My trip back to Louisiana last weekend

kloudie1 · Aug 5, 2008

Back in Louisiana

HEY, T. Frere.. Congratulations on a successful delivery ! Interesting how just a few miles and different circumstances can change perceptions.. On your delivery weekend, I was sailing from Mandeville to Slidell, then to New Orleans, then back to Mandeville. As we were flying spinnaker to Slidell, I thought about yall heading into the west wind that we were enjoying so much ! We were tied up in Oak Harbor Marina when the storm came by.. Then the next day we had a fine beat to New Orleans.. one reef in the main .. again, we had tied up at New Orleans Marina and were having supper at a fine little restaurant when the storm came by. Storm caused us to have a couple more beers as we waited it out before walking back to the boat; a terrible price to pay. Anyway, HAPPY SAILING and Congratulations on the boat !!! ENJOY (and learn)

sailaway78 · Aug 5, 2008

You got into

You got into that same weather pattern as we did, coming out of Panama City. It was a little nasty for a couple of days. Sorry to hear about your problems, but glad you made it safe and sound. Those kind of trips you always remember, but don't second guess yourself too much. All of us have 20/20 hindsight.

sailaway78 · Aug 5, 2008

Don't be so quick

jvis,
Don't be so quick to criticize. Obviously you have no experience with the tropical storms/depressions we sometimes get down here. This is not a thunderstorm. It is a couple dozen thunderstorms, coming from a couple dozen different directions, at the same time. Makes life very interesting. And I guarantee you, even after you have experienced it, you will never be fully prepared for it. I was in this same system, same weekend, and we had wind shift from 10 knots on the port side, to 30+ from the starboard side in about three seconds. No warning. Just bam. I think pilots call them micro bursts. You do what you can do, or know how to do. They didn't loose the boat, didn't get knocked down, so it was a successful trip. Could they have done some things better, sure. But they could have done worse also.

jviss · Aug 6, 2008

We get weather like that here, too

If there is one thing we have here in New England it is weather. There's an old expression - if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute. Out T-storms usually track West to East, often in groups, but on Rhode Island Sound, Buzzards Bay and surrounding areas you can get quite violent microburts, with 50+ kt. winds.

My criticism was based on the narrative - not only venturing out into known iffy weather, but the apparent utter lack of preparedness or knowledge that the text conveyed. I wouldn't judge success by the binary measure of the mere survival of the boat or crew.

That said, I'm glad they made it, and I'm sure they learned a lot from it.

No offense intended.

jviss · Aug 6, 2008

What's a bridge?

"longest bridge still the Pontchartrain causeway...

..according to most lists since most don't include the Bang Na as it isn't over water, just an elevated highway....some new 'real' bridge longer than causeway to open soon I think, but Bang Na not really a bridge by traditional definition"

Well, then, neither is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, it's causeway, which is why it's called - the "Lake Pontchartrain Causeway," and not the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge!"

I don't know what "traditional definition" you're using. The most inclusive includes Bang Na and the Pontchartrain Causeway. A more traditional definition would rank bridges by span length, and in this case neither shows up on the lists.

I have never heard that it isn't a bridge if it doesn't cross water.

I personally prefer the longest span definition.

sailortonyb Allied Mis · Aug 6, 2008

Positive Note

Congrats again on your trip. I'm sure you have learned a lot from this trip and that knowledge gained from your mistakes will get filed in the back of your brain under "I'll never do that again".
It's admirable that you did it when most other sailors would have remained at the dock. When I learned to sail, I had no mentor or teacher. I just thought that when it was rough out, thats when you were supposed to go sailing. We put my old 25 MacGregor through hell. When we would go out sailing from Gulfport, Ms. on a windy day, GF would always ask me "how come we are the only ones out here today?". We didn't know better and had a blast.
I have the advantage of working offshore. I get to see the bad weather from a safe and sturdy oil and gas platform. When I was new at sailing, I worked on crew boats. I always studied the weather and the waves and thought, "what if I was out in my boat?" I always came to the same conclusion, it would be a puke fest, but definitely survivable. The boat can take a lot more punishment than the people aboard. Enjoy your new boat.

Happy Sailing

Tony B

Persy · Aug 6, 2008

just lay off other posters was actually my point...

