Modern ocean sailing questions - 36' motorsail with only mildly experienced crew

afarnam said:

Hi all,

Could someone who has some sailing experience please help me? I have some characters who are on the run in a modern 36' motorsail (Morgan, made in 1981... unless I change it). Do you really mean a motorsail or do you mean a sailboat with a motor? Full keel and designed for off shore ocean sailing? It's present day. They have to travel from around the Dominican Republic to the north coast of Brazil. They have two crew who have some experience (one primarily on the Great Lakes and one as support crew on ocean sailing boats). Great Lakes can be some tough sailing. Choppy water with sudden winds. Support crew can be shore based, or rail meat on the water. Rail meat, with some intelligence and willingness, will be taught how to do more than sit on the rail. Then they have a young teen without a lot of experience but who is very responsible and who will follow orders well. They also have an emotionally distraught mother and two small children crammed into the cabin. I know. They're overcrowded. Not especially.

The POV is the teenager who is smaller than the others and doesn't have to use all the correct nautical terms (Whew!) but will sometimes be instructed in dialogue by the more experienced crew so I do actually need to know some (Darn!).

Can you help with any of these questions:

1. How long ballpark will this kind of trip take? (Oh, they're going in late November, early December) About 2,200 nautical miles. Depends upon wind, currents, and design. 5 knots (an hour) is a reasonable speed. I think you can figure about 15 days.

2. What sorts of tasks would the teenager be asked to help with? (Keeping the wheel steady while the crew deal with rigging? Helping to lower sails when wind comes up? Other things I can't think of?) Keeping watch would be the big thing. Raising and lowering sails definitely. Helping to set the sails after a change of course. Repairing what breaks. Cooking and cleaning.

3. They can stop at islands to get food and fuel but they are on the run from someone big and bad and they are very unlikely to stop overnight on an inhabited island. Would they then have to sail all the time and keep shifts. Even if things were calm, could they not lower the sails and drop anchor and sleep? I have read that this is a problem but don't understand exactly why. They can easily pack enough supplies for twenty days at sea. You keep sailing 24 hours a day. You could have an auto sail device to steer the boat, or do watches for steering. Look out duty is important, even with a radar. You have the natural hazards like reefs and whales, but now we also have lots of trash. One of the most dangerous is shipping containers that haven't sunk.

4. I'm told they would have to lower the sails whenever they thought heavy wind or a squall was coming. Doesn't this make it hard to steer? Wouldn't they keep a bit of sail up. (The boat I'm looking at has a mainsail and a jib.) It depends upon the balance of the boat. But most boats will handle as well under reefed sails as under full sail.

5. My current plan for an incident on the water is that they don't take the sails down fast enough because heavy wind comes up gradually. Is it reasonable to say that then they don't want to take the sails down once the wind is heavier because it would be very difficult and/or dangerous and tehy try to ride it out? That's stupidity, but it happens. At a certain point, you will start shipping water over the bow making working on the decks very difficult. It's like playing in waves at the beach. The waves get big enough and they knock you down.

6. The incident happens because they are under sail in heavy wind and trying to turn to avoid rocks or sand bars, resulting in the boat at a severe tilt. there are large waves washing partly over them as well and the kid is washed mostly overboard, gets some rigging wrapped around his arm (which is going to hurt a lot) but manages to hang on. Is rescued by one of the more experienced crew. Realistic? Bad navigation. But you are very unlikely to do a weaving course. Boat will have life lines to prevent people from going overboard. During extreme weather, you wear a harness and attach it to the life lines. You can be washed overboard with the harness, and they have to haul you back in.

7. If the crew are afraid they'll capsize from the extreme tilt and they have almost cleared the rocks, would they theoretically cut the boom loose to keep from capsizing? Is there a situation in which they would cut the mainsail loose from the cleat holding it up? I want them to end up with a torn sail in this incident but I'm not sure how that happens exactly, other than the fact that if you cut the sail loose to avoid capsizing it can be torn by the wind. I know that you can also just cut the boom loose, and that seems like it might wack you in the head but not tear the sail so much. Any ideas to make the sail get torn in the midst of this? Sails can tear because of strong winds. Most boats will have several sets of sails designed for specific conditions. What you want in strong winds is your storm sails. Cutting the mainsheet would cause the mainsail to de-power unless you're going downwind.

8. If they are lowering the sail quickly, what are the basic steps and what would the teenager be asked to do to help? Depends upon design. Teenager would be assigned helping position, like getting the sail onto the boat. I don't know how to explain this.

9. If they run aground on a sand bar just a little but get off again, they are going to later have someone go down and make sure the keel is all right, no? Good idea.

