Welcome to the forum Phil.

Re the situation you described. If there is more than one person aboard I think it is incumbent on the owner/master to ensure that at least one other person aboard is knowledgeable and capable enough to bring the vessel back to port.

Certainly having someone who knows how to put out a radio call for assistance is the minimum.

I feel your pain. A bang on the coccyx is no fun at all. No Christmas sailing then????

Welcome to the forum Phil, what was the yacht type?

washedup said..
Hi all, I have been enjoying reading these pages for a while and would like to say G'day. Also relay an incident in which I was injured while sailing off Mooloolaba yesterday. Having my elderly parents and 15 year old daughter on board we were having a great sail skipping along at 6 knots in about 15 of breaze. Around 1.5 meter sea. Going below to grab a beer, with my right hand gripping th post on the port side as the boat fell into a trough, I lost balance somehow became airborne, landing on my back heavily on top of the galley sink. Fortunately although in a fair amount of pain I was still able to to bring the boat home. Exrays today are clear though I was concerned I had broken my coxics. Laying up today contemplating the doctors prognosis of two weeks until the bruising subsidies I get to thinking. What if I was unable to continue to sail the boat. In my brief safety briefing I didn't instruct anyone how to use the radio and if you're out of mobile service it would be a serious situation for novice crew to get help. What do you guy's think
Cheers Phil

Sorry. No sympathy from me. You are the only person on board so called capable of handling the boat and you go and consume alcohol and suffer a careless accident. Sounds like negligence if not gross negligence.

Personally I belive a few coldies while sailing on a nice day is satisfactory. Obviously your accident was just sheer bad luck and not related to your alchol consumption. Hope all is well and this incident does not deflect your future sailing.
one tip I would recommend is to put some instructions next to your marine radio on how to call a pan pan and which channels to use.
Cheers
southace

Crusoe said..
Gee Phil, I didn't think you were looking for sympathy. I thought you were just sharing your experience so that we might learn from your experience instead of having to go though a similar experience to learn the same stuff. I wish I was game enough to put all my learning experiences on the forum. I even hate thinking about some of them, let alone putting them into print. Thanks again for posting. Cheers

get a life!

frant said..

washedup said..
Hi all, I have been enjoying reading these pages for a while and would like to say G'day. Also relay an incident in which I was injured while sailing off Mooloolaba yesterday. Having my elderly parents and 15 year old daughter on board we were having a great sail skipping along at 6 knots in about 15 of breaze. Around 1.5 meter sea. Going below to grab a beer, with my right hand gripping th post on the port side as the boat fell into a trough, I lost balance somehow became airborne, landing on my back heavily on top of the galley sink. Fortunately although in a fair amount of pain I was still able to to bring the boat home. Exrays today are clear though I was concerned I had broken my coxics. Laying up today contemplating the doctors prognosis of two weeks until the bruising subsidies I get to thinking. What if I was unable to continue to sail the boat. In my brief safety briefing I didn't instruct anyone how to use the radio and if you're out of mobile service it would be a serious situation for novice crew to get help. What do you guy's think
Cheers Phil

Sorry. No sympathy from me. You are the only person on board so called capable of handling the boat and you go and consume alcohol and suffer a careless accident. Sounds like negligence if not gross negligence.

get a life Frant! another who judges wiithout knowing Jack.

brizzydave said..
Who the f@ck is this frant person.

Grizzly Dave. Did over 20,000 nautical miles under sail in last two years.. Deliveries and offshore tuition. Afraid washed up made some serious rookie mistakes. I am just telling it like it is.

There is a big difference between having a beer and being in charge of a vessel while drunk.
I don't drink at work and I would expect that in your 20,000 miles of delivering and tutoring (at work) then you wouldn't drink either.
A bit judgmental don't you think.

He had his elderley parents and 15 year old daughter on board for God sake. Just because he mentioned "a beer"....i think there's a good chance that we shouldn't even be discussing alcohol as such. If he said he was grabbing the next six pack of op rumbos and a towel for the stripper I'd be thinking hmmmm danger (and what a legend) .

I guess that where you find love for a sport,pastime or anything really. You will also find passion. This is obviously evident here in what we have seen posted over the last couple of days. Frant, you have a point, and your experience is valued. I had an accident because i made a mistake. If i didn't go below for that beer, or refrained completely all may still be well. Perhaps though you tacking is better developed than your tact. The washup from the weekend; well it appears that the old man doesn't want to sail with me anymore. He says he would rather go on brizzydaves boat. Dad reckons he's having much more fun than me with all that rum and strippers. Hang on dad wait for meeeee.... Seabird. Mate your so lucky you didn't get sliced up by the prop, now if that was my ex missus at the tiller. She would've backed up a couple of times untill there was lots of blood in the water and made absolutely sure that it was mine

. Hope you recover ok.

Seems that the O.P. Asked for an opinion not advice. Some people seem to believe that I am not entitled to an opinion. They certainly missed the point and if advise was asked for then I wouldn't offer on the forum for free. In my opinion it was not the alcohol but poor pre trip planning. The op in my humble opinion was actually lucky that he fell on his arse whilst climbing up the companionway hatch. Had he actually consumed that beer and gone aft to take a piss and "lost" his balance when hit by a " freak" wave and gone overboard what then. His mum crying out oh dear and daughter screaming come back daddy. Clearly they were all well briefed in MOB drill. And yes suddenly that one beer coupled with a few mouthfuls of salt water becomes a lethal cocktail. As a 15 year old I pulled a club member from the water in front of his two young children. The coroners report death by aspiration in his own vomit from just a few beers during lunch. Flat calm day and he was rowing out with his kids in a tender. The wash from a passing ship was enough to swamp the dinghy. So go right ahead fellas and express your opinions but don't trash the opinions of others who might just be a little wiser than you.
cheers frant

Any one seen the next topic yet
To all who visit these data pages
Merry Xmas and a wonderful sailing year to all

I'm a knob head I know. :-) merry Christmas guys. Really nice to read and learn the whole year. Hope the new boat is working out good spongey.

He he lol. Thanks southace. Hope you have a good one too. Doubt I could fit the oars into the rowlocks at the moment.

Mmmmm..

In NSW it is illegal to drive a car while drinking alcohol and/or have an alcohol level of .05 or above.

Funny thing is, this law also applies to those driving or in command of boats [of any type] in NSW.

On page 59 of the December issue of Afloat it is confirmed that this applies ONLY while underway.

So if Washedup had drunk that beer in NSW he would have been committing an offence.
As to his injury I can only extend my sympathies on his bad luck.