Fire! Or just an old starter motor…

I experienced my first, what seemed to be initially, on board fire a fortnight ago and it was certainly educational.  I hope it will be the last.  I was giving some own boat tuition to the owner on his four year old Beneteau, and we were coming into Ocean Village Marina in Southampton a little before midnight having completed a night pilotage exercise.  The owner had piloted us up to the entrance to the marina and taken over the helm.  There were four other crew on board, and they were ready with warps and a couple of wandering fenders as we came in to the outside visitors’ pontoon.  The wind was coming from the south west, so it was on our port quarter, and when we were literally 10 yards from the pontoon, thin blackish grey smoke started rising up from the companionway.  The owner saw the smoke first and shouted “Fire, fire, fire”.  I told him to get the boat alongside, whilst I tackled the fire.  Luckily I knew there was a fire extinguisher at the base of the companionway steps, and taking a deep breath, I went down below, grabbed the fire extinguisher and opened up the smallest side hatch to the engine compartment.  More thin blackish grey smoke came out, but not much, and there were no signs of any flames, luckily.  By now the engine had stopped and the smoke became less, so we opened up all the portlights and got a good breeze going through the boat and the smoke cleared pretty quickly.   One of the crew had the presence of mind to grab a fire extinguisher from the cockpit locker, and had waited at the top of the companionway in case it was needed.  No doubt readers will think that our actions were precipitate, but there were a number of relevant factors:

• The smoke was not all that thick and it did not appear to me to be fire driven; luckily I was correct in this assumption.
• The engine had not died on us and we assumed that the fire was not fuel fed.
• The automatic fire extinguisher had not gone off, so the heat was less than one would have expected.

The owner then carried out a detailed examination of the engine and found that the starter motor was extremely hot.  We called in a marine engineer the next day and the diagnosis was simple.  The bendix on the starter motor had failed to disengage from the fly wheel, and with the engine running the starter motor became a second alternator and overheated to such an extent that it produced the clouds of smoke.  We were lucky that it happened so close to the marina, and with plenty of light to see the nature of the smoke.

Two further interesting things came out of this incident.  The smoke alarms in the cabins either side of the engine did not go off until well after the smoke had filled the cabins, which made me think they were just about useless.  I suspect that in this field “you gets what you pays for”, and more expensive alarms than those sold at your average DIY stores may be a worthwhile investment.  The second point is what the marine engineer said, and he had been on a special “starter motor” course.  He told me that this was not an unusual occurrence, and he advised that starter motors should be taken off engines and the lubrication checked to ensure that the bendix worked properly.  He recommended that this was done annually.  I wonder what other marine engineers think of this advice.

We sailed from Yarmouth that evening and had a good SW wind the whole way, so we managed a reach for most of the trip.  Those of you who sail in the Solent well know that there are unlit buoys on the starboard side of Southampton water which need to be avoided.   This is where it is important that you have some navigational tool to ensure you go nowhere near these buoys; either a transit or a clearing bearing is the answer, and I believe that the latter would be the better in these circumstances.   Some might use a clearing depth contour line, but I feel the clearing bearing is simpler and needs less calculation.   The other thing I do is to have someone up in the bow with a powerful spotlight, to light up any unlit buoys which may be on the route.  All very well, I hear some of you saying, but when beating and the weather is bloody, it is not much fun.  All I say in answer to that is, “What is more important, a bit of comfort or the safety of the boat and crew?”

If there are any of you out there who are not sure about how to set up and use a clearing bearing, email me and I will send you a little brief on how to do this. My contact details are available on my webiste: Arrow Yacht Enterprises

Man overboard procedure

Whilst preparing for a Yachtmaster exam we practised man overboard procedures under power and sail. The helm’s reactions will depend much on the prevailing conditions but I am a great believer in heaving to almost immediately the cry of “Man/fender/bucket overboard” goes up. Because of the design of Arrow, her size and keel and rudder configuration, it is very easy to heave to and steer straight back to the casualty in the water. It is also easy for a quick witted crew to reach down and grab the casualty with a boat hook or, if it were a real someone, to get a line to them. If the helm has misjudged the heaving to and getting back, the casualty’s position can be marked with a danbuoy and horseshoe buoy in the water nearby, and I have 11 cockpit cushions which can then be tossed overboard to give some form of a line back to somewhere reasonably close to the casualty. After the marking of the location the sails can be doused, and the casualty approached under power from a down wind position.

