Marland wrote:
Offramp wrote:
I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a
dull job it was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every
half an hour. It made me think that what the crew REALLY must look
forward to is massively inclement weather, to really liven things up. I
suppose the heaving aislefuls of puke would be annoying, but seeing the
passengers' 45° fizzogs bowking barel-loads of rich brown vomit would be
a memory to treasure forever.

The Isle of Wight boats cross a major shipping channel which very large
vessels are proceeding along and then when spring comes along the WAFI s
arrive.
The deckhands on the IOW ferries have other duties like doing a stint on
the helm and time passes quickly, a good mate worked on the Portsmouth run
for a while and I’ve known a few Captains and crew on the Southampton route
and also been on the wheel of a ferry sized vessel in those waters on
numerous occasions,
Life is never dull , this is the sort of thing WAFI s do.

https://youtu.be/_tUoUxzt9sI

WAFI is short for wind assisted ****ing idiot.
It’s even more exciting when doing 25 knots on one of the high speeds when
a load of yachts tack into your path and you have to pick your way through.

Having been under sail in those waters, I have to say the idiocy is by no
means one sided. I’ve been put into pretty precarious situations by the
Ryde cats with a questionable interpretation of the colregs. The standard
example is overtaking close by one side and turning across your bows with
barely a boat length to spare. Overtaking vessels are give way, and give
way vessels should maneuver to pass behind, not in front of, stand on
vessels.

Robin