Recently sent a few articles on sailing sailing experience, many people commented on private messages I asked a lot of questions, so specially opened a special topic, for everyone want to know the curiosity of the relevant content one by one for everyone to solve the puzzle, let everyone know more about sailing, so that friends with global sailing dreams are no longer confused, how many issues can be written I don't know, one or twenty issues always have to have it, before writing the sailboat why sleep, but also wrote on the sailboat to cook ~ no oil to do ~ write a sailboat no wind to do? What do I need to wear for sailing around the world? Then write about what procedures to go abroad ~ and so on and sail related to will write, please pay attention to.
Stills from the movie "Everything Lost"
Many people have seen movies such as "Hurricane Waves" and "Everything Lost" that describe the distress of a sailing ship, which is basically caused by large winds and waves, so many people have asked me what to do if the sailing ship encounters a big wind and wave at sea.
Stills from the movie "The Waves"
First of all, let's talk about the situation in the movie "Hurricane Waves" and "Everything Lost", these two movies are due to the wind and waves too big the ship is overturned by the waves and then automatically straightened, but just like in the movie, the mast will often break at this time, the mast is broken in the vast sea, the engine mileage is too short, the lost power ship can only float, both movies are textbook self-help, the heroine in the waves of the waves after the mast is broken, with the sail brace to make a small mast, pull up a small sail to sail slowly , and all the lost in the old man due to the previous day's hull hit the container has been damaged, so after experiencing the overturning accident after a large number of cabin water irreparable, and finally can only abandon the ship to board the life raft, the process of boarding the life raft and the self-help and survival experience after boarding the life raft is also very real, but this is the process of self-help after encountering the accident, everyone does not want to experience, I believe that everyone wants to know more about how to protect themselves in the storm. So today I want to use my personal experience and book knowledge to engage in pre-prevention, how to deal with the wind and waves, and how to save myself after the pre-risk to tell you how to survive in the wind and waves.
For everyone's understanding, I drew a wind level comparison table, and the actual navigation looked at the increase or decrease in fleet and ship capacity.
This issue of trivia: the speed and wind speed of the ship when sailing at sea are usually expressed in knots, in the speed of the expression of 1 section = 1.852 km / h, in the distance expression is used nautical miles, 1 nautical miles = 1.852 km, whether it is said that the wind speed or the speed will usually say the knot, miles and nautical miles are not the same thing, let's not be confused, 1 mile = 1.609 km.
1. Prevention in advance
Hundreds of years ago, when meteorology and communications were not developed, people could only rely on the experience of captains to deal with various problems, which was really a life of nine deaths, and the corresponding electronic equipment such as modern navigation meteorology and communications has been very developed, and the probability of shipwrecks has been very low.
The most important thing in advance prevention is to check the wind situation of the sea we want to sail in the next few days through the weather forecast, the general forecast of seven days at sea is basically accurate, if there is no signal at sea for more than seven days, then generally we are through the health communication tool to contact our shore team members to provide us with real-time weather forecasts, so that basically will not sail into the wind and wave area beyond expectations.
But at present, all forecasts cannot be 100% accurate, so according to our previous experience, when checking the offshore wind forecast, we will reserve 10 knots of space, that is, before each departure, the safety aspect is prepared according to the actual wind force is 10 knots larger than the forecast, and the fuel food and fresh water preparation are prepared according to 10 knots less than the actual wind, until there is an actual wind that is 20 knots larger than the forecast...
Data given on the weather software Windy before departure in May 2019
In May last year, our group of five sailing ships sailed from Sanya to Weihai, on May 25th we planned to drive directly to Weihai after resting and replenishing in Dongji Island in the Zhoushan Islands, which was the last leg of our trip, the weather forecast showed that from the 25th onwards, the south wind ran all the way to the downwind, the wind gradually increased from 16 knots to 30 knots, and then the wind stopped at sunrise on the 27th, and after four hours of suspension, the north wind turned to 30 knots...
We say that the wind is more or less than how many knots refers to the constant wind, the wind is divided into gusts and constant winds, usually say how many levels of wind and how many knots are said to be constant wind, sometimes we will say that the wind is six gusts of wind seven, or wind 25 gusts, gusts of wind 35 knots are so expressed, if there is no mention of gusts of wind, then it is said that the constant wind, gusts are intermittent short time to increase the wind when the wind is blowing, we can often encounter in real life, the larger the wind gust, the more obvious the gust. Usually a 25 knot of normal wind is accompanied by a 35 knot of gusts, and a 35 knot of wind is often mixed with a gust of 50 knots. So sailing on a windy day not only depends on the constant wind, but also considers whether the gusts can withstand it. Weather software such as Windy can view information such as wind and wind direction waves and water temperature at any location on the earth in real time in the next seven days, and is one of the most commonly used software for navigators.
