock, hooray. It worked out fine, though; we had a nice steep ~100m ramp for me to practice backing straight down on, launched it without incident (just a bit slowly), toodled around the reservoir for a while, and then loaded it back up (with more reversing straight practice).

No water skiing today, with only two of us, me having never skied or towed, and her having not skied in many years and not done the towing either, but I'm eager to give it a shot.

Here is the boat. Sanger DXII, I'm a big fan of the 90s colors.

# ? Aug 30, 2022 02:38

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Very nice

Would look better behind a rust-belt-sourced ~~Tiguan~~ Touareg :colbert:

# ? Aug 30, 2022 03:03

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Hadlock posted:

Tiguan

Okay, now that hurts.

Believe it or not, that F150 with 65k miles on it that�s spent its whole life in California has its own fair share of rust on it. I blame Sausalito

# ? Aug 30, 2022 03:16

cursedshitbox: May 20, 2012; Your rear-end wont survive my hammering.; Fun Shoe

Steve French posted:

Okay, now that hurts.

Believe it or not, that F150 with 65k miles on it that�s spent its whole life in California has its own fair share of rust on it. I blame Sausalito

Don't blame California for Ford's problems.

# ? Aug 30, 2022 03:22

Safety Dance: Sep 10, 2007; Five degrees to starboard!

Look out Puget Sound! Seattle Sailing Club says I can rent a sailboat whenever I want! :getin:

I think somebody in this thread pointed me toward them. Thanks! They seem like a great club!

# ? Aug 30, 2022 03:53

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

Steve French posted:

Hi, fellow idiots! (well, I feel like one anyway).

I'm now a boat owner. I've been on boats a bit. Didn't grow up with them, had sailing team buddies in college, did a few trips with them, but mostly don't know my rear end from my elbow when it comes to boating. My wife has been bugging me about getting a boat for a few years now, we live near a bunch of good reservoirs and lakes, have space for it, tow vehicle, etc, but the main number one thing I've always known about boats is that they're expensive, and not much else, so I've been pretty hesitant.

However, we're in a very comfortable financial situation and recently her cousin let her know that he was selling his ski boat (because he upgraded) and asked if we wanted to buy it. I am in a sort of semi-mid-life-sorta-crisis YOLO mentality at the moment, and I had literally just bought a bicycle for ~1/3rd what he was asking for the boat (for same YOLO crisis reasons), so I caved and said gently caress it, sure, let's do it.

She drove down and picked it up from him while I was working a week or two ago, and then we both took the CA boater safety class. He (cousin) wants to come up and go out on one of the busier lakes in the area over labor day weekend, so we're like, poo poo, we better get this figured out a bit better first.

So today we took it for a quick test spin. This was (for both of us) our first time launching, being the primarily responsible individuals on the boat, and loading it back on the trailer, and I have some but not much experience driving with a trailer. We decided to go to the slightly further reservoir because the boat ramp there has a dock, whereas the closer and more popular one does not, and we figured the dock would make launching a bit easier.

Should have scoped it first because they're doing some work on the dam and the water level was below the bottom of the dock, hooray. It worked out fine, though; we had a nice steep ~100m ramp for me to practice backing straight down on, launched it without incident (just a bit slowly), toodled around the reservoir for a while, and then loaded it back up (with more reversing straight practice).

No water skiing today, with only two of us, me having never skied or towed, and her having not skied in many years and not done the towing either, but I'm eager to give it a shot.

Here is the boat. Sanger DXII, I'm a big fan of the 90s colors.

Nice. Just in time to winterize! (not sure where you are)

Yeah, i was kind of surprised how easy it was to back up my boat for me, an idiot who had never backed up a trailer.. Longer tandem axle trailers cut pretty slowly, it seems.

# ? Aug 30, 2022 15:43

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

gvibes posted:

Nice. Just in time to winterize! (not sure where you are)

Yeah, i was kind of surprised how easy it was to back up my boat for me, an idiot who had never backed up a trailer.. Longer tandem axle trailers cut pretty slowly, it seems.

yeah... winterizing will have to come soon I think (we're near Lake Tahoe)... we have highs of around 90 for the near future but also 40 degree overnight temperature drops, and it won't be too long before it starts freezing occasionally. In-laws have a place in Grass Valley which is a lot warmer where we could move it, but can still freeze in winter.

