Sailing into a thunderstorm
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- Опубликовано: 10 июн 2019
- During the 2019 Espoo-Suursaari offshore sailing race, a line squall forms out of the blue right on top of us. We manage to get the spinnaker down, but unfortunately end up splitting the headsail in half. We were back on track in minutes after this and managed to get the win after 40+ hours of intense sailing - being the only wooden boat in the fleet!
PAM is a 40ft S&S designed masthead-rigged sloop from 1966, sailing out of Helsinki, Finland.
NOTE: This video has received a lot of attention. I don't allow new comments as they all repeat the same things. I believe all your essential questions have been answered enough times by now :) 
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The first time you think you need to shorten your sails, do it right away.
It’s the law!
the moment you think about it, it's already too late
You shared your video with the whole world... With risks of hard critism... But many lessons to learn for all sailors in your video! Thanks for your generosity! And congratulations for your win! :-)
Damn, that wind picked up fast! Amazing footage we can all learn from. Thanks for having the nerve to film it all the way through.
For me as a bloody beginner in the art of sailing it's scary to see how fast the overall situation has changed. Very impressive, and many thanks for sharing, Niklas!
Before any critique: The crew has analysed the situation and is well aware of what went wrong and what went right, especially safety-wise. The situation came on in a matter of minutes, and all things considered we feel we managed it quite well. No-one was injured, and apart from the ripped sail the boat was mostly unharmed. May this serve as an example of just how fast things can change out on the ocean! Stay safe.
You leave the sails up and you think you did well?
@@TheBlockBuddy Many things did not go textbook in this situation, which we are aware of. Ideally you would not be caught in that kind of wind with (any) sails up, but as we were in a race and did not predict the squall to be as violent as it was, this happened. We'll be better prepared next time.
@@TheBlockBuddy haha, lol. "well" in what sense? For sure from my seat behind the computer i also can think of a 1000 ways 'doing well' could be better. Should, would, could, etc. Fact is that in one minute 4:00 to the gust at almost 5:00, doing well, gets an interesting and serious other meaning. And in any storm as you would know as a sailor, keeping a sail up, though not exactly these, is much better than none. And yes, Niklas did well, load the video up, for us all to see, experience and make our own list of planning. Kind of brave i think, because it woud have been so much easier not to do this and not to have defend himself for the choices the crew made. Chapeau Niklas and thanks for showing us.
Coconut Woman in the Baltic Sea, starting in Espoo (Finland), going around Gogland/Suursaari (Russia) and finishing in Helsinki, Finland. It’s an annual race.
@@niklassandstrom So that is where the storm that hit us in much the same way last week went. 30kts to 55kts within 10 seconds. Caught much like yourselves in a race.... but we had time and were FAST to take the sails down.
Reefs should have gone in the moment you knew the direction of the storm. Harnesses and foul weather gear at the same time. Particularly when you are responsible for a whole crew. The footage is a good reminder of how fast things can change.
thank you very much niklas,a great and rare lesson for EVERYONE
Great video for understanding the importance of reefing and when it should be done. The fact that this is happening during a race must be taken into consideration; a lot more risk is taken during a race and in this instance, even though they ripped the headsail, they managed to win. Not too bad I'd say and I am thankful that this visual record was produced for the rest of us to learn something...
“ the time to reef is when you first to think about it“--these videos repeatedly drive home that point
This indeed is a good leasson. Thanks for sharing!
The boom in the water gave me seriously sweaty palms.
Beautiful boat...powerful squall....everyone safe.....great vid. Thanks for sharing and tolerating the lecturing. 😀
Haha, thanks!
Thank you for posting this!! We can all learn/observe and make comments but were all human and were not in the middle of this ..
There is nothing to learn from these idiots.
@@tonybarnes7947 well sayed. Only smart peopple learns from other people's experiences. There is nothing to learn from these idiots.
Kudos for leaving the comments on to engage in a dialog with us that want to speak about this and learn.
Well done. Glad no one was hurt and it all turned out ok.
👍
Foredeck guys should have had lifejackets on and clipped on. Get a barometer within sight of the skipper, it was predictable. Coped well under the circumstances.
