[HN Gopher] Sailing boat rescued by the Gotheborg
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Sailing boat rescued by the Gotheborg
        
       Author : weinzierl
       Score  : 470 points
       Date   : 2023-05-06 06:44 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.gotheborg.se)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.gotheborg.se)
        
       | sandworm101 wrote:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6theborg_(ship)
       | 
       | Fysa, they almost certainly completed the rescue using their twin
       | 500hp diesels rather than sail power. One sailboat towing another
       | creates a host of sail/wind/wave issues. Almost every large
       | sailing vessel, including historic replicas, has diesel engines
       | for those times that sail is just too awkward.
        
         | kzrdude wrote:
         | They need engines to safely navigate close to port, I would
         | think
        
         | SergeAx wrote:
         | On an open water moving under sails is not very different from
         | moving under engine, except sailig boat deals better with waves
         | because od stabilising effect of wind pressure. I often see how
         | people under power hoist a mainsail for improved stability.
        
         | UniverseHacker wrote:
         | I've towed under sail and it works fine if done properly...
         | certainly it can be challenging and requires an experienced
         | person at the helm of each boat, especially if going downwind
         | or upwind.
         | 
         | In this case I am sure you are right, and the size difference
         | would make towing under sail dangerous. A sudden gust enough to
         | accelerate the larger boat to above the smaller boats hull
         | speed could pull the smaller boat underwater quickly.
        
           | sandworm101 wrote:
           | But in this case only one boat has a helm, the towed craft
           | having lost its rudder.
           | 
           | Most dangerous IMHO is a wave that slows the large round hull
           | but will not slow the smaller wave-piercing hull, sending it
           | slamming into the stern.
        
             | Gwypaas wrote:
             | You would never tow so close that it would become a risk
             | unless manouverering the disabled vessel in close quarters,
             | and then it usually is preferable to tie the vessels
             | alongside each other.
             | 
             | You can see the distances they chose in this particular
             | case in the third image from their Instagram post.
             | 
             | https://www.instagram.com/p/CryES46tgWl/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ
             | 2...
        
               | zhrvoj wrote:
               | Sail boat towing other boats (similar loa) should attach
               | towing line close to her center of effort. Think like
               | attaching towing line to the mast foot. Not on the stern.
               | Not an easy task to do. That's why many sailors just use
               | any stern cleat. And the towed boat should attach towing
               | line not to the bow, but also to the center of effort.
               | Then both boats can manouver. I also lost rudder blade,
               | on the 10m sailboat, in the middle of Adriatic sea, 2005,
               | during regatta, in 35kt NE wind and 3m waves. Not
               | possible to steer anyhow. Tryed to improvize rudder, but
               | we almost lost a crewman. We were on 2nd reef already.
               | SAR came. Since there was no rudder on my boat, attaching
               | towing line to bow was only option. My towed sailboat
               | course was changing +-30 degrees every few minutes, and
               | finally towing line broke loose because of the forestay
               | chaffing.
        
               | roflyear wrote:
               | Yeah and that's further than it looks. I doubt the
               | smaller vessel would have enough line on board to reach
               | that! It's really far. Of course with two boats easy to
               | find enough line.
        
               | Gwypaas wrote:
               | For commercial vessels like Gotheborg they usually bring
               | many hundreds of meters of mooring lines. Easy to get
               | 20-30m runs on several lines when mooring.
        
               | roflyear wrote:
               | yeah makes sense. That is least a few hundred meters!
               | 
               | Unless I were to start using halyards, I probably do not
               | have more than 300' of line on my boat, which is really
               | way more than I need for a smaller boat.
        
               | Gwypaas wrote:
               | Yep, and the Gotheborg have hand spun tarred hemp for all
               | the running rigging so using that as a towline is a no
               | go.
        
             | UniverseHacker wrote:
             | Towing a drogue with the smaller boat and using a long tow
             | line will solve this
        
         | miniwark wrote:
         | The two images in the article, taken from the rescued boat.
         | Show indeed than the sails where probably not used. One of the
         | photos even show the sailors at work wile they seems to furl
         | one of the the sail.
         | 
         | Also, the road taken is interested. They could have go to one
         | of the ports of the British islands, like St. Peter Port at
         | Guernsey. But this would have been dangerous. This part of the
         | English Chanel, is full of smalls rock islands, shoals and one
         | of the most dangerous marine currents in the world : The
         | Alderney Race (or Raz Blanchard in french).
        