# ? Aug 30, 2022 17:38

Advent Horizon: Jan 17, 2003; I�m back, and for that I am sorry

Always be greasing your shaft:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/30/hms-prince-wales-warship-grinds-halt-failure-grease-propeller/

quote:

The Royal Navy�s new �3 billion aircraft carrier may have ground to a halt over a failure to grease the propeller shaft, naval sources have said.

HMS Prince of Wales�s �landmark mission� to the United States is hanging in the balance and may have to be cancelled.

Specialist Royal Navy divers have been inspecting the ship since it broke down on Sunday evening, less than 24 hours after setting sail for the US.

Naval sources have told The Telegraph initial thoughts are pointing to a lack of lubrication on the starboard side at the point the propeller shaft leaves the interior of the hull.

Any overheating at this point due to friction could have damaged the metal shaft, sources have said.

A better understanding of the problem, upon which navy chiefs can make decisions, is not expected before the end of the week.

However, it is thought likely that a period in dry dock will be required, to have a proper look at the area and carry out repairs.

# ? Aug 31, 2022 00:12

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

I dunno what the lead time is on a battleship driveshaft is, but it's probably not measured in weeks

# ? Aug 31, 2022 00:39

madeintaipei: Jul 13, 2012

Hadlock posted:

I dunno what the lead time is on a battleship driveshaft is, but it's probably not measured in weeks

gently caress it. Just strap all of it's aircraft to the deck and firewall the throttles.

Not like it hasn't been done before, although I suppose it works better with prop-driven aircraft.

# ? Aug 31, 2022 01:22

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Wait, what? Link please

I'm guessing this is some kind of battle of midway, wood decked carrier thing

# ? Aug 31, 2022 01:36

madeintaipei: Jul 13, 2012

Hadlock posted:

Wait, what? Link please

I'm guessing this is some kind of battle of midway, wood decked carrier thing

In the absence of tugs big enough, or bigger ships equipped to move a carrier sideways, aircraft could be strapped down and run at 100% to add maneuvering power.

Very much a WW2 and Korean War thing. Before the supercarriers, an AC carrier could be surprisingly small and light. It's mentioned in, Bridges of Toko-Ri. Beyond that, I've seen a picture of it all mocked up but can't find it on the internet.

# ? Aug 31, 2022 01:57

The Locator: Sep 12, 2004; Out here, everything hurts.

madeintaipei posted:

In the absence of tugs big enough, or bigger ships equipped to move a carrier sideways, aircraft could be strapped down and run at 100% to add maneuvering power.

Very much a WW2 and Korean War thing. Before the supercarriers, an AC carrier could be surprisingly small and light. It's mentioned in, Bridges of Toko-Ri. Beyond that, I've seen a picture of it all mocked up but can't find it on the internet.

Uh... small and light? I guess compared to a Nimitz class the Essex fleet carriers were 'small and light', at a mere 800'+ long and 36~38,000 tons.

The escort carriers (Jeep carriers) were small compared to the fleet carriers at about 500' and 11,000 tons, but even that isn't what I would call small and light!

After WW2 they got continuously larger and heavier of course, leading up to today's 100,000 ton behemoth's.

# ? Aug 31, 2022 03:24

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

definitely eager to get on a boat with this guy

# ? Aug 31, 2022 17:35

Safety Dance: Sep 10, 2007; Five degrees to starboard!

Pham Nuwen posted:

definitely eager to get on a boat with this guy

Better than the "We're gonna run our engine and rent cars at ports, so don't sign up if you're an enviro-wacko" guy I saw once.

# ? Aug 31, 2022 18:02

n0tqu1tesane: May 7, 2003; She was rubbing her ass all over my hands. They don't just do that for everyone.; Grimey Drawer

Just a friendly reminder to flush your outboards more often than I have. Currently paying to have mine cleaned out because it was overheating.

Granted, it's a 1995 Yamaha 2 stroke, so it's been around the block a few times, but I have been lax in flushing the past two years because I don't have water run to our boathouse yet. I'll be taking care of that in the next couple weeks.

# ? Sep 3, 2022 01:03

Safety Dance: Sep 10, 2007; Five degrees to starboard!

On Sunday, I rented a C&C 27 with some friends and we did a round trip from Seattle to Suquamish for lunch. Each leg is about 6.5 nm as the crow flies. Wind was about 12-13 kts out of the north.

I forgot to record my track on the way back, but it's essentially the same straight line.

