How far is "offshore" safe?

Ok, yeah i know, How long is a piece of string?
I'm not quite sure if there is a difference between, offshore and coastal.
Here is my quandry.
I sail off the southern part of Phuket. The club is in a reasonably sheltered cove. Once we are out of the cove, there is an island about 25 mins sail away in a good wind. (Not sure how many nautical miles)
Around and about, there are hundreds of small, deserted, tropical islands. I have never sailed my laser further than the first island. I can still see our yacht club from there, though it's a little hazy. I guess this could be described as being a coastal sail.
Further out, i may be just out of sight of landfall at some times, which i consider i guess to be offshore.

When i was out the other week, there was a bit of an ocean swell. Maybe half a metre waves. The bow did bang down quite a lot falling off the waves going upwind. On a beam reach i surfed along the wave front which was good fun. Going downwind was hairy as the swell was going faster than me and i was frightened of gybing accidentally.

Is there a rule of thumb for what kinda swell is acceptable, or how far people generally go offshore? (Yes, i know some guy sailed the Bass Straits - that isnt the standard i am at!)
I always wear a lifejacket, i also have a waterproof divers bag with my mobile phone in - there is coverage all over there, and i also sail with my buddy in her boat, so we keep an eye on each other.

Any advice is much appreciated
Mark

Mark- you seem to be a doing a lot of thinks right, with a lifejacket, waterproof phone, and sailing with a buddy at all times.

that said, being out of sight of other people means you have to be pretty confident and self sufficent for a while.

big puff, you both wipeout, your phone gets dislodged and thrown off the boat and floats away while you are tending to your boat and your friend. She has a broken top section, so you both get on your boat....now you try to sail in....

what's the water temp? does your club have chase boats in the water...could you have a VHF?


I'm not a huge fan of enforcing piles of safety measure on everything, and I wouldn't tell you not to do it, just make sure, offshore, coastal, whatever, that you have a means to contact people, and in a worse case scenario, you've planned out and prepared for how to get back safely.

if that's all done, no reason not to push the limits of yourself and your boat a little bit, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thanks so much for the repy. The club does have a chase boat, though it's only generally manned on club days (sundays). The water is warm enough to stay in it, with a life jacket on pretty much until you die of thirst. (Its Thailand, it is always hot here). Doubt i could have VHF, though i will look into a waterproof handheld unit.

I tie my dive bag onto the centreboard rope so it shouldt be able to float off. I also have a litre bottle of water in there too.

I had NOT considered part of the rig breaking. That has given me something to think about.

I will push out a little more each week i think, just to increase my confidence a bit.

Thanks for your reply. I was afraid someone might say, "You're dong WHAAAT?!"
Mark

It's hard to judge distances because of height of objects and land masses and how clear the weather is, and Laser speeds are all over the map depending on if you are planing or not, but in a half hour of planing condition you are going to cover approx 5 miles. A half hour of non planing is going to take you approx 2 miles.

Anytime I consider sailing out of sight of land or by myself, I'm thinking about a couple of things:
1. What are the chances of being picked up by a passing boat if the worst should happen.
2. Can I contact somebody via phone or radio and give them my position.
3. Have I let somebody know where I'm headed and when I expect to return.
4. Do I know what the weather is supposed to be for the duration I'm out sailing.
5. Plenty of water and some food.
6. Compass and chart and/or GPS - where I live fog is an issue at certain times of the year...

In your case, sailing with a buddy, in warm water, with a lifejacket, reduces your risk quite a bit, but if you are sailing in waters where there is not much boat traffic, I would consider taking a GPS along, if for nothing else then being able to give someone some location coordinates if you need to be picked up..

49208 said:

Anytime I consider sailing out of sight of land or by myself, I'm thinking about a couple of things:
1. What are the chances of being picked up by a passing boat if the worst should happen. Thankfully quite high where we are, the tourist boats leave from the port and have to pass our yacht club coming in and out of Phuket.
2. Can I contact somebody via phone or radio and give them my position.
3. Have I let somebody know where I'm headed and when I expect to return. Its not something i have been doing, but i will do from now on.
4. Do I know what the weather is supposed to be for the duration I'm out sailing. Ditto above. Have found a decent online weather service which i m going to use before going down to the club.
5. Plenty of water and some food. Yup. Nothing better than a cheese baguette when the wind dies down. I never leave shore without one!
6. Compass and chart and/or GPS - where I live fog is an issue at certain times of the year... Ah. Hmmm. I dont have any of these things. Luckily, we dont get fog in Phuket. Running out of daylight could be a problem. In the winter the sun sets just after 6pm

In your case, sailing with a buddy, in warm water, with a lifejacket, reduces your risk quite a bit, but if you are sailing in waters where there is not much boat traffic, I would consider taking a GPS along, if for nothing else then being able to give someone some location coordinates if you need to be picked up..