         | btilly wrote:
         | The pictures from the towed boat verify this. The sails were
         | reefed during the tow, which says that it wasn't wind that was
         | supplying the power.
        
           | enos-ape wrote:
           | Furthermore you see clearly in the pictures taken from the
           | small boat that the engine coolant system of the Goetheburg
           | is working, spilling out water. Thus the main engines are in
           | action.
        
       | callamdelaney wrote:
       | It's worth knowing that in a bind you can fashion a rudder out of
       | a line and a bucket.
        
         | StarlaAtNight wrote:
         | Huh?
        
           | callamdelaney wrote:
           | Yes, the first line of the article. The rudder on the yacht
           | fell off, so they were towed. In the middle of the pacific,
           | the likelihood of a tow is low. In that case, you can fashion
           | a rudder out of a line and a bucket.
        
           | rigmarole wrote:
           | The drag introduced by the bucket would help align your boat
           | as a makeshift drogue. If you can find a way to rig it up so
           | you can adjust the angle from port to starboard, you could
           | very roughly steer.
        
         | SergeAx wrote:
         | Spinnaker boom and a head door, to be precise.
        
       | renewiltord wrote:
       | I have seen this same ship in so many countries. It's quite
       | lovely and one day maybe I'll sail on it.
        
       | mhb wrote:
       | Rebuilding Tally Ho: https://youtu.be/4FhTu3aGM60
       | 
       |  _Description
       | 
       | I'm on a mission to rebuild a 1910 English sailing yacht called
       | Tally Ho. Designed by Albert Strange in 1909, she is a well-known
       | and important historic vessel - but after many adventures she was
       | left in a remote port in Oregon to rot for decades, despite some
       | valiant attempts to rescue her. I bought her and moved her to the
       | Olympic Peninsular earlier this year, and am now rebuilding her
       | from the keel up. Eventually I hope to sail her back to the UK. _
        
         | guynamedloren wrote:
         | I was entranced by this project from the very first episode 5
         | years ago! I followed along for maybe a year or so, and haven't
         | caught any updates since.
         | 
         | Happy to see the project (and channel) is still going strong.
         | Such an incredible endeavor!
        
         | jacquesm wrote:
         | That whole series is absolutely incredible, when I saw the
         | first episode I was sure he'd let it go because it was just too
         | much work, basically a complete rebuild. But then he pulled the
         | trigger on it and is making really amazing progress. One of the
         | most impressive projects I've every followed.
        
       | jiggywiggy wrote:
       | Just imagine in the 1500's deciding to set sail to Asia. Hardly
       | having a map. No communication means, food that's not easy to
       | store, nothing more then a compass and if lucky a shitty map. If
       | things go wrong no one is coming to help. Wild times.
       | 
       | Was actually the reason they founded the Amsterdam stock market
       | to spread & share the risk of the ships not returning.
       | 
       | I know many bad things happen at well, but it's still a very
       | interesting perspective.
        
         | srj wrote:
         | I can't imagine how the polynesians discovered Hawaii. Sailing
         | thousands of miles in a small wooden boat and finding a speck
         | of land in the pacific ocean.
        
           | wpietri wrote:
           | Polynesian navigational techniques are very interesting:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation
        
             | dehrmann wrote:
             | To what extent were they good at navigating, and to what
             | extent is there a survivorship bias?
        
               | btilly wrote:
               | This came up in a college course I took.
               | 
               | Traditional Polynesian boats were operating alongside
               | modern technology in the 1950s and 1969s. The Polynesian
               | boats put up a better safety record!
               | 
               | So yeah, they really were good at navigating. And to
               | think, they did it lying on their back! The cues that
               | they were using were from the swell, the stars, and
               | birds. You feel the swell most clearly lying down. The
               | other two are above you.
        
             | kqr wrote:
             | The power of oral tradition is nuts. It can preserve
             | information for thousands of years.
        
               | twic wrote:
               | Speaking of Polynesian navigation being nuts:
               | https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/testicular-navigation
        
           | asdfman123 wrote:
           | Apparently they could sink their double-hulled canoes into
           | the water a little if storms hit so they didn't get the full
           | brunt of the waves.
        
         | cjrp wrote:
         | Also why things like Lloyds of London started; to insure the
         | risk of ships not returning.
        
