Charter sailing - when things go bad

with all due respect: human error was the cause here. that sail should not have been deployed in weather like that and i don't understand why they didn't turn on the engine and just point the vessel into the waves.

this is why you want full keels on your vessels folks. a few knots of extra speed is irrelevant when bad weather comes.

Pink t-shirt ....and everything is clear.

Anyone for a Champaign on deck!

There was no need for a pan-pan. Still had mainsail, motor was operable, wasn't taking on water, no structural damage, and no medical emergency.

Bad seamanship but brave Video.

I totally agree. Very educational. Always be prepared for the worst. I watch it from time to time to assimilate that kind of event. There is always an iceberg awaiting.

Beam on isn't good

Been there , done that. Pure awesome scary fun.

Well done ! Take shelter behind the island!
But always be prepared 😮
I was a sailing instructeur and ouer group of students was hit by a real hurricane during the summer of 1997 in Holland
The wind was that strong that large sailing boats where blown flat to the water ( without sails ) .
Its was a mirracle that everyone came in safe ( on a close by lake several people drowned)
Stay safe and keep sailing

Why do people continue to use furling jibs? Sure they are convenient in fine weather but they can become a huge liability when the furler jams, especially in a storm. A hanked jib takes a few minutes to put on and seconds to bring down. These people were lucky that their jib got shredded

too much late for starting to close the sails and, also, immediately the bow to the wind for reducing the wind lift

I feel ya sailor! I've had so many incidents with furling sails in the last 15yr that I'm thinking of ditching them entirely for classic hank on sails. Furlers are a treat in light to moderate air, but the problems don't seem to reveal themselves until you're in a blow and the jamming starts. It's not really safe to be on a partially reefed jib as they'll happily rip themselves out to 100+% when the reffing line parts as you're winching against a jam.

two words: bear off

pretty much everything covered what not to do....pretty inexperienced bunch. Good thing they got too shelter. The dude clapping his hands to get on the radio had me in stiches/

Le capitaine aurait du lancer le moteur directement pour reduire le vent dans le genois et eviter de le bloquer en surpatant probablement la drosse de genois pendant l enroulement. Et encore plus si bloqué pour faire contre poussée et garder le bateau manoeuvrant et ne jamais se retrouver // à la vague comme ce fut son cas. Heureusement, la mer n'était pas trop formée, coup de vent rapide, et les vagues non deferlantes sinon, c'etait la culbute assurée. Cela aurait pu tres mal se finir. Par gros tps on reduit voir retire la voile d avant et on garde un minimum au centre GV à 3 ou 4 ris pour rester manoeuvrant. Au pire, on met le moteur... Si gros temps persistant faire route au petit largue voir se mettre à la cape si on a les couilles. Perso, même a 52 noeuds etablis avec des rafales à plus de 60 noeuds, par mer croisée, j'ai jamais osé... J'ai toujours fait route avec tourmentin et 4 ris dans la GV et moteur prêt à démarrer. Là, apparemment, il voulait s'abriter derrière l île mais n était pas manoeuvrant et partait à l'abattée. Si le genois ne s'était pas déchiré ils auraient chaluté mais en aucun cas culbuté car la mer n'était pas suffisamment formée. Une aventure qui se finit bien et videra quelques bières à n'en pas douter 😅

What was the problem on Board ?
It seeems it was only the captain !

I have the top few feet of a shredded Genoa from a squall like this out in the middle of Lake Superior. Gotta be ready for them.

In a situation like this, with a "stuck genoa"...you only have a few options. The best I can think of would have been to Heave-to. That would have complimented the issue with the Genoa and saved the sail. Heave-to, and wait it out. Trying to motor to the island, with a beam sea was not wise..especially with an inexperienced crew in the cockpit. Granted...it's the most tempting choice...."it's RIGHT THERE"...but, it could have ended much worse than a destroyed sail. The second best option I can think of would be to put the bow to the seas, motor up, and wait it out...but this would have, in all probability, also ruined the Genoa. You could rode a following sea (and wind astern)...but the safest, aside from Hove-to, is bow into the seas - the bow has more lifting force than the stern, and would distanced the seas from the cockpit and crew....and in that sea state, stern to the seas...I'd have a drogue out to reduce any surfing effect and keep the speed manageable. With all this said...in those circumstances...I would have Hove-to.

Did anyone think about weather forecast?

A good saying is “if you’re thinking you might need to take some sail in, do it immediately, but if you’re thinking to let some sail out, have a cup of tea first”.

And not a life jacket in sight. I take that back, they put them on. Well done guys.

Why did she lean so hard even after the genoa was ripped? No wind pushing sails but she still seemed so close to flipping. Was that water current pushing the keel? I thought this could not happen with no sails. Glad everyone is safe.

Generation 'Funverblödete Idioten'

Yep...many of us have been there...wind pipes-up, get those sails in! Happened to me here in the Chesapeake Bay a few years back...all within 3 miles of the marina I was returning to...70 mph straight line winds, even with sails down turned my sailboat sideways...made it through fine...this was the first time I heard the term "duratio"... you never know. As the Boy Scouts say, "be prepared".

Why did they ever leave port on this day. ?Did they not want to lose the money? I gave the skipper credit for how he handled it; however, the best choice would’ve been never to take clients out on that day.

