What are your worst fear sailing events

[Mr B]

Dead calm in a shipping lane with blocked diesel filters and no motor,
Upside down in the engine bay and not being able to keep watch,
So being run over by a big ship, My one Fear, Not much you can do about it either,

Steering cables collapsed, Inner came out the outer cable, Jury rigged steering, 20 miles offshore,

Will the mast snap off in a very violent storm, The reason I took the Genoa down,

Blocked diesel filters, In a violent storm, What will happen if I cant get the motor going again,
Rocky cliffs one side, open ocean the other side, Very confused sea, No idea which way the wind is blowing, Its night time,

Waking up to a foot of water inside the boat, and rocking on rocks on the beach,
Then a possible fire as the batterys started to be submerged and throwing out flames and sparks,
Totally submerged cured that problem,,
No electrics, - No motor and no pumps,

Night time, Crossing shallow reefs and and gaps in the reefs and putting trust in an electronic gizmo that you dont know how accurate it is or if it does actually work, GPS,

Crossing channels from open ocean into very dangerous waters into large bays with very fast running tides,
Turned my spreader lights on to have a look, Turned them off again, That was scary, I dont need to look at that sea, Especially If there is a chance I might end up in it with a life vest on and no boat,

These I just dealt with at the time, Very calmly, No Fear, Fear will be the end of you,
Being busy, You dont have time to have fear,

Running out of coffee and smokes and still four days to land, Grrrrrr

[SVPP]

Waking up and finding that a child is missing

[Hardhead]

As far as the falling overboard scenarios -- is there any device now-a-days that would allow remaining crew to plot and navigate back to a beacon on a life vest?

A PLB will report to a satellite of course, but is there anything that will report position back to the boat & remaining crew?

[Mike OReilly]

OK, after reading all the things I should be scared of, I'm now getting scared .

Actually, the only scary thing is reading about people who say they are never scared. That's pretty scary .

[captmikem]

Worst fears..

Not much can happen to you at sea as long as you keep your head. So no real fears there.

Ashore or near shore though most have already happened.

Regulations requiring needless expensive "safety" gear.
Anchoring restrictions and fees.
Herds of boats moving through once quiet areas.

M

[SaltyMetals]

Yes. An excellent little gadget that you fit inside yr lifejacket that goes off the moment the lifejacket inflates. Marketed by Ocean Safety, UK.

It does 2 things
1) sends a distress VHF DSC signal direct to yr own boat. This can in fact be modified to ALL SHIPS if yr own boat is not reacting ( or you were solo)

2) transmits an AIS MOB signal that will be picked up by anyone within AIS range. 10-15nm?

Clearly anyone remaining on yr own boat will also see the AIS MOB icon on their own plotter and will probably hv been woken up by the chart table vhf screaming with the emergency signal.

Excellent little gadget. Best thing since sliced bread.
Andrew

[chrisr]

when single handing, not much to be honest...and when i do (get scared) i just remind myself that what's the worst that can happen - you die

so what ?

i got news for you people : NONE OF US ARE GETTING OUTA HERE ALIVE...we are all going to die

personally i'd rather it was at sea while i still have (most of) my facilities than as a dribbling wreck in a nursing home

different matter when i have my wife onboard...then it is a case of concern for debbie (although i think fear is too strong a word)

cheers,

[Hoodsail]

Not unique to sailing, but when presented with an unusual, potentially dangerous , life-threatening situation and not reacting appropriately...such as; someone stops breathing or clutches their chest, and you dont assess quickly and do CPR...on a port tack and port shroud parts-tack immediately..and so on...

[sailorboy1]

I worry about running out of money to the point i have to eat the cheap dog food and cant even afford salsa or hot sauce for it to make it “better”.


Plus the things in post #1 because if you aren't afraid of those you are a idiot waiting for a place to happen.

[sailorboy1]

Ive experienced lots of fires and flooding.

They seem a lot bigger on a submarine in the middle of the ocean, 500 feet below the surface, where there really is nowhere to run.

