Pacific crossing boat "Niniwahini" - dismasting not whale

[DDW]

I understood another downside of the kite is you have to fly it which may require some attention. And if it goes in the drink under some circumstances it is hard to get flying again.

Whenever I read something like this thread I knock on carbon, that is, my carbon free-standing mast. Not foolproof, but will withstand a significantly more talented fool.

 

[TheDragon]

I have three kites on my boat, 7, 9, and 12m square. Rigging them up right with the long lines would be a nightmare, then if you succeeded and got one launched, you have to actively fly it all the time. Not practical. Better to have a second staysail or something similar and small on board to jury rig sideways with a spinnaker pole, both of which I have too.

 

[Zonker]

Apparently cruisers heading west will be bringing lots of jerry jugs of fuel. His current plan is to motor back towards Mexico. Not a bad plan if a bit slow and boring.

Much more exciting to build a jury rig and sail to French Polynesia where everything will be 3x the cost to repair

In Mexico it's probably a lot, lot easier to find a mast or bring a mast from a US salvage yard and ship it to Mexico.

 

[climenuts]

I would assume the ship that picked up the wife and kids gave him some jugs of diesel? I recall a recent ocean race where a dismasted boat was given a half dozen huge rubber cube containers of diesel.

 

[Zonker]

No, this is an effort by the cruising fleet heading to the S.Pacific to load up on jerry jugs and take them to the boat.

Most ships don't have a lot of suitable containers just lying around to give to sailors. If you're lucky the cook might have a 20L bucket that had vegetable oil.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

I think some of the bigger ships run on bunker fuel, too. Which may run your diesel but may also clog your filters. Or so I vaguely remember reading.

 

[Jim in Halifax]

Bunker A will work but you definitely don't want Bunker B or C (the most common) in your marine diesel engine.

Grades of Bunker fuel

• Bunker A - Gasoil range bunker fuel, typically called marine diesel or marine gasoil
• Bunker B - Low-viscosity vac resid range bunker fuel. Typically cut with some lighter material (VGO) to reduce viscosity to the point that it will flow without heating
• Bunker C - The most common form of bunker. Composed primarily of vac resid range material, with a high viscosity that requires heating in order to pump. Typically sold at several viscosity specifications: 180 centistoke, 380 centistoke, or 460 centistoke, with 380 being the most common grade. The viscosities are measured at 50C, the typical heated temperature of the fuel

 

[Zonker]

I think some of the bigger ships run on bunker fuel, too. Which may run your diesel but may also clog your filters. Or so I vaguely remember reading.

Almost universally any big ship crossing an ocean runs on Bunker fuel (more properly called heavy fuel HFO these days). You can't run it in small boat diesel.

On a big ship, at room temperature it is like molasses. You need to heat it to 50C to make it more liquid. So the fuel tanks have steam heating coils in them to thin the stuff enough to pump it. Then you have to run it through a purifier to actually get the sludgy stuff out of it. Big ship injectors and injection pumps are also designed to run on it. Even if you could heat it, it would still clog a small injector pump instantly.

They do _start_ the engine on marine gasoil MGO (what you think of as "diesel") so they will have some aboard.

 

[Zonker]

The dude made it to Clarion Island and is anchored and probably sleeping for 14 hours.

Other boats are supposedly detouring there to drop off fuel.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

The dude made it to Clarion Island and is anchored and probably sleeping for 14 hours.

Other boats are supposedly detouring there to drop off fuel.

View attachment 583723

Oh wow. I visited Isla Clarion in like 1992, I think. I can't remember too well but I think the anchorage was not that great. We did some freediving and spearfishing (I think). Heard whales underwater. Saw them breaching and splashing. That was pretty cool.

He is almost back to civilization now. And within easy rescue range also which must be a bit of a relief. Maybe they will let him stay for a couple of days to get a better weather window to Mexico. Looks like waiting a few days would be good weather wise. Although I am sure he is anxious to get this over with. And he has probably been motoring into headwinds for many days and maybe the prospect of two more days doesn't really phase him.

 

[accnick]

The dude made it to Clarion Island and is anchored and probably sleeping for 14 hours.

Other boats are supposedly detouring there to drop off fuel.

View attachment 583723

Do we know exactly where they're headed yet?

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

Do we know exactly where they're headed yet?

Nearest bar ashore.

 

[lakeneuch]

Good that it worked out! I really wish him an event free last hop, he is almost there.

 

[Russell Brown]

This guy deserves a lot of credit for not leaving his boat. I'd buy him a beer!