           | jiggywiggy wrote:
           | Yeah seems to be one of the foundational pieces of modern
           | finance
        
             | simonh wrote:
             | The stock exchange was about spreading risk too. You could
             | raise equity from many small investors that individually
             | are assuming a relatively low risk.
             | 
             | So arguably this was the foundation of modern capitalism
             | too, just in time for the development of capital intensive
             | industry to take advantage of the same financial
             | structures.
        
         | twic wrote:
         | This makes me think of this haunting 1919 painting of Elcano's
         | return from the first circumnavigation of the earth in 1522:
         | 
         | https://artsandculture.google.com/story/gAXBe3j1qN_gLQ
        
           | jacquesm wrote:
           | What an incredibly moving picture and story. Thank you.
        
           | oh_sigh wrote:
           | Those are the faces of men who wished they stayed in Brazil.
        
       | vrglvrglvrgl wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | ineedasername wrote:
       | Not the worst consolation prize to have an experience like this &
       | story to tell after undergoing such a dangerous and potentially
       | life threatening ordeal.
        
       | javajosh wrote:
       | Wonderful story of comraderie on the high seas. It's one of the
       | best things about cruising. Its as close to space travel as
       | you're going to get, and you really stop taking humans for
       | granted out there.
       | 
       | I've been sailing my whole life, but never lost a rudder (thank
       | God!). With dinghy racing (as opposed to cruising) it's common to
       | learn how to steer without the rudder, using the trim of the
       | sails and your weight in the boat. You can minimize rudder
       | pressure on cruising sailboat too (again, useful for maximizing
       | speed), but I'd be curious to know more about the limits of what
       | you can do. There are probably some points of sail that work
       | better without a rudder than others. (This is only even
       | theoretically possible because the jib and main can rotate the
       | boat, and the keel will still allow forward motion.)
       | 
       | But yeah, theory aside, 'losing a mast or rudder' level
       | catastrophes like this basically require rescue.
        
         | Mavvie wrote:
         | I've only ever done river sailing (including some intentional
         | rudderless sailing), but I imagine in the open seas rudderless
         | sailing isn't really feasible (at least in some conditions).
         | Waves might make it impossible on their own.
        
         | roflyear wrote:
         | I've lost a rudder but on a small boat in a river. We made it
         | back under our own efforts but was hairy.
        
       | codetrotter wrote:
       | Goated!
        
       | prmoustache wrote:
       | So they have sails on the Gotheborg, but aren't actually using
       | them?
       | 
       | Basically it is a motorized indiaman.
       | 
       | Meh.
        
         | bjelkeman-again wrote:
         | I have sailed on the Oosterschelde (1918). One journey I was
         | supposed to be on was cancelled as the diesel engine broke down
         | and the insurance is not valid without a functional engine,
         | even though we would sail 99% of the time.
         | 
         | The Oosterschelde once rescued a single sailor from his boat
         | that was sinking in the middle of the Atlantic (I wasn't on
         | that trip).
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oosterschelde_(ship)
        
         | gambiting wrote:
         | Really? In the first picture you can clearly see people sitting
         | on the masts, what are they there for if not for setting up the
         | sails?
        
           | hnarn wrote:
           | As you suspect, the post you're replying to is wrong.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | cjblomqvist wrote:
         | They are definitely using them, a lot (probably the majority of
         | time).
         | 
         | (Source: I have a friend who have worked/sailed the ship
         | multiple times)
        
         | bratwurst3000 wrote:
         | It was on the Mediterranean Sea. I am also a sailor and can
         | testify that the Mediterranean Sea is the hardest to sail
         | because of often changing wind direction. I assume that's why
         | the didn't use sails while rescuing. I wouldn't either.
        
           | pjmlp wrote:
           | That is why lateen sails came to be.
           | 
           | However they surely had their reasons for not using sails.
        
           | wffurr wrote:
           | They were in the English Channel. Brittany is in the north of
           | France. The map in the post shows the Channel Islands.
           | 
           | They used the engine for the rescue to minimize time and
           | safely approach the small boat close enough to heave a line.
           | 
           | Doing all that under sail, like the OP seems to think they
           | should, wouldn't just be extremely difficult, it would be
           | dangerous and profoundly irresponsible.
           | 
           | Modern sailboats (as in since 1900) have auxiliary engines
           | for a reason...
        
