Gale Tales.. Very sobering moments

[Andy Dingle]

This weekends plan was to sail from my home port of Gibralter Point on the north coast of the Wash in my BC23 Equinox, south east to the very pretty harbour at Blakeney on the north Norfolk coast, there take the evening tide up Blakeney quay for the night. Direct distance of about 25 miles. With detours, and tacking maybe 30 or so. The forecast wasn't the best, beating against 15 mph or so and it would have been sailing against a spring tide too.
But it was all do-able, especially with the pointing ability and speed of my BC23 Equinox.
The wind was as predicted for the first 4 hours or so and we made reasonable progress.
I was aware of a bank of clouds moving slowly from the west, which very quickly blackened with rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightening from some distance to the south.
Very quickly though we were hit by a squall and torrential rain that I rode out by running downwind of it. This did clear quite quickly and the wind moderated to a southerly, lighter than even before the squall.

We then reasoned that our destination was (without resorting to motoring) unachievable and decided to return to our own side of the Wash for some day sailing before the evening HW at about 8 pm.

During the return, about 2 pm, the wind changed to SW increasing in speed to the upper 20's mph. I reefed down with two reefs in the main and continued NE.
The wind continued to increase to over 30 mph over the next hour as we approached the coast - but there are no 'safe haven's' before HW to get safely into.

I furled the genoa and we carried on under double reefed main resorting to sailing on a reach, going about through the strong wind  about every 3 miles, doing about 6 knots. The wind continued to strengthen, now consistently in the upper 30's mph, F7. Equinox was behaving very well - despite me beginning to get very anxious as the sea state was deteriorating with some 4-5 foot waves.

There were some sand banks to our NE that are exposed at LW, which was the case at that time, so we decided to head behind one - to it's North side to try and get shelter from the waves.
This meant entering a 'channel' about a mile wide, less in some places, initially we found some slighter water, but the wind was still building - and we still had about three hours before there was enough water to make an entrance into our haven at Gibralter Point.
My crew and I made the decision to drop all sail and use the motor to enter the channel.
This decision proved to be badly wrong, the sea state in the channel as we entered it was quite appalling, the wind then was now reading 40 mph on my anemometer and had became extremely dangerous with short waves I estimated at 9 - 10 feet. The wind had hit 42 mph. A full force 8 gale.

I genuinely thought then that we could be lost as it was as at that point survival conditions.

We put Equinox about and started to exit the channel with the wind behind, now at gale force and against a strong spring tidal flow. It was almost impossible to control Equinox to prevent broaching as we rode down the back of the waves - but two of us working together and using the engine to 'steer' with timely revving we slowly worked our way back to the relative safety of the open sea where I released a small amount of genoa to give us a working sail to help control the boat, which did work very well. I was able to run before the wind, heading north - the wrong direction but at least we were safer.

We made an assessment of our situation and decided if necessary we would run before the wind until we could reach the shelter of the Humber estuary, about 30 miles north where there are some sheltered anchorages I know of.
We then became aware now of all the activity on Channel 16 with the spanking new Shannon class life boat at Skegness being deployed.

I ran down wind for about 6 - 8 miles following the coast line north when, almost imperceptibly the wind moderated to the upper 20 - low 30 mph, still F7, but better. The sea state was decreasing too so I furled the genoa and under engine went back south, hoping that by now the sea state would moderate with the higher tide and decreasing wind, waves about four feet ish - for once this decision was the right one.

With the strong tide and using the engine - and with the wind continuing to moderate, I made south towards my 'safe haven' knowing there would be enough water at about 6.30 - 6.45 on Saturday (27th May) to get safely in.
Once there I was called up by the RNLI lifeboat who asked me for assistance with a yacht they had recovered and taken the whole crew off with guidance into our drying 'haven' which of course I was happy to do.

I moored up safely at about 7.45 pm and was able to check Equinox over and found her undamaged, apart from some wear on the top of the spray hood caused by the boom scraping over it - which was already damaged and I have the material to repair it anyway - and I lost a boat hook. Two of our club mates had to have the assistance of the RNLI.

Lessons learned? The forecast wind was nothing, not in the slightest, like anything we actually had. Despite checking on all sources up to just hours before departure so I don't think I can be blamed for that. This happens. There were even trees blown down in our local area on land.

When I saw the wind increasing to 'dangerous' levels (the BC23 is a cat C boat) I should have then run downwind, even trailing ropes (?) under a reefed genoa. Later, it occurred to me that there is a very slight headland about a further 6 miles north that I could have gone around which would have, I think, maybe given me shelter from the waves, and the wind may have been slightly less severe, than remaining in the open sea.
We should never, ever, have considered entering that channel. I can't believe now in retrospect, we did even considered it. As I say I genuinely thought we were almost lost at that point.

Should I have called the coastguard to let them know of our predicament? My crew said not. I'm still unsure - but we did get ourselves out of a potential, quite possibly, fatal disaster, and there was nothing any one could do at the crucial point anyway. If I had broached, I'm reasonably confident Equinox would have righted, whether or not we would be in the boat is another question and she would probably be dashed to pieces on a sandbank anyway.

Navigation of any kind was virtually impossible in those conditions. I have a chart plotter in the cockpit that proved totally indispensable - how anyone could read a chart in those conditions is beyond me.
And, of course, a good, tested and working vhf with a mast head aerial is more than essential.
My hand held only worked to other vessels that were close by. I could hear my friend calling on his HH and the coast guard could not hear him.

