Why does safety take practice?
When I was sailing a lot, I realized that what made sailing safe was that I was sailing a lot.
Because I had lots of practice, I saw situations develop and I knew ahead of time what to do. I knew how all the systems worked on the boat without reading any instructions and could go about the business of sailing night and day without any problems. The secret here is practice.
You may say, “That is all very well, but I don’t have time to go sailing a lot.”
I agree and that is the reason sailing can be unsafe.
There are horror stories such as boats on the Sydney Hobart yacht race getting into trouble. And it is interesting to notice that keen as racing sailors are, they would have spent the weeks before the race not out sailing, but actually in city offices and yes it is dangerous to come from an office, jump on a boat and sail it hard across windy oceans.
The situation of someone living aboard, going sailing regularly and not being in a hurry is completely different.
The same safety issues do not come up because they are doing it every day just like driving to work is not dangerous for you.
If you or your partner has safety concerns, I invite you to do more sailing, do all the things on a boat that allow you to operate the boat confidently.
This is relevant in couple situations, as there is a tendency for the man to do most of the sailing. This is not a safe solution and I was very thrilled when my partner was confident and practiced enough to take the boat off sailing by herself and I stayed ashore.
The secret to safe sailing is to go sailing.
And go sailing on windy days in rough waters.
Your very fear of stormy waters and your preference to avoid bad weather is the cause of the myth that sailing is unsafe.
Boats are built for rough water and you are too… with practice.
The secret to safe ocean sailing is to go ocean sailing.
This makes perfect sense. It’s just like driving in winter weather with ice and snow on the roads. If you learn how to do it and do it often, then you know what to do if something goes wrong and how to avoid having things go wrong in the first place.
I want to learn to sail, because my wife and I would love to live aboard a sailboat someday. I wouldn’t go out and buy a boat and then decide to learn. I’m going to make sure I know exactly what I’m doing, and then make sure my wife knows what she’s doing before we ever buy a boat to live on.
Thank you for this blog as it is one of many resources we are using in our preparation process. It is still going to be a few years before we get to the point where we will live aboard, but preparation is key and we want to make sure that we’re fully prepared before we do it.
@ number_6
You are spot on, preparation and practice is the key to safe sailing.
I trust you will be able to organize your life so you spend lots of time sailing. Most sailors theses days (myself included) would probably agree that we don’t get as much time sailing as we would like.
That is the first challenge, to have sailing as our number one pursuit.
I agree - right now I’m trying to absorb all the sailing info I can get, and I’ve been pretty wary of rough waters. But always sailing in ideal weather isn’t going to prepare me for an unexpected storm.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I’m comfortable to take the boat out on my own, but it’s a really good goal to have.
Hi Darce and Kyle, I read your post ‘Tales of Woe‘ and loved to hear what you learned. Darce, you may doubt that you will ever take your yacht sailing on your own, but with that magic ingredient ‘practice’ you will amaze yourself how your confidence and ability will grow. Even on that one aborted voyage, I can tell you learned so much. Good on you for going sailing in the middle of winter, though in your lattitude, i’m sure you will agree a heater is a must.
I also realized that having a fiberglass boat that supposedly does not leak, does not mean that your books don’t get soaking wet and that there is condensation every where. Again, you immediately got to see ‘what is so’ with sailing, which is often very different from what you are being told ashore by well meaning ‘experts’.
Personal experience is the best by far learning place when it comes to sailing.
Best wishes with your next adventures.
John
We’ve been looking at heaters, but don’t want to spend a whole lot on something we’re only going to use for a couple weeks. But since we can’t support an electric heater, the only logical option is propane - and burning propane leads to more condensation. So yeah, we’ve got some puzzles to figure out. Any ideas?
Can you tell me a little about your sailing experience? I’ve never really sailed before, and this boat just sort of dropped into Kyle’s lap, which is how we hatched the plan for this trip (by which I mean I have very little experience).
Thank you Darce for your questions. Te read more of my sailing adventures, you can visit this link; http://www.lifestylesailingblog.com/johns-bio/
Regarding boat heaters, the first question I have is how much time will you spend on the boat?
If it it is only weekends then you can do what most people do and that is not go sailing in the winter except on sunny days. However if you plan to spend extended time on the boat, then you will find you appreciate the heater for many months of the year, as it is always cool on the water (except in the tropics).
When I sailed into BC, Canada from the tropics in early October, the first thing I did was find a $50 tiny woodburner stove and installed it into the boat. It only lasted about a year, but I used it every day. I then replaced it with one I built with the help of a friend with a welder, which lasted much longer.
You can often survive sailing without a heater (put on more clothes), but the delight of coming below into a warm boat when it is cold outside is one of sailing greatest pleasures, especially as it also means a dry boat to boot.
If you have a diesel engine, then a diesel heater is the most practical way to go and you can probably buy a good one second hand. Diesel heaters last.
Wood fired heaters are an option, but you do have to always collect pine cones, drift wood (which is tough on the fire box as the salt eats the steel) or coal. While collecting can be fun, storage of sacks of firewood is an issue. But it worked for me.
Because propane makes water, as you said, you need to have a flue. In fact what ever heating system you use, you need a chimney to take the water out of the boat. My chimney also could be removed and replaced with a very good bung for sailing across oceans.
Electricity is nice when in a marina, but that is all it is good for.
Keep me posted how you get on.
Fair winds John
To answer your questions about heaters; the best solution is a diesel heater assuming you have a diesel engine and already have diesel onboard.