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I feel quite a bit reassured that i m not doing anythiing completely stupid by even considering it.
Happy sailing!

oh my god! You are soooooooooooo lucky! all the thai ice tea, tom gai gai, islands! lucky.

Hey sk8ingsailor!
I take it you've been to Thailand?
You ever sailed here? It's great. Two monsoons a year mean nearly year round wind, and its never cold.
The downside is that as far as i know, in Phuket, there are only 2 lasers. Mine and the club boat which my buddy sails, so no chance of a regatta or any racing. There are lots of regattas for cruising boats from another yacht club though and i heard last week that we might be able to enter our lasers against the big boats who will then be time-handicapped.
Anyway, if you ever come to Phuket - give us a shout!
Markg

Tasar worlds is going to be in Phuket next year, I'd love to go.....lordy would I....!

West Coast - yes you are right. How do you know about that?!
Our little club is hosting it i think...........though i m not sure........something was said about buying a fleet of them, but who knows. Some chap did buy a fleet of Bytes and tried to set up a sail instruction school but i think it went bust. Real shame. Sailing is a new thing here and most people seem to want cruisers - and with all the sea scenary to see i dont blame them.
West Coast - is there no way you can come for a holiday to Thailand and watch the championships?
Mark

markg said:

Some chap did buy a fleet of Bytes and tried to set up a sail instruction school but i think it went bust. Real shame.
Mark

Click to expand...

Mark: Are you referring to Skiff Asia? That seemed like a great place to play with the toys we all like. Any further info?

Wavedancer said:

Mark: Are you referring to Skiff Asia? That seemed like a great place to play with the toys we all like. Any further info?

Click to expand...

Yes indeed it is Skiff Asia. Have a look at http://www.skiffasia.com/The first paragraphs say it all - it's only half open and most of the boats are for sale. Read into that what you will. I havent been on the sailing scene for long enough to know happened or is happening to them. We share dinghy space with them and they have a fleet of new boats, but i never see any out on the water which is a real, real shame. Using Skiff asia could be part of a great holiday in Thailand. I dont know much about the boating market and why things havent worked out full time for the Skiff guys - maybe people just prefer crusing-boat charters?Anyway, their boats look in tip top condition. Someone could get a bargain i reckon!I have also just looked at http://www.tasarworlds.com/ and the event is coming to Phuket in July 07. It wont be run from the beach where our club and skiff asia are, but it's not too far away. There are some vids and pics on the website too by the way.Any taser and or laser sailers might want to have their summer holidays in Thailand at that time of year? I'm sure it will be fun ! Mark

markg said:

Hey sk8ingsailor!
I take it you've been to Thailand?
You ever sailed here? It's great. Two monsoons a year mean nearly year round wind, and its never cold.
The downside is that as far as i know, in Phuket, there are only 2 lasers. Mine and the club boat which my buddy sails, so no chance of a regatta or any racing. There are lots of regattas for cruising boats from another yacht club though and i heard last week that we might be able to enter our lasers against the big boats who will then be time-handicapped.
Anyway, if you ever come to Phuket - give us a shout!
Markg

Click to expand...

Sadly no, i havent been to thailand. I am actually 14, and looooooooooooooooooooooooooooove thai food.

yeah florida is great to and unfortunatley in my area sailing isnt near as big as it should be. I too would love to visit thailand cause i hate cold weather and love hot weather, how are the waters down their.

sailor327 said:

yeah florida is great to and unfortunatley in my area sailing isnt near as big as it should be. I too would love to visit thailand cause i hate cold weather and love hot weather, how are the waters down their.

Click to expand...

The waters are warm warm warm warm all year round. There are only 2 seasons here, Hot and dry, and Hot and wet. It's hot all year round. During the "summer" it's surfing season, but that is for the west coast beaches, on the east coast there is no surf. There is varaiable wind all year round. Right now it's the Kings Cup which is a big sail racing event lasting a week, though it's not for lowly boys like me in my laser!

I was out yesterday and sailed for about 6 hours. My bum and legs are very sore now. I had a bit of a fright. We were trying to sail to an island and then go stuck on the tide. It was reasonably windy but i just couldnt make any headway against the tide at all. It was worrying to be honest. We elected to sail with the tide and went around the island the other way, which took about an hour. I managed to sail out more into open sea but that didnt make any difference. Any one know why? I was a good half a mile from the island and there is nothing but ocean the other way.

Anyway the waters are good, the food is good, there arent any regattas here really for lasers but we are hosting the Tasar world champs here, it's good fun and if anyone did make a holiday of it, i'm sure they could hire one of our club boats very cheaply for the day.

Happy sailing guys
Mark