Formal Training

[Norca]

When it comes down to it, it doesn't really matter where You learn, or how You learn, but rather what You learn, and some people never learn, no matter how many courses they take.

[BOAT]

Yup, like I mentioned on another post this morning, last night I watched the worst movie I have ever seen - it was called "All Is Lost" - it was the dumbest thing I ever saw. This guy gets a hole in his boat - but he happens to have more gallons of resin on board than he does fresh water!! So all his radios are washed up cuz they just happened to all be mounted next to the place where the hole was - does he have an ERPB?? NOPE! But he has a nice chartplotter and full 10 foot life raft! (The chartplotter was my clue that the producers were not trying to make a movie depicting sailing in the 70's before we had all that stuff, which made this guy even dumber). Then he spots a storm coming - what does he do? Clear the decks? Get that boom and main off the mast and stowed down below?? Nope, he puts away all his bottles and cans and cleans the kitchen, (that a galley for you guys). So when the storm hits he decides he just has to try and rig a storm jib in the middle of the storm!! And While I watch this idiot falling overboard trying to get a hank on storm jib rigged in 30 foot seas (like where is he going in that?) I am laughing because he has a perfectly good furled headsail right there on the forestay!!@ Two feet of that unfurled and he is underway! BUT NO, he's gotta put out a HANK ON storm jib in the middle of a storm!! And what the hull does he need a sail up for anyway in the first place when he's not even going to be on the helm??!! So after he turtles the mast breaks because he left boom, main, and rigging all up. So he cuts away the rigging to let it drift away instead of stuffing the soggy sails in the hole in his boat. So, his boat sank for some reason (I can't remember why) a boat that could take a turtle would probably not sink and I thought he could keep it afloat but hey, it's a movie - right, so - then he ends up in a life raft - at that point you really are in trouble - ending up in a life raft out in the ocean is really bad. If you ever expect to be ending up in a life raft out a sea then you really should have some advanced training in how to survive something like that. The Navy guys are taught stuff like that, The whole movie was crazy and a good example of what stupidity on the seas looks like.

[Russ]

Yup, like I mentioned on another post this morning, last night I watched the worst movie I have ever seen - it was called "All Is Lost" - it was the dumbest thing I ever saw. This guy gets a hole in his boat - but he happens to have more gallons of resin on board than he does fresh water!! So all his radios are washed up cuz they just happened to all be mounted next to the place where the hole was - does he have an ERPB?? NOPE! But he has a nice chartplotter and full 10 foot life raft! (The chartplotter was my clue that the producers were not trying to make a movie depicting sailing in the 70's before we had all that stuff, which made this guy even dumber). Then he spots a storm coming - what does he do? Clear the decks? Get that boom and main off the mast and stowed down below?? Nope, he puts away all his bottles and cans and cleans the kitchen, (that a galley for you guys). So when the storm hits he decides he just has to try and rig a storm jib in the middle of the storm!! And While I watch this idiot falling overboard trying to get a hank on storm jib rigged in 30 foot seas (like where is he going in that?) I am laughing because he has a perfectly good furled headsail right there on the forestay!!@ Two feet of that unfurled and he is underway! BUT NO, he's gotta put out a HANK ON storm jib in the middle of a storm!! And what the hull does he need a sail up for anyway in the first place when he's not even going to be on the helm??!! So after he turtles the mast breaks because he left boom, main, and rigging all up. So he cuts away the rigging to let it drift away instead of stuffing the soggy sails in the hole in his boat. So, his boat sank for some reason (I can't remember why) a boat that could take a turtle would probably not sink and I thought he could keep it afloat but hey, it's a movie - right, so - then he ends up in a life raft - at that point you really are in trouble - ending up in a life raft out in the ocean is really bad. If you ever expect to be ending up in a life raft out a sea then you really should have some advanced training in how to survive something like that. The Navy guys are taught stuff like that, The whole movie was crazy and a good example of what stupidity on the seas looks like.

Worst Movie? I saw a preview for Dumb and Dumber. I doubt it.

We enjoyed the movie. A movie with 6 spoken words is interesting.
YES, there were plenty of seamanship flubs. Did you notice the VHF protocol? The producers didn't know much about sailing or ocean travel in small boats. I found myself wanting to yell at the screen at some of the stupidity also. You made some good observations that many experienced sailors found.

Was reading about how they filmed it. Used several boats including the one they sank. Redford got good and sick during filming.

Try "Life of Pi" Great movie with lots of fantasy and interesting cinematography.

[Russ]

RE: All is Lost

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars ... ew-sailors

[NiceAft]

When it comes down to it, it doesn't really matter where You learn, or how You learn, but rather what You learn, and some people never learn, no matter how many courses they take.

You are absolutely correct

That being said, the courses are needed for the rest of us let's hope that WE outnumber THEM

Ray

[BOAT]

RE: All is Lost

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars ... ew-sailors

Wow, I missed a lot - I totally missed that the whole reason he went back to the container was to retrieve his storm anchor! That makes him even DUMBER in the storm! I thought he had no storm anchor! Even my wife who knows she would never try to sail a storm alone if I were injured or something said something: when she was watching the storm part said: "Why is that old guy trying to sail? Why doesn't he just throw out a storm anchor tied to the the bow and let the bow take on all the waves while he sits below nice and dry??" I said, "he does not have a storm anchor - he left it on the container"

I was glad to hear that my wife knew what to do in a storm if I were injured or dead.

