[Public-List] A cautionary tale

Tue Oct 11 12:25:51 PDT 2016

Hi Gord. 
Interesting story. Almost the same thing happened to my neighbour on a trip from Florida to Europe a couple of years ago. The diesel tank ruptured in the Gulf Stream chop and everything got soaked in it. They made it back to South Carolina and repaired the tank it but they had to throw out almost everything that was in the boat. 

Philip

Sent from my iPhone 

> On Oct 11, 2016, at 7:18 PM, Gordon Laco via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello gang,
> 
> As I think many of you know, part of my work portfollio is owning a company
> called Voyager Self Steering Inc.   I deal with a lot of people making
> interesting expeditions and have to say part of my interesting in the
> company is that I get to help real sailors make ambitious expeditions.
> 
> Most are happy stories, but this season there was one that wasn¹t so happy,
> although I¹m glad to say that there was no loss of life.  It¹s a cautionary
> tale that every sailor should be aware of when planning an ocean voyage.
> Here¹s what happened.
> 
> A recently retired fellow decided he wanted to sail to Ireland, the land of
> his birth, from his home on the Great Lakes.  He had a good idea what he was
> getting into, having a life time of sailing behind him, and having a son who
> has done quite ambitious voyaging up the coast of Greenland.  This fellow,
> who I¹ll call Seamus, bought a well proven type of full keeled yacht (not an
> A30) a few years ago and began refitting it for the voyage.  I came on the
> scene when he ordered a Voyager for it.
> 
> I saw the boat early this past summer when I installed the vane  the boat
> was in some dissarray and Seamus was clearly exhausted, but I¹ve come to see
> that sort of thing is fairly normal when one is preparing for a fixed
> departure date after a major refit.  He had new sails arriving, new rigging,
> had had a new diesel and it¹s associated systems installed the year before,
> and a mountain of gear was being stowed into the boat.  Seamus seemed tired,
> but he was alert, was making sound decisions, and I admired him.
> 
> After the vane was installed and tested, I decided to tell him something
> I¹ve told many sailors preparing for a departure.  I described how the
> ancient Chinese used to publish a date for the departure of a ship...they¹d
> have the big event on the date, then the ship would sail around to another
> nearby harbour in which to complete fitting out and go when she was ready.
> Seamus laughed and said St Brendan probably did that too.  When we discussed
> a Œwork up¹ voyage (Œshake down¹ in the USA) he told me with his soft Irish
> accent ŒGordy, it¹s 850 bloomin miles to the sea from here, I¹ll have lots
> of time to finish anything not done when I leave¹.  I agreed he was correct.
> 
> He got away, and I heard various reports from him or his family as he made
> his way to the sea.  Incredibly, I saw him in his boat passing Quebec City
> when I was there for an event for the arrival of a sailing ship I¹d
> outfitted for her voyage home to Canada from France.  I was being
> interviewed by a CBC reporter when over the reporter¹s shoulder I saw him
> chugging by the break wall under power.... Unfortunately he didn¹t see or
> hear me try to call to him once I was finished the interview.
> 
> I next heard he was in Charlettown PEI, then St John¹s Newfoundland.  Then,
> about Labour Day, I got a short email from him reporting he was back in St
> John¹s having been rescued by a Canadian Coast Guard Cormorant helicopter.
> I looked online and saw the video... There was his boat with the Voyager
> faithfully steering her on a reach.  His headsail was blown to ribbons but
> things didn¹t looked so bad.  The video showed him leap overboard in order
> to have the helijumper secure the lifting gear to him.  I saw what looked
> like an oil slick come off his foul weather gear as he entered the
> water...hmm, what¹s that, I thought.
> 
> Seamus told me that he had been battered for three days by a hard blow, that
> he wasn¹t having much fun but was basically coping.  Then his new diesel
> fuel tank burst and flooded his bilges with oil.  In no time everything in
> the boat, including him, was coated with diesel fuel.  The stink was
> overpowering, everything above and below decks became so slippery he could
> hardly move.  He endured this for another day or so but finally called for
> help.  Luckily he was only a couple hundreds of miles offshore so in no time
> he was safe, but he¹d had to abandon his yacht.
> 
> Imagine what he¹s thinking about the tank¹s installer.  Imagine what he¹s
> asking himself about what he might have done to double check?  When you¹re
> going to sea, well, that¹s the real thing.  Good intentions or friendly
> assumptions don¹t count for anything.  Nothing matters when the chips are
> down but thorough integrity in all things.  Perhaps that¹s the purest
> definition of good seamanship.  Thorough integrity in all things.
> 
> Gord #426 Surprise
> 
> 
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