Thank you for posting this. You got my respect! I never sailed but on my way to make my dream come true. I learned a lot from this video. Very happy you controlled this.. GL and congratulations
now that's a youtube video. superb. excellent. impeccable.
amazing footage!! fair winds my dudes, you're pretty awesome
Yeesh. Been there with squalls.
I learned early that if something like that is coming at you, it's drop everything fast!
Seems like the crew had a hard time getting the spinnaker down and out of the way and an even harder time with the heads'l.
No life jackets or life lines!
Lucky, very lucky is all I can say.
Live and learn, if you live to learn.
Great post as to what can go very wrong when you're caught off guard.
I've been in thunderstorms where a long haired friends hair was literally standing on end like a giant dandelion from the electricity in the air and lightning bolts were a fist wide just a 1/4 mile away with the sound of several freight trains bearing down on you as the rain hit the water, at night.
The wind was so intense we were on our beam ends with bare poles for about 5 minutes straight and that was in sweet little old Biscayne Bay just South of downtown Miami, lol.
Yep, been there done that.
Thanks for sharing this expérience !!
Great information video and thanks for uploadind this to all to see the strongness of the nature and how quickly things can happen at sea. 👍👍👍
Thanks for the video. The hate you're getting in these comments is from silly people. This is an experienced amateur crew that keeps their cool when a squall blows up into more than what was reasonably expected. And even when the situation is alarming for a moment, the crew just holds on and waits for the wind to settle a bit, which, tbh, is the best thing they can do. There's no panic. It's a well-maintained boat and is never in danger. Lots of sea room. Mild sea state. They changed their mind about the jib when the wind started to pick up, and were trying to take it down when they got nailed. The gust is so fierce that it pins the bow downwind (helped by the skipper, I'm sure who must've had the helm hard over) keeping the boat from doing what it would naturally like to do and round up (and cause another set of *worse* problems). The boat just ends up sliding sideways to leeward a bit. Effectively, it's hove-to. The mainsheet is out as far as it can go. So yeah, well done.
Could things have gone smoother? Of course! Do these guys wish they had just dropped the chute and left the jib on deck to begin with? Sure! Did the dude at the halyards regret not putting on his foulies earlier? Probably! Could the crew have moved with more urgency to drop the sails? Maaaaybeee...but rushing those kinds of tasks can cause more problems than they prevent, and they were clearly in a racing mindset, so I think they did fine with the info they had. Should they have been wearing PFDs? Sure, can't argue against wearing PFDs. However, I get the sense that even if they had been wearing their inflatables or whatever, some brave soul on this website would be outraged that they weren't wearing helmets too.
The sailing masters in the comments were watching with anxiety induced by your video title and so I suppose their outrage must be indulged. I wish you fair winds!
And for all of you who are offended by the actions of this crew, just know that nothing you type could chastise the owner of this vessel more than the bill he paid to replace that headsail!
They had 4 minutes. Lucky for them the front was fairly mild.
With all the crew could of hoved too, got everything stowed away, sails adjusted and then resumed course. ....but they were racing, so had to blow out a expensive sail....ouch.
Sailing, like life is a learning process, which can be learned through experience.
Thank you for sharing your adventure.
We can all learn from it. Thanks for uploading and sharing the experience. 👍
This is substantially crazier than the other videos
First Time I saw that video I thought by myself " Hey Guys, you got to hurry up, please" I remember such an atmosphere from many times on see.
yeeezzz... That picked up fast. As a fresh sailor with a starter course and 5-6 regattas in my belt it is not my place to look this and say what you should have done..
Just wanted to say, thanks for posting this video, it will now reside back in my mind and possibly help me avoid this myself. Better to take a reef to much than one to late.
Hope you all where ok.
Thanks for sharing. We all can learn from your video
What a beautiful boat!
Gorgeous. And well-kept. One of the last wood-hull Sparkman & Stephens production boats from the late 50s/early 60s. Thing looks brand new.
This was badass! Glad everyone stayed safe. Those storms pop up so quick!
Thanks for teaching us what to be aware of. Brave Upload. 👍
Grazie per aver postato il video, nonostante il problema tecnico che ha impedito di ammainare le vele riducendole la bellezza delle immagini ci da l'idea di come la natura sia potente e meravigliosa anche nelle sue manifestazioni più violente. Buon vento.
