# Not a Ferry good time for bad sailors.....!



## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

Bet you Eurotunnel Travelers are glad!

Whilst I prefer calm seas, rough does not bother me too much. It is my other fellow travellers (6) that are coming with me.

Gale force 9!

Have a good weekend.

TM


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

When I was trucking, we had no choice and it was all part of the fun!
Been sat outside Caen in a flat bottomed freighter that rolled all over the place (The Normandie Shipper) for 23hours as too rough to get into dock! Eventually, she went down to Cherbourg!
Also been through Biscay in a F10, think it was the Pride of Bilbao


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Pah! Weekend sailors the lot of you.

To really earn your sealegs you need to be on an old trampship in ballast going through hurricane force 12.

Been there, done that and have several Tshirts to prove it!

PS 

8 = gale
9 = severe gale
10= storm
11= violent storm
12= hurricane

It is surprising how often Mr Beaufort is mis-represented by the media.

When you look at the official descriptions of those various forces it is frightening when you come to hurricane force - and even more frightening to actually experience it.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*eastern side*

I am led to believe that as we are on the Hull-Zeebrugge route and it is the eastern side, we will be sheltered a bit!

:lol:


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

With the entertainment on board and a bottle of red inside you, you will never notice.

Have a good trip, sorry voyage. :lol: 

dave p


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

*Re: eastern side*



teemyob said:


> I am led to believe that as we are on the Hull-Zeebrugge route and it is the eastern side, we will be sheltered a bit!
> 
> :lol:


He he!. Looking out at the North Sea as I write this don't believe it...


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

Thanks Ray!

You on lighthouse duty !


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Weather*

The rougher the better in my opnion.

Force 11 on the Pride of Rotterdam was a truly wonderful night.

Russell


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## Jented (Jan 12, 2010)

Hi Pippin.
Sounds like you were at sea,when the ships were wood,and the men were steel. As for me,i will be in the Tunnel,having a bite to eat,and a cup of tea that will NOT!!!,try to drown me lol. Safe trips to all you Matelots,rather you than me. Although,i did manage to sit through the African Queen film,without being sea sick,so maybe there is a little bit of hope,(Don't hold your breath lol).
Gearjammer


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## JollyJack (Aug 14, 2005)

I been there too with many T shirts - Typhoon Judy May '66 on an old oil tanker South China Sea..


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## KSH (Apr 18, 2010)

All part of the fun, getting in the bunk, nylon sheets, slide to one end of bed then back to the other, when it pushes you back that hard that you hit your head on the wardrobe then it's time to get up and sit in the cafe all night drinking tea, waiting for the ship to roll so all the spilt milk goes to one corner of the fridge then spooning it out - yeah, been there, done that


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## charlieivan (Apr 25, 2006)

Being an ex-submariner we used to have a little saying!!!

Happiness is 500ft in a force 10 gale.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Great...!!!
This wimp and Mrs. wimp will be crossing Saturday afternoon from Caen and it don't look good on road or sea...  

Ray.


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

_in a force 10 gale_

Grrrrrr - see my earlier post!!!


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

pippin said:


> _in a force 10 gale_
> Grrrrrr - see my earlier post!!!


Glad someone still knows the beaufort scale Pippin. Even the weathermen on the beeb get it wrong.

Only been in a genuine force 12 once - we were on an LPG tanker and were completely unable to turn to help rescue a fishing boat about 10 miles away. One huge wave actually displaced one of the windlasses by a couple of inches on its mounting and somehow took away half the foremast ladder. Main engine kept tripping even when hove to as the propeller kept coming out of the water. Spent many hours wedged in between the radar and the bridge console just to stay upright. Never, ever want to be in that weather again.

The weather prospects made my mind up for me to use the Eurotunnel for my next business trip to France and Belgium next month - I don't use ferries in the winter or in the French strike season (most of the year I suppose..)


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

What a coincidence - I served as R/O on an LPG tanker, the same one twice, back in the 60s.

HUMBOLDT/GYFR, owned by Houlders. 3,000 tonnes of the stuff in 6 cigar-shaped tanks at 2Bar cooled down to -30°C.

I was on a clapped out old tramp when we went through a cyclone in the NW Pacific. It stripped the endless layers of paint off the front of the centre castle down to the bare metal! Great sheets of it flying aft, very dangerous!


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Back*

Have to say the sailings both ways were very smooth.

Out on Pride of York 
In on Pride of Brugges

Out was with a tad of motion, in was like a millpond as the saying goes.

Not sure if it is the type of boats, but very calm.

Thanks to all for the replies.

TM


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## Yeti (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi all

Skippered a 38ft yacht on the 1979 Fastnet Race. Steady force 10 gusting to 12+ 
Finished 82nd from 300 starters with sadly 18 lives lost in total.

regards

Yeti


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

pippin said:


> What a coincidence - I served as R/O on an LPG tanker, the same one twice, back in the 60s.
> 
> HUMBOLDT/GYFR, owned by Houlders. 3,000 tonnes of the stuff in 6 cigar-shaped tanks at 2Bar cooled down to -30°C.
> 
> I was on a clapped out old tramp when we went through a cyclone in the NW Pacific. It stripped the endless layers of paint off the front of the centre castle down to the bare metal! Great sheets of it flying aft, very dangerous!


For my sins, I worked for P&O in the 70's and 80's. Remember seeing the Humboldt around. I would never have guessed from your avatar that you were a Sparks


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## Bubblehead (Mar 5, 2007)

I was on HMS Brereton (Ton class Mine hunter) which was made of wood and did have a crew made of steel.

We got caught in the bay in a storm which tore most of the fittings off the upper deck including the hatch, guardrails and a life raft. The re compression chamber ended up stood on its end (torn out of the deck) and we had about 4" of water down the mess decks as the sonar dome seal failed.

I was on HMS Quorn (hunt class mine hunter made of GRP) (if God had meant us to build GRP ships he would have given us GRP trees) and had the sonar dome torn off whilst off the coast of Wales, had to spend 3 weeks in Swansea getting it fixed

Only time Ive been 'concerned' was when we repeatedly were hit with huge waves (near Jersey) before we had a chance to roll upright from the last one. It didn't matter which we we ran we just kept getting hammered. We even lost the radar off the bridge roof. I think I can say it was the longest day of my life

Andy


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I’d love to say I once rounded the horn in a force 10 single handedly in a wayfarer dinghy but I can’t compete with you salty sea dogs. 

I once dreamt of sailing around the world but it was not to be. The scariest thing I have done is sticking the bows out of poole harbour in a 25ft power boat in a gale only to crap ourselves and turn around in a hurry when confronted with massive waves. I once navigated the entire length of Ullswater at 1am in the morning, pitch black and blind drunk and woke up in the wrong marina but perfectly berthed.

But the claim to fame was rowing the Caledonian canal for charity in a 1955 Norwegian clinker built 10ft dinghy. I had to row Loch Lochy in a force 9 and it has no road around it and I really thought I was going to die. 

Ferry’s though. Rougher the better!


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