[PUP] Offshore NC Rescues

[Peter Pisciotta]

> their anchor had broken loose and proceed to
> puncture their sailboat's hull
> repeatedly.

Years ago I was crew on a delivery from Newport Beach
CA to San Francisco aboard a 42-foot motoryacht
(American made - Uniflite, Viking, or Tolly). The
delivery captain was an accomplished sailing
instructor, but didn't have much offshore experience
as it turned out.

The boat had a fairly long teak anchor platform that a
previous owner had cut and hinged, probably to fit
into a slip or reduce his moorage costs by a couple
feet. 

At oh-dark-thirty off Cape San Martin in 30-knots and
heavy chop (and going too fast), the hinged portion of
the anchor platform was torn away and the oversized
Danforth - tethered by about 10-feet of free chain -
started pounding away at the bow. The bow-mounted
dinghy also shifted aft and the outboard motor broke
out the center windshield window. 

This isn't unusual weather for the west coast, and the
boat was within its limits. But the captain hadn't
prepared the boat prior to departure, wasn't expecting
to hit a patch of nasty chop, and didn't know enough
to slow down. Fortunately, the boat's construction
withstood a ton of punishment - the anchor really
ground away a lot of the bow. I was amazed at how much
was jack-hammered away. 

Offshore sailors carry bolt/cable cutters to cut away
fallen rigs. Powerboaters worry about losing a dinghy
(or something else strapped to the boat). Sailors
worry about being tethered to a battering ram.

Lessons learned of the years of delivering boats: 1) a
lot of anchors are not adequately fastened - I'd guess
that over half the boats I delivered needed additional
reinforcement. 2) A lot of dinghys are not adequately
fastened - many boats use straps over the inflatable
tubes - the dinghy will invariably shift in heavy
seas, especially in cooler nightime temperature when
the tubes soften. 3) Just because a delivery captain
has a lot of experience doesn't mean he has the right
kind of experience.

Peter
Willard 36
San Francisco