Thank you for posting. I learned something.
Glad to see you are taking this as an opportunity to be better prepared next time you face a similar situation. Fair winds.
One of the best videos I have seen.
Race mentality is always fun to see. Cruiser mentality would have pulled spinnaker down well before the squall even got close and had the small jib out and 2 reefs in the main. Racing is how real sailors are made. Good job on the win.
Safety, safety, safety. Thanks for posting. Lives will be saved learning from this.
lessons learned hopefully, thx for sharing
Thanks for sharing and yes, you never know what kind of wind is in the cell. I had a similar experience and dropped the early jib to reduce sail. This sort of storm front passes pretty quickly. Well done all.
That escalated quickly...
Thanks for posting this! Yes, we ALL have made mistakes sailing. At times, like this time, nobody gets hurt, there may be damage, and all on board can walk away intact! Hopefully, we live to sail another day and can share our experience so that somebody else will not do what we did. Historically, there are many great examples of epic sailing failures such as the Vasa, 1979 Fastnet race disaster, Kronan, Mary Rose, HMS Royal George, RMS Rhone, SS Eastland and so many more large ships and small boats.
Glad you posted this. Ignore the comments found below. We all need to see this so we can learn from this.
Amazing video and of course it's easy to be wise in hindsight and watch it from the warm cosy sofa where everything seems to unfold much slower than it does when it actually happens. The only critique I have is life vest.. please, please use life vests or clip in to the boat. They should always be on when doing work on deck, in the cockpit one can slack off and not use it if the weather is good but if you're going on deck the dangers multiply by a whole lot. Even if there was little time, the 10 seconds it takes to put on a vest, if one doesn't already have it, is worth it.
Thanks for posting as it's a very good wake up call and a good video, and it makes it all the better to watch from another (although fiber glass) S&S owner :)
Congruats on the win!
/Rasmus
Thanks for sharing your experience and answering all (criticizing) comments so well!
thanks for sharing. Lots of things to learn here
everyone is quite critical but times like this is what makes good sailors its all about learning from your mistakes at the end of the day everyone is alive sails can be replaced... good work
Thanks for this. We all can learn from this. Better than all the videos from the "perfect boys".
Video molto utile ed istruttivo per spiegare cosa “non” si deve fare in barca a vela approcciandosi ad un temporale...
Lesson learned. True thants for share...a lot of sailors on tell the Victorys is a good way to lear...nobody die nobody hurts...hapoy ending congrats .
Thank you Olin for designing such a great boat...
Hear hear!
Great video ! Epic ! Greetings from France.
Exhilarating & scary AF.
Terrific footage 👍🏼👍🏼
I can only imagine how it would feel to broach and fall into the freezing nordic waters.....and without a life jacket to boot !! I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it...
What a gorgeous day for sailing. Not a joke. Up until the squall hits, looks like flat waters, full sails, and the boat zooming at top speed.
Had you managed to shorten the sails faster, I bet you'd have been smiling ear to ear through the whole thing.
Intrepid gentlemen, I understand your situation . Mistakes are required for learning . Luck , is as important as skill . Keep sailing!
How much time would it have taken to take down the genoa right after the spinnaker, instead of clearing the deck of pole etc? Seems you are wasting 2½ essential minutes to not much.
We drop the genoa very fast, that's not the problem. The problem was that we decided _not_ to drop the genoa :D
Exactly how not to prep your boat for a storm. No lifejackets, nobody tied off, no reef in main I can go on & on.
Thank you for sharing!
Wow! What a ride.
Thank you for sharing this.
God bless you.
I'm glad you are all fine.
Some balls you have,must tell you.
Brilliant! Thank you for sharing.
Kudos to the skill of everyone.
Even this chap's surname is an anagram of SANDAL SINK STORM :)
close call guys, you have balls !!! Awesome !!!
Too slow react to coming thunderstorm. Genova has been lost just because of that slowness.
