Well, I like Doug, so I won't comment.

All boats have limitations, but a sailor doesn't have to be limited by his
or her boat.

"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...
I can see you are aware of the limitations of the vessel you own. That
is a good sign. Now take that fool DSK whon thinks a Bolger micro with
open bow(!) and ustayed rig is a better seaboat than a Cornish crabber.
With ideas like that it's not surising he's run away from sailing. He
probably thinks that 50' from shore is offshore!

Cheers MC


Jonathan Ganz wrote:

Given that I've only had my boat out the Gate once and given that
it's only 20 feet, I'm not sure I can say that it's seaworthy as far
as offshore goes. In fact, I'm sure it isn't. It is capable of safe
operation in the bay, however. I carry all required safety
equipment, and I have lots of extra good-idea items also. Here,
the CG is only interested in you if you're either boarded on a
spot inspection or get into trouble. There is little, if any
consideration
given to prevention. You would not believe some of the vessels
that transit the bay no less leave the bay. People die and boats
capsize and sink quite regularly in the bay itself. Many of the
reasons are alcohol related, but a lot are either due to stupidity or
a crap boat (well, I guess those are the same thing).

"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...

It seems to me that there is not much idea around here as to what
constitutes seaworthiness. Here in NZ the conditions are more
challenging than in many other places and to sail offshore requires
great attention to detail and sound knowlege of your vessel. Many people
here might consider their vessels "seaworthy", but let me remind you
that seworthiness is a state of preparedness and safely for major
passages and suitabiliuty for storm conditions.

Here in NZ we have to get vessels inspected every 2 years for their
seaworthiness and without a CAT1 clearance the vessel is not allowed to
leave (if owned by a NZ resident). The inspection takes up to ~2 hours
and the inspector also questions the skipper on hisd seamanship (it
helps if you already have qualifications like Ocean yactmaster or even
Coastal skipper) for it is also the application his knowlege that makes
the vessel seaworthy (or not). In many cases vessel arrive here from
overseas which are patently unseaworthy and these days they are allowed
to leave -after a strong talking to by the inspector as to why their
vessels are unsuitable and what will likely happen to them in bad
conditions. For that reason, it would seem that many US and EU vessels
arrive but never leave.

When the real sailor thinks about his vessel he thinks about how she
will cope if hit by storm force winds in the open sea if he wishes to
call his vessel seaworthy. If the vessel is not seworthy then it is just
a toy for amusement on nice fair wind days. The question is, to you
have a toy or a seaworthy vessel? How many people here even have a strom
jib?

Cheers MC