What should you do if you lose your catamaran’s rudder while on passage?
Rule number One – Don’t panic!
Let’s face it, panic is not going to get your rudder back. Neither is it going to get you and your crew safely to shore. What you need is a solid plan that you as the captain and your crew can focus on to keep your vessel and the crew safe and calm.
Your crew will be looking at you and your reactions so stay calm. If you take the lead and show the right way to react your crew will do the same. You can still convey the seriousness of a situation without rendering your crew and passengers useless with dread. You are going to need them to help crew the boat after all so don’t terrify people unnecessarily.
The best thing about a catamaran is that it has two rudders. It may be rounding up and wiping out but you still have the ability to steer with your one remaining rudder. So what do you do to get the situation under control?
Assess the situation
First thing to do in an emergency situation is to ensure you have all crew and passengers on board. Do a head count and then make sure everyone puts a lifejacket on. Even if you think the situation doesn’t warrant it. You can always take a jacket off later when things clam down.
Start by making a full assessment. You need to identify the problem if you haven’t already. Send people who you have confidence in and trust to investigate the situation further if you need to.
Assign the crew tasks
For anyone who has done longer passages at sea, either racing or cruising, you will understand the importance of morale. Your crew is no good to anyone if they are stressed and panicking.
Get. Everyone. Busy.
For the remaining crew and passengers who are not working directly to solve the problem, give them tasks that will assist in keeping the boat safe. Keeping them focussed will help them feel like they have some level of control over the situation. Feeling in control is a great way to handle feelings of nervousness or fear.
Chose tasks for each crew member based on their ability. In a situation where we need to assess the boat and our safety concerns first we will give the children jobs like checking the navigation instruments. What’s our heading? What’s our speed? What are the rudders doing? Check the bilges aren’t full etc. Try to give each person their own task. It doesn’t matter how small the job is, it will help them feel useful and encourage them to concentrate on that rather than worrying. There may be individuals who are just too worried about the situation for you to give them their own task. In these cases try to pair them them up with someone they trust and get along with who will be able to put their mind at ease.
Make it safe
In our rudder situation, the first part of making the boat safe was to slow the boat down. As our children can all sail, we had all hands on deck to pull the sails down in order to make the boat safe while we came up with a plan.
Make a plan
Once you have your vessel under control, it’s time to get everyone together to make a plan. Be as transparent as you can with your crew. They need to know and understand the situation as well as you do.
Listen to your crew. The chances are you will have been very busy with your own task of securing the boat up until this stage. If you have sent others to investigate potential issues make sure you take the time now to asses what they may have found. Ask questions. Someone may have seen something or heard something that could be significant. Don’t assume because they aren’t the captain or they don’t take an active role in sailing the boat that they don’t have anything to contribute. Even something that may seen trivial may need to be clarified or investigated further. This can be a good way to keep people busy and focused. It is a good way to reassure people things are ok if they can go and look to see if it’s all working and looking good.
Moving forward
Once you have your plan and everyone understands what to expect you can set tasks to achieve those goals.
We always like to congratulate the kids for spotting any potential problems or make a special note of how well they handled a particular situation. Then it’s best to get busy. Assign monitoring tasks for everyone to keep an eye on as your journey continues. Encourage everyone to talk about their concerns.