Freaking idiots

There are a couple of elephants in the room that almost nobody talks about.
First, this crew was not prepared for this weather and was unfamiliar with the correct procedures, thereby making it worse than necessary. Know your radio procedures, it saves time and avoids confusion.
Second, know the boat and everyone on board should know what to do when weather turns sour.
Third, the Aegean is not for chartering, it is too unpredictable and too dangerous if you don't know what it can do. The Aegean can turn into a nightmare in literally 2 minutes.
Fouth and the most important, Greek meteo is a bloody shame. After 3000 years they are still not able to make an accurate forecast in this part of Greece. 99.5 % of the time the forecast is wrong and even way off. Too many time they forecast light winds and you end up in 10 or 12 Bft, endangering lives. Unfortunately the Greeks don't give a damn, they make no effort in setting up a system that will improve the forecasts. Therefore every year many boats get into trouble and this weekend a 100 mtr cargo vessel sank off the coast of Lesbos in a storm that was also not forecasted in time. The warning came in the afternoon and 2 hours later it was windforce 10.
With this in mind there is only one thing to do and that is to stay away from the Aegean sea. It is not for you, it is not the picturesque calm sea as depicted in so many videos. 90 % of the time you will encounter 7 to 8 Bft in the summer season and the anchorages will be full. You will find yourself in bay with 100 other boats, in gale force winds, anchoring way too close and with no scope.
The charter companies will tell you it is not so bad, because they want to make money, but you simply have to be the wiser one, go to the Ionians, Croatia or Turkey. If you want to see the Aegean............go by ferry or by plane, not by boat.

All non usefull personnel down below,close hatches where ever you can,start engine and turn with the wind if you can or against it if you cannot. In this vidéo i see land so it better to evade running Ashore

Let's go sailing. It will be relaxing...

cool heads.

Unbelievable good value from NSW Newcastle Australia 🇦🇺

I had the unpleasant experience of being the night tillerman for a multi-day regatta back in the 90's ... I signed on because a close friend knew I sailed asked me. It turned into a nightmare when bad weather blew in, and the captain/owner revealed himself to be a clueless a%%hole.

Our mainsail blew out in a major gust ... I asked him to unstow the spare. The idiot didnt have a spare, so he fired up the inboard motor and continued on our eastward leg as we took wave after wave, broadside.

I told him we were DSQ for using the motor, so it made sense to head to the safety of the nearest marina before conditions worsened further. Prophetic advice on my part. The Idiot refused.

I recommended he at least report our position to the local coast guard station, as a sensible precaution, since worse weather was enroute ... he refused. Idiot.

The waves got bigger and bigger, and eventually reached spreader level when we were in the troughs, and we started taking on water and rolling dangerously. We were in real danger at that point, so I finally told the captain to go f%%k himself and turned us south, away from land, to get us outta the broadside rollers. I told him to radio the coastguard, or i'd tear off the tiller and beat him to death with it ... he had just enough good sense left to comply.

About 45 mins later, we were in real trouble - water shorted the batteries and we lost the engine and the radio, and without a sail we were at the mercy of the storm.

That was the moment the local coastguard cutter crested a wave not 50 yds from us ... courtesy of the alert Id demanded the captain send. They tossed us a tow rope that we secured to the mast (no cleat could hold in waves that big), and they towed us to the nearest marina. We were their 3rd rescue of the day.

Lesson: never sign on with a clueless captain. This jerk had never even taken a basic boating safety course. I never spoke to him again.

Point into the wind

@ЛЮБИМОВА ЕВГЕНИЯ нехотите сделать разбор ошибок?

No messing...Everyone below, bar one who can do something, been there done dat. ....Other than that stuff happens. So, round up or bare off? Lee shore? Rocks? A lot to think about.

My question is: didnt you check the weather forecast before setting out to sea? Apps like Poseidon work really well in Greece. There is no way as an experienced sailor I would have left port or anchorage in conditions like this.

Not impressive. No life jackets on till last minute and the reason the headsail ripped was because the lines were not kept taught while the furlough was blocked. Resultant comment of sail ripped being good is interesting. No sail ,not even a storm sail up so no control. Think this a great example of what not to do

Last time I did a charter, the deal was that anything broken must be fixed (at contractee's expense) and while out of service the charter fee is still in effect. That kind of thing can add up fast. One question, though. I could se the forward staysail clearly luffing aft, but the ship looked like it was taking the wind off the starboard side, listing hard to port. Anybody know what's up with that?

Vests suggested, no one moves

PromoSM

Sailing without life jackets is a very bad idea.

About a week late putting on PFDs......

Nothing fun about this.

1st rule. Always ck the weather prior to departure.

To be honest, skipper shown that he got a little bit panicked. If your genua is blocked, why you didnt went downwind? I was sailing with nearly full genoa in winds about 40 kts and everything was ok. Than the boat would become more stable and he would have a chance to send somebody with harness on forward to check what went wrong. Than why the skipper didnt set a little bit of mainsail to make the boat more stable on the course? Why he didnt start the engine earlier to help the boat to keep the upwind heading?

A flapping Fore-sail mightn't be functioning as a proper sail. But it will still produce a LOT of drag - and that gives you a severe Lee-Helm. Lee-Helm is very bad here because it'll pull your nose OFF the wind and onto a broadside tack - which I noted during such times in the footage you were at greatest risk of capsize.

I'm suspecting that with a minimal amount of mainsail. You'd be able to keep control - and thus keep your nose pointed into weather... It's either that or take a knife to the foresail halyard - which this scenario clearly called for.

Scary, especially near land.

You've made so common error. There's no possibility in strong wind to roll genua. You've created too much tension to roller and it leeds to jam. Secondly if you sail more downwind then sail balance will not let boat to incline so mcuh. I've been in this kind of conditions a few times. At last you can save the genua going more upwind near zero and houl the upwind sheet. But is good that you alive :)

Buradan şunu öğreniyoruz; camadan vurmanın ne kadar önemli olduğunu.

These guys are running for trouble!!!! no life jackets on, no shoes etc did they read the forecast???😮😮😮