10. If they get their sail torn, how do they fix it when they don't want to come into a port for a long time? Is it realistic to say that they stop on an uninhabited island for a day or two? Usually you have several sails. Easy enough to sew it on board.

11. Any other details, sensory stuff, what it is like out on a boat like this on the ocean, tasks (whether sailing, upkeep or survival) that would have to be done would be most helpful.

I know this is a tall order. Many thanks to anyone who wishes to take a crack at bits of it!

Arie

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afarnam said:

Hi all,

Could someone who has some sailing experience please help me? I have some characters who are on the run in a modern 36' motorsail (Morgan, made in 1981... unless I change it). It's present day. They have to travel from around the Dominican Republic to the north coast of Brazil. They have two crew who have some experience (one primarily on the Great Lakes and one as support crew on ocean sailing boats). Then they have a young teen without a lot of experience but who is very responsible and who will follow orders well. They also have an emotionally distraught mother and two small children crammed into the cabin. I know. They're overcrowded.

The POV is the teenager who is smaller than the others and doesn't have to use all the correct nautical terms (Whew!) but will sometimes be instructed in dialogue by the more experienced crew so I do actually need to know some (Darn!).

Can you help with any of these questions:

1. How long ballpark will this kind of trip take? (Oh, they're going in late November, early December)
Depends how you choose to do it - sail in a straight line, or island hop through the Caribbean which is a MUCH safer alternative for an inexperienced crew. In total its about 2,000 nautical miles (1 NM = 1.15 Statute Miles), nautical distances are generally given in Nautical Miles. Straight through another poster estimated 5 knots, that is fair. Straight out that is about 16 days if you can go in a straight line. But you are sailing into the wind much of the time so you will need to be zigging and zagging OR motoring straight upwind. Island hopping, many of the islands from Puerto Rico can be reached in a day, or with a single overnight sail in a boat of that speed. You'd have a few longer trips, e.g. DR to Puerto Rich, across the MOna Passage, and Grenada to Trinidad. But you CAN easily hug the coast and stay near the islands, though you will need to clear into and out of any countries you stop in. It will take longer, as there is more distance to sail straight line, but it would be much safer.

2. What sorts of tasks would the teenager be asked to help with? (Keeping the wheel steady while the crew deal with rigging? Helping to lower sails when wind comes up? Other things I can't think of?) Watch standing is the big one. There should be an autopilot to keep the boat straight, but raising/lowering sails if that is needed. Also stupid things like picking the dead flying fish and squid off the deck. Most watches involve some sort of manual recording of the position and notes about the environment, or even a dead reckoning plot every hour if they don't have good electronics.

3. They can stop at islands to get food and fuel but they are on the run from someone big and bad and they are very unlikely to stop overnight on an inhabited island. Would they then have to sail all the time and keep shifts. Even if things were calm, could they not lower the sails and drop anchor and sleep? I have read that this is a problem but don't understand exactly why. You will have the problem stopping overnight that you can't do it legally without clearing into the country in question. Sailing down through the Windward and Leeward islands almost every island is a new country. If you want to stop there you need to clear in, which involves going to customs, showing passports, etc. There aren't uninhabited islands there to stop at. Stopping offshore is problematic, you can't anchor in 1,000' of water. However they CAN "Heave To", which is a nautical term for backwind the sails and near stopping the boat. Most people don't do it on passages as a matter of course, the keep sailing and change watches. But you can heave to, it is a valid and safe technique that calms the boat's motion and slows you to a near crawl. Also a valid heavy weather safety technique, especially when combined with a sea anchor. Which is NOT an anchor to stop you, it just slows you down.

4. I'm told they would have to lower the sails whenever they thought heavy wind or a squall was coming. Doesn't this make it hard to steer? Wouldn't they keep a bit of sail up. (The boat I'm looking at has a mainsail and a jib.) What you are referring to is reefing, which is reducing sail area but not completely taking the sails down - so yes, you have some sail up. It makes the boat MUCH easier to steer in heavy weather, because under full sail the boat is very powered up and hard to control in high winds.

5. My current plan for an incident on the water is that they don't take the sails down fast enough because heavy wind comes up gradually. Is it reasonable to say that then they don't want to take the sails down once the wind is heavier because it would be very difficult and/or dangerous and tehy try to ride it out? What most passagemakers use for a rule of thumb on reefing is, if you are thinking about reefing it is time to reef. Reef early and often, it is a pain in the rear, but better than getting caught with your pants down. Yes, it is harder to handle sails in high wind, but you must reduce sail area before you start breaking things. You can heave to, but even that is easier and safer with reduced sail area.