         | olodus wrote:
         | In the post they mention that Gotheborg had to adapt it's speed
         | to the boat being towed, which probably limited the larger
         | vessels sail-usage.
         | 
         | As another poster here, I also have a friend who has been able
         | to sail on Gotheborg once. The ship definitely have usable
         | sails that are used most of the time. If I understand it
         | correctly the motor is to some degree there as a modern safety
         | requirement (and possibly it makes handling in port much
         | easier, I would guess - don't know personally).
        
           | ff_ wrote:
           | There's also the thing that while modern keeled sailboats are
           | able to sail well upwind, that is not the case for these
           | classic vessels which have a much smaller/shallower keel, and
           | have a lot of trouble upwind. So if the wind is not right and
           | you're on a schedule then motoring is the only option.
        
             | ianburrell wrote:
             | The keel is a factor but bigger factor are the sails.
             | Modern sailboats are fore-and-aft rigged which can sail
             | closer to the wind. Gotheburg is square-rigged which can
             | barely sail upwind.
             | 
             | Square-rigged allowed for more sail. It also worked better
             | for larger ships since had lots of little sails instead of
             | one big one.
        
       | niklasjansson wrote:
       | We had planned to have our wedding performed on Gotheborg, it was
       | all planned. We got a tour of the ship and discussed catering and
       | so on.
       | 
       | Suddenly a few months prior to the wedding they ghosted us, until
       | they finally decided we couldn't hire it after all. Maybe a covid
       | thing.
       | 
       | Anyway, no bad feelings.
        
       | matsemann wrote:
       | At least it wasn't Wasa showing up..
       | 
       | I've once sailed a smaller boat with a centerboard that didn't
       | release. So similar to not having a rudder. Quite scary,
       | everything else have a backup, but without that thing sticking
       | out below the boat you're just drifting aimlessly around.
        
         | nixass wrote:
         | > At least it wasn't Wasa showing up..
         | 
         | *Vasa
        
           | erk__ wrote:
           | Unless if it was a massive piece of crispbread.
           | 
           | Do you have any idea of why the spelling was changed if you
           | look in older texts a lot of the time Wasa was was used.
        
             | checkyoursudo wrote:
             | For a long time, the v and w were basically indistinct,
             | until some decades ago. I don't remember exactly when.
             | There might even be a law about it.
        
               | hnarn wrote:
               | There's no "law", but there was a lot of language reform
               | in the 19th and 20th century. You can read more here:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_orthography
               | 
               | > Usage of the letters <v>  and <w>  was, as long as the
               | Fraktur typeface was used, guided by the typeface. In
               | Fraktur, <w>  was used as a rule to indicate the sound
               | [v], except for in loanwords of Latin or Romance origin,
               | when <v>  was used. In SAOL 1874-1900, which were not
               | printed in Fraktur, the number of words using <w>  was
               | very small, and primarily tied to names (clown,
               | darwinism, schweizeri). (...) The attempt to remove <w>
               | was further evident in the 1923 edition. Since 1950
               | however, the use of <w>  in loanwords has been more
               | acceptable, as the number of loanwords has increased.
               | Since 2006, <w>  constitutes an individual letter of the
               | alphabet in SAOL, sorted separately from <v> .
               | 
               | One rationalization I think we can be pretty happy about
               | today that the article mentions is that [f,fv,hv] which
               | all produced the same sound were unified into simply "v"
               | in schools in the early 1900s.
        
           | checkyoursudo wrote:
           | In Swedish, the v and the w only became distinct pretty
           | recently. There are still people alive today who don't know
           | which to pick if they don't already know how a v-sounding
           | word is spelled. Also, the same person might say "Vilma" one
           | day and "Wilma" the next, just as an example of the confusion
           | (and Wilma is their own daughter...) Also, also, I have had
           | older Swedes be completely unable to hear a difference
           | between v and (English-pronounced) w.
           | 
           | >.<
        
             | DavidVoid wrote:
             | Differentiating between English J and Y is also difficult
             | for Swedes (at least for me), because in Swedish, a J at
             | the start of a word is typically pronounced with a Y-sound.
             | I have to make a conscious effort to make sure I don't get
             | the words _jet_ and _yet_ mixed up when I say them.
        
             | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
             | In Japan, "L" and "R" are often interchangeable. Their
             | pronunciation is somewhere between.
             | 
             | That's a cool story.
        
               | jimmySixDOF wrote:
               | In Arabic the hard "P" is often swapped with "B" and it's
               | also the case that real pronunciation is somewhere
               | between.
        
               | dehrmann wrote:
               | I think P and B are closer phonetically than L and R,
               | though.
        