I always maintain that it is more difficult to recover someone from the water than it is to get back to them. Much will depend on the circumstances, but it is possible that a casualty could be hyperventilating and almost unable to help himself. So have you owners and skippers a plan for these circumstances? What would you do if the casualty in the water was unconscious? This is the worst situation in bad weather, and I keep a dry suit on board, which I reckon I can get on in about two minutes. Once hove to, and hopefully the casualty secured alongside, I plan to go into the water to get him out with either a tribuckle or a 6:1 tackle which is permanently rigged on a spinnaker or mizzen halyard ready for such an emergency. Some of you would argue that I am potentially doubling the problem; my criterion is to have a plan to recover somebody as quickly as possible. What is your plan? Have you thought it through in detail? Will your wife be able to get you out or just thankful that she increased the sum assured on your life policy last week (Mrs Sticky is quite busy at the moment!)?

Some thoughts after a Yachtmaster Assessment

During a Yachtmaster preparation course a few months back, two of the three candidates were well up to the required standard and both passed. The third came to me with misgivings on the Wednesday, saying that he was not happy about his boat handling and thought he should have more practice before taking the assessment. I thought he was up to the required standard and told him so. I seem to have given the chap confidence, so he said he would have a go at the exam. We had, in fairness to this candidate, some strong winds during the Monday and Tuesday of the preparation week and it had not been easy to park the boat on finger pontoons with a strong cross wind; but the other two had managed successfully. The third candidate had made two Atlantic crossings and had spent most of his time in either the Mediterranean or Caribbean, he had been crew and mate of a large charter yacht, but had rarely been behind the helm for close quarter manoevres, and was understandably a little lacking in confidence in strong tide and wind conditions.

The examiner arrived on board and candidate 3 decided to be first with the assessment. A safety briefing was given, followed by preparing a passage plan to take us from Gosport to Cowes, setting off about 9.30 pm. The examiner ordered that the GPS be turned off.

The first point I would like to emphasize here is that a Yachtmaster is not expected to buoy hop down the Solent to get from A to B. Reduction of soundings exercises should be carried out to ascertain the rise of tide at a particular time. A Yachtmaster then can see if there is sufficient water over a shallow which will allow him to cut a corner safely and, if needs be, save time on passage. He should then be able to shape a course to his destination, providing there is sufficient water over the shallows. By all means use buoys to help on position finding and to help keep a check on progress. The trouble with candidate 3 was that he followed the ferry route out of Portsmouth harbour when we were close to HW; he took as his departure point one of the port hand buoys close to the small boat channel, but failed to make a log entry of time, log reading and course steered. Not being familiar with the Solent, the candidate then started heading for the north beacon off Wootton Creek thinking it was north Sturbridge, the two are in fact nearly three miles apart. Shortly after that he admitted he was lost.

I have always encouraged any navigator who is lost or confused to stop the boat and gain time to gather his thoughts. This can be by heaving to, putting down the anchor or taking down the sails and motoring into wind or tide so that there is the least amount of speed over the ground. This the candidate sensibly did, but was a trifle nonplussed with being lost and having difficulty in locating lights which could be recognized on the chart.

See my tips on the man overboard procedure we practiced.

GPS accuracy

Are you happy with your GPS accuracy? If you have doubts, it may be worthwhile checking whether you have the correct datum entered in your set. A useful accuracy check is to compare GPS ranges, for example, between waypoints with some on the chart.

Mooring - ropes

When mooring to a quay or pontoon be aware that others may need to use the pontoon as well. How often do we come to moor and find a mass of rope on the cleats? Bowlines or round turns and half hitches should be used to make fast to the cleat, ring or bollard on shore, and the bights made fast on board, each one on a cleat, post or whatever there is to hand AND each one able to be eased under load.

Follow the maxim that there should be one rope for each job with the ends made fast on the pontoon/quay or whatever.  This way you will have shown consideration for others and been seamanlike.