6. The incident happens because they are under sail in heavy wind and trying to turn to avoid rocks or sand bars, resulting in the boat at a severe tilt. there are large waves washing partly over them as well and the kid is washed mostly overboard, gets some rigging wrapped around his arm (which is going to hurt a lot) but manages to hang on. Is rescued by one of the more experienced crew. Realistic? Depends on where they are, what way they are sailing, etc. Most people sailing off shore run Jack Lines, which are strong lines from bow to stern. They wear a harness and a lifejacket, and clip the harness to the jacklines or the boat. This is to prevent getting swept overboard. Getting someone on board in rough conditions is VERY tough. There aren't rocks & sandbars off shore in those bodies of water for the most part, you'd need to be near some islands or land. Boats normally have some degree of tilt anyway when sailing.

7. If the crew are afraid they'll capsize from the extreme tilt and they have almost cleared the rocks, would they theoretically cut the boom loose to keep from capsizing? Is there a situation in which they would cut the mainsail loose from the cleat holding it up? I want them to end up with a torn sail in this incident but I'm not sure how that happens exactly, other than the fact that if you cut the sail loose to avoid capsizing it can be torn by the wind. I know that you can also just cut the boom loose, and that seems like it might wack you in the head but not tear the sail so much. Any ideas to make the sail get torn in the midst of this? It's a keelboat, it's not likely to capsize from high wind. In most boats the mainsheet (line that controls the main sail) probably would NOT be cleated, it would be held in a "self tailing winch", which is a metal drum that lets you apply leverage to a live to haul it in, and has a set of jaws to hold the line from pulling it out. You CAN get what is called an "override", where the line gets wrapped over itself on a which and then jammed down REALLY hard by the load on the sheet. That may necessitate cutting the sheet if they can't get it off. The sail can just...tear...on it's own from the load, I've had it happen to me several times. In out case some threads had deteriorated in the corner of the sail from exposure to sunlight and the corner of the sail ripped out. High winds, old age, all this things can blow up a saik. I've punched holes in sails with bad tacks when the sail slams into the rig itself and rips on the spreaders.

For capsize risk in a boat like that you need big waves, HUGE (hurricane) winds, or losing the keel

8. If they are lowering the sail quickly, what are the basic steps and what would the teenager be asked to do to help?
A sail is hoisted on a "Halyard". To get the sail down quickly, you "blow" (release) the halyard, the sail will fall. The boat will usually need to be turned into the wind or close to it, as the tension from a full sail will keep it from dropping. Usually someone tries to gather the sail or control its fall.

9. If they run aground on a sand bar just a little but get off again, they are going to later have someone go down and make sure the keel is all right, no? Yes, you want to make sure the keelbolts (usually in the bilge) didn't get broken or cracked. This is a check inside the boat. Hitting a sandbar won'd usually screw your keel up too badly (yeah, I've done that too), but you can deform a lead keel if you hit a rock (done that too). That will be visible on the outside. Most keels are screwed onto the hull with bolts, the risk in a hard grounding is damaging them.

10. If they get their sail torn, how do they fix it when they don't want to come into a port for a long time? Is it realistic to say that they stop on an uninhabited island for a day or two?
In the Caribbean, probably not. There aren't a lot of islands there that are uninhabited. Sails are very tough, and hard to sew. They should have a sail repair kit on board with a big needle, sail repair thread, sticky patch tape, etc. They can bring the sail below and sew it will sailing on the one remaining sail or motoring. It won't be a great repair but it could hold until they get someplace safe.

11. Any other details, sensory stuff, what it is like out on a boat like this on the ocean, tasks (whether sailing, upkeep or survival) that would have to be done would be most helpful. I don't have time to elaborate on all that here...duty calls. I can come back to it later. But I've sailed offshore a reasonable amount. They should have a fishing pole, it would add narrative. Fresh mahi-mahi is to die for off shore.

I know this is a tall order. Many thanks to anyone who wishes to take a crack at bits of it!

Arie

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afarnam said:

I'm not sure if any sailors still have patience for me, but the issue is really a fairly short scene. Most of my story isn't on the water. Here is a DRAFT of the key sailing scene if anyone would like to read it and rip it apart for technical issues. The narrator is Kai, an inexperienced sailor. The two more experienced crew are Wyatt and Blanca. For reasons of the plot Kai has to do the overall navigation because he knows where they are going and can't tell the others precisely. He is also skilled with digital technology, so that's why he is handling the tablet that has their charts on it. Kai's mother, a boy named Shep and a sick child named Nat are in the cabin. Thanks for the help, everyone.