               | goodcanadian wrote:
               | Japanese actually uses a different phoneme that is sort
               | of halfway between an "r" and an "l" sound. Apparently,
               | depending on where you are in the country, it may sound
               | closer to one or the other. I learned to say it by
               | consciously paying attention to the position of my tongue
               | in my mouth and literally putting my tongue halfway in
               | between the "r" and "l" positions. I actually learned to
               | make the sound before I learned to hear it (which I can
               | now, but I couldn't when I first learned of it). Source:
               | married to a person who can speak Japanese.
        
             | dehrmann wrote:
             | I used to work for a Swedish company with a system named
             | "foo-ws," as in Foo Web Service. It's pronounced "foo vee
             | ess." Because Swedish. IIRC, www is vee vee vee.
        
               | DavidVoid wrote:
               | > Because Swedish. IIRC, www is vee vee vee.
               | 
               | I can confirm. I mean, the "proper" pronunciation is
               | dubbel-vee-dubbel-vee-dubbel-vee, but we can't be
               | bothered to say all that so we just say vee-vee-vee.
               | 
               | I also think "double-v" is a better name for the letter w
               | than "double-u" is.
        
             | smcl wrote:
             | I also encountered this with German folk speaking English
             | and pronouncing "v" as "w" - "Let's meet up in the willage"
             | 
             | If they'd pronounced it "Let's meet up in the fillage" that
             | would make sense as they'd be using the German
             | pronunciation of "v", but I couldn't wrap my head around
             | "willage".
        
               | Sharlin wrote:
               | Can also be a case of hypercorrection.
        
               | konschubert wrote:
               | To German ears, the difference between v and w is really
               | difficult to hear.
               | 
               | I speak from experience...
        
               | doctor_eval wrote:
               | My wife is in charge of the wacuum cleaning.
               | 
               | Edit to add: she's German, we laugh about it.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | Surely you meant your vive?
        
               | yellowapple wrote:
               | How often does your wacuum need cleaned?
        
               | englishrookie wrote:
               | What part of Germany are you from? Isn't there a clear
               | distinction between Wolke (cloud) and Volk (people). I
               | ask this as Dutch speaker (so, speaker of 'West
               | Germanic') where there is a very clear distinction
               | between volk and wolk (which presumably have the exact
               | same meaning and origin as their German counterparts).
               | 
               | Anecdotally, I once spoke with Russian students (this was
               | long ago) who insisted that there was a Russian 'v/w'
               | sound in the word Berenburg (the name of a distilled
               | spirit). I couldn't hear it...
        
               | vidarh wrote:
               | Yes, but "volk" is IPA /folk/ while Wolke is /'volk@/.
               | That's a major difference.
               | 
               | But in this context, the "v" we're talking about is the
               | English IPA /'v/ (e.g. valley /'vaeli/) vs. IPA /w/ (e.g.
               | wool, IPA /wUl/) and that difference is far less
               | noticeable.
        
               | giantrobot wrote:
               | Ah, yes. IPA. Now it's _super_ obvious how it sounds.
        
               | vidarh wrote:
               | I find IPA terribly confusing myself, but I think the
               | starting sounds give a decent indication to people how
               | the starting sound of Volk differs more from that of
               | Wolke than that of "valley" from "wool", and it's that
               | latter distinction that is hard for those of us used to
               | languages where that distinction is near non-existent or
               | one of the sounds is rare/not in use.
               | 
               | For an English speaker, to put it differently, while the
               | words as a whole are not pronounced exactly the same, the
               | starting sound of German "Volk" is the same as for
               | English "folk", while the starting sound of "Wolke" is
               | the same as for "valley".
        
               | aleph_minus_one wrote:
               | > If they'd pronounced it "Let's meet up in the fillage"
               | that would make sense as they'd be using the German
               | pronunciation of "v", but I couldn't wrap my head around
               | "willage".
               | 
               | Depending on the word, in German a "v" is either
               | pronounced like "f" or "w", e.g.
               | 
               | [der] Vogel -> "Fogel"
               | 
               | [die] Vase -> "Wase"
               | 
               | A rule of thumb that I heard is that if a German word is
               | of French origin and starts with V, the V is pronounced
               | like W, otherwise like F.
        
               | kzrdude wrote:
               | Surely Vase (German) should be spoken as "Vahse" (english
               | phonetic), not with the W sound.
               | 
               | I guess you mean the German F and W! That way it's clear.
        
