One of the things I want to ask other women about is going up the mast.I feel silly about it because twenty years ago I was adventurous and really liked heights and was into rock climbing! But over the past few years I have become fearful of heights and no matter how much I tell myself that I am being ridiculous and that it’s totally safe and that I normally love this stuff, my body freaks out. I shake and lose control and get dizzy and disorientated. I feel like an idiot! I am an artist and I have nearly fallen off of ladders working on murals. It’s getting quite annoying and I don’t know why my body reacts this way when my mind it telling me it’s all fine… Of course I am concerned I will have to go up the mast at some point -I tried once and froze and it was humiliating. Right now our boat is on land and it scares me to go up the ladder and I practically crawl to the cockpit to stay away from the edge! It’s absurd but my body is simply not responding to my mind! How do people deal with this? How about when the boat is underway? Should I talk to a psychologist about this? I am reluctant to even call it a “fear of heights” because I can get on the roof of my house to sweep the chimney without a problem. I have been wondering about this and how other women deal with it… Thank you for listening! Sherri

Gwen Hamlin answers.

Interestingly, nobody has brought this up before. However, I can empathize.

I was never afraid of heights as a young person, but after a height related injury (too long a story!), my brain reprogrammed itself. Interesting how the mind/body does that.

The issue first revealed itself when hiking with my sister and her kids. First a rock made me anxious. Then, of all things, a fire tower. My knees went weak every time one of the kids stepped near the rail. This has carried on through the years. I can be in a high apartment  tower, but I’m not happy on their terrace. I can hike, until things get too narrow. I get anxious about my balance in almost any precarious situation.

But oddly enough, going up the mast hasn’t bothered me. I thought for sure it would. And we have a tall mast! For the early years, I always took someone else up on Whisper (my boat), and on Tackless II I took Don up.  I’m not quite sure when or why we changed!  For sure, though, don’t task load yourself.  Start slowly, perhaps just as far as the spreaders, and be sure you are doing so at the dock and in settled conditions.  Once your brain accepts that you are secure up there, I believe your nerves will settle.

We have the stout kind of bosun’s chair, with a rigid insert for a seat, and fabric that wraps around three sides with a stout webbing buckle snapping me in. I always insist on running the halyard end through the two rings and tying a bowline and then closing the shackle around the line to boot. Quite simply, I can’t fall out.  Once the mind believes that, things get easier. Then we used the rope gipsy of our horizontal windlass to take us up. Up was always easy, with three wraps on the drum. Down was trickier, taking one turn off so the line would slide without wrapping.

Go up slowly. When Don took me up with the windlass, the hard part was dodging my way around the standing backstays and upper intermediates. But for some reason, secure in that bosun chair, I never felt precarious…and I would go to the tip top or swing out to work on the spreaders.

Sometimes the halyard didn’t seem to slide smoothly when I took Don up…or more to the point, when I tried to bring him down. That caused me some anxiety for him.  When I worried about it, I would send up a backup halyard controlled from the mainsail winch. This made the whole deal a bit complicated, I admit.

Neither of us has gone up at sea. Because we didn’t want ever to have to do that, we rigged the boat with two forward halyards and two aft — the genoa halyard and spinnaker halyard going forward and the main and topping lift going back. Our theory was they could be interchanged in a tight spot. We were always particularly careful not to let loose of the halyards!

As for dealing with climbing ladders and being on the boat on the hard, I too found it discomfitting.  Not just is there the height above the hard, hard ground, but there is the unsettling fact that the boat isn’t moving the way your brain expects it to!  People (guys!) who have no issues with height often just prop a ladder anywhere and are good to go.

For me, I insisted on the ladder being placed 1) as near as possible to a regular gate, and or 2) within hand’s reach of the shroud or backstay.  In other words, on the hard is no place to give up the maxim, “one hand for you and one for the boat!”  I had no problem stepping around the gate onto the cap rail (ours was a flat wood cap rail, not a perforated one) as long as I was able to have a firm hold of something with my hands.

Then make sure the ladder is tied in place.  Not only does this make sure there is no flipping backwards…but it ensures a yard neighbor doesn’t help himself to your ladder!  Don and I got stuck aboard one night when a security guard, not knowing anyone was aboard, lowered the ladder to deter thievery.

