Yachting Monthly – September 2019

THIS

MONTH’S

EXPERTS

instead? Many yachts are fitted with a rotary

switch (Battery 1 – Battery 2 – Both) which

solves the problem. If you don’t have this,

imagine entering an unfamiliar harbour, at

night, in a stiff breeze and ask yourself what

you would do if the starter motor refused to

play. For years I kidded myself that I would

use jump leads, but came to realise that the

chances of remembering which leads to

connect to which terminal and in what order

was simply not practical. One solution is to

install a ‘cross-connect’ isolating switch

which connects the domestic batteries to

the starter motor. You may need to study

the boat’s wiring diagram or get some expert

advice, as I did, to ensure that you don’t

cause too much damage!

Andy Du Port

Battery cross-connect

If your engine-starting battery should fail (and

they do) could you use the domestic batteries

Some years ago, we managed

to moor our motor-sailer on the

outside of a trot against the harbour

wall in Port St Mary on the Isle of

Man. The wind had risen from a

moan to a shriek and had us all

running shore lines to the pier –

noisy, bumpy but hopefully secure.

But not for long. At the height of the

storm two fishing boats came round

the pier head and simply pushed

between the inside boat and the

harbour wall. Loud roars of protest

had no effect, so after much

adjustment of lines, we all settled

down to make the best of it. The

wind kept on rising and where

possible, crew were sitting on the

leeward deck of their boat, bracing

legs against the yacht they were

being pushed against by the force

of the wind. It could hardly have

been worse, or so we thought.

Out of nowhere on that wild night

came a sail training vessel (name of

boat and skipper withheld). She

ploughed into us, stanchions ripped

out, rigging torn from chainplates,

rubber tires just about preventing

damage to the hull. More yelling,

ropes flung and blown away, more

ropes this time finding something

to tie onto. Chaos reigned. The

crew of the trainer were wearing

duffle coats and wellies, clearly

not sea-cadets.

We found out later they were a

group from a young farmers’ club.

Up to this point my wife had been

keeping the children occupied,

reading stories and trying to block

out the mayhem on deck. She was

stressed, end-of-tether tired and

understandably frightened. So it

was not a wise moment for the

master of the offending vessel to

send one of his people across on

a goodwill mission with a cup of tea

and a wodge of cake. ‘Skipper’s

compliments missus. He wants to

know if you’d like something for

your nerves ?’

Now here’s the tip. When things

are bad, there are certain actions

that just go to make them worse

and this was a classic. The reply

is unprintable. So take a lesson

from this, judge your moment well

and be careful not to antagonise

anyone who is at his or her limits.

Brian Black

Peace off ering

Boat checks when leaving

Driving home after sailing is not the

time to be worrying if you turned

off the gas, pumped the bilges or

closed the seacocks. We have a

check-off list which covers all this

and more: battery isolators off,

windows and hatches closed and

secured, ensign and burgee

lowered, cockpit lockers locked

and so on. We include things to

take home such as wallet, house

keys and phone. It doesn’t take

long and you can enjoy the drive!

Andy Du Port

An

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du

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SKIPPERS’

TIPS

THE KNOWLEDGE

JULIAN

ANDERSON

Julian is special

projects manager

at DSM Group. He

previously spent 18

years at Marlow Ropes

and 22 years at

Gleistein in the UK.

BRIAN BLACK

Brian has survived nine

Arctic seasons since

the mid 1990s. Using

his expert skills, he’s

often getting himself

out of tricky situations.

HARRY DEKKERS

Harry is an RYA

Yachtmaster Offshore

and has sailed solo

around the UK. He was

the Commanding

Officerof the Royal

Netherlands Navy’s

sail training vessel.

ANDY DU PORT

Andy is a former RN

navigating officer and

RYA cruising instructor.

He also edited Reeds

Nautical Almanac

for five years.

& YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Send your questions to our experts at [email protected] for the chance to win a bottle of Chilgrove gin

Andy’s own cross-connect

switch for his battery

Find the right time for a peace offering

if you bump someone else’s boat

Checking stopcocks is just one

of the tasks to complete

before leaving your boat