 

[Zonker]

Back to Mexico. Probably La Cruz (PV area) as best chance to get re-rigged by competent people

 

[Kiwi Clipper]

Because as a moral choice taking your baby on the ocean is no different than driving on a highway up a mountain pass in winter. Or taking them hiking in the backcountry in a kid carrier.

We rescue people in both situations when something goes wrong. One might be more dangerous - but if you look at the numbers of people that die or are seriously injured in car crashes, I'm not so sure that sailboats are more dangerous.

Can only families with 18 year old kids sail across oceans in your mind? What's a reasonable cutoff in your mind?

Everyone does have a responsibility to try to plan for reasonable safety. But what is the responsibility of others to help, if something happens that wasn't anticipated? We all just read about the KP44 that was sunk by a sperm whale. So does Darwin say if that happens let the baby die, but not the others? And what about just kindness? If we each were left to die when we did something stupid, there would be no one to write these responses ... or to read them! Perhaps one element of being human is that we are not all simply in a mindless struggle for survival of the fittest.

 

[tane]

Everyone does have a responsibility to try to plan for reasonable safety. But what is the responsibility of others to help, if something happens that wasn't anticipated? We all just read about the KP44 that was sunk by a sperm whale. So does Darwin say if that happens let the baby die, but not the others? And what about just kindness? If we each were left to die when we did something stupid, there would be no one to write these responses ... or to read them! Perhaps one element of being human is that we are not all simply in a mindless struggle for survival of the fittest.

OTOH...in an old logbook we have a quote by a sailor much bigger than any of us:

 

[estarzinger]

View attachment 584900

This was a widely held view 'back in the day'.

In part, it was a pragmatic view, because when offshore it was difficult to actually call and actually get any help to a small yacht. Your HF radio was probably scratchy if you even had battery power for it, you often did not actually know what your position was very accurately, and there was no system to identify ships near your position and route them to you. You were practically speaking, most likely on your own, and it was better just to face that full on and own it. Today, with sat communications, GPS, epirbs, and ship tracking it is actually practical to think you will have someone come get you reasonably quickly in much of the world.

In another part, I believe the philosophy of (most) cruisers has in fact changed dramatically. Most of those folks had experienced life without safety nets (in wars, on remote farms, mountaineering, etc). They were used to looking after themselves, used to significant hardships. And there were significantly higher skill barriers to entry to cruising (actual ability with celestrial just to start), so there was more commitment to the life. The 'call 911' mentality was not yet as widespread even ashore. Today, forgive me, but for most, it is more a suburban holiday mentality. Cruisers want all their comforts, and a safety net, and have not 'trained up skills or apprenticed' as much. And they have been trained their whole lives they should call for professional help immediately when they get into any sort of trouble.

It is just a different world than it was. I personally would respect it, but I think most would think it stupid to have the ability to call for help, and yet not do it and die.

 

[tane]

This was a widely held view 'back in the day'.

In part, it was a pragmatic view, because when offshore it was difficult to actually call and actually get any help to a small yacht. Your HF radio was probably scratchy if you even had battery power for it, you often did not actually know what your position was very accurately, and there was no system to identify ships near your position and route them to you. You were practically speaking, most likely on your own, and it was better just to face that full on and own it. Today, with sat communications, GPS, epirbs, and ship tracking it is actually practical to think you will have someone come get you reasonably quickly in much of the world.

In another part, I believe the philosophy of (most) cruisers has in fact changed dramatically. Most of those folks had experienced life without safety nets (in wars, on remote farms, mountaineering, etc). They were used to looking after themselves, used to significant hardships. And there were significantly higher skill barriers to entry to cruising (actual ability with celestrial just to start), so there was more commitment to the life. The 'call 911' mentality was not yet as widespread even ashore. Today, forgive me, but for most, it is more a suburban holiday mentality. Cruisers want all their comforts, and a safety net, and have not 'trained up skills or apprenticed' as much. And they have been trained their whole lives they should call for professional help immediately when they get into any sort of trouble.

It is just a different world than it was. I personally would respect it, but I think most would think it stupid to have the ability to call for help, and yet not do it and die.

absolutely agree: it would be stupid in the extreme to not call for help & die.
But as you say: to set out with a "911 mentality" (did you coin this phantastic phrase, E.?), a "suburban holiday" mentality, with all "exit strategies" in place before leaving.
When in 2019 I expressed astonishment to the local yacht service provider in Nuku Hiva about the great number of boats at anchor, when in 1983 there were less than 10 he answered:
"This is because you don't have to know anything anymore!"
...skill barriers"...how well put, E.!

 

[SASSAFRASS]

"In my day we didn't.....".

It interesting how time and perceived difficulty always seem to equate to ability. I have a feeling so much of it is always dumb luck.