Seamanship

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captain_chaza

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Post Number: 269
Registered: 02-2003

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Monday, June 23, 2003 - 10:13 pm:

"Seamanship "

Perfection in this discipline depends not only upon the setting-out preparations but to an equal extent to his navigational skills.

It is a little uncanny to notice that through history most of the participants in the greatest ocean regatta of them all, the America’s Cup, is filled with corporate magnates of the Global Exchange.

Did they learn their successful seamanship disciplines and navigation skills on land and then go to sea, or did they learn them at sea and then go on the land? Whichever voyage of discovery came first I am sure they always set out with the latest in technology and the finest equipment available to them at the time.

Once again, the facts and fundamentals are not nearly as important a skipper’s interpretations of the seas, ocean currents wind and weather conditions. The difference in interpretations by many a skipper lies in the fact that each skipper hears and sees with his own built in perceptions and never, never learns by his past experiences.

It seems he has all the excuses in the book and his source of free information and long-range sea and weather forecasters tips are priceless. Everyone wins in the long term. How often does he come back years later with new funds and add a PAS, HIH, CRO ONE to his CTR BOR PDP BPC MIM

Searching through the many voyages of ships sailing the Global Exchange captured at any one moment in time shows truly amazing variety of conditions and situations.

Some booming through on the crest of waves, some crashing in troughs, others beset by a calm drifting sideways and some with little food and fresh water on board waiting for friendly pirates who do take prisoners.

Numerous voyages have had magnificent starts and have then come to grief, a few perhaps with loss of life; certainly many with a great loss of dignity and investment. Almost all could have been avoided with the employment of a common sense respect for the sea and the navigator’s discipline of maintaining and recording regular sightings.

Sea training requires some effort but becomes trivial compared to the excitement of competition and the pride of achievement. Even in the case of the novice cadet, for those who participate in these virtual reality ocean trials, either as a sole yachtsman or as a member of a hand selected crew, their sailing experiences from anywhere on the Global Exchange may never be the same again.

Some will gain invaluable expertise, be more informed and experience many more enjoyable voyages in the future.

Some will develop new individual cruise strategies as they trash old sailors' habits and blind custom beliefs.

After some practice and experience in real time some may even venture on smaller ships and test their skills to the fullest against those Magnificent 20.

A skipper must set in place a plan of action designed to avoid being locked into a bad and dangerous gale and finding himself and his crew too far off-shore and the safety of land. Not only ruining the pleasure of the present cruise for all, but also missing out on the many other pleasurable opportunities that may exist elsewhere on the great exchange.

Seamanship, with its very widely differing interpretations of set information, facts, weather and ocean charts is the nemesis of all skippers who set out sailing offshore..

In this highest of high-tech arenas with all the exchanges now communicating with each other in real time, it must be remembered that for every bullish sailor heading north, there is one bearish sailor setting out a southerly coarse.

Who is the one with the better seamanship skills? Who is the one with the better fittings and equipment on board?

Who is the one to be overwhelmed with emotion? Who is the one blindly in love with his craft?

Who is the one so much in love with sailing that he must always be at sea.

Who is the one steaming with hatred and memories of a very unpleasant voyage clouding his next judgment?

Who is the one who cannot admit to himself and his crew that the seas and weather conditions have suddenly changed?

Who is the one to hesitate for fear of incurring a small loss of dignity and a few meters.

Who is the one too proud and unable to give the order “Run for shelter!”

The difference in interpretations lies in the fact that each skipper hears and sees with his own built in perceptions and even at times with his wishful thinking.

Surprisingly, the facts and fundamentals are not nearly as important as his interpretations of the current seas, ocean and weather conditions.

Also it seems that the more time, effort and money spent on a cruise, the more difficult it becomes for a positive thinking skipper to give the order, “Run for Shelter!” and conversely, for a negative thinking skipper to give the order, ”Set Sail!”

A man often claims that he cruises for pleasure and long-term gains and cannot see the point of preparing for unpleasant events that might never happen. Some have no such feelings but just never get around to trying their rough weather gear until the need is urgent, life threatening and then panic or freeze up and do nothing.

The very thought of boarding another ship in the open sea or a man overboard sends a shiver down the backs of many well travelled yachtsmen especially if they have never experienced these drills under really difficult conditions.

At sea on the ASX during a gale, a man is in a similar predicament to a boxer whose defences are not too sound. He is hammered about with conflicting opinions and newspaper reports until he has the reasoning powers of a small child and the drive of a tired old man hoping for the best. An angry sea refuses to be leisurely. She is always deadly serious and it is a poor time for untried gear and new practice drills.

The word “man” is used here as elsewhere in this text to denote the species of “mankind,” whose female frequently has the same desire to go sailing and undoubtedly also has equal, if not better ability in this magnificent spectator and participant sport.

Before deciding on any cruise he would be well advised to closely study the effects of the weather and ocean currents on craft they have sailed before or wish to sail in the near future. Only then can he have a close and personal understanding of her and gain a better insight into her temperament, performance, character and integrity.

Every craft will behave in her own way under the same wind, sea and weather conditions and it will be quite different from that of any other vessel.

The fine balance between safety and adventure can only be learnt with experience and lots of practice and ocean trials.

Sailing by night and by day he must sail alone with his crew relying only on each others skills, the craft’s, fittings, equipment, current ocean charts and reliable tried and tested navigational instruments.

Bon Voyage
Captain Chaza
capn

susieq

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Post Number: 46
Registered: 12-2002

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Votes: 0


Monday, June 23, 2003 - 11:00 pm:

Thank you Captain, I shall, with strawberry daiquiri in hand, digest at leisure your writings.

I hope to learn much about taming the mysterious sea, or at least, travelling her safely.

Susieq ( who gets seasickness easily)

captain_chaza

Member

Post Number: 272
Registered: 02-2003

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0


Tuesday, June 24, 2003 - 12:22 am:

Seasickness!

In a cruise, the difference between pleasure and misery depends very much on overcoming seasickness.

Seasickness seems an endless joke to those not suffering, either because they are ashore or because they have learnt to overcome it. More often than not, when an error is made at sea it is due to one of the many forms seasickness takes. It is the major menace to the safety of any crew afloat..

It is often a consolation to sufferers to know that no one is immune, even those who only sail the tall ships

Any experienced campaigner and sailor will undeniably testify to the major cause of seasickness.

A successful businessman on land will never admit he ventured onto a deep-sea passage without the necessary preparations. He will ultimately put blame on the unforeseen overseas global conditions but never his local information network.

Rarely will he put blame on the mother of all seasickness causes. The fact is, he has been thrown into a turbulent sea and weather formation. The skipper must always try to avoid these formations and run for shelter on the fist sign.

I have always been amazed that in the most professional sport in the world most men set out with only a newspaper under their arm and read between the lines to gain a start.

Rarely will he admit to being a blind follower of yesterdays newspaper print. This by no means implies that their journalistic and fundamentalist reports are misleading or inaccurate. But more importantly, they are only to be deemed as historical and that any good or bad news has usually been accommodated for in its current position by better equipped and seasoned skippers.

Captain Chaza
capn

nicola

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Post Number: 2
Registered: 06-2003

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Votes: 0


Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 11:13 pm:

Capitanio, I, too have been sailing the seas. I want to be the cook and dresser on your finest boat. Can I bring HLD (Homeleisure Ltd) and SDI (Southern Dental Industries) aboard? Are their sails full? Are they about to steam ahead? Capitanio, Capitanio, what do you think?