How wet is wet?

[crfriend]

I went out sailing on Boston Harbor again today with a couple of old pals, one of their significant others, and a new chap. I didn't get any grief over my attire (red calf-length cotton skirt and white dress shirt) -- in fact I got a nice compliment on it from my pal's SO -- and the day started off nicely. And then it went south; getting the mainsail up was like watching the Keystone Cops and the Captain was not amused; and once we got out into Massachusetts Bay and on a decent course for Minot's Ledge Light it started to rain and we decided to turn around for fear of thunderstorms. Then it really started to rain.

I've been wet before, but nothing like this; the only way I could have gotten any wetter would have been if I'd gone over the side -- an I'm not really sure that would have done it, An interesting sidelight of this was that my skirt -- soaked as it was -- was much more comfortable than if I'd been wearing trousers (of which I brought a pair along, tucked into a bag "just in case"). The skirt didn't stick to me the way trousers do -- it just hung down straight and didn't really touch anything, and didn't feel particularly clammy.

Once we got back to the slip and tied up, i figured I'd put on the one piece of dry clothing available to me, and that meant the trousers -- the first time I've worn them in, I believe, more than a month. I must admit that they felt rather strange -- and got a few chuckles when I mentioned the fact!

I bid adieu to my friends and then headed for the MBTA to take me back to my car. And it began to rain again. Yes, the skirt was much more comfortable when wet than the trousers....

Fortunately, now, in front of my computer, the only thing that's even damp is my hair. Everything else is in the clothes-dryer having been swapped out for dry togs the moment I got home.

However, it's oft been said that a bad day of sailing beats a good day at work, and I'll admit that despite the day's travails, it was good. I think I'll sleep well tonight. After I get my stuff out of the dryer....

[Since1982]

Would you say a wet day sailing in a skirt might be better than any wet day doing anything outside in pants??

[AMM]

One question: were you wearing a life jacket?

I ask because we just had someone drown on Sunday in the Long Island Sound. He was taking a sailing lesson from a "very experienced instructor," and they had life jackets in the boat. But when a squall moved in and knocked him and the instructor off the boat, they were not wearing them. The instructor and the two other students were rescued. They're still trying to find the 3rd student, but they no longer expect to find him alive. According to the newspaper account, they saw him right after they got thrown out of the boat and tried throwing a "floatation device" at him, but the device floated one way and he floated another, and they lost sight of him in the storm.

The places I've gone sailing, they won't even let you go out to the boat if you don't have a life jacket on. Yeah, it's uncomfortable, especially on one of those teeny-tiny Sunfishes (that's the kind of boat I usually borrow, up on Lake George), and, yeah, I'm a good swimmer, but all it takes is a good whack from the boom or the mast or something....

[Big and Bashful]

Apart from dinghy sailing, I haven't seen any crews who habitually wear life-jackets. At night or in really heavy weather, harnesses are often used, but I think that life-jackets are thought of as too cumbersome on most small boats.
I also sail on a tall-ship and on that vessel life-jackets are available and if the vessel has an emergency then the life jackets would be handed out to the crew.
I used to have a set of waterproofs with a built in buoyancy aid but that type of aid is no longer used because of the possibility of not being turned face-up in the water.

[crfriend]

One question: were you wearing a life jacket?

Typically, no. The craft I'm on are 35-footers, and with those if one gets swept by the boom in any sort of wind it'll be a "clean kill" and it actually takes some work to really go over the side. That's not to say we don't know where the PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices) are, because we all do, but rather that the odds of us getting capsized or in other real trouble in clean wind are vanishingly small. The decision to don a life-vest is always up to the individual involved up to the point where the skipper says, "Do it!". Then it's not optional, and everybody knows it's a deep-s**t moment; these are typically in thunderstorms where the winds are not just powerful but erratic, and visibility approaches zero.

I am not a powerful swimmer, but rather a persistent one; I can stay afloat for a decent chunk of time -- water temperature permitting -- and can go some distance, but deeply "get" the hazards involved and don't take risks that'll get me thrown from the vessel.

I've gone into the water more times than I can count from dinghys and canoes, and that's where floatation devices are very important (even in water you can put your feet on the bottom) because panic sets in. However, on larger craft, the need is much less in normal conditions -- but, and this is important, one needs to know where the devices are stowed in case things get bad.

[Milfmog]

Carl,

You describe yourself as a persistent swimmer... have you tried that in a long skirt? The extra drag of fabric can be very tiring. I'd suggest that when wearing a long skirt you might be advised to consider a PFD a little sooner than you might in a pair of lightweight trousers.

Have fun (safely),


Ian

[crfriend]

[... H]ave you tried that in a long skirt? The extra drag of fabric can be very tiring.

I haven't tried that, and I really suspect that if the "stuff" really hit the fan I'd ditch the skirt in a hurry if I needed to actively swim.

I'd suggest that when wearing a long skirt you might be advised to consider a PFD a little sooner than you might in a pair of lightweight trousers.

I absolutely would; the instinct for self-preservation runs strong in me. However, in the case last Friday, the wind was fairly calm and the seas likewise. It was just a rather hard shower that everybody would rather not have dealt with. It wasn't even particularly cold, and I am susceptible to cold and chills.

[AMM]

I also sail on a tall-ship and on that vessel life-jackets are available and if the vessel has an emergency then the life jackets would be handed out to the crew.

When my kids were younger, there was one time we were on a boat (with maybe 50 people or so) that was doing a pleasure cruise around Cape Ann (Gloucester, Massachussetts.) I saw my kids romping around, remembered watching my younger one jump in a pool earlier that summer and drop straight to the bottom[*], and went to the crew to scare up some life jackets for them. It took about 15 minutes for the crew to find them. This did not give me a good feeling about what would happen in a real emergency.

[*] No, this was not a game. He was maybe 4 or 5 and had no fear of the water, but could not swim and, due to his youth, his specific gravity was a bit higher than an adult's. He jumped, dropped like a stone, I immediately jumped in after him, and by the time I reached him, he was 8 feet down, on the bottom. He thought it was great fun.

Even today, neither of my kids is a strong swimmer, unfortunately.