               | lisper wrote:
               | You are correct. In German, V is F and W is V. There is
               | no W phoneme, except incidentally as in "mauer". I can't
               | imagine a German saying "willage" except perhaps as a
               | joke. In German "willage" would be spelled "uilage" and
               | that would just be really uierd. (Source: I'm a native
               | German speaker, though my family emigrated to the U.S.
               | when I was five so I speak German like a five-year-old
               | who hasn't had much opportunity to practice in a very
               | long time.)
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | vidarh wrote:
             | Similar in Norway. One of the most common pronunciation
             | mistakes Norwegian makes when speaking English is failing
             | to get the v/w distinction right. "Wally" instead of
             | "valley" etc.. I've lived in London 23 years and spoken
             | English for 38, and I still often need to consciously pay
             | attention to that.
        
             | joisig wrote:
             | Similar in Icelandic. Most Icelanders when speaking English
             | will use the Icelandic "v" sound for both v and w, it is
             | somewhere in between.
        
             | acadapter wrote:
             | V and W were considered two graphic variants of the same
             | letter until about two decades ago.
             | 
             | The W sound was lost centuries ago but reintroduced with
             | English words.
        
               | pavlov wrote:
               | Yes. In Finnish and Swedish, the letters V and W
               | traditionally collated together.
               | 
               | In other words, this is a correctly alphabetically
               | ordered list:                 Wasa       Virtanen
               | Wiva       Viwe
               | 
               | The rule was apparently changed in 2006 in Sweden though
               | (with Finland presumably tagging along).
               | 
               | There's probably still plenty of SQL installations around
               | using the old collation rules because tables were created
               | before the 2006 change reached database software.
        
               | doikor wrote:
               | It kinda depends. In a list of names, dictionaries, etc V
               | and W would be separately. This is to make finding the
               | word you are looking for easier.
               | 
               | Also in Finnish AAO are the end of alphabet.
               | 
               | Also U and U would should be grouped with Y. O and O with
               | O.
        
               | pavlov wrote:
               | _> "In a list of names, dictionaries, etc V and W would
               | be separately. This is to make finding the word you are
               | looking for easier."_
               | 
               | If you look at older phone books and dictionaries until
               | the 1990s at least, you'll find that V and W are
               | combined.
               | 
               | There are common surnames in Finland that retain the V/W
               | spelling equivalence, like Virtanen and Wirtanen. When
               | they are grouped together (as they traditionally were),
               | it's easier to find a person by name because you don't
               | need to know which way it's spelled.
        
               | marginalia_nu wrote:
               | It's also noteworthy that in Swedish, w is a double-v not
               | a double-u.
        
               | dadadad100 wrote:
               | In French also [1]
               | 
               | [1] https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/French/Alphabet
        
               | Mistletoe wrote:
               | Just realized how weird it is we call it double-u when it
               | is a double-v. Language is weird.
        
               | marginalia_nu wrote:
               | The history of u, v, double-u and double-v is really
               | convoluted. They're the same letter but also not quite.
               | There are historical reasons that make sense as to why
               | this is.
        
         | hnarn wrote:
         | For anyone who doesn't know about the Vasa, you can read more
         | here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)
         | 
         | It was a Swedish warship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628
         | after making it less than a mile (1,3 km). It was salvaged in
         | 1961 and is today one of Sweden's most famous tourist
         | attractions.
        
           | matsemann wrote:
           | Think it's my favorite museum ever I have visited. Didn't
           | think I would end up spending the whole day there when I was
           | in Stockholm.
        
             | ineedasername wrote:
             | So while in Stockholm you found you grew to like some of it
             | much more than expected...
             | 
             | You may want to find a good therapist, this is classic
             | Stockholm Syndrome.
        
       | e40 wrote:
       | These ships are a wonder of human achievement. While on vacation
       | in Mexico I was able to spend the day on a boat of a similar age
       | --I don't remember the details. It really connects one to the
       | past.
        
         | phit_ wrote:
         | its a replica that was only build in 2005
         | https://www.gotheborg.se/about-gotheborg/about-the-ship/
        
           | DougN7 wrote:
           | And they let complete newbies (like me) sign on as crew for a
           | week or two. It's the adventure of a life time to work on
           | board such an accurate replica. It was hand built - even the
           | nails and ropes were hand built, using tools and techniques
           | from the time period, which if I recall correctly took
           | something like 10 years to research since much of that
           | knowledge had been lost.
        