On the way back, just as we were entering the traffic separation zone from the west, two cruise ships popped out of Elliott Bay. We were making about 5-6 kts on a broad reach (the boat's hull speed is a leisurely 6.1 kts), so I figured we'd have ample time to pass in front of the lead cruise ship.

Those suckers are fast. It was on us surprisingly quickly. It sounded one long blast, I guess to indicate "hey, wake up tiny sailboat". We gybed and sailed south until both ships passed us.

In retrospect, I looked up the ship's name on Marine Traffic when it came into view. I should have also checked its speed, and probably also should have called them up on the VHF when it started being questionable if we'd make it out of the traffic separation zone in time.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 20:17

The Locator: Sep 12, 2004; Out here, everything hurts.

Safety Dance posted:

On Sunday, I rented a C&C 27 with some friends and we did a round trip from Seattle to Suquamish for lunch. Each leg is about 6.5 nm as the crow flies. Wind was about 12-13 kts out of the north.

I forgot to record my track on the way back, but it's essentially the same straight line.

On the way back, just as we were entering the traffic separation zone from the west, two cruise ships popped out of Elliott Bay. We were making about 5-6 kts on a broad reach (the boat's hull speed is a leisurely 6.1 kts), so I figured we'd have ample time to pass in front of the lead cruise ship.

Those suckers are fast. It was on us surprisingly quickly. It sounded one long blast, I guess to indicate "hey, wake up tiny sailboat". We gybed and sailed south until both ships passed us.

In retrospect, I looked up the ship's name on Marine Traffic when it came into view. I should have also checked its speed, and probably also should have called them up on the VHF when it started being questionable if we'd make it out of the traffic separation zone in time.

Big ships are shockingly fast when they don't look like they are hardly moving at all.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 22:08

sharkytm: Oct 9, 2003; Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo; Fallen Rib

Safety Dance posted:

On Sunday, I rented a C&C 27 with some friends and we did a round trip from Seattle to Suquamish for lunch. Each leg is about 6.5 nm as the crow flies. Wind was about 12-13 kts out of the north.

I forgot to record my track on the way back, but it's essentially the same straight line.

On the way back, just as we were entering the traffic separation zone from the west, two cruise ships popped out of Elliott Bay. We were making about 5-6 kts on a broad reach (the boat's hull speed is a leisurely 6.1 kts), so I figured we'd have ample time to pass in front of the lead cruise ship.

Those suckers are fast. It was on us surprisingly quickly. It sounded one long blast, I guess to indicate "hey, wake up tiny sailboat". We gybed and sailed south until both ships passed us.

In retrospect, I looked up the ship's name on Marine Traffic when it came into view. I should have also checked its speed, and probably also should have called them up on the VHF when it started being questionable if we'd make it out of the traffic separation zone in time.

Rule of gross tonnage. Glad you veered off... I've seen them argue on VHF that they have the right of way. LOL, sure, floating matchstick, sure.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 02:34

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Yeah anything larger than a tug boat is probably doing 15+ knots and will gently caress You Up

Those mega container ships are 1200+ ft long (like a floating mega Walmart) and the engine is in the back so you don't hear them coming

1 honk is mostly a courtesy

5 honks is "I don't know what the gently caress you're doing, but it's scaring me" and in most places I've raced, immediate disqualification from the entire race weekend

I forget what honks 2-4 are but if you've gotten past 1 then it's probably time to look at those asa 101 classes again

# ? Sep 22, 2022 04:32

Safety Dance: Sep 10, 2007; Five degrees to starboard!

Hadlock posted:

5 honks is "I don't know what the gently caress you're doing, but it's scaring me" and in most places I've raced, immediate disqualification from the entire race weekend

I forget what honks 2-4 are but if you've gotten past 1 then it's probably time to look at those asa 101 classes again

Back in New York Harbor, I got to watch the Staten Island Ferry give five short blasts to a group of jet skiers who were screwing around in its path. Definitely something you want to avoid.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 04:44

sharkytm: Oct 9, 2003; Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo; Fallen Rib

Safety Dance posted:

Back in New York Harbor, I got to watch the Staten Island Ferry give five short blasts to a group of jet skiers who were screwing around in its path. Definitely something you want to avoid.