Among them, the biggest wind we are facing is the early morning of the 27th, the constant wind is 30 knots, the gust is 45 knots, according to the previous experience, the actual wind under this wind is at most 10 knots larger than the forecast wind, and it is still within the bearable range of our fleet, and it is not easy to run in the morning of the 27th, so before leaving, I told the captains to take advantage of the downwind of the previous two days to run as much as possible, and if they can get close to the shore when the north wind comes, it will be very safe, if they can't get close to the shore, it will be very sinful...
Sailing ship with 50 knots of wind (image from the Internet)
Before departure, according to the ability of their own ships and the capabilities of the members of the fleet, combined with the meteorological forecast information found, and increase the amount of deviations that may exist in the forecast, to decide whether their ships or fleets want to sail. The old saying often says to be careful to sail the ship of ten thousand years, but it is not okay to be careful everywhere, for example, the maximum wind force that our ship can withstand is 40 knots, then the forecast is 30 knots, the forecast deviation is about 10 knots up and down, the highest may be more than 40 knots, then it will not run? But in reality, it may be 30 knots, or 20 knots... If you are too careful, you may not be able to travel in the harbor most of the time, so a good captain must make his ship and fleet withstand higher levels of wind and waves.
Check the weather forecast before departure, combined with the ability of their own fleet, as well as the offshore distance of the surrounding marine environment in the event of an unexpected situation, comprehensively consider whether to travel, improve their own ship safety equipment, equipment and team members, check all the equipment on the ship before traveling for hidden dangers, improve their own resistance to wind and waves, but resolutely do not go to sea in sea conditions beyond the capabilities of their fleet, which is the best prevention.
Second, how to deal with the wind and waves
Sailboat because the bottom of the ship has a very heavy keel, like a sea tumbler, the wind and wave resistance level is very strong, much stronger than yachts and fishing boat cargo ships, usually typhoons will be at least a week in advance will have a relatively accurate path, sailboats can not withstand typhoons, so according to meteorological forecasts will avoid typhoons in advance, but sometimes there will be sudden strong winds, usually lasting several hours, although not as strong as typhoons, but also enough to blow the ship over, and this sudden short-term strong wind weather forecast at sea is often unable to accurately predict. Then once we accidentally encounter a strong wind, we must have enough experience to resist the wind.
When the offshore wind increases, navigation difficulties can first choose to shrink the sails, shrinking the sail is by reducing the area of the sail, to reduce the wind force, so that not only the safety can also ensure the speed of the ship, the boat is not the wind bigger and faster, no matter what the boat will always have a maximum wind, more than this wind will not be faster will not be safer, so when the wind exceeds the maximum wind required for full sail sailing, it is necessary to shrink the sails, the main sail of the sail usually has a first-level shrinkage cable and a secondary shrinkage cable, when the wind increases, the first level of the sail, No matter how strong the wind is, the second level of the sail, the forelet also has a corresponding sail reduction device, when the wind is strong, you must consider completely lowering the sail and sailing with the engine.
When the wind is strong, you must not let the boat lose power to float at sea, because once the power of the ship will be pushed into a horizontal wave, the boat will be easy to overturn in the case of the wave, so when the wind and waves must keep the ship powered, so that there is a rudder effect to control the direction, when the wind and waves exceed the limit that the ship can withstand, no matter which direction your destination is, in order to protect yourself, you must run downwind, run downwind, run with the wind and waves, you can use the engine to run when the engine is full of power, you can also lower the main sail only with the front sail to run, The foreals should be reduced as much as possible to maintain the speed of the ship with 8 knots (the speed of the ocean race ship can reach more than 30 knots), and the main sail should be completely lowered, which is the safest.
When the wind continues to strengthen... When the normal wind reaches more than 50 knots, the main sail is completely lowered, the forelet only opens a small angle, because only the front sail can not run the right downwind (many people who play sailing will say that the main sail can not run smoothly when the wind and waves are strong), and when the running side is too big, the waves will push the stern to force the ship to turn into a horizontal wave with the keel as the axis, once the crosswind encounters a big wave (by which it is a rupture wave) It is easy to overturn the boat, so when the wind increases, we must take measures to avoid the boat being pushed by the wave.
