quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
I would probably get a radio I could talk to aircraft on too.

No...all ya need is a signal mirror.

What happens to the sailboat? Would the Navy tow it or hoist it aboard for transport to the next port?

quote:

Originally posted by gasche:
What happens to the sailboat? Would the Navy tow it or hoist it aboard for transport to the next port?

As I noted, earlier: They probably scuttled her on the spot to prevent her becoming a hazard to navigation.

No, the U.S. Navy will not play AAA Road Service at sea, as many a wannabe "sailor" has found to their chagrin.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
I would probably get a radio I could talk to aircraft on too.

No, you wouldn't. Disallowed.

What you would get, if you had any sense, would be an EPIRB

In this situation, I'd pay whatever fine they might levy for calling for help on 121.5. That said, having an inreach or a spot is definitely the way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
I would probably get a radio I could talk to aircraft on too.

No, you wouldn't. Disallowed.

What you would get, if you had any sense, would be an EPIRB

Any boat that goes far enough from land that it isn't easy to swim back should have an EPIRB.

I don't know how common they are now, but boats that size often used to have marine SSB radios (similar to HF ham radio) with a range of hundreds to thousands of miles.

http://www.latitude38.com/features/SSB.html

Sailing due west, you could pilot a log to landfall. A simple glance at the sun would guide you.

Satphone. Solar recharger as a backup?

quote:

Originally posted by Mustang-PaPa:

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
I would probably get a radio I could talk to aircraft on too.

No...all ya need is a signal mirror.

Taped to the back of yer plate armor?

jimmy123x--

That Spirit 56 is a beautiful boat.

One evening when we wee on vacation in Hawaii and had the kids down for the night I watched a pbs documentary about Hokule'a canoe boat and the Polynesian voyaging society. You can probly find it on The youtube. These guys have circumnavigated the globe using only ancient way finding techniques. Not just stars and sun navigating but even the bubbles in the water could tell the old timers which directions was which or the weather coming in. They were much more in tune with the earth back then. A basic few hours course for anybody doing open sea sailing with minimal technology would be very useful.

These women sound like it was set up to fail on purpose.

SS Minnow?

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
I would probably get a radio I could talk to aircraft on too.

No, you wouldn't. Disallowed.

What you would get, if you had any sense, would be an EPIRB

Any boat that goes far enough from land that it isn't easy to swim back should have an EPIRB.

I don't know how common they are now, but boats that size often used to have marine SSB radios (similar to HF ham radio) with a range of hundreds to thousands of miles.

http://www.latitude38.com/features/SSB.html

EPIRBs start out as cheap as around $200 now. Self deploying, self activating around $600.

quote:

Originally posted by amals:
jimmy123x--

That Spirit 56 is a beautiful boat.

Not the one I ran! It was in horrible shape, teak all filthy (decks), someone took a orbital sander to the varnished teak areas and it had gouges and chatter marks showing through all of the varnish, what varnish it had left.....it was slow on motor 5-6 knots...I honestly thought it was a 1980's boat till I saw the paperwork and hull plate for it.......NOW the other one I posted was both beautiful and bad ass....did almost 9 knots on motor.....etc....

I read further on this sailboat issue. It was two women, one looked like a man, so probably lesbians. News reports stated that the engine stopped running and the mast broke. My estimate is that they were extremely unprepared.

No EPIRB. I have a 24' boat and have three of them.
They did not have the engine fully serviced before they left port.
Apparently they did not have a clue how to effect small repairs.

To go on a voyage you need to be prepared with knowledge, well found equipment, and common sense. Apparently they had none of these.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:

I don't know, but it smells a little fishy to me. Maybe a setup for a movie deal? I find it hard to believe someone sets out on that sort of voyage without a sat phone or epirb, but has a years worth of food onboard?

Maybe I'm more trusting than you, but I just assume they are fucking morons.

Amazing movie, stranded as sea with a shit load of food and zero seamanship skills / common fucking sense.

jimmy123x:

For the love of all things holy, you've got to learn how to pare down your replies.

I've followed many posts of your's when the whole dang page is filled up with mile long replies.

...just a friendly suggestion...

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
I read further on this sailboat issue. It was two women, one looked like a man, so probably lesbians. News reports stated that the engine stopped running and the mast broke.

Mast appeared intact in all the photos I've seen. So was the forestay, including the roller furler system for the foresail (jib).

By "mast broke" I'm going to guess "lost the main halyard" or the like. Bad, but not terminal. You can sail a sloop on just the jib.

If you know how to sail.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
No responsible sailor would set out on a journey like that without knowing how to use a sextant.

Back in the 1970s when I lived in Chicago, I was one of three partners owning an Irwin 32 sailboat.

Robert, one of the partners, took a celestial navigation course given at the planetarium.

One day, Robert and I provisioned the boat with plenty of beer, sandwich material, and two young ladies (this was before I met my wife), for a sail to Michigan City, Indiana.

Navigation for that trip is pretty simple: the course from the Burnham Park harbor in Chicago to Michigan City is 120 degrees. Just keep going southeast and you'll get there.

Robert was eager to try his newly learned navigation skills. He took sights with the cheap student sextant that he got when he took the course at the planetarium, then he went below to do the calculation. A couple of sandwiches and several beers later, he announced that he had determined our location.

His new navigation skills placed us exactly 3.2 miles west of Salt Lake City.

quote:

Originally posted by JJexp:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
I would probably get a radio I could talk to aircraft on too.

No, you wouldn't. Disallowed.

What you would get, if you had any sense, would be an EPIRB

In this situation, I'd pay whatever fine they might levy for calling for help on 121.5. That said, having an inreach or a spot is definitely the way to go.

I wouldn't give a rats ass if I was lost at sea. I would deal with the FAA and FCC when I got back on dry land.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:

I don't know, but it smells a little fishy to me. Maybe a setup for a movie deal? I find it hard to believe someone sets out on that sort of voyage without a sat phone or epirb, but has a years worth of food onboard?

Maybe I'm more trusting than you, but I just assume they are fucking morons.

The MAJORITY of sailboaters are and horrible mariners to boot!

Just this past summer, I came across a sailboat abandoned on a busy New Jersey beach. It was early morning, before crowds. The sailboat was about 30 ft, on its side in the surf...a very interesting site.

Me being me (I'm also an Lieutenant on the beach patrol) I climb aboard. And go into the cabin. The indside was a mess. The outside was a mess too. I could tell just by looking at it, the thing was a piece of shit. As shitty mountain bike was tied to the deck.

I located the ships log which was very detailed. I even took photos of the inside and of each page of the log.

The sailor left from northern nj three days prior hoping to sail to Texas. His first days' entries basically sounded like this:

August 1: left harbor, had several groundings. Was towed to a deeper part of the channel.

August 2: after several more groundings, I decided to spend the night moored near gardeners basin (Atlantic city)

I still have the photos of the log and the inside on my phone, it was quite intriguing and the log was a hilarious account of the ineptitude and unpreparedness of this missing sailor.

Oh, yeah...the missing sailor. When state police arrived, and sea tow (still early morning, crowds are gathering). I told them what I knew, and took them aboard the boat, that's on its side in the surf. I thought the sailor might have fallen off and might be lost.

Turns out, in the night, the guy got disoriented, and beached his boat to seek some sort of medical attention. As of last week, the sailboat still sits, back beach at the southern end of Wildwood Crest, NJ.