Some other tips:  Wear shoes up and down the ladder for a better foothold; take shoes off at the top and leave them on a mat.  Try to avoid climbing with gear in your hands;  use a hoist line and a bucket or basket to get stuff up.  At night, use a bucket as a temporary bathroom whenever possible to avoid climbing down a ladders in the dark. (We sat ours right in one of our heads so that was easier psychologically.)

Finally, if you remain seriously uncomfortable on deck on the hard, for God’s sake, don’t walk around the deck with anything but the regular lifelines in place.  It is actually probably better to have no lifelines at all than to string a line and think it will serve as a substitute.  I found that lurching onto a line that doesn’t respond as I expect it to a very unnerving and dangerous sensation.

Hope this is helpful. We are each individual!

Gwen

If you have a question about going cruising that you want answered,

- email it to: kathy@forcruisers.com,

- or join the next Women and Cruising webinar!

Question:

I have a question regarding safety while cruising. Our dream has for the last almost 20 years was to retire early and go cruising to the Caribbean aboard our 41 ft ketch.

But now, as that time is quickly approaching, I’m beginning to be afraid of the safety issues. It seems there is an increasing number of reported incidents against cruisers, whether petty theft or worse. Enough to make us wonder if going cruising is now safe.

To all of you who are living the life we are dreaming of, is it safe? Is personal safety in the Caribbean worse than cities here in the US? Am I being silly or ??? Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Karen

The Caribbean Safety and Security Net responds:

I don’t know what your source is for saying that there is an increasing number of reported incidents against cruisers.

The situation is certainly getting more press, both legitimate as well  everyone and his brother posting his version of a single incident in a blog. Most of these blogs are opinions only, often no basis in fact, but they do serve to get people riled up.

While I don’t see an increase in the total reports over the years, I do see an increase in the reports of violent crimes, that is, robberies, assaults, etc., against yachts.  Reported violent crimes in 2008 were double the reports of violent crimes in 2005, although the rate of increase has slowed in the past two years. Most of these reports, although not all, come from Venezuela.

I don’t track crime issues in the US so it is impossible for me to say whether it is worse or not in the Caribbean. Various reports and analyses indicate that crime rates in New York City are down; I don’t know whether that is also the case in other major cities. Here in the islands crime rates among the citizens are on the rise, according to many studies, and that is an issue to the local people; many are frustrated that the authorities are not doing a better job in controlling it.

With the level of attention that they (the authorities) give to crimes against yachts, many yachtsmen share that frustration. I can’t even compare two different islands because there is no yacht-days statistic against which to compare reported incidents. And I do know that we don’t get reports of all the incidents that occur, for various reasons.

Some, maybe even many, of the incidents are because people continue to think this is paradise and they don’t take the same precautions as they did at home – locking the door when they leave, locking the car, not walking down dark streets alone. They seem to leave their brains at home.

Most of the incidents have nothing to do with the world economic condition, although the various island governments are quick to point to that as the cause. This stuff has been going on for years and is the result of some lazy people who want drugs or all the toys they see on US cable TV but are not willing to work to earn those toys. Most of the citizens of these countries are as upset as we visitors at the crimes.

It is an issue of tolerance for risk, as well as tolerance for anything else.  We do not visit Trinidad because we choose to anchor in clean water – the dirty water, poor anchoring conditions, everyday crime, etc. are not worth the great shopping and sightseeing – to us. Ditto Venezuela, although not for the same reasons. Ditto the Virgins, St. Martin, etc.

Rather than relying on rumor, either on the Internet or in person, those asking these questions should visit www.safetyandsecuritynet.com for some facts, as well as the precautions list (which offers advice on appropriate behavior) and much more stuff that has been asked over and over again for the past fourteen years.

About the Caribbean Safety and Security Net

The Caribbean Safety and Security Net is primarily an interactive high frequency radio network of cruising yachts which meets each morning on single sideband frequency 8104.0 at 1215 UTC for the purpose of exchanging information with regard to safety and security concerns while cruising in the Eastern Caribbean.

In addition to reporting and logging incidents, the Net provides a relay on emergency and priority messages from friends and family, boat watches for vessels missing or overdue, warnings of navigational hazards both natural and man-made, sources for medical services, and, as time allows, information on a variety of other topics, such as customs and immigration procedures and fees, other nets, sources of weather information, etc.