For example, in our current sailing direction, as soon as the wave is pushed over, our ship will automatically turn to the right, then on the stern behind the ship's port side of the stake (the device of the ship's tethered cable, very strong) on the bolt of a strong cable, the length is best at more than 50 meters, the end of the cable is tied to the lifebuoy and other floating objects, and then throw the rope into the water, because the boat sailing speed, this rope in the sea resistance will be very, very large, will always pull the left side of the stern of the ship, can effectively reduce the speed and have little impact on the course, When the waves push the boat to the right, the cable will pull the boat to the left with a lot of force to counteract the thrust of the waves and keep the boat sailing downwind (the method in this article only applies to recreational keel sailboats). In this way, as long as the quality of the ship itself is fine, as long as it is not a typhoon, it is basically no problem.
The above content is the book knowledge I learned, and it has all been practiced and applied during that voyage, so I must learn more theoretical knowledge of safety, if you do not learn theoretical knowledge in advance... Often you've already destroyed your ship before you've gained enough experience. But this voyage in late May last year was far from simple... As mentioned earlier, when the wind is more than 50 knots, the main sail should be completely lowered, only the front sail after the area is reduced, and the situation I encountered at that time was when I wanted to lower the sail, I found that the propeller of the ship was killed by seagrass, there was no mechanical power the boat could not face the wind, it could not lower the main sail at all, at this time there were two options, one was to run the scalp, and the other was to cut all the ropes of the main sail to let the wind blow the main sail away...
Cut the rope to let the wind blow the main sail away, these ropes plus a main sail to more than forty thousand pieces, say no pain that is false, the most important thing is that cutting the rope is not necessarily safe, once the main sail hangs on the mast side support lock end, the huge wind blowing this side sail will easily pull the boat lying in the sea, and then a small wave can overturn the boat, so cutting the rope to abandon the sail is obviously also some risk, before coming up with a better way can only continue to run hard.
I was tormented by the wind all night
In the middle of the night on the 27th, the wind was 45 knots, according to the wind gauges of each ship, the maximum gust of wind reached 64.5 knots, and the ten-meter-high waves were like hills, holding up our boats for a while, and throwing them to the bottom of the valley for a while, and the wind roared at us, looking like we would not give up... This is also the first time in my life that I have heard the sound of 60 knots+ of wind, when the wind is 20 knots, I will hear intermittent whistles, just like the sound of the music in the opening of "Chat Zai Zhiyi" when I was a child, and the 60 knots of wind is like the sound of the whistle of the train as it passes through the tunnel, and the continuous whining... The roar... The foam stirred up by the waves is pulled by the wind into straight and straight strips of small strips, often there are waves from overhead ~ more than 10,000 pieces of ocean-level navigation uniforms worn on the body are soaked, the rudder of the big waves need a lot of strength, and the frequency of the rudder is very high, the rudder amplitude is also very large, the physical strength is also a great consumption, at this time I have lost temperature, trembling ~ I and the duty ship elder K fixed the two people to change shifts every hour, but in fact, 30-40 minutes to feel that they slow down a little and come up to change each other.
At this time, because the wind and waves are too large, the direction of the ship is basically close to the positive downwind, the ship is slightly deflected in the direction of the wind, it will be deflected by the big waves and the wind blowing on the main sail, so that the ship involuntarily deflects to the windward, until it is stuck in the position of the crosswind, it is very dangerous, once the slight downwind deflection of a little the main sail will accidentally change the ship, the main sail is changed instantaneously, it is easy to shake off the mast and the side support cable... Therefore, when at the helm, it is necessary to concentrate on prejudgment in advance to prevent the ship from deflecting and accidentally crossing the sail... In order to prevent the ship from facing deflection, our forew is fully open, and is tightened into a windward sail shape, fully open because we run at a close to the right angle, the wind of the forelet will be obscured by the main sail, so the forecapillation does not need to shrink the sail at this time, tightening is to provide the largest downward deflection force when the ship is deflected against the wind, the forewer can provide the largest downward deflection force at the first time to make the bow turn downwind, to offset the windward deflection brought by the main sail, but although this is still occasionally accidentally over the sail, there is no distraction when at the helm. When old K changed me to rest, I sat in the cabin and smoked a cigarette while trying to solve the dilemma in front of me.