--

The routine of sleeping and swimming during the day and fighting the wind at night was broken one morning when the sky was gray and the wind didn’t quiet before dawn. Are they swimming while on passage? Because that is rarely done...you have to stop.

Instead it picked up and when Blanca came up to take over Wyatt refused to go to bed. They reefed in part of the sails, but they had to shout over the wind and the mast was leaning at a definite angle with the tilt of the deck. This last is unclear, the mast/deck angle is always the same, it won't bend substantially when the wind picks up. Most would say "reefed the sails", though there are "Reef points" on many sails, so you might "put one reef" or "put two reefs" in.

“It should die down soon!” Wyatt yelled. “At least it’s steady and in a good direction.”

Blanca took the wheel and Wyatt motioned for me get into a lifeline harness and come forward with him. We wrestled the lines to get the sail repositioned as he wanted it. The lifelines refer to wires that run along the outside of the boat. The "tether" is what you use to connect your personal harness to the jack lines or boar.

The wind still roared in my ears but the deck tilted a bit less dramatically.

“Would you check the charts?” he asked. “I remember there were some sand bars to the lee of us and at this rate we’re covering a lot of distance fast. I don’t want to get blown onto them”

I got back out of the harness and climbed down into the cabin to get the tablet that Jake had loaded electronic charts onto. Mama looked up from the tiny table folded down between two of the bunks and her face was pale with long vertical creases of discomfort. Shep was peering out of the windows at the thrashing gray waves and enjoying the show. Anything to break the monotony for him, I guess. Generally you leave your harness on, most modern gear it is integral to your Personal Floatation Device, or PFD which is generally a smaller inflatable model. So you just disconnect your tether and connect the other end back to the harness.

When I saw the GPS marker on the electronic charts I jerked up and ran back to the deck with the thing in my hands. We were much closer to the sand bars and a long island than I’d expected.

“Shit!” Wyatt swore as I pointed it out.

“White!” Blanca screamed from the helm. “I see… I think it’s crates. They’ll smash us!”

The boat tilted more as she brought the wheel over and fought to turn the boat. I could see what she meant now too. Shipping containers bobbed in the tossing sea ahead of us—blocky and dark against the waves. There were three of them all roughly in our path and the waves foamed white as they crashed over them. The turning and tilting...this depends on where the wind is. If the sandbad is to leeward of them and they turn away they will generally tilt LESS, not more. FWIW in > 15,000 miles of sailing I've never seen a floating container.

Wyatt grappled with the lines and the boom swung across the deck. I ducked at the last second and lurched to the side, grabbing a cable. The boom will only swing across the deck like that if you pass the wind behind you, or "jibe" the boat, which is very dangerous and can break things if you do it accidentally. Jibing is when the wind changes direction over the stern of the boat, you turn the boat in such a way that the wind is behind the boat and then shifts from one side to the other. If the wind is blowing towards the sand bar, the only way you can get the wind across the back of the boat is to turn it towards the sand bar, not away from it.

“Better get down in the cabin, Kai,” Wyatt yelled. “We’ll handle it.”

I hesitated a moment. I certainly didn’t want to be down there, sitting uselessly while Wyatt and Blanca struggled with the wind. But at the very least I needed to get the tablet out of the spray. I tucked it into my jacket.

While my hands were busy a gust hit us just as we sank into the trough of a wave. I felt a hard lurch under my feet as the boat struck something solid and the pow slammed into the next wave. My feet left the deck for a second and I flew against the side railing. Morgan 36 doesn't have a side railing, it has lifelines.

Blanca screamed, high and shrill, “Sand!”

Another wave lifted us again and I saw Wyatt hauling hard on one of the lines. I got up to my knees, looking around for the lifeline harness. Then a wall of water rose above the boat for a second. It was green and gray and it hung above me like a giant hand. Again, the harness would be on him. I'll put a picture of one of these on the end.

Then I was in water—nothing but water, tearing, ripping. Something tore at my right arm and agony shot up to my shoulder. But I closed my fingers in desperation and grabbed with my left. FWIW the Morgan 36 Outisland is a center cockpit boat, these are really hard to fall off of from the cockpit, near impossible. If you want to chuck him overboard, you need a reason to get him out of the cockpit. Something tears loose, he has to go fix it or bring it in...but he should be wearing the harness and clipped in. Most cockpits are designed to keep you on board, people that fall off boats tend to be out on deck doing something.

A line. I had something in my hand and wrapped around my wrist.
There was air again and for a second I found myself hanging off the side of the boat. My right arm was tangled in a line and I gripped part of it in my fist. The line bit deeply into my wrist and hurt, but it was all that kept me from the dark waves, which were suddenly huge—towering above the boat.