Equinox was very good - we did manage to keep her just about under control - albeit using the engine to 'steer' down the side of the waves and hanging onto the tiller for literally dear life and this is not any criticism of the boat, on the contrary. Any boat would have done just the same and she sailed magnificently in these appalling conditions that she was just not designed to do.

So many thanks for that Matt. She quite possibly saved my life.

Sorry this is a bit lengthy but I felt I need to share this, in the hope no one else gets into this situation and for advice on what others would do if they did.
Any thoughts or advice - even criticisms of my actions would be welcome to benefit us all.

Andy and Equinox..

[Michael Rogers]

Wow Andy!

My thoughts are simply - 1) VERY well done! 2) no one who wasn't there can possibly comment on what were, or weren't, right decisions to take 3) thank you for sharing: your account is the more vivid for being, I'm sure, understated. I could hear the wind and hissing waves as I read it 4) I'm sure we all wish you several weeks (at least) of sparkling seas and F3-4 breezes, while you recover your equilibrium.

With huge respect

Michael R

[Andy Dingle]

Thanks for the comments Michael - I don't think I did very well at all!
I've obviously been talking the events over and dissecting things and I hope I have learned some valuable lessons e.g I have secure points in my cockpit, I have proper tethers, harness and lifejacket (with epirb), yet we hadn't clipped on! - Had we broached and we were thrown out ...

If anything I learned it is so important to always be prepared for something like this, to try and think ahead so you always have a plan in mind ready to implement.

I'm the first to admit complacency.

[Peter Taylor]

Hi Andy,
wow, yes, I echo Michael's comments. When I started in Oceanography I was taught that a successful oceanographic cruise is one from which the ship returns, and on that measure you certainly did well!

Without having been there one certainly can't comment. However some thoughts re. contacting the Coast Guard based on my National Coastwatch experiences (but I must stress that these my own views, not those of NCI).

You mention the importance of a good VHF with mast top aerial. Of course in rough seas the range of a handheld VHF is limited by the need to have line-of-site. But had you broached and got laid flat there is risk, albeit small, of loosing the mast. Hence calling the coastguard early, and telling them where you are, might be a good precaution. The hope would be that the CG will ask you to contact them at a fixed interval (probably 30 minutes) for a position update and to confirm you are still OK (a "sit rep") . If they don't hear from you they might then task a lifeboat to search, based on your last position(s) and computer based estimates of where you might have drifted.

How should you contact the CG? Officially a pan-pan broadcast on channel 16 would be appropriate. However in the Solent area issuing a pan-pan tends to result in the CG immediately tasking a lifeboat, and once a lifeboat comes to you, things get taken out of your hands. Of course you might well have welcomed that, and your description that you "thought we were lost" even suggests it would have been appropriate to issue a mayday.

But if you want to alert the CG but don't want a lifeboat? Firstly, there are more lifeboats serving the Solent than where you sail, so I suspect for your area a pan-pan on 16 may not trigger a LB incident in any case. However, in the Solent you can call the CG direct on channel 67 or via the CG MMSI number (for Solent CG: 002320011 - it's in Reed's). The only problem then is that the CG will have a list of questions which you don't have time to answer given that you are trying to sail the boat in hair raising circumstances!

They will want to know your position (lat,long), number of people on board, are they wearing lifejackets, type of vessel, MMSI number, call sign, colour of sails, colour of hull, do you have flares, etc. etc. This is where having registered your boat under the CG66 scheme can help hugely. Giving your call sign or MMSI number and saying you are CG66 registered should cut the call short.

CG66 registration is even more valuable in a mayday situation. With a DSC radio connected to GPS, using the distress button will send your position and MMSI number and trigger an emergency even if you have not got time to select the nature of distress or send out the voice mayday (although you should always try to do the latter if at all possible, it will alert more people). But if all they have is a position, MMSI number, and a CG66 entry, the CG can task a lifeboat and tell them where and what to look for.

But, should you have called the CG - only you can say!

Again, I stress that these comments are my own and not necessarily the views of NCI!

Peter

p.s. the CG want lat/long not "2 miles SE of Bramble Bank" or similar. If you have a DSC radio with GPS then it will display your lat/long for you to read out. If you use a chart plotter and have a non-DSC/GPS radio, make sure you know how to get your chart plotter to display your lat/long!

[Rob Johnstone]

Hi Andy,

Phew! Well done  for taking the decisions that ensured the survival of you, your crew and your vessel, without putting another life in danger. You and your crew had  onfidence in your ability and your knowledge of that bit of the coast (and in your boat). The conditions sound much more extreme than those Vagabond experienced between Holyhead and the Isle of Man in the worst part of our trip.
I hope the experience doesn't put you off.

[garethrow]

Hi Andy

Thanks for sharing this harrowing experience, it can't have been very pleasant and I am now minded to take up stamp collecting as an alternative passtime.

Whilst you managed to survive in your BC23 - there is no way that us lesser mortals in smaller open boats would have been able to come out unscathed - and given your forecast I would certainly have been out in similar circumstances. It is good to hear about these occassions though to remind us not to be complacent - so thank you for that.

Now, where's my stamp catalogue .......?

Regards

Gareth Rowlands
Gwennol Teifi S17

[Matthew P]

Thank you again Andy for sharing your scary experience.  And thank you Peter and others for some useful advice which I will try to put into effect.  None of us goes to sea relying on rescue services to get us out of trouble but if just one in a thousand of us has to call on help its good to know what to do.  Can this advice be put in a "Sobering Moments" (or similar) area of the library please?

Matthew
BR20 Gladys