Sarah BrownJul 29, 2023

Reddit can be a useful knowledge base, but there are certain subject areas where the consensus voice will confidently, clearly, emphatically state something that is simply wrong.

My current irritation is r/sailing, which has a large number of people who have clearly never sailed beyond the yacht club bar, or maybe a small lake, and have precisely zero clue about the interplay between wind and current (because they never experience the latter), spouting off bullshit with authority.

And there’s no point arguing with them, but my god, the extent to which they are smug about being wrong is irritating as fuck.

Show threadSaraMGJul 29, 2023

@goatsarah Most of my sailing is on Lake Michigan which, while a great lake, is still just a lake.

First time I dropped into the Florida current I had a real eye opener. Absolutely took off with me.

Show threadSarah BrownJul 29, 2023
@saramg We learned to sail in the Crouch estuary, as you know. The spring ebb runs at 5 knots there..
Show threadSaraMGJul 29, 2023
@goatsarah At 5kts, I'd doubt my engine's ability to get me home on its own. Did you ever have to sail+ motor up then drift down to your anchor bouy?
Show threadSarah BrownJul 29, 2023

@saramg You time your arrival for the current conditions to be amenable. Getting this stuff right is a big part of RYA sailing courses.

In duress, you can burn diesel (the ebb through Portsmouth harbour’s entrance can be a bugger, but that’s only a few hundred metres), or you can drop a hook and wait for the tide to turn or slacken.

Show threadSaraMGJul 29, 2023

@goatsarah Oh sure, when all goes to plan I'm sure it's fine, it's more the "in duress" part of your reply I was looking for and... yeah, sounds like about what I'd end up doing.

Could you imagine mistiming the tides though? One minute you're up to your keel in mud, the next you're trudging through it, waist deep, clawing towards the shore... how could that even happen? ;)

Show threadAlexandra LanesJul 30, 2023
@saramg @goatsarah This sounds like a story…
Show threadSaraMGJul 30, 2023
@ajlanes @goatsarah A short one. Out kayaking, mistimed the tides, wound up having to trudge through thick waist deep mud for 50 meters or so at the end. Coated in mud, but able to jump in a creek to rinse off. Just your average type 2 fun.
Show threadAlexandra LanesJul 30, 2023
@saramg @goatsarah When I was out paddling on the east coast with @thelocalecho we got a bit like that at the end once. Wading through mud didn’t appeal so I hauled myself along in the boat paddlestroke by sludgy paddlestroke up to the rocks. I don’t know whether it was any less effort but I was determined I wasn’t going to wade any more than I absolutely had to!
Show threadSaraMGJul 30, 2023
@ajlanes @goatsarah She can tell you. @thelocalecho was there, though ISTR she chose a better route than @zoe or I did.
Show threadZoë O'ConnellJul 30, 2023

@saramg @ajlanes @goatsarah @thelocalecho Oh, the incident with Sara was *worse*. Far worse. Think "Oh my gods, are we going to end up on the Nine O'Clock news as tragic deaths at rural town".

We learnt our lesson.

Show threadSaraMGJul 30, 2023

@zoe @goatsarah @thelocalecho Ahem. Type. Two. Fun.

It's one of my favorite near-death experiences with you lot.

@ajlanes Yes, there are other near-death stories.

And they laughed when I joked about being left for dead in the desert...

Show threadSarah BrownJul 31, 2023
@saramg @ajlanes @thelocalecho @zoe It wasn’t a near death experience. We had hours before the water came back and even if it did, we all had boats with us.
Show threadSaraMG
@goatsarah @ajlanes @thelocalecho @zoe Crib Goch wasn't near-death either, but I still felt profoundly unwise wandering along a steep spine of wet, slick rock in dense fog over a 500m drop to either side.
Jul 31, 2023 at 5:28pmWeb
Show threadZoë O'ConnellJul 31, 2023
@saramg @goatsarah @ajlanes @thelocalecho Oh, that's just normal for rural Wales, including some of the roads.