Beautiful filming man. We dont get to see much youtube videos where the strong wind says, " hello sailor I've arrived "
Wonderful video. thanks. 1) Finns are accustomed to weather, this is not a scary storm. the foredeck man never even wore a windbreaker. 2) water nearly flat before, during and after. this is not a major storm else big chop would arrive. 3) they are racing to catch the boat ahead, so wearing full jib and main is very reasonable tactic. Aggressive racing often leads to shredded cloth and broken shackles. 4) "short time coming, short time lasting" is the old rule for gales, storms and squalls. It was easy to predict the squall would be very short lasting.
I think the crew and vessel did perfectly given they didn't have enough info to avoid flying the jib. even the full main was not damaged, and jib damage is possible in racing. 5) tether lines probably get in the way and make unsafe passage, but I would wear a high quality inflatable PFD with pull inflater so the thing doesn't blow in these probably frequent squalls.
without the benefit of hindsight -- well done!
Thanks!
Most adequate comment! 🤝
Speaking of Finns: On Old Olympus’ Towering Tops, A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops
Yeah, im sitting here and in about 10 hours from buying my first sailboat and i see this... holy fucks, i need a sailboat.
Risky... my sails would be in when I see the storm comming.
I think these guys are grow up with heavy winds. Do not try in comments to think to be the better Skippers, these guys have experience, real experience in nordic sea.
I like how they took their sweet time to lower the sails even though they could see the storm being close 😅
Buen video para enseñar casi todo lo que no se debe hacer nunca.
What a SHOW thank you
Slow to react. Reefing must be done earlier or quicker. Standing next to a mast or metal rigging is not wise in electrical storm.
The order "do not touch the rig" is given in the video, and as for the reefing...yes, we know.
I love Finnish as the Ultimate lingo of throwing orders to the crew..... Good call from the captain..
That escalated quickly, but at least you Finish(ed) !
"Reef early, reef often" Old Man Nat. I suspect they are not familiar with thunderstorms.
😮 Imagine i was in this situation alone.It’s terrifying.⛵️
Great video.
I can relate to that, easier to se it behind the screen afterwards!
Yes, in the situation everything seemed to happen much faster, but having this video has made it easier for us as a crew to analyse the situation, and learn.
Super scary, you must be glad The boat did not capsaise. Stay safe
Guys, you are lucky.
I know it is a race, but why did you think it is OK to sail into it without reefing your sails?
Anyway, glad you shared it with other people. People need to be aware how little time you sometimes have to react. When you see something like this on the horizon the time to react is now.
I am also glad you manage to take down your spinnaker in time. If you have waited just couple minutes more that would be probably too late.
No safety lines or west... amazing ...
That boat is a beast
I think the jib would have been much easier to drop if you pointed downwind for a bit, the main would have given a good protection for it, but correct me if I´m wrong. (don´t know how to properly describe it in English) You maybe would have lost a few meters in height, but when everyone is batteling it doesn´t matter in a race.
Besides your mistakes I think you handled the situation well and everybody seemed to function good enough. (often times people stop to listen or even just hold on instead of working in these situations, great work)
Extremely selfless move to upload it here, given the hate you get.
However I must say lifewests are always on on my boat when I see a storm front like that coming.
Everyone is talking about slow reaction, it´s true but also totally understandable that you didn´t reef sooner in a competition setting.
Thanks for sharing
Oz Gur I see a series of misjudgements. First was a failure of basic seamanship-to act in the interest of safety of crew and boat-above other considerations (i.e. the race), lack of foul weather gear, life jackets and lines on the foredeck crew (FTC). More on that in a moment. Second, failing to recognize that it was a SQUALL, “a sudden and rapid increase of wind speed by at least 3 stages on the Beaufort scale and lasting up to at least one minute”^ not a thunderstorm. Third, was failing to respond to the threat expeditiously. The FTC didn’t appear entirely competent and the skipper failed to compensate by heading up and slacking the main to relieve the heel and load on spinnaker and Genoa which would have aided the FTC. Fourth, once the clew of the main hit the water, all way was lost, putting the boat at risk of a full knockdown. The skipper made no attempt to head up to regain some headway and -importantly steerage. Without steerage and an uncontrolled headsail, it was fortunate that the evident lee helm (inherent or induced by the helmsman-I suspect the latter) didn’t cause a worse knockdown. At a minimum, the vang should have been slacked or released to dump power from the main or finally, the engine should have been started to reestablish steerage, and the boat headed up into the wind.