Then now you tell me that he DID have a storm anchor?? Wow, I really did miss a lot in that movie. I don't understand what the VHF protocol part is - what did he do wrong there? The PAN PAN thing? I don't think that would have been a fatal error.

[Russ]

I don't understand what the VHF protocol part is - what did he do wrong there? The PAN PAN thing? I don't think that would have been a fatal error.

Distress call made by Hollywood:
"This is the Virginia Jean. SOS call. Over"
Sorry, guys, but nobody calls "SOS" anymore. It's "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!"
To the topic of this thread, formal training teaches how to make a distress call.

What kind of an idiot sails alone without an EPIRB but thought it through to carry spare fiberglass cloth and resin.

Most modern VHFs are submersible for 1 meter for 30 minutes. Why does this guy travel with a circa 1980 VHF? He opens up his portable satellite phone and his VHF radio, rinses them in fresh water, and leaves them to dry. Once they're dry, he focuses exclusively on trying to get the VHF (range maybe 30 miles max) to work and ignores the much more useful sat phone (range global) completely. Say what?

He hears a VHF transmission on his radio, but can't transmit. He climbs the mast to check the antenna, which turns out to be badly broken and disconnected. How could the radio possibly receive a transmission with the antenna like that? How was the antenna broken? Did the container somehow fly up there and whack it before shooting back down into the hull amidships?

During the two storms he sails through during the film, we notice that Mystery Man has a habit of always closing the companionway completely when he is below, but always leaves it wide open when he is on deck. When his boat is rolled and completely capsized with the companionway wide open, how is it that very little water gets below?

He leaves the raft tethered to the boat and falls asleep. Shouldn't he be worried that the boat will drag the raft down with it?

Just how does Mystery Man stay so dry all the time? I've read lots of survival in life raft stories, it aint a dry place. (Read Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea)

Mystery Man, since losing his electronics, has been brushing up on his celestial navigation. Once adrift in his raft he displays uncanny ability. He takes a sun sight, looks in a book, stares at his (perfectly dry) chart for a few seconds, and makes a mark at his location--no timepiece, no parallel rules, no dividers, no math, no worksheet required. Where can I learn to do this?

The Biggest Mystery, of course, is why didn't the filmmakers hire someone to advise them on what ocean sailing is really like?

[Catigale]

I like that they didn't hire an advisor because it meant I could rent it for 2.99 for 6 viewers who spent 2 hours yelling at him fit bring so stupid. Best family night at movies ever....

[dlandersson]

Thas'a why I depend on youtube.

When it comes down to it, it doesn't really matter where You learn, or how You learn, but rather what You learn, and some people never learn, no matter how many courses they take.

[BOAT]

I have had almost zero training on radios.

[Norca]

There are a lot of good videos on youtube on what not to do
This guy obviously have all the formal training to be a captain, there are strict requirements to pilot a ship like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ocTTkH ... freload=10

[Norca]

I am not saying training is not good, I believe it should be mandatory to have some form of training before taking a boat out on the water, there are too many morons out there.
But in the end, it is all about attitude, and some people just don't care about safety. Their own or the safety of others around them.
At least if there were some minimum requirements of knowledge, it would eliminate some of the plain ignorance of we see out there.

[BOAT]

I know how to do most stuff that was done back in the 70's, and have just picked up on the whole GPS thing over the past few years - but I am still not versed in a lot of the "new" stuff like VHF radios MMSI radio numbers and AIS stuff and all the things you would expect me to be stupid about if I were a guy still stuck in the 70's. (I still carry a chart on board I am embarrassed to say). And my whole idea of the radio is I just monitor channel 16 and that's about it. If someone calls out my boat by description i just answer: "Hear I am" or "Affirmative" and that's it. No one has given me any grief yet.

If I were in big trouble I would probably just talk in the microphone and say "Hey! I'm in big trouble and my boat is sinking and I need help now!" and broadcast my coordinates until someone came to help me. I never thought that no one would rescue me if I did not say it right. There is a red panic button on my radio under a little door and I have an MMSI number - maybe I should just push that button if I'm sinking?

I always assumed I was on my own out there.

[Russ]

I know how to do most stuff that was done back in the 70's, and have just picked up on the whole GPS thing over the past few years - but I am still not versed in a lot of the "new" stuff like VHF radios MMSI radio numbers and AIS stuff and all the things you would expect me to be stupid about if I were a guy still stuck in the 70's. (I still carry a chart on board I am embarrassed to say). And my whole idea of the radio is I just monitor channel 16 and that's about it. If someone calls out my boat by description i just answer: "Hear I am" or "Affirmative" and that's it. No one has given me any grief yet.

If I were in big trouble I would probably just talk in the microphone and say "Hey! I'm in big trouble and my boat is sinking and I need help now!" and broadcast my coordinates until someone came to help me. I never thought that no one would rescue me if I did not say it right. There is a red panic button on my radio under a little door and I have an MMSI number - maybe I should just push that button if I'm sinking?

I always assumed I was on my own out there.

Many states REQUIRE a boating education certificate to operate a boat. It's just a good idea in general. When I lived in NJ, I taught the Power Squadron boating course. Amazing how little boaters know before heading out.

VHF protocol is simple, however I used to hear so many numskulls misusing it. Ch 16 is a good place to start. MMSI is a fantastic feature. http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/vhf-basics.asp

[BOAT]

No documents required here.