Another smaller wave washed over me and yanked at my arm. I came up screaming form the pain. Now I wanted to let go. Anything to stop the line from tearing my arm off.

Then hands gripped me, pulling me up and over the railing—Blanca.

She slashed at the rope with her knife and dropped me against the transom. Wyatt was closer to the mast, in his harness but gaping toward us, his mouth in an O, but his cry was lost in the wind. The boom swung wildly and part of the mainsail flapped in tatters. It's not clear to me why she's is slashing at the line at this point. You haven't described action to rip the sail - how did that happen?.

“Go down!” Blanca screamed, hauling me back up and then hurling me toward the hatch to the cabin.

I went. I wasn’t sure if something was wrong with my right arm. It hurt so bad I couldn’t use it for the moment, but I didn’t think it was broken.

I fumbled at the latch with my left hand and Mama opened it and then pulled me inside. She was making little whimpering gasps now, but she closed the hatch securely behind me. The boat shuddered and pitched violently front to back, but it wasn’t tilted anymore. What had happened to the sail? Generally the companionway hatch isn't quite like that. There isn't usually a latch, but there will likely be boards that slide into place vertically, and a sliding cover. So you'd push the companionway cover off, remove a boar or two, climb over it. Many sailboats use the boards because it is far safer

Mama helped me onto a bunk and tried to strip off my soaked shirt. I groaned from the pain as she pulled at my shoulder. If there is foul weather gear on baord, he should be wearing it.

“Let me be!” I snapped. “We might all be in the water soon enough.”
Then I realized that my jacket hung from one arm. The tablet with the charts was gone—in the ocean no doubt.

Shep clung to the side of the bunk, his eyes wide but his face still unafraid.

“Wyatt won’t let us tip over,” he said confidently.

Mama did let me be and went to throw up in a bucket she had stashed by the bunk where Nat lay. His eyes were half open and he blinked at me blearily. If we capsized, it would be all over. Keelboat is really not likely to capsize here...just sayin'.

But we didn’t capsize. Somehow Blanca and Wyatt got the boat through it. The squall raged for another two hours and petered out in heavy winds for the rest of the morning. By late afternoon it had calmed and we were sailing beside a long low marshy island with trailing mangroves.

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afarnam said:

Wow! Thanks Brswain. This will really help. Let me see if I can clear the issues up.

I might need to get a different boat. Not really a problem. I need an "old" reliable boat. I said Morgan because someone I was talking to was really into Morgans and the pictures I saw sounded right. I thought I saw 1980s boats that looked different from this on used boat sites, but I'll admit that I don't have a great understanding of the years and makes. The most common type of boat for longer passages that I see has the cabin in the middle. There is a bit of a place to stand at the back. I'm assuming that's the cockpit, such as it is. But they don't look nearly as sheltered as the Morgan you showed.

They also have little door that you can get into the cabin by opening a small door. I was thinking this would be somewhat water tight, wouldn't it? Otherwise, with all this water coming in the cabin would be knee deep in water pretty fast, wouldn't it?

Do you have any boat suggestions if I need a boat that would be considered "old" and reliable and I would rather it looked like I've described? (a cable or very small railing around the outside, a precarious place to walk around the cabin to the bow and a cockpit area at the back with an opening to get into the cabin. That I don't particularly care about. I can adapt to whatever kind of opening it has, although boards sounds a bit makeshift for these boats that are otherwise pretty refined down to the details.)

The other issues:

Are they swimming while on passage? Because that is rarely done...you have to stop.
I see a lot of references to people swimming off of boats in the Caribbean, so I assumed it was usual. But the description beforehand was that there was little or no wind during the day where they were for a few days. That was when they were swimming. I may not have to mention it, but it might be nice to know. Would they really reef the sails to swim even if it was calm. I have definitely jumped in a lake from a catamaran with sails up when there was no wind and swum back to it just fine. But I get that isn't a lake. If they were in a hurry and it was that calm they'd be motoring, unless they were very low on fuel.


Most would say "reefed the sails", though there are "Reef points" on many sails, so you might "put one reef" or "put two reefs" in.
I've been hearing that if you reef a sail you still have some showing. To the uninformed that seems like you partly reefed the sail or partly lowered it, unless I'm way off with my mental picture. I'm sure it may not be the correct technical term, but as long as the sail is reefed but there is still some sail up I should be able to get away with an uninformed person calling it something like this.
Yes, a reefed sail has sail out and showing.

Also, I know the mast is fixed at its angle to the deck. I'll work on the description.