I have been a dingy sailor and sometimes yacht sailor for over 55 years. I was taught *seamanship* not “sailing” or “yachting” by my father who served in the Royal Navy from 1933 to 1945. The foundation of the seamanship I learned was prudence. The boat should have been trimmed for the squall well in advance there was abundant warning. That would have served safety and the race to much better effect. You have learned a good lesson.
--(^www.google.ca/search?q=squall+vs+thunderstorm&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-ca&client=safari).
Thanks Ann for you input, we are fully aware of all that went wrong in this situation and that is exactly why we are sharing this video - so that others can learn without having to do the same mistakes themselves. In many ways we were lucky, it could have ended worse. However, I will point out that everyone on deck here is an experienced seaman, and we don't take these things lightly. Sometimes everything just goes wrong for a second - that's not a valid excuse by any means, just a reality.
How to define the exact difference between a squall and a thunderstorm, I don't know. What is seen on the video definitely has the characteristics of a squall, but as it came with powerful lightning and a long lasting increase in average windspeed, I wouldn't call it a typical squall. The lightning lasted for hours afterwards.
As I've mentioned several times already, by far the biggest mistake we made (excluding the life vest situation) was in being proactive. Had we taken the spinnaker down in time, we would have had time to both reef the main and either change the headsail or take it down completely. As we were too late to react, a chain reaction started leading to the situation on the video where the boat for a moment is not able to head upwind due to a ripped headsail and a mainsail out of control. Sure, the engine could have theoretically been started - we just didn't have time. Our main focus during the toughest part was to tighten to backstay and get rid of the headsail, which was in pieces and all over the place.
Lesson learned, for sure!
@@niklassandstrom Ann made some excellent points in her posting but I was really impressed with your response to her!..You didn't try to make excuses, you know you should have done things differently and you are grateful that this incident didn't turn into a tragedy!...I admire you for posting this video and Manning up to your mistakes!...Please don't take this video down because it is honest, sincere and very educational!!👍
@@stephenbrunette2581 that's what this is about, sharing footage that rarely gets out there. Much easier to learn from seeing what a situation actually looks like, rather than just reading about it!
That escalated quickly
I reckon screaming tee-shirt man may choose to wear a rain jacket next time, although who am I to question his sense of rebellion?
bad seamanship you could see that storm coming but it's a lesson to as all, thanks for posting
Thanks for posting. Ignore the trolls. Fair winds 👍🏻
Trolls are entertaining! :)
@@niklassandstrom *Bon Vent! Bangkok-Jomppa*
Good job guys! suddenly having to make sail changes or douse sail under those sudden weather changes is stressful and I'm sure everyone on board felt it....got it done and got control!....Two thumbs up!
Yep that's how Vikings sailed alright.
I would have thought that at least some of the crew would already have learnt that very important and basic lesson. I struggle to understand how the crew could put themselves in that position, both personally and for the sake of the boat.
Reminds me the Truman Show Thunderstorm
Interesting to see the waves rise so fast. You were in a race, had a good crew so I understand what all you did. You were not cruising. You always leave up as much sail as you can racing. The best is when you drive just short of breaking stuff.
Im no sailor but dont u reduce sail when a storms coming? Thanks for sharing tho... We need to see stuff like this.
Yes! :)
Well done boys. Nasty little squall. You handled it beautifully. Thanks for posting.
Alls I can say is damn that boat was going over very very lucky
getting hit by something like that sure feels much more comfortable when windsurfing... you can just go for a short swim and keep both hands on your board :D
As I started watching it somehow I knew this would end up that way!
As of the footage you had 3+ minutes to douse the headsail and reef the main. More than enough for offshore racing crew, even shorthanded
It is definitely. We just (wrongly) decided not to!
Meh, end of the boom needed a wash anyways lol. Glad nobody was hurt. Great footage 🍻. Stay safe.
Life jackets (lack of) and, yes, the poor guy in t shirt, are not great credentials. Next time please consider hoisting a smaller headsail (I would have donned a number 3) and bear away WITH something ahead of your mast. The squall caught you like a sitting duck with full main and no speed. Great shooting anyway.