[billgewater]

Rather philosophical but Fyodor Dostoyevsky in The Brothers Karamazov opined via a dying monk that if there was a hell, it was the inability to love. He just did not detail what love encompassed. Could be the act of sailing.

[Hardhead]

I think there's always a little tinge of fear, when you're heading out into the open ocean, to a distant offshore heading. Especially solo. It's a realization that you're in a totally hostile environment - as a land-dweller, you can't hit the ground and run away, can't drink the water, can't sleep without flotation, etc. Things can happen in an instant - and you're seriously at risk without the functioning boat. Then you get in the groove of the waves, feel more natural, and it goes away. I think it's healthy to feel a little fear like that heading out.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

................................
................... Sinking, mostly a lack of maintenance issue, or contact with something that rips a hole in the boat. ............. Ann

This sounds right, but there always seems to be possibilities that are difficult to predict. Waking up after the first night's sleep aboard our new boat I looked down from my berth and saw my shoe floating. I wasn't aware that the head was below the waterline and without an anti-siphon loop. This was before the US 1972 Clean Water Act and the common use of holding tanks. The position of the wet/dry flush lever was critical. A few years later we also found sea water above our floor boards when an unsupervised Capuchin monkey opened a hose. I know you said "mostly" lack of maintenance, but these event occurred during the first two years of our cruising life. There's great potential for mistakes among those without experience.

[Mr B]

Fear is a mind thing,
Panic and Fear together will render you useless to save your self,

Being very fit and very healthy snow skiing is not excercise to me,
Im in Niseko in Japan snow skiing, Its 30 Celcius below freezing at 12 Noon,
I cant sleep, 3-00 AM, I need excercise to make me sleep, So I go for a walk,
3 Kays each way to the town, Im in jeans, Sneakers, T shirt, Lite cardigan and a lite plastic coat, No gloves and a beanie,
As long as you keep moving, the cold wont effect you, I was in fact sweating
from the walk,
Stand still and you will Freeze to death in 20 minutes, Fact,
On the way back, It was snowing heavily, I walked past the hotel even tho it was lit up like a Christmas tree,
They get a metre of snow a day,

I walked to the end of the road, My choices, Walk back up the road to the hotel or walk across the very flat paddock to the busy road 1/4 mile away and get a taxi back,
I walked across the paddock,
Half way across, I drop into a creek full of powdered snow, Im 2 or 3 metres down this hole, Totally buried, You cant pack powdered snow, So no making steps to get out,

My hands are covered in fine powdered snow, I can feel the heat draining out of my body,
I cant shake the snow off, If I dont get out of here, I have about 20 minutes to live,
Sheer panic set in then as I cant make steps to climb out,
Fear of dying was very real, I am going to be a popsicle if I dont get myself out,

Suppressing the absolute Fear and Panic that I had, was the hardest thing I have ever done,
Remove the panic and start thinking, Just keep moving forwards,
Powdered snow is easy to walk thru, Even totally buried, Its not hard packed like Ice is,
I found my way to the bank of the creek and climbed out,
I walked to the road and some Japanese Kids drove up and took me back to the hotel,
No one knew I was there or had even left the hotel,
They would have waited till the snow melted to find me,
It was a good lesson, I wont do that again, I will stick to the roads,
There are no safety warnings about not walking off the roads,

I rely totally on myself and my capability to keep me safe,
Its the same with my compulsory Epirb, If I ever use that,
There will be me, a Life vest and an Epirb in a very empty ocean, My boat will be sunk,

2/ My Epirb will be still on the boat as it sails away, I will be in the ocean with out a life vest,

Do I expect some one to save me, No,

[smith8273]

I'm mostly a costal cruiser, and frequently singlehanded.

1) I mostly worry that something expensive breaks.

2) I worry — especially if single handing — that I'm too worn out when it's time to anchor, dock or whatever, and that I would be careless or make a stupid mistake and get into trouble.