How Many Have Sailed Offshore

[Terra Nova]

In spite of the handicap your photo could be a postcard.

My own choice in dink setup is a roll-up Avon and small, lightweight OB. My main objective was to maintain the extreme seaworthiness and low profile of my boat's design. And a self-contained wind vane steering is essential to my own purpose. So davits were never a consideration.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

You return with what you left with and life is still a riddle
The sea is not a teacher just a large expanse of blue.

-foolishsailor

Nice Poem. I have to totally disagree with the sea not being a teacher though. I thought she gave me a Phd in so many ways. How can you not learn from the sea?

It reminded me of this one which I've always liked:

A small boy heard the ocean roar,
There are secrets on my distant shore,
But beware my child, the ships bell’s wail,
Wait not too long to start to sail.

So quickly come and go the years,
And a young adult stands abeach with fears,
Come on, Come on the ocean cussed,
Time passes on. Oh sail you must.

Now its business in mid-aged prime,
And maybe tomorrow there will be time,
Now is too soon, its raining today,
Gone all gone-years are eaten away.

An old man looks, still feeling the lure,
Yet he’ll suffer the pain, than go for the cure,
The hair is white, the steps with care,
The tide has turned, he is aware.

So all too soon the secrets are buried,
Along with him and all regrets he carried,
And it’s not for the loss of secrets he cried,
But rather because he’d never tried.

[soverel]

Not sailed offshore but on a big trawler and tropstor my first time out..ready for more...sailing next time..

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[jackdale]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

You return with what you left with and life is still a riddle
The sea is not a teacher just a large expanse of blue.

-foolishsailor

In 2000 I was the watch captain on a delivery from Honolulu to Vancouver.

The boat had lost its rudder on the Vic Maui and we were waiting for repairs in the Ala Wai marina in Honolulu. I was going down to a local internet cafe and checking the the state of the Pacific high. At one point it stretched from Hawaii to Japan. We decided to power through it and strapped a whole bunch of fuel to the deck.

Once we hit the high we fired up the engine genny. We managed to catch a tuna or two which was quite nice.

One afternoon I went below to check the fuel gauge to see how much fuel I should out into the tank. At the same time the owner I were checking the most recent weatherfaxes.

Suddenly there there a loud bang and the engine stopped dead. My first thought was that the fuel had run out. My second thought was that is not what an engine sounds like when fuel starved. One of the crew called from a deck that we were dragging something.

The owner and I were both divers and had some gear on board. We dove down to find a piece of fishing net around the shaft and propeller. The dive knifes were not making much progress, when I realized that if the net had spin on, it might spin off. I took the wraps off the prop and braced my feet and the hull and pulled the net off the shaft.

When we re-started the engine it make a commotion that made us think we had destroyed the engine. We decided that the number one priority was nav lights. We could cook the food in the fridge and freezer so that it could last longer. As the water maker was using huge power we would go on water rations.

We then realized that it was the transmission, not the engine, so we ran it until the transmission stopped making noise. We still had a fridge and freezer, and we still had a water maker, but we had no wind and no means of propulsion. We set the sails for a close reach and tied to pick up any breeze that we could.

Why does **** always happened to me in the middle of nowhere? Our medevac in 2012 was not that far from the 2000 incident.

After a few days of slacking sails and very little progress, I went below at about 0200 and sat in the saloon, put my head in my hands and thought , "What the hell am I doing here?"

At that point I had the greatest epiphany of my life - It does not matter why you are here, you are here; get the hell out off here.

I headed up the companionway and told a young crew member to get off the helm. When he asked "why?", I told him, "I was a bit more focused than he was."

I was on the helm when we picked up the westerlies and launched a gennaker. Obviously we made it home. There actually is more to the story .

The sea is a great teacher. My life is whole bunch different now. I got the hell out of there.

[VirtualVagabond]

We just keep sailing to the next island. Sometimes it's half a day away, sometimes a month...

Vic

[robert sailor]

Enjoyed that little note Vic

[captain58sailin]

I haven't towed a semi submersible yet, plenty of Jack ups, and 333 meter tankers.

[captain58sailin]

That's me the little orange speck behind the tanker.

[Pirate999]

A few 800 and 700 mile trips.. Farthest distance from any shore was probably 400 miles or so.

[foolishsailor]

Jackdale,

The sea is not a teacher, she is a great blank canvas upon which we write our story. It is the "blankness" that one can't find in society that allows our nature to be revealed that we mistake for "teaching".

You didn't learn something new from the sea, your character and resolve from all the years previous in your life was revealed in that moment.

[Svanen]

Originally Posted by Hoofsmit

MCA for commercial skipper offshore is UPTO 60 miles from a safe haven !

200 NM is ocean!

To the best of my knowledge, a commercially-endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore certificate is valid for category 1 waters (i.e., up to 150 miles from a safe haven), while the Ocean certificate is valid for category 0 waters (i.e., no geographic restrictions).

[Hoofsmit]

Sorry you are correct..... duff info on my behalf , this is copy and paste from the RYA web site.....

If you are working on a British flagged boat, the categorisation of waters and required certification below applies to you.
RYA certificates can be commercially endorsed for the following areas of operation:

Category 0 Unrestricted (ie: worldwide)
Certificate requiredRYA Yachtmaster Ocean certificate of competence

Category 1 Up to 150 miles from a safe haven
Certificate requiredRYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate of competence

Category 2 Up to 60 miles from a safe haven
Certificate requiredRYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate of competence

Category 3 Up to 20 miles from a safe haven
Certificate requiredRYA Advanced Powerboat certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Coastal certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate of competence, or
RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certificate of competence
Category 4 Up to 20 miles from a safe haven, in favourable weather and daylight
Certificate requiredRYA Advanced Powerboat certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Coastal certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate of competence, or
RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certificate of competence
Categroy 5To sea, within 20 miles from a nominated departure point in favourable weather and daylight
Certificate requiredRYA Day Skipper practical and shorebased certificate,
RYA Advanced Powerboat certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Coastal certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate of competence, or
RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certificate of competence
Category 6
To sea, within 3 miles from a nominated departure point(S) and never more than 3 miles from land, in
favourable weather and daylight
Certificate requiredRYA Powerboat Level 2,
RYA Day Skipper practical certificate,
RYA Advanced Powerboat certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Coastal certificate of competence,
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate of competence
Non British flagged vessels
If you are working on board a non-British boat, your RYA certificates are likely to be acceptable but you will need to comply with the rules of the flag state. Please contact the relevant maritime authority for full details of their requirements.
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Article Published: May 19, 2009 13:29
Article Updated: August 14, 2013 14:31





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[who_cares]

Originally Posted by capttman

Ok I've been reading quite a few threads and now one in particular causes my curiosity to peak. Comments on Rebel Heart.
Some people make comments and to me it seems they have never left the dock. Then I got thinking, if they have left the dock there would be many more people out here.. And there are not that many..
So I'm wondering how many have sailed past the 200 mile mark

Me! I have I have! Do i win a prize?

[captain58sailin]

Just finished a trip from Soyo Angola to Lagos Nigeria. Under power not sail.

[superyachtdub7]

I have not attempted it so far but looking forward to trying this is August. Wish me luck y'all! and have a great summer