Insubordination

We have had a bit of an issue here. Our crew member has gone stir crazy with cabin fever. After four days of being cooped up in the boat, he decided that we needed to move and go somewhere new. I told him that it was not safe and we were not moving, so he became recalcitrant.

"I'm getting in that dinghy and going to shore, like it or not. I am not gong to stay on this boat one more day!"

He got in the dinghy and battled 30 knot winds. The 5 mile journey to land took him 3.5 hours! Since he was going to shore, we gave him money to buy us SIM cards for the Bahamas so that we can use our phones while we are here and to give his journey a purpose.

He left the boat at noon, made it to shore at 3:30pm, bought the SIM cards before 4pm.

He took with him a radio and was contacting us the whole way there, even when me made landfall. When he bought the cards, he radioed us back on the boat. Then the radio contact ceased.

At around 11pm, one of his friends contacts us via our sat phone to inform us that "He is going to stay the night on a catamaran at shore and will return in the morning at first light."

He has a bit of a drinking and "party" problem. He can go a period of time with no drinking, but the moment he hits land, he will find the party and indulge himself in every mind altering form possible.

It should be no wonder that he fell off the radar as soon as he made it to land. The problem with this whole situation is the following:

I gave him a direct order to not go to shore because it was not safe to take a 7 foot hard dinghy to shore across 5 miles of rough seas. Our 45 foot sailboat is bobbing and rolling in the anchorage as the winds tore down on us, and the seas were so big that he had trouble getting into the dinghy as it was thrashing around so violently.

Going to shore was in direct violation of the order I gave him, and shows that he has no regard for authority or personal safety.

Not coming back from shore that afternoon shows that he doesn't care about returning our dinghy. Should something happen on the boat and we need the dinghy to rectify it, we don't have it because he is busy getting drunk and high on shore!

My big concern with this situation is when out in the ocean and a gale comes up on us, we will heave to. Should we have encountered these winds which have kept us anchored for so many days at sea, we would have spent the same amount of time hove to.

Will he one day insist that we start sailing again? Will he respect my authority over the boat when I say we are staying hove to?

Roles on a Boat

When you and your spouse are cruising, it is easy to share the roles and make decisions as a team. You guys are cruising together so it is best to make decisions together that way you both get to experience the cruising life you have been dreaming of!

When you start bringing other people onto the boat, a clear hierarchy needs to be established. Someone needs to be captain, and they are the one that makes the last call on what is going to happen.

Maddie and I both talk things over, but as far as the crew is concerned, I am captain and and what I say is the final word.

This is really important when it comes to storm tactics, navigation, and sail choice. I know the weather and what is coming, so I make the sail choices that are going to reflect the weather at hand, and I plot the course that is safest for the boat and crew.

The crew may not understand how weather systems work, or care about damage that can happen on the boat. To them, if you crash into a reef and sink, it's a bad day and they will just find another boat to crew on. You, on the other hand, just lost everything!

This became very important when we were anchored in the Berry Islands, Bahamas, for over five days straight. The crew member we had on board wanted us to raise anchor and go somewhere else because he was tired of waiting here. The only way in and out of the anchorage is through a narrow and rocky inlet where massive waves smash into the rocks and turn into high flying spray. If anything were to fail on the boat while you are transiting that inlet, you would promptly be on those rocks and bits of your boat would be in that spray!

If you let the crew call the shots, you will risk everything to appease them. This is why it is imperative that you call the shots and your word is final! When you say we stay anchored, you can tell them why. They can complain, but you stay anchored and safe.

Dealing with Crew

In West Palm Beach, Florida, we picked up a third crew member. He was living on his sailboat in Florida and wanted to voyage the worlds oceans. He knew that his boat was not capable of such a voyage, so he was looking to do it on someone else's boat, and so he joined ours.

When we first met, he spoke very highly of his cruising exploits. Having sailed from New York to Florida various times. Sailing single handed through tight quarters and challenging situations. The more he talked, the more excited we were with his cruising prowess and wanted him as part of our crew as he would surely complement our cruising style.

We didn't have time to go through the boat systems before we left Florida for the Bahamas, so Maddie and I sort of manned the ship the whole way across the Gulf Stream. His watch involved one of us baby sitting him, where we would sleep in the cockpit and he would wake us if anything changed. He wasn't allowed to make any alterations to course or sail because we didn't know first hand what his judgement was like. We are glad we took that precaution!

When sailing from West End to Freeport, Maddie and I went forward to do a sail change. We left him at the helm and told him to maintain us on a "shallow broad reach". While working the sails, I noticed the wind was coming from a different direction, so I looked at the wind point and noticed he was sailing us on a dead run, and sometimes a little by the lee!

I ran back to the cockpit and told him what he was doing and what was expected of him, and he seemed dazed and confused. Turns out, he didn't know what the term "Close hauled", "Beam Reach", "Broad Reach", or "Run" meant. So when I told him a point of sail to keep us on, he simply smiled and nodded, stated "Good Copy" and had no idea what I meant!

If you are ever crew and given an order you do not understand, a captain will gladly explain it to you in other words rather than deal with the mess caused by your inability to carry out the order.

Had we jibed while we were up there, we would have had serious issue! The massive boom slamming across the deck will seriously injure someone, and the headsails are deck sweeping, meaning that they would have just pushed us off the deck and into the water!

At this point, we realized that he was all talk and no substance. I knew I would need to teach him as we go instead of starting off with a great sailor. This was a bit frustrating as I greatly despise people who exaggerate and show off. He soon became frustrated because he likes people to believe he is amazing and hates when people see through his facade.

Easy Bahamian Mooring

Bahamian mooring is aptly named, as it is a necessary anchoring technique when cruising in the Bahamas. Currents will whip through your anchorage with furry, and cause your anchor to raise up and reset every 6 hours.

To combat this resetting fiasco, all you need to do is set two anchors, one forward and one backward of the yacht. Now, an easy way to do this is to set your bow anchor like you normally would, and then hop into your dinghy with the second anchor. The current will take you away in a straight line from the bow anchor. When you get to the end of your rode, all you need to do is drop the hook and return to the yacht. Now, when the current reverses, the yacht will swing around and begin pulling on the other anchor. This process will repeat itself 4 times a day until you move on to the next beautiful destination.

The strong currents in the Bahamas help you in placing the second anchor. All you need to do is drift along and the current will do all the work for you!

Once the stern anchor is set, the stern rode can be tied off to the main anchor rode and a little more scope let out on the main rode. This will put the junction well below the level of the keel so that as you swing around, you will not foul your keel.

Anchoring in the Bahamas

Anchoring usually involves dropping your anchor off the bow of your boat and seeing it disappear into the murky water you are floating in. This all changes in the Bahamas! The anchor drops and you can see it on the bottom! You can see it dig into the sand, and you can see if your rode is fouled on anything!

The nice thing is you know what you are anchoring on. You can precisely set your anchor on a sandy patch and watch it dig into the sand. Weeds can foul your anchor, but in these clear waters, it is easily avoidable.

While anchoring may seem straight forward, there is one profound issue to deal with: currents.

The currents in the Bahamas are notorious, and for good reason! They will whip through an anchorage with several knots and reverse in a few minutes. If your anchor has trouble resetting, it will prove itself an issue every 6 hours!

To remedy this, all you need to do is set two anchors, one upstream and one downstream of the yacht. When the current reverses, the boat will swing and pull on the other anchor. The result is that you will simply switch the anchor you are pulling on and not have to worry about resetting your anchor with each tide.