Boats/sailing

[Mick104]

My own prepping is based on staying at home rather the running / sailing off in to the unknown.
But if I had to go I would borrow this baby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2boayPZ3GbE .
Go in style .

[metatron]

I took around 20 sailing sessions, starting off on a little 9ft fiberglass thing in a lake and working up a 35ft yacht at sea. To be fair boats are fairly cheap used, its the fees that get you, unless its sitting on your driveway (trailer/props). Loads are just left to rot or abandoned due to no real value and mounting costs.

I've been tempted to buy one a handful of times, as for the price of a used car you can get something nice/big enough to live on and sail to France/Spain. For my needs if I needed to get home from one of my jobs, I'd be looking for a sail boat around 26ft, as its small enough to sail single handed, with no issues.

[sniper 55]

Don't knock a mirror dinghy mate. We had a family friend who used to pop over to France in one... From Wales, all 10 foot 6 of it. Mind, he wasn't the full shilling as we say here but he did it loads of times.

Not knocking Mirrors, as a kid I had plenty goes in them, I also know how easy they are to 'fall over' if you don't know what you're doing, that was kind of my point. Lots of talk of just 'borrowing' a boat and sailing off into the horizon like its a cake walk.

Thats a good point, I'm used to them so I didn't really think of the problems a non sailor could have trying to sail in safety.

[grenfell]

I've just spent the weekend in northwest wales and thought about this thread because we were stopping at a place that overlooked a harbour. A couple of things made me think. Firstly , tides . For a good few hours a day quite a few boats weren't even in the water , just sat on the mud st of the rest were unable to leave the harbour because of the low water. Secondly , the majority of boats suitable for a lengthy trip moored at places where there are already quite a lot of people the numbers of which would likely increase in an event that forced people to consider evacuation.

[sniper 55]

I've just spent the weekend in northwest wales and thought about this thread because we were stopping at a place that overlooked a harbour. A couple of things made me think. Firstly , tides . For a good few hours a day quite a few boats weren't even in the water , just sat on the mud st of the rest were unable to leave the harbour because of the low water. Secondly , the majority of boats suitable for a lengthy trip moored at places where there are already quite a lot of people the numbers of which would likely increase in an event that forced people to consider evacuation.

In a SHTF situation most non sailors wouldn't think of taking a boat, a lot of them couldn't figure out how to start one, let alone rig the sails. Plus theres a load of half decent boats sitting on peoples drives on a trailer just waiting to be.... Errr liberated
Being serious obviously a lot of factors will affect what resources are left for the survivors of whatever drama happens. It might be the sea is unsafe for some reason, it's possible that a country may be quarantined for some reason, so sailing away might be discouraged by the navy.

[grenfell]

I agree that a lot of non sailing types probably wouldn't think of using boats , aircraft would probably be their first thought should it be necessary to leave the UK .
The , er liberating , thing might get you into choppy waters ( sorry terrible pun ) as of course that would involve the breaking of the law and a possible violent situation which with regards to forum rules we'd perhapsbest leave it at that.
It's funny how I hadn't really given this too much thought until you suggested it and now I've been running through the idea a few times . Images of crowded ( and sinking) migrant vessels in the Mediterranean sprung to mind as presumably there would be some degree of panic and people getting onto already overloaded boats .
Still if evacuation was the only real possibility then boats would have to play quite a large role and the idea is generally sound.

[Mick104]

Still if evacuation was the only real possibility then boats would have to play quite a large role and the idea is generally sound.

I was on the water early last Sunday morning, wind 3/4, air temp was about 2 / 3 degrees with a bitting easterly wind and this post came in to my mind. In a smallish boat in similar weather conditions most would succumb to the cold after a few hours and then become a burden on their ship mates. Back to my earlier point, if a major SHTF event hits the UK, Ireland, France and all your near neighbors will be in the same boat (excuse the pun). There would be no where to go . Liberating a boat and sailing off in to the sunset is best left in the fantasy world .

[grenfell]

I agree that there would be huge problems hence my comment about sinking migrant boats. I meant more that using small boats for short distances would be sound , think Dunkirk as the obvious one , transferring people to larger vessels but as you say it's difficult to come up with a scenario that sees the uk as untenable but leaves other countries all safe and sound . There's also the issue of whether other countries would be happy to take us in I thiswere ever to happen.

[Arzosah]

Nobody's mentioned Waterworld



Slightly more seriously - if I had a boat, and there was a pandemic declared, and it was a bad one - then maybe I'd stack it to the gills with supplies and go moor off an uninhabited island, taking account of the weather coming at me and what's on the wind - being downwind from London wouldn't be much cop, for instance. Somewhere you could resupply occasionally would be important too. Desalinating/filtering your own water, solar/wind setup for leccy, as much fishing as you could manage, sprouting and growing microgreens. I'd have to be with someone else who was up for it, and I'd also have to be 20 years younger