Generally you leave your harness on, most modern gear it is integral to your Personal Floatation Device, or PFD which is generally a smaller inflatable model. So you just disconnect your tether and connect the other end back to the harness.
Gotcha. Much smarter idea. But it still doesn't mess up the story. I'll just change the details. Thanks.

The boat tilted more as she brought the wheel over and fought to turn the boat. I could see what she meant now too. Shipping containers bobbed in the tossing sea ahead of us—blocky and dark against the waves. There were three of them all roughly in our path and the waves foamed white as they crashed over them. The turning and tilting...this depends on where the wind is. If the sandbad is to leeward of them and they turn away they will generally tilt LESS, not more. FWIW in > 15,000 miles of sailing I've never seen a floating container.
I've run into more than one person who suggests this and says shipping containers are a problem. It may not be hugely common, but it seems at least plausible. In any even, the point here is that the natural direction of escape from the sandbar is blocked by the shipping containers, which requires a hard turn. That's why I thought the boat would tilt more. Is it more realistic to say it rocks the other way abruptly? They may be a problem for a boat that ran into them, I just haven't talked to anyone that has actually had a problem with one. Containers are big and heavy, they wouldn't bob. I have a lot of friends that have crossed oceans...this would be a big deal. Keep in mind - a single shipping container is generally larger than this boat!
Whether the boat tilts more or less on a turn depends on whether you are turning into or away from the wind.

The boom will only swing across the deck like that if you pass the wind behind you, or "jibe" the boat, which is very dangerous and can break things if you do it accidentally.
What if the way to get away from the containers and the sandbar is essentially to reverse coarse. They weren't running directly from the wind before but were being blown too close to the sandbars so they were trying to go across the wind with the wind coming from the port side. Then they run into the containers. What if the person steering tries to turn into the wind and then over to the other side? Wouldn't this make the boom swing?
If they are being blown towards the sandbar, whether from ahead, the side or behind and turn that cause them to jibe (or "gybe" if this is set in the UK!) would turn them towards the sandbar. If they tacked, meaning the bow of the wind crosses the boat while then turn, all the sails would flip to the other side of the boat, the boom would move but not as violently as a gybe. The sails would get "backwinded" which could stop the boat unless they release the jib sheet (jib control line) and trim it in on the other side.

See the picture below for more discussion.

Morgan 36 doesn't have a side railing, it has lifelines.
I can work with where exactly he falls, but I still think I might need a different boat because of the cockpit of the Morgan you showed me.
Most offshore boats have cockpits that are hard to fall out of, but a "center cockpit" like the Morgan 38 Outisland is particularly hard.

.but he should be wearing the harness and clipped in. Most cockpits are designed to keep you on board, people that fall off boats tend to be out on deck doing something.
He comes back out of the cabin shocked about their GPS location and doesn't clip the line back onto his harness. He isn't very experienced and they're going to give him a hard time about it.

She slashed at the rope with her knife and dropped me against the transom. Wyatt was closer to the mast, in his harness but gaping toward us, his mouth in an O, but his cry was lost in the wind. The boom swung wildly and part of the mainsail flapped in tatters. It's not clear to me why she's is slashing at the line at this point. You haven't described action to rip the sail - how did that happen?.
The line is wrapped around his arm and tangled in such a way that it isn't easy to get off and it is seriously digging into his arm and she wants him to get off the deck. Right now! Because he has really been nothing but trouble. That was my idea. She doesn't have to cut a line. That isn't crucial. There are all kinds of other ways I can show her urgency. I'd go with other ways...sailors are REALLY reluctant to cut important lines. In the event of the "winch override" I mentioned in a prior post most sailors would take the time to figure out how to back it off. Sheets (sail control lines) tend to be made out of expensive material and are cut to an optimal length. If you cut one it's no longer useful as a sheet.

You said sails get ripped just in high winds and with hard turns. This guy is the POV and he doesn't necessarily understand how. If the situation doesn't merit the sail getting ripped through some chance, I'd have to come up with something more, but it seems reasonably likely from what I've heard so far.
OK. It read like the POV character was aware that the sails were ripped already.

Many thanks again. It may look like a mess but I believe it is salvageable.
You can work with it, but you do have a few things to clean up.

FWIW - suddenly spotting breaking waves while sailing in high winds would be scary enough to deal with, I don't think you need the containers! A large floating log or the like could also fill the role. I've seen some scary logs, even telephone poles, floating around out there. But I don't think you need the device, they have enough going on.

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Here is the scenario you are describing, with three possible wind conditions. The wind from any other direction wouldn't be pushing them onto the bar. Note that current could also help push them onto it too.