       | tempodox wrote:
       | Wow, that ship is gorgeous.
        
       | bombcar wrote:
       | The Star of India is set to set sail in November; perhaps it can
       | do something similar.
       | 
       | https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/star-of-india/
        
         | erk__ wrote:
         | The Danish training ship Georg Stage is out a trip at the
         | moment, I think they are on their way to the Faroe Islands.
         | 
         | https://georgstage.dk/english/
        
       | FartyMcFarter wrote:
       | I know nothing about sailing so this is probably wrong, but I was
       | slightly surprised at the fact that the people on board the small
       | boat didn't get rescued onto the Gotheborg.
       | 
       | Given the concerns in the article about the size difference
       | possibly causing problems, wouldn't that have been safer?
        
         | hnarn wrote:
         | I don't think it's specific to sailing. If you're towing a car,
         | would you let the driver of that car get in your back seat?
         | 
         | Someone needs to be in control of the vehicle being towed, in
         | case you need to break (if possible), change course (if
         | possible), disconnect the tow (if possible), etc.
        
         | _ph_ wrote:
         | I don't know what were the reasons in that situation, but
         | getting the two sailors safe from an uncontrolled vessle is not
         | an easiy task. At least you would have the smaller vessle hit
         | the larger. Depends of course on the weather conditions at the
         | time. Sending over a line is much easier. Also, this would have
         | meant abandoning the ship. Unless there is a present danger, it
         | is easiest to tow the boat with the crew to the harbor.
        
         | ff_ wrote:
         | Sailor here - an 8 meters boat is in that awkward spot where
         | it's big/heavy enough that it can do damage if incontrollably
         | drifting against something (e.g. the wooden vessel itself) but
         | light enough that you can literally just push it with the
         | strength of two people if that happens.
         | 
         | So I'd argue it's more safe to have some crew on it in case you
         | need to be hands-on, and just talk over radio while being
         | towed.
        
           | sandworm101 wrote:
           | Do not attempt to push an 8-meter vessel by hand while at
           | sea. Even a smallish 1-foot wave, when pushing against an
           | 8-meter hull, can generate thousands of pound of force.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | somat wrote:
         | I suspect they were not in immediate danger, the small boats
         | rudder was inoperative, so they had little to no steering
         | control. I suspect mainly poising a navigation hazard for other
         | boats in the area. What they needed, and got was a tow.
         | 
         | The funny thing is, they were grateful for the assistants of
         | the Gotheborg, but a bit incredulous that such a large ship
         | would go out of it's way to help them. (they were also worried
         | about the speed at first before learning it was a sailing ship_
        
           | Jolter wrote:
           | I think they were worried about speed because it was a large
           | ship, regardless of propulsion method. I believe that the
           | longer a sailing ship is, the faster it can sail. This
           | affects the construction/dimensioning. So this small boat
           | would have a hull that can withstand the seas at a certain
           | speed, but might have trouble if towed faster. And they
           | worried that a large sailboat, built to go quite a bit
           | faster, might accidentally go too fast.
        
           | ineedasername wrote:
           | >such a large ship
           | 
           | It wasn't quite the _size_ that made it notable ;)
        
         | SapporoChris wrote:
         | The towing was a fairly simple procedure and they could
         | maintain a safe distance. Transporting crew between ships on
         | the high sea would be a dangerous and complex task. They might
         | not even have the equipment for it.
        
           | ineedasername wrote:
           | I have a question. this is going to be a really uninformed
           | question but keep in mind my knowledge of boat transfers come
           | from movies and I don't consider Pirates of the Caribbean
           | authoritative on the topic.
           | 
           | What makes it so difficult, and what sort of special
           | equipment is required?
           | 
           | I know, I know, cargo nets on the side of the ship are not
           | going to be sufficient, easy as it looks in pop
           | entertainment, I just don't know why.
        
             | bombcar wrote:
             | Big boat very big. Small boat small.
             | 
             | Need to get close enough that someone can go between
             | without a wave throwing the big one into the small one.
             | 
             | Which is why "touch and go" between ships of equal size was
             | considered a test of skill and a bit risky, normally they'd
             | drop a rowboat or dingy. A tiny boat can't really be
             | crushed as it just bumps out of the way.
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | Another advantage: you get to keep the boat ;)
        
       | startuprabbit wrote:
       | Wow that's awesome
        
       | justinclift wrote:
       | > The next day, as we approached the French coast, we radioed for
       | another boat to help us enter the port, but no one responded
       | positively.
       | 
       | Wonder if that's a standard (or common) response, and why... ?
        