I watched a jet skier jump the bow wake of a fully laden fuel barge going past Riker's. The cap got on 16 and said "don't even tell me if he falls off, just call the police on the phone"

Working commercially on the water, you see all sorts of bad poo poo nearly happen. Sail boats de-masted, 6 people in a 12' zodiac crossing Cape Cod Bay, a floundering boat refusing a tow because we weren't going to his port of departure, Jersey-ites getting into fights over Flukin' spots, Jersey-ites trying to block commercial survey ops because "it's their spot and we need to move", vessels being struck by lightning, catching fire, flooding/foundering/sinking, a cigarette boat stuffing the bow and 2 guys getting thrown through the windshield at 70+ mph, ferry crashing into the rocks and having to help offload passengers, the works...

# ? Sep 22, 2022 13:16

MrKatharsis: Nov 29, 2003; feel the bern

If you're into boat schad but don't want to leave your comfy desk, the "boating news of the week" shorts on the "broncosguru" YouTube channel have you covered.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 13:35

Crunchy Black: Oct 24, 2017; by Athanatos

Hadlock posted:

Yeah anything larger than a tug boat is probably doing 15+ knots and will gently caress You Up

Those mega container ships are 1200+ ft long (like a floating mega Walmart) and the engine is in the back so you don't hear them coming

1 honk is mostly a courtesy

5 honks is "I don't know what the gently caress you're doing, but it's scaring me" and in most places I've raced, immediate disqualification from the entire race weekend

I forget what honks 2-4 are but if you've gotten past 1 then it's probably time to look at those asa 101 classes again

not to mention 5 honks generally gets you a visit from law enforcement to figure out what the gently caress, exactly, you were doing to impede commercial traffic

At least one Melges gets DSQ'd from CRW every year on practice day and it never ceases to be funny

# ? Sep 22, 2022 14:08

sharkytm: Oct 9, 2003; Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo; Fallen Rib

MrKatharsis posted:

If you're into boat schad but don't want to leave your comfy desk, the "boating news of the week" shorts on the "broncosguru" YouTube channel have you covered.

Or wavyboats. Haulover inlet and others. Plenty of hilarious poo poo.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 14:34

Applebees Appetizer: Jan 23, 2006

I refuse to take my boat out on weekends, especially holiday weekends because it's a god drat poo poo show in the Tampa Bay area of Florida these days. Everyone and their mother has a boat now and it's a party on the water. I'm just trying to catch some fish and don't need the bullshit quite honestly. Even if I go out early in the morning trying to get back the boat ramps are a cluster gently caress and i'm in my little 14' skiff trying to navigate around all the idiots. Jet skis have a special place in hell for me.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 15:18

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Found a local El Toro for $200:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/boa/d/san-francisco-el-toro-sailboat-78-ready/7531983735.html

It's a little rough around the edges but sounds more or less seaworthy. If you look at forums posts there's a lot of "a wood El Toro in excellent shape shouldn't be more than $300" but forums greybeards have a tendency to declare that 0.8*(price they paid in 1995) is the absolute maximum anyone should pay in TYOOL 2022... in my opinion, $200 for a functional boat seems pretty reasonable, so I might go take a look this weekend (if I can get my wife to agree to a boat in the garage)

I've been familiarizing myself with the nautical charts, which is a real adventure in the SF Bay. The area right around Oyster Point looks like it could be good for fooling around in a little boat (and it's pretty close to home), but I thought I'd try and figure out what exactly the restriction markings around the harbor meant:

33 CFR 165.1185 just specifies that in all waters of the San Francisco Bay, all vessels carrying liquefied hazardous gas must proceed directly to their reception facility, which seems like an odd thing to reference for a recreational harbor. I clicked through all the other results but didn't find anything more illuminating.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 18:11

Safety Dance: Sep 10, 2007; Five degrees to starboard!

Pham Nuwen posted:

I've been familiarizing myself with the nautical charts, which is a real adventure in the SF Bay. The area right around Oyster Point looks like it could be good for fooling around in a little boat (and it's pretty close to home), but I thought I'd try and figure out what exactly the restriction markings around the harbor meant:

Interesting, I don't see those restriction markings on my Navionics charts.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 18:24

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

I used to keep (and I'm about to start keeping again!) my boat at sierra point (brisbane marina)

There is nothing under the water you need to worry about hitting with your el torro there. There is a gap in the mountains (south side of san bruno) and sometimes (most days) during sunset you'll get some gnarly wind in the 20-35kt so watch out for the wind picking up as you get within 45 min of sunset. Once you get out of the channel (the surrounding water left of the entrance is about 5' and to the right is about 18' and gets deeper as you move into the center of the channel) the current can rip but if you go 20' west the water is normal again. Rule of thumb for small boats is stay out of water deeper than about 15' when the tide is ripping as you're entering the main channel and will get washed downstream faster than you think. El Torro probably tops out at 4 kts and the tide can hit 5kts in places. Near/at slack tide is fine just... keep an eye on conditions as you move more than 500' from shore

