Event and Consequence

[jssailem]

So much of my experience on a boat has been the result of event and consequence. Survival appears to happen when either the event is expected and prepared for in advance or the consequence is one that I have thought about, or had heard about from someone else and I had a solution for the consequence.

This was brought to my mind this morning sitting in the lobby of a Hilton watching a young guy walk out. The door carrying in one hand a fancy shiny bag of something with the label “Victoria’s Secret” and in the other a child’s bed “pack and play”.

We prep/maintain our boats to help avoid bad events or consequences. Be it solving an oil leak into the bilge, changing a filter, or practicing with the sail to get a proper reef.

What “Event and Consequence” is top in your mind that you might share?

 

[jon hansen]

all my boats are in top shape, BUT three years ago i had a major medical event. my odds of making through that day were one in a billion, but here i am. now i focus on my TRIAD. no smoking, workout an hour every day,(age appropriate) eat and drink for nutrition only. it's the hardest thing i've ever done.
that said, the sailing has been fabulous these past couple of summers.

my favorite beverage? water or wheat grass juice

 

[jssailem]

Jon... Water I like... Wheat grass juice???
I am not a herbivore. No cud. But you go for it. To each his own. That is th beauty of it all.
So happy you are the “one in a billion” for you and your family.

 

[jon hansen]

i did mention that it's really hard. what "i like" is no longer an option.

 

[capta]

My biggest “Event and Consequence” is being hit by another boat while at anchor. Be it a bareboater or some owner/operator sailing through the anchorage for the fun of it. The consequence of that event would most likely cost us our charter business for at least one season, and at worst, our home.
As for preparing for this event, I haven't come up with much.
Most probably, we wouldn't know a thing until there was a horrendous noise and the shock of the collision. It's not like we keep a watch for this eventuality, and what could one do anyway? Given that the responsible party did the right thing and our boat was whisked off to a yard for immediate repairs at their expense, a very unlikely event, canceling the charters this would cause would end the very good reputation we have built with our charter broker immediately, especially were we to cancel on short notice. Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds unfair, especially if the cancellation is caused through no fault of our own, but that is the way this business is, period. We lose the engine; we finish the charter without! We lose the generator, we cook on a camp stove and buy lots of ice! Welcome to the charter business.
Of course, loss of the boat would be disastrous. No matter how much insurance money we got, it wouldn't cover the myriad of personal items that money could never replace. Things like the 19th-century scrimshaw skull made by a New Bedford whaler on his 3-year voyage, or the Trobriand Man, an ancient carving from the Trobriand Islands, a gift from a friend there. No boat, no home and no place to live, stranded in a foreign country, without a passport or funds, for at least a little while.
And to start over again? Find another boat, commision it and move it to somewhere we'd want to be? A huge undertaking, if unplanned and unwanted.
So, my “Event and Consequence” is very unlikely one day and near certainty other days. Good thing I have my Johnny Black to deaden the fear.

 

[jssailem]

Great share Capta.

The idea of a “Total Loss” is frightening and a true test of resiliency.

Thank God some one discovered Johnny Black

 

[BigEasy]

Well, experiencing hurricane Katrina 13 years ago was no picnic. Took me 18 months to get the house in order, my business was shuttered for 6 month and the sailboat was totaled. Yes, I could have packed it up and moved away from the coast; however, there is no guarantee that mother nature isn't going to release her fury and destroy your environ anywhere on this Earth. Every year when hurricane season is upon us, its here we go again and hope for the best. We like to think that we are in control; however, when it comes to dealing with nature as well as health considerations, we are never in complete control. We can be proactive to mitigate the circumstances; however, we can't control all events. Thank God for Johnny Black, Captain Morgan, et al.....

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Harvey took 14 boats in my marina alone. South of here, many more. Port Aransas lost about 40. I have 6 friends whose boats sank.

I was lucky to just have a bit of damage. across the dock from me used to be 7 boats- all gone.

 

[JamesG161]

Every year when hurricane season is upon us, its here we go again and hope for the best.

This is reason I do a science based Hurricane Forecast In the "Sails Call Lounge"...
My close friends and family still remember Katrina's Devastation, Death and Destruction.

All is clear for the next 10 days.

Except for East Pacific near the Isthmus of Panama. They are moving WEST.
Jim...

 

[Kermit]

My Event and Consequence story has a happy ending thanks in part to good advice here. In preparation for one of our named storms last year I had to decide between leaving my boat in the slip or putting it on the trailer where it would certainly be in danger of being hit by falling trees or at least limbs. My slip neighbor’s lines broke. His boat would have destroyed mine. I had a few leaves and acorns to clean off the deck from being under the trees. Y’all gave me great advice.

 

[uncledom]

When Sandy came through my Beneteau 35s5 was tied snugly into a well with my friends 36’ Grand Banks. We had over sized lines tied everywhere. Finger to finger, boat to boat, it wasn’t going anywhere. Of course some jerk with an old steel fishing boat who ties it up with clothes line broke free, drifted into the finger on my side and snapped the finger from the main dock. My pretty little Bene and the not less than 1 inch thick anywhere Grand Banks spent the rest of the storm hammering each other. Needless to say the Gran Banks won and I now own a Hunter 41. We missed half a season of sailing and I still miss the 35s5, it was a very unique boat and the only series of Beneteau I would buy. It could have been worse but it was down heartening.

 

[glaufman]

In Sandy not only did my house flood (taking 3years to fully repair) but my boat apparently sailed away on it's own from it's spot high up on the rack where water should never have touched...
OTOH that led to my ownin now an O'Day 23 which the wife adores even more than I... Especially since:
Event: focusing on other things I was late inspecting things this spring...
Consequence: vang let go during the first race of the year... Thankfully it let go softly so no injuries... And it's such a great boat we won our division that day anyway... Causing the wife to finally catch the racing bug!