Because this wind still has to last for six hours, our main sail has been blown in many places broken, the main sail will often accidentally pass the sail in these six hours, it is easy to break the mast, once the mast is broken, hundreds of thousands of losses are not to say, we are so far offshore, with the engine can not run to the shore at all... At this time, I can only combine what I have learned and previous experience to think about how to solve the problems that I have not learned and have not encountered ~ ~ The solution is always more than difficult, the more this situation is more calm, calm thinking will always have a way, I have been sitting in the cabin smoking a cigarette waiting for the opportunity, until I blow again to hear a bang of the main sail and accidentally over the sail, I immediately rushed out of the cabin to let the old K kill the rudder in the opposite direction, let the main sail remain in the middle of the ship, let the ship remain tilted, I climbed the mast to re-tie the secondary shrinkhole on the side of the front sail of the main sail and pull it tightly , and then with a knife cut off the two retracted sail ropes on the back sail side of the main sail, and then let the ship regain course after the main sail on both sides of the rope are tightened, so that the mast crossbar is fixed in the middle will not swing, the shape of the main sail becomes a large bag, can only run downwind, and there is no Bo effort effect, even if the accidental sail is only this piece of bulging main sail back and forth, will not damage the mast, but also make the ship more safe to sail, while the pressure at the helm is also much smaller, so far I can be relieved, Six hours later the wind stopped at dawn... There will be a four-hour windless period, and in four hours we will encounter more than thirty knots of wind, but none of this is much for us.
Old K and I were sorting out the main sails after the wind stopped
During the four-hour windless period, we let Hick dive to clean up the water grass at the bottom of each ship, and then drive the machine to continue sailing, cook and eat to replenish physical strength, and agree that when the big north wind comes after four hours, all the boats stop sailing, floating in place and waiting for the largest north wind to pass and then go, because so large north wind we can not sail effectively with sails, with the engine sailing speed will be very slow and waste oil, oil wasted the rest of the road is more difficult ~ As mentioned earlier, when encountering strong winds, it is safest to run downwind, But after turning the north wind, if we continue to run the downwind then it will be farther and farther away from home, then before these two days in vain, so we do not plan to run the downwind, and the top wind can not run, the forecast shows that although the wind is large, but it is not very large, all the ships lowered the sails in situ and floated in place will not be overturned by the waves, so I let all the boats lower the sails, the boat and the boat space 100 meters, each ship takes turns to send people to the deck to check the location of each ship and the surrounding ships and the wind situation in order to cope, this big north wind blew for fifteen hours before it was small, We were blown back 25 nautical miles by the wind, and when the wind was light, we were going to continue sailing again.
On the 27th, Xiao Xiao was on duty during the day, and old K and I rested for a day before we eased up.
So what should we do if the north wind continues to increase? If the north wind continues to increase, we have two ways to choose, one is to use the engine or the forelet to run the downwind, which is the safest, but it will run a lot of wrong roads, and the other way is to raise the main sail and the forewer again, do the operation of stopping the boat with the top wind, that is, pull the forelet and the main sail to the sides of the ship, and the rudder will die to the side, so that our ship will always hover in the direction of the top wind like a weather vane, so that it will not be crossed and will not be overturned by the waves. However, the disadvantage of this is that the sail is easily blown by the wind, so if the wind really increases to the point where it is impossible to lower the sail and stop the ship, I will let everyone raise the sail and run south to the downwind.
This section involves a lot of expertise, and friends who have not played sailing may not be able to pay attention to some of the operations and situations they are facing. Everyone just needs to remember a little, there is a solid theoretical knowledge of the captain of the sea and experienced navigation can cope with the bigger scene, as long as the typhoon can be dealt with, even if the typhoon is a good captain and a ship in good condition will be a solid barrier for everyone.
Third, self-help in distress
Due to various accidents and emergencies, the danger can not be avoided 100%, and finally the ship really sinks, or the personnel fall into the water, etc. What should I do? This article has more than five thousand words, edited up the card, I do not want to end hastily, because the pre-risk self-help is related to the survival of people, must not be written randomly, so about the ship sinking and personnel falling into the water and other accidents how to save themselves I will write a separate article later to tell in detail.
Remember to pay attention to me ~ I will continue to share interesting sailing experiences for everyone, take you to enjoy the beauty of the sea together, and explain more sailing knowledge to you. If you have any questions that you need to know and don't understand, you can ask questions in the headline comments or private messages. ...... How do I eat on board and how much does it cost to buy a sailboat? Bored on a boat on a long voyage? What procedures are needed to sail abroad... In the next issue, I will tell you what safety equipment is on the sailing ship.