Check your lifejackets

Boat owners, now is the time to check your lifejackets. Check that those made to inflate automatically on immersion, have clean, unpierced cylinders with no rust on them, that the inflation device has not been damaged is ready for use and that the cylinder is screwed in properly. Check also that the hand triggered firing mechanism works with the cylinder removed and that the automatic capsule is clean and unfired. The seams should be checked for damage, does the light work and is it properly secured? Are all the webbing, buckles, whistles et al in good order? Try blowing up the lifejacket by mouth and leaving it for a couple of days to see if leaks have developed during the past season. Rinse the jacket in fresh water if salt water has been near it.

Going up the mast

Do you ever have to go up the mast? On a recent 5 week delivery trip from Levkas to Dartmouth I had to go up four times, three in harbour and once at sea when a hand swage made four days before broke.

Have you ever tried this in the relevant calm of the harbour?

Do you wear a safety harness as well as the bosun’s chair?

How many crew do you have on winches, winding and tailing? Ideally it should be three, one pair to take you up and a third dealing with the reserve line to your harness.

How do you take up the necessary tools?

Some bosun’s chairs have pockets for tools and this can be convenient; but if you fail to take up all you need when you first go up and you attach a bucket which can be lowered for forgotten items, you do at least save yourself and perhaps, more importantly, your crew the chore of being lowered and raised a second time. Always make sure your crew stand clear once you are working with tools on the mast or rigging; a serious accident will be avoided should a tool be dropped by mistake.

When sailing, think boom

When sailing, think boom.  The boom can be a lethal instrument, and particularly if you have a boat where it can sweep, at head height or less, across the cockpit. Always be aware of what this can do, encourage your crew to keep their centres of gravity down low and be aware of what can happen to the boom. Be particularly aware of the possibility of an accidental gybe; if you have inexperienced helmsman, rig a preventer just in case; even if the helm is experienced there may be conditions which make a preventer a safe measure.  I understand that there is a yachtsman’s crash helmet now on the market, what next? An hydraulic stair lift to get you up and down the companionway?

Moving around the boat

If moving around a sailing boat, and if she is heeled to leeward, always move forward on the higher or windward side.  You are further from the water, if hooked on with your harness and you do fall, you have further to go and are less likely to fall overboard.  If you do slip there are more things to grab hold of on your way and therefore a better chance of you avoiding a dunking. If going forward on the leeward side everything is the other way round.  Skippers, how often do you brief your crew to work on the windward side of your boat?

A few guidelines for making a safe landfall

I helped with the delivery of a motor boat a while back from London to Salcombe. We were very lucky with the weather, having a high pressure system over Ireland for the whole trip and had four days of sunshine and light winds. The owner had kept his boat on the Thames for some time and had not fitted a fixed VHF set, so we were dependent on a hand held device. This radio served us well for talking to harbour masters and marinas when within 2 or 3 miles of a destination port and berths were arranged at all overnight stops.

We failed to receive, however, the weather forecast from Dover Coast Guard whilst on passage from Ramsgate to Eastbourne: HMCG received us and we them on channel 16 but for some reason we failed to transmit sufficiently on channel 67 for Dover to hear us. Whether the antenna was high enough, or not, I do not know but owners making such passages should seriously consider an emergency antenna fitted to the highest part of the boat or fitting a permanent VHF radio with a good long whip antenna to give the extra range.

On this particular trip we had friends who had come along to reinforce their navigation skills and it was brought home to me how many people are so reliant on GPS, almost to the exclusion of everything else. GPS is an excellent electronic aid, it saved my bacon in May when on passage from Le Havre to Cherbourg in 50m or so of visibility; but it should be used in conjunction with the well tried practices we have been taught with paper charts. Here are a few guidelines for making a safe landfall:

• Do not necessarily use the waypoints at the harbour entrances, but anticipate the direction from which you will be approaching and chose a waypoint which will help you to “eyeball” your way in. See my previous tip on approaching harbour.
• Maintain a plot of your position at regular intervals; the intervals will depend on your speed. As you get closer to land it is worthwhile plotting these positions more regularly. If you can, compare these positions with an EP plot, a sounding and, better still, a three bearing fix. A dead reckoning track alongside your GPS track will give you an idea of the strength and the direction of the current.
• Try to visualize what the land is going to look like at your arrival point and check to see if your imagination and reality are the same. Not all that easy.
• If you have the slightest doubt about your position or the course into your destination, slow down, stop engines or heave to. It may even be necessary to anchor if you are really unsure of your position. Re-check your navigation plan and cross check with everything available – radar, compass fixing and soundings.