LEARNING CURVE
APRIL 2016 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com 29Lessons learned
Well known for his Boatowner’s Mechanical
and Electrical Manual, Nigel and wife Terrie
have sailed a string of boats called Nada:
a 39ft Ingrid cutter, a Pacifi c Seacraft 40, a
Malö 45 then a Malo 46. They have cruised
northern Europe, the US east coast, Bahamas
and Caribbean, with children Pippin and Paul
(now 29 and 28) helping out as crew.Nigel Calder
■ The boat’s engine should be powerful
enough to drive the head of the boat
through the wind in the worst of
conditions, but Nada’s engine could not.
I subsequently replaced the 30hp engine
with 50hp.■ A powerful wind generator with no
voltage regulator should never be left on
unattended. The batteries were a matter
of moments away from thermal runaway
and potential explosion.■ There is no safe way to board a
violently pitching boat. Try whatever
you can and hope for the best.■ No matter how hard you set an
anchor, how many revs you use to dig
it in, you will not replicate the forces
exerted when the wind pipes up to 40-
50 knots, especially if there is also wave
action. You need to be on board to be
able to guide your boat to safety.■ On the other hand, you have to be
able to relax when off the boat and
accept that, in life, stuff sometimes
happens! In the event, the damage to
me and the boat was minimal – but it
could have been much worse.outboard, offered to get
me back aboard so I could
save her. It looked like it
would be challenging, as
Nada was dragging beam-
on to the steep seas that
had sprung up, with the
leeward side decks awash.
Once we caught up
with Nada, the guys tried
several times to manoeuvre
alongside and get me on
board but every attempt
failed. Finally, they told
me to get into the bow of the cayuco and
came head-on to Nada’s leeward sidedeck.
Just as I was trying to jump off the
bow and onto Nada, we were struck by
a big wave. Instead of jumping off, the
wave sent the cayuco’s bow throughthe lifelines, banging my arm up in
the process. At the time I suspected a
fracture but it turned out that it was just
badly bruised. I landed in a heap on the
sidedeck, the cayuco slid off, and they
blasted off back to shore.
I hauled myself back to the cockpit and
quickly took stock. The wind generator,
which had 6ft diameter blades and no
voltage regulator, was howling like
a banshee with the batteries boiling
vigorously and the whole boat smelling of
sulphuric acid. The biggest slice of luck
I had all day was that the batteries didn’t
blow up. I climbed up, twisted the wind
generator and tied off the blades.
I cranked the engine, which thankfully
fi red up fi rst time, got the anchor up with
the manual windlass and tried to motor
for the shore. Unfortunately our 30hpNigel assembles the 25kg fi sherman
anchor he still carries today – the one
that saved him all those years agoengine was not powerful enough to get the
bow into the wind. After repeated efforts
I gave up and put the CQR back down,
which continued to drag, and then a 20kg
Danforth, which also dragged, and fi nally
our heavy bronze fi sherman anchor, which
stopped us.
I slept little during a very rough
night on the boat while my wife
Terrie had to fi nd someone on the
shore to take in her and the children.
This was Maya country with few
visitors and somewhat primitive
living conditions. Terrie and the
children had a cold night sleeping on
the fl oor with little to eat and Terrie
wondering what had happened to me and
Nada and whether I was even alive.
The following morning the conditions
had settled down. One by one, I got the
anchors up and, with a sigh of relief and
exhaustion, headed for the beach. Terrie
and the children were on the shoreline,
looking anxiously across the lake. They
spotted me as I approached and were
waving excitedly – just as I drove Nada
onto an uncharted rock pile at six knots!
Having dumped me unceremoniously
aboard yesterday, the guys in the cayuco
had to come back out and drag me off.
A year later we returned to Lago de
Izabal with a fi rst generation GPS unit. I
wanted to get a good fi x on that rock pile
so I could add it to my charts. And fi nd
it I did, by running right on top of it and
getting stuck once again! W‘ The wind generator was
howling with the batteries
boiling and the whole boat
smelling of sulphuric acid’
ALL PHOTOS: NIGEL CALDER UNLESS STATED OTHERWISENada, re-rigged as a cutter,
piled up on a similar uncharted
rock pile a few years later during
the course of researching a
cruising guide to CubaNigel pressed into service a cayuco like this one to get back
aboard Nada as she headed sideways fastPHOTO LEFT: NIGEL CALDER