Places I would recommend to start sailing: not the open bay (i.e. 500' due east of brisbane marina)

I would check out redwood creek, they do rowing club, competitive ama rowing etc in there, it's not super wide but you can fail in there and it's not a disaster if you capsize since it's only ~200' wide at it's widest point. There's a bunch of micro creeks to sail through/around at mid/low tide which will give you plenty to explore; https://goo.gl/maps/MpbcuyyX8eVTmEXv7 also redwood creek is like, this time of year 80 degrees which I can confirm as I've swam in the water there at one of the marinas after a regatta it's nice. I would practice capsizing procedures there for sure

Also, I haven't been here but looks interesting is the Stanford boat ramp; there's not much here but you can sail up to Cooley Landing Park and if you're feeling especially plucky about a mile north is the dumbarton bridge which has shore access. It's good to plan for emergency haul out locations in case you spring a leak or capsize or whatever and most of south bay is protected wetlands/marsh https://goo.gl/maps/X64DiQbVC8oiFqEP6

Finally, the best spot is probably the waters immediately around coast guard island in alameda, looks like there is a ramp here: https://goo.gl/maps/scNxDFgWpZbFcuCYA

Buy the second cheapest waterproof vhf radio and the second most expensive life vest. For a dinghy do not buy an inflatable vest

Hadlock fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Sep 22, 2022

# ? Sep 22, 2022 21:20

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

I used to keep (and I'm about to start keeping again!) my boat at sierra point (brisbane marina)

There is nothing under the water you need to worry about hitting with your el torro there. There is a gap in the mountains (south side of san bruno) and sometimes (most days) during sunset you'll get some gnarly wind in the 20-35kt so watch out for the wind picking up as you get within 45 min of sunset. Once you get out of the channel (the surrounding water left of the entrance is about 5' and to the right is about 18' and gets deeper as you move into the center of the channel) the current can rip but if you go 20' west the water is normal again. Rule of thumb for small boats is stay out of water deeper than about 15' when the tide is ripping as you're entering the main channel and will get washed downstream faster than you think. El Torro probably tops out at 4 kts and the tide can hit 5kts in places. Near/at slack tide is fine just... keep an eye on conditions as you move more than 500' from shore

Places I would recommend to start sailing: not the open bay (i.e. 500' due east of brisbane marina)

I would check out redwood creek, they do rowing club, competitive ama rowing etc in there, it's not super wide but you can fail in there and it's not a disaster if you capsize since it's only ~200' wide at it's widest point. There's a bunch of micro creeks to sail through/around at mid/low tide which will give you plenty to explore; https://goo.gl/maps/MpbcuyyX8eVTmEXv7 also redwood creek is like, this time of year 80 degrees which I can confirm as I've swam in the water there at one of the marinas after a regatta it's nice. I would practice capsizing procedures there for sure

Also, I haven't been here but looks interesting is the Stanford boat ramp; there's not much here but you can sail up to Cooley Landing Park and if you're feeling especially plucky about a mile north is the dumbarton bridge which has shore access. It's good to plan for emergency haul out locations in case you spring a leak or capsize or whatever and most of south bay is protected wetlands/marsh https://goo.gl/maps/X64DiQbVC8oiFqEP6

Finally, the best spot is probably the waters immediately around coast guard island in alameda, looks like there is a ramp here: https://goo.gl/maps/scNxDFgWpZbFcuCYA

Buy the second cheapest waterproof vhf radio and the second most expensive life vest. For a dinghy do not buy an inflatable vest

Thanks for the info. Redwood creek looks so nice that if I get the boat I might just head there for my first sail... I'd need to stop in San Carlos anyway, to grab a VHF from West Marine!

So what do you do if you're loving around in the sloughs near Redwood Creek and you ground the thing? My assumption is that if you try to jump out and push off, you'll sink into a foot of muck, so do you carry around a pole or something, or just git gud and never run aground?

Are you moving back to the Bay, or are you still just dealing with owning a boat on the wrong side of the country? If you're coming back, well, I'm pretty good at juicing limes and operating blenders...

