Safety Awareness & Self Defense: Circle of SafetyWritten by Eric Gehler
Safety Awareness & Self Defense is responsibility of each individual. Knowing your surroundings and being aware of potential dangers is your first step towards self-defense. Avoiding and distancing yourself from circumstances that could be trouble are your responsibility.The Circle of Safety is an imaginary boundary extending from your body outward to approximately 7 to 10 feet. By being aware what is approaching your Circle of Safety you can potentially avoid a dangerous situation. If you were alone and a stranger enters your circle of safety, you should attempt to distance yourself from that stranger. In order for stranger to grab you, they must be able to touch you. If you maintain a circle of safety of 7 to 10 feet than stranger will not be in reach to grab or touch you.
| | Sailing Multihulls Part 2: The DisadvantagesWritten by Linda Cullum
Disadvantages-- In serious wind and seas, a monohull sailor can, if absolutely exhausted and no longer able to steer, strike all sail, lock all hatches, and go below to wait it out and hope for best. A well-found boat will most likely allow this. The boat will roll around like a cork, and even if it rolls 360 degrees it should be ok, as long as mast doesn't break off and put a hole in boat. A Multihull in huge seas, however, must always have a helmsman, or some other way to keep boat pointed into waves. Without this, boat will end up in wave troughs, with waves beam on; this is an invitation to capsize. Knowing this, ocean going sailor should be prepared with a parachute sea anchor and with attachment points for it on boat that are absolutely bombproof. Properly deployed, a parachute anchor will allow a multihull to ride out a hurricane in near comfort, as it keeps bows pointed into wind and waves and with several hundred feet of line led out to sea anchor, there is no jerking or lunging on line. Once sea anchor is properly set, crew can go below and safely wait out storm. This assumes that there are no dangers, such as a landmass or reef systems, lying in wait downwind. Plenty of sea room is needed for these manuevers.Marinas-- Finding space in a marina for a multihull is not nearly as easy as it is for a monohull. They require either an end space or a double berth, which will likely cost more than a single. Weight constraints -- Since a multihull sits on water instead of in it, unlike a keel boat, payload, or weight carrying capacity of boat, can not safely be exceeded. A catamaran, with essentially two full boats in water, can carry more weight than a trimaran of same length, which consists of one full hull and two floats. A 35 foot monohull can carry much more weight in stores and equipment than a 35 foot trimaran, and this is a consideration when provisioning a boat for cruising. The cruiser in a small multihull may find himself reprovisioning along way more often than cruiser in a small monohull.
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