USING BUCKET WHILE SAILING? A LITTLE OF TECHNIQUE. VIDEO

Leggi l’articolo in italiano

We might need to take a water bucket while we are sailing. Something stupid? Not so much. First of all, because it can easily escape from our hands; secondly, because the bucket can fall into the water together with the person using it. Traction is surprisingly greater than what we can imagine.

If we want to take some water from the sea, we need a little technique.

Let’s start from a very practical recommendation. Since it is called “bucket”, we suggest to buy it in a traditional household product’s shop, like for a normal bucket. This way, it will be cheaper but equally useful. An intelligent trick is , if anything, to replace its metal handle with a strong strop ( the traditional bucket was made of wood with a rope handle). This way, it won’t get rusty, it won’t escape from the holes in case of excessive loads and you can even create a hole in the middle to obtain a well-balanced traction).

But how can we take some water from the sea without stopping our boat?

First of all, by reducing speed to 3-4 knots, regardless whether we are using sails or engine. Higher speed can make the operation more difficult, with the risk to loose our bucket.

Then, we have to fix a long strong rope to the handle while holding the other end with a turn around our hand, as showed in the picture below.

This way, if some problems occur, we can open our hand and let the rope escape without any damages.

Then, we have to go to the gangway in the largest part of the hull and throw the upside down bucket into the water (its input part should enter the water parallel to the sea surface) and forward. In few seconds, the bucket will turn and get full. When it is on our height, we can lift it fast.

This way, it won’t pull us backwards.

Problem solved. We mustn’t put the bucket into the water behind us or from the transom: we will risk a strong pressure on our hands and the possibility to fall into the water is very high.