In every one of these scenarios you would turn the boat right to jibe it, when the wind crosses the stern as the boat turns the boom would move violently across the boat. But to avoid the bar and the containers you would turn LEFT, which in all cases would turn you into the wind. Your sails would start fluttering unless you trimmed them in, and the boat would also slow. But it will also tilt less and straighten up.

Not that the boom would move some as the sail flogged, but it would be more of an up and down banging as opposed to a violent sweep across the deck.

The diagram shows the corresponding boom position for sailing on each wind position with a number next to it.

Wind 1 - This sailing direction (beating, close hauled) has a lot of deck tilt already (heel). 20-30 degrees of heel while sailing upwind isn't uncommon, turning left would flatten the boat quickly as you turned into the wind. You would not tilt sharply again until you released the jib and sheeted it on the other side.

Wind 2 - (Reaching) has some deck tilt as well, you could turn to avoid containers (I don't like this plot device) without tacking, though you would still need to trim in the sails.

Wind 3 - (broad reach or run, depending on how far back the wind is) This is the point of sail with least tilt, but still non zero. A quick turn upwind (left) should not tilt the boat more until, the sails were trimmed, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

Any turn to the right could increase tilt suddenly but it would also turn you towards the sandbar.

afarnam said:

I was counting on saying they had paper charts and I guess I assumed they'd have another type of GPS. I'm not quite up to plotting sailing with no charts. Though I'm sure that could be made interesting. This is more an inconvenience and the loss of key notes that went along with the charts and the paper charts aren't going to be perfect. Yes, they did leave in quite a hurry. Thanks.

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afarnam said:

I'm not sure if any sailors still have patience for me, but the issue is really a fairly short scene. Most of my story isn't on the water. Here is a DRAFT of the key sailing scene if anyone would like to read it and rip it apart for technical issues. The narrator is Kai, an inexperienced sailor. The two more experienced crew are Wyatt and Blanca. For reasons of the plot Kai has to do the overall navigation because he knows where they are going and can't tell the others precisely. He is also skilled with digital technology, so that's why he is handling the tablet that has their charts on it. Kai's mother, a boy named Shep and a sick child named Nat are in the cabin. Thanks for the help, everyone.

--

The routine of sleeping and swimming during the day and fighting the wind at night was broken one morning when the sky was gray and the wind didn’t quiet before dawn. You don't tend to swim when out to sea. If the wind picks up suddenly, you're sailboat is likely to leave you. Even a couple of hundred yards makes it hard to see a man in the water. You also do cleaning and repairs during the day, as well as checking over your equipment. Depending upon the wind patterns, the wind might not quiet at dawn. In the area you're talking about, the winds are not going to require "fighting" very often. The barometer is probably falling, and the weather radio is probably saying something.

Instead it picked up and when Blanca came up to take over Wyatt refused to go to bed. They reefed in part of the sails, but they had to shout over the wind and the mast was leaning at a definite angle with the tilt of the deck. There are either reef points or there is a roller reefing system. Reefing reduces the sail area. The mast leans on catamarans because it's only a three point attachment, and somewhat loose. Monohulls want their mast rigid.

“It should die down soon!” Wyatt yelled. “At least it’s steady and in a good direction.” If it is steady, it's not that much of a problem. You reef to a comfortable point and let the boat go with it.

Blanca took the wheel and Wyatt motioned for me get into a lifeline harness and come forward with him. We wrestled the lines to get the sail repositioned as he wanted it. Inexperienced crew should be in lifelines any time on deck outside the cockpit. You don't wrestle with the lines unless the winch breaks.

The wind still roared in my ears but the deck tilted a bit less dramatically. Tilted should be heeled.

“Would you check the charts?” he asked. “I remember there were some sand bars to the lee of us and at this rate we’re covering a lot of distance fast. I don’t want to get blown onto them” Looking at the charts won't do you any good if you don't know where you are. First he needs to fix his position, either with a sextent or GPS. Experienced sailors want deep waters and distance to the nearest coast. Inexperienced sailors can get nervous when there's no land in sight.

I got back out of the harness and climbed down into the cabin to get the tablet that Jake had loaded electronic charts onto. Mama looked up from the tiny table folded down between two of the bunks and her face was pale with long vertical creases of discomfort. Shep was peering out of the windows at the thrashing gray waves and enjoying the show. Anything to break the monotony for him, I guess. You keep on the harness below decks. If you have to go on deck in bad weather, you need the harness immediately. Life jackets on all crew in bad weather is a norm. Remember that the sea is what makes this rough. How high are the waves? And that effects what the boat is doing.