SSB 8104.0 at 1215 UTC
www.safetyandsecuritynet.com

See also on this website

• Is the Caribbean safe for cruising? What Caribbean Compass’ readers say

More info (external links)

• Caribbean Safety and Security Net website

Do you have a question for Women and Cruising? Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Question

I have a question regarding safety while cruising. Our dream has for the last almost 20 years was to retire early and go cruising to the Caribbean aboard our 41 ft ketch.

But now, as that time is quickly approaching, I’m beginning to be afraid of the safety issues. It seems there is an increasing number of reported incidents against cruisers, whether petty theft or worse. Enough to make us wonder if going cruising is now safe.

To all of you who are living the life we are dreaming of, is it safe? Is personal safety in the Caribbean worse than cities here in the US? Am I being silly or ??? Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Karen

We asked Sally Erdle, editor of the cruising newspaper “Caribbean Compass” to reply:

Dear Karen, I’d advise you not to give up your dream.

Yes, there are security issues in the Caribbean, as there are everywhere.

But recent input from active cruisers in the Caribbean might be enlightening:

Melodye Pompa of the “Caribbean Safety and Security Net” wrote in the January 2010 issue of Caribbean Compass:

Be wary of believing every blog you read on the Internet.

The downside of having such an extensive information tool is that everyone and his brother can post, claiming to have the final word on the facts.

Without specific information, various press media have published wild speculations about the dangers of cruising, including in their dire warnings about incidents that occurred ten or 20 years ago. There are now MORE rumors among the cruising community about crime than prior to the birth of the Security Net — change is not always progress!

The website www.safetyandsecuritynet.com includes a long list of safety tips accumulated throughout the nearly 14 years of the Net’s existence.

It is not difficult to take the necessary steps to avoid becoming the victim of a crime against yachts. There are, of course, no guarantees, but there are no guarantees in the life we choose to lead. There are, however, smart practices which can prevent petty to serious problems.

And here are excerpts from letters which are published in the June 2010 issue of Compass:

I am appalled at the wrong impression about the security situation in Chaguaramas, Trinidad that is being presented in articles put out by the media. My wife and I have lived on a boat in Chaguaramas for the past 11 years and have never felt that our personal safety was threatened.

Having enjoyed another wonderful cruising season from Grenada to Antigua, back to Grenada and in between, I felt I had to write to you about something that happened on our return to Canada.

One of the complaints most heard “down south” is about security issues, as if nothing happens anywhere else in the world.

After flying into Toronto we went to our son in Kingston, Ontario. He has a part share of a boat there and we arrived in time for launch weekend. On the Saturday we went to help with the clean-up on the boat. Being a small boat its propulsion, apart from sails, is by a small outboard engine. This we noted was locked in place. Early the Sunday morning we returned to the marina for launch to find a very distraught owner — the outboard had been stolen! Twelve engines and several dinghies on a trailer had gone.

So cruisers, just remember, it can happen anywhere…

It really amazes me when cruisers talk about all the crime in the Caribbean.

I don’t believe there is any more crime here than any other place in the world — there are just so many more opportunities.

When ashore, I live in a very nice home in a very nice neighborhood in the US. We have very little crime and feel secure in our house. But every night, we lock the doors, secure the windows and make sure lawnmowers, bicycles, etcetera, have been put away and locked up before we go to bed.

Why is it that cruisers who come to the Caribbean act differently? I am shocked at the stories I read in your paper, not by the acts of thievery, but in the ways that cruisers tempt would-be thieves and give them golden opportunities. Cruisers leave their hatches and companionways wide open and then go to sleep. Their decks are so cluttered with stuff, the boat looks like a floating Budget Marine store.

Ask yourself, would you really go to bed with your front door wide open back home, and leave a bunch of your belongings on the front yard by the street?

Hope this helps!

Sally

About Sally Erdle

Sally Erdle circumnavigated Bequia-to-Bequia with her husband, Tom Hopman, and their cat from 1989 to 1994 aboard their 1963 vintage Rhodes 41 double-headsail sloop, So Long, before settling back in the Caribbean to start the cruising newspaper Caribbean Compass in 1995.

See also on this website

• What Sally Erdle likes most about cruising
• Read the Caribbean Compass online!
  

More info (external links)

• Caribbean Compass website
• Caribbean Safety and Security Net website

Do you have a question for Women and Cruising?

Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.