         | michaelt wrote:
         | Presumably the norms for rendering aid are different when the
         | ship is no longer in distress, and has been towed for two days.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | I also assume the sailors felt they'd taken enough of the
           | Gotheborg's time and were willing to pay for a launch to
           | bring their ship in for repair (also presumably it would be
           | quite hard for a large sailboat to drag a small one literally
           | to port).
        
       | timonoko wrote:
       | Swedes are cheating as they always do. This sailship has a motor
       | in it. https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXX4YiQ3u455YNni8
        
         | belorn wrote:
         | The original method is to use many smaller ships to guide and
         | drag the ship to where it need to be whenever the sails are not
         | suitable (that and wait for better weather conditions). If they
         | had used this original method, the sailing boat would had been
         | rescued by those ships.
        
           | jabl wrote:
           | If they'd have used the "original" method, they wouldn't have
           | any radio onboard either, so would never have gotten info
           | about the sailing boat in distress. :)
        
           | timonoko wrote:
           | Yes. But what is the point of this ship if not fully restore
           | the original look-and-feel of the era.
           | 
           | Satellite antenna in the mizzen mast is also an abomination.
           | They should have dirty drawings from France instead of
           | Pornhub.
        
             | yetanotherloser wrote:
             | The original didn't have to share shipping lanes with huge
             | modern cargo ships that often rely on their radar to go
             | quite fast in bad visibility. Faced with adding
             | anachronistic radar vs. dying from hazards that the
             | original ship didn't have to face, most sailors pick the
             | radar.
             | 
             | She's also big enough to be legally obliged to carry radar
             | under SOLAS V regulations.
        
             | WastingMyTime89 wrote:
             | That's a nav radar not a satellite antenna. It would be
             | down right irresponsible (and probably illegal - I'm not
             | really good with law concerning civilian ship) to sail a
             | ship this size without one.
             | 
             | Restoration is good but there is no reason to put the crew
             | in unnecessary danger.
        
               | Gwypaas wrote:
               | The white blob on the mizzen mast is a satellite antenna.
               | To have the vessel sail in A3 areas the common choice is
               | to have satellite communication, and it is used for their
               | social media and outreach.
               | 
               | The navigation radars is actually quite well hidden
               | sitting on the platform of the foremast.
               | 
               | There is more information about the emergency
               | communication requirements on commercial vessels for
               | different areas of the planet here:
               | 
               | https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/gmdss-areas-and-search-and-
               | rescu...
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Maritime_Distress_an
               | d_S...
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | olodus wrote:
         | Good bait my guy. You have a wonderful day now.
        
       | crossroadsguy wrote:
       | > This moment was very strange, and we wondered if we were
       | dreaming. Where were we? What time period was it?
       | 
       | If only the rescue crew dressed the part they could have believed
       | they somehow managed to time travel.
        
         | ineedasername wrote:
         | There a literally books written with nearly that exact premise
         | for the plot
        
           | ajkjk wrote:
           | Know the names?
        
         | moffkalast wrote:
         | Tbf, the average Gotheborg deckhand looks like this so it's not
         | far off https://i.imgur.com/Dc7QN5s.png
        
       | Mistletoe wrote:
       | https://gotheborg.com/project/food.shtml
       | 
       | I found this post about what sailors ate on the original ship
       | fascinating.
        
       | ytdytvhxgydvhh wrote:
       | Would one receive a bill in a situation like this? To cover the
       | cost of lost time and/or extra diesel burned? Or is it purely out
       | of the goodness of the hearts of the management of the towing
       | vessel?
        
         | callamdelaney wrote:
         | Not to my knowledge, and certainly not for boats like the small
         | yacht being towed here. The idea is that if the it happened to
         | you someone else would help.
        
           | notahacker wrote:
           | And sometimes what goes around comes around happens quicker
           | than expected!
           | 
           | Different scale, different waterways, but a couple of weeks
           | after spending half an hour dragging a boat off a fallen
           | tree, I got a tow off a trip boat full of people eating
           | Christmas dinner after losing power in the middle of the
           | Thames...
        
       | fmeyer wrote:
       | Oh, it's going to be open for visiting in Hamburg this month.
        
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