# ? Sep 22, 2022 22:17

TheFluff: Dec 13, 2006; FRIENDS, LISTEN TO ME
I AM A SEAGULL
OF WEALTH AND TASTE

Hadlock posted:

Yeah anything larger than a tug boat is probably doing 15+ knots and will gently caress You Up

Those mega container ships are 1200+ ft long (like a floating mega Walmart) and the engine is in the back so you don't hear them coming

1 honk is mostly a courtesy

5 honks is "I don't know what the gently caress you're doing, but it's scaring me" and in most places I've raced, immediate disqualification from the entire race weekend

I forget what honks 2-4 are but if you've gotten past 1 then it's probably time to look at those asa 101 classes again

the formal definition of 5 short honks is "I am uncertain of your intentions", so yeah, "wtf are you doing" is a good summary. I was also taught that it's really five or more short honks, you can just keep honking until you figure out what the gently caress is going on

one long honk = general "attention" signal, sometimes used around blind corners and the like
one short honk = I intend to pass you on my port side (alternately, I intend to turn to starboard)
two short honks = ditto in the opposite direction
three short honks = my propulsion is operating astern (I'm reversing)

I'm sailing the boat to where we're wintering it this weekend that means I'll be going down the main fairway into Stockholm, so I'll be having plenty of interaction with bigass shis. Around here it's mostly cruise ferries going in and out of Stockholm, and the fairway is really narrow most of the way with a couple of very tight turns around islands (there's one spot that has an about 120� turn with a radius of half a nautical mile), so you learn pretty quickly to not gently caress around. In the inner parts of the archipelago they're typically limited to 12 knots but in the outer parts they usually do over 20, which teaches you respect pretty quickly. So far I haven't been honked at and I don't intend to start now. Big ships are also pretty spooky at night, even when you're well outside the fairway. You just can't know if they've seen you or not.

TheFluff fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Sep 22, 2022

# ? Sep 22, 2022 23:08

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Pham Nuwen posted:

Are you moving back to the Bay, or are you still just dealing with owning a boat on the wrong side of the country? If you're coming back, well, I'm pretty good at juicing limes and operating blenders...

We live on the wrong side of the country (mid Atlantic region is loving grim, I thought the Gulf coast was poor, I didn't know the situation on the mid Atlantic yet) but my wife's entire family lives there so we're over there like.... Almost once a month? If the economy craters and diesel prices go down we might move it early next year, and moving it during peak hurricane season seems unwise

I'll shoot you a PM closer to Oct 20, I could use crew to deliver the boat to Brisbane, it's about 60-90 minutes sailing time (have to go the northerly route towards yerba Buena), and you could watch me guess at how to correctly rig yours and tell you all the stuff that's definitely gonna fail in the next six months

# ? Sep 23, 2022 00:15

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Well, he sold the drat thing this afternoon, so it'll have to be something else. I've got a saved search for "el toro", at least.

# ? Sep 23, 2022 05:26

boxen: Feb 20, 2011

TheFluff posted:

one long honk = general "attention" signal, sometimes used around blind corners and the like
one short honk = I intend to pass you on my port side (alternately, I intend to turn to starboard)
two short honks = ditto in the opposite direction
three short honks = my propulsion is operating astern (I'm reversing)

Huh, I thought three shorts was "get the gently caress out of the way", although I suppose the intent still fits.

There's something about HUGE things moving quickly that makes them not look like they're going as fast as they are. Trains, big boats, I took sailing lessons on the Columbia river by Portland awhile back, and one thing the instructor said over and over was to never been anywhere in a barge's lane of travel because they're moving a hell of a lot faster than it seems, they'll be on top of you before you realize, and THEY CAN'T STOP. He said that yes, as a sailboat you might think you have right of way, but the laws of physics do not give a poo poo about right of way (I think on the river barges always have right of way because they fall under a "limited manuverability" section anyway, but I don't remember).

# ? Sep 23, 2022 17:34

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Laws of physics and right of way matter little when you're dead

# ? Sep 23, 2022 18:23

boxen: Feb 20, 2011

Hadlock posted:

Laws of physics and right of way matter little when you're dead

The first thing he said (and he repeated it over and over) is that the first rule is "don't run into anything or anyone", regardless of what the rules say should happen. If you have right of way and someone's not yielding for whatever reason (limited maneuverability, loss of power/steerage, drunk, stupid, all of the above) you still have a responsibility to not hit things if you have the ability.

# ? Sep 23, 2022 21:18