..you were picking apart an otherwise interesting post with corrections about proper storm preparation, actual amount of wind in storms, and the 'real' longest bridge in the world...I doubt anyone was really interested in your corrections any more than you were in mine of your mistake on the Bang Na....and if you think a span over water (the Pontchartrain Causeway) is not a bridge, but an overpass is, that calls into question whether you just like to argue, or were really trying to contribute something interesting to the conversation...one reason more people don't post on bulletin boards is to avoid having their posts picked apart...

cheers!

Persy · Aug 6, 2008

Mac 25

reminds me of a July 4th weekend 20 years ago...took my Mac 25 with another couple our for a 3 day weekend to Ship Island (yes, 2 couples on a Mac 25 for 3 days!)....big storm came through blew us about 5 miles south of the island, engine had gone under water during some pretty big seas and wouldn't start, couldn't sail the boat back to windward due to my fear and lack of ability at the time....so by midnight, the coast guard had to come get us...They 1st the ran into my boat and punched a hole in the bow..then towed us in too fast and snapped the rudder..put one of their guys on my boat to help rig a tow bucket to help steer..1st think he did was get sick and throw up all over the cockpit..

what a great weekend...had no idea what we were doing and shouldn't have left shore, but managed to make it back with some help and learned quite a few lessons

we were never really in any real danger, but it sure did feel like it at the time...

sailortonyb Allied Mis · Aug 6, 2008

Guy...what you are saying is....

the rescue party was party from hell. It's been known to happen. Bad experience at the time, but I'm sure it makes for a very funny story 20 years later. As a note to others....dont assume the CG knows anything at all about sailboats. You must tell them that you have a limited hull speed of 5 knots or you will start to porpose and bury your bow. The USCG is well meaning, but not well trained. Also in the CG defense, even their smaller boats are sometimes too big for a Mac 25. I loved my Mac 25 with a swing keel. It is a great boat to learn on. We coastal cruised on it quite a bit.
I think TFRere did just great and I admire him.

Tony B

Persy · Aug 6, 2008

I don't blame the CG at all...

They did the best they could and I didn't care at the time what they broke as long as they got us back to the coast....They had asked me by radio what the LWL of the boat was and calculated my hull speed to be a couple of knots faster than I knew it was...we called them and asked them to slow down, but they said their calculations showed we could be towed at 'x' knots....I fought the tiller for 30 minutes before the rudder finally snapped...oh well...

in the end, the 'disaster' was worth it if only for the great fun I've had telling this story so many times over the years...

btw...while all of this was going on, a small forest fire had started on Cat Island to add a little more excitement to the night...

jviss · Aug 6, 2008

Oh..

Guy,

What are you, a cop?

You're the one making an argument of it.

Rick Webb · Aug 6, 2008

The Coast Guard is Pretty Well Trained

The basic Seamanship Training Manual is the size of a phone book as is the one for actually doing tows and such. Towing a sailboat can be pretty tough especially in those conditions. The Coast Guard small boats are not designed to go through rough seas at 5 knots. It makes manuvering difficult sometimes engines overheat at that slow a speed, the sail boat surfs down the wave and puts slack in the tow line, all sorts of things. With a crew member already sick I am sure the rest of them were not at their best and they would have been within their rights to call off the mission as it was too rough for the boat they had and turned it over to a larger vessel. Twenty years ago the attitude was "You have to go out, you do not have to come back". After the loss of many boats and many more couragous personel every maember of the team gets an equal say to call it off but it does not happen often. The attitude they promote is "You don't have to go out" yet they still do.

BTW the Coast Guard Celebrated it's 218th birthday a couple of days ago on 4 Aug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7zrBd5Evn8&feature=related

sailaway78 · Aug 6, 2008

Hey you guys

That storm was heading west, so the crap that hit us on Fri. is the same that got you on Sat./Sun. The NOAA forecasts were just a little off. We were about to head offshore, and they kept talking about one to three foot seas, but the next sentence would be about that little disturbance out there. Decided the best thing for us was to stay inside the ditch. Sure glad we did. For those who went through it, a tip of the hat. It certainly wasn't pretty out there. Biggest problem I was having was visibility, raining so hard you couldn't see 100 yards, sometimes less, and you couldn't see the next squall line coming at you till it hit you. Another adventure to tell about, and more experience to fall back on sometime in the future. Did hear several boats calling for help. We heard a 32 footer calling, taking on water outside Destin. I'll bet that bar right outside the jetties was a bear, and would assume thats where these guys were. Didn't hear any outcome though.

My trip back to Louisiana last weekend

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TFrere

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