When I saw the GPS marker on the electronic charts I jerked up and ran back to the deck with the thing in my hands. We were much closer to the sand bars and a long island than I’d expected. Are these sand bars near to shore? What's the horizon showing?

“Shit!” Wyatt swore as I pointed it out.

“White!” Blanca screamed from the helm. “I see… I think it’s crates. They’ll smash us!”

The boat tilted more as she brought the wheel over and fought to turn the boat. I could see what she meant now too. Shipping containers bobbed in the tossing sea ahead of us—blocky and dark against the waves. There were three of them all roughly in our path and the waves foamed white as they crashed over them. Okay, as stated, shipping containers are the new exciting thing for fiction about boats. Robert Redford did a film about this a couple of years ago. First off, most when they are floating are just barely on the surface. Very low down and very hard to see, and waves don't tend to break over them. Second, they tend to show up on shipping routes. And even then, it can vary. A container ship dumped 500+ into the Bay of Biscay a year or two ago. Higher likelihood of finding one in that situation. But if you're on a ship route, you're probably not going to be near sandbars.

Wyatt grappled with the lines and the boom swung across the deck. I ducked at the last second and lurched to the side, grabbing a cable. You always announce tacks and gybes.

“Better get down in the cabin, Kai,” Wyatt yelled. “We’ll handle it.”

I hesitated a moment. I certainly didn’t want to be down there, sitting uselessly while Wyatt and Blanca struggled with the wind. But at the very least I needed to get the tablet out of the spray. I tucked it into my jacket. Tablet would probably have a waterproof cover.

While my hands were busy a gust hit us just as we sank into the trough of a wave. I felt a hard lurch under my feet as the boat struck something solid and the pow slammed into the next wave. My feet left the deck for a second and I flew against the side railing.

Blanca screamed, high and shrill, “Sand!”

Another wave lifted us again and I saw Wyatt hauling hard on one of the lines. I got up to my knees, looking around for the lifeline harness. Then a wall of water rose above the boat for a second. It was green and gray and it hung above me like a giant hand. Okay, it's going to be real unusual to hit bottom at the same time waves are breaking over the boat, without a lot of surf being seen.

Then I was in water—nothing but water, tearing, ripping. Something tore at my right arm and agony shot up to my shoulder. But I closed my fingers in desperation and grabbed with my left. Have his lifeline still attached. He can definitely end up hanging over the side. Otherwise, he's going to end up far away from the boat in a couple of seconds.

A line. I had something in my hand and wrapped around my wrist.
There was air again and for a second I found myself hanging off the side of the boat. My right arm was tangled in a line and I gripped part of it in my fist. The line bit deeply into my wrist and hurt, but it was all that kept me from the dark waves, which were suddenly huge—towering above the boat.

Another smaller wave washed over me and yanked at my arm. I came up screaming form the pain. Now I wanted to let go. Anything to stop the line from tearing my arm off.

Then hands gripped me, pulling me up and over the railing—Blanca.

She slashed at the rope with her knife and dropped me against the transom. Wyatt was closer to the mast, in his harness but gaping toward us, his mouth in an O, but his cry was lost in the wind. The boom swung wildly and part of the mainsail flapped in tatters.

“Go down!” Blanca screamed, hauling me back up and then hurling me toward the hatch to the cabin.

I went. I wasn’t sure if something was wrong with my right arm. It hurt so bad I couldn’t use it for the moment, but I didn’t think it was broken. Okay, by this point, the keel is going to have been ripped off or you're going to be very firmly aground.

I fumbled at the latch with my left hand and Mama opened it and then pulled me inside. She was making little whimpering gasps now, but she closed the hatch securely behind me. The boat shuddered and pitched violently front to back, but it wasn’t tilted anymore. What had happened to the sail?

Mama helped me onto a bunk and tried to strip off my soaked shirt. I groaned from the pain as she pulled at my shoulder.

“Let me be!” I snapped. “We might all be in the water soon enough.”
Then I realized that my jacket hung from one arm. The tablet with the charts was gone—in the ocean no doubt.

Shep clung to the side of the bunk, his eyes wide but his face still unafraid.

“Wyatt won’t let us tip over,” he said confidently.

Mama did let me be and went to throw up in a bucket she had stashed by the bunk where Nat lay. His eyes were half open and he blinked at me blearily. If we capsized, it would be all over.

But we didn’t capsize. Somehow Blanca and Wyatt got the boat through it. I doubt it. The squall raged for another two hours and petered out in heavy winds for the rest of the morning. By late afternoon it had calmed and we were sailing beside a long low marshy island with trailing mangroves.

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