Thanks for your feedback and information
I come from the world of Himalaya climbing. Have been in remote area's of our planet at high altitude where any form of resque is not possible. Even if you bring the most sophisticated tech up there to call for help, a helicopter cannot get you and people cannot either if you are in a 3000 feet vertical Himalaya wall of ice and granit, a long way from the nearest civilication. From that perspective, 80 miles or 200 miles is only a few hours from the shore, and a well planned trip with good equipment could be done within all reasonable safety limits.
The article you linked is a very interesting one. If I understand correctly, some of the crew did not wear their drysuit at the moment of the accident. But apart from that they were wel trained and organised and able to call for help and to be rescued.
I never said I would leave the harbour in anything less then perfect conditions. Even if you leave the harbour with sunny weather and a flat sea, prepare for te worst.
So I try to learn from other's experiences so I can make a better judgement which rib to buy. Now I realize I should not have asked that question on this forum which is my mistake. Most ribbers don't have the ambition, survival skills, experience and confidence to go this far from the shore.
An 11m RIB is indeed a very different proposition, but these guys made a trip of 3500 nautical miles and 600 nautical miles from the nearest shore (lissabon). I won't try that in a 6 metre RIB
It is just an example what can be done with the right equipment and crew.
The XS 650 seems to be a nice rib with descent sea keeping abilities, easy to trailer etc. I did not narrow down my choice to this XS RIB only. (I never wrote, I am considering XS rib only and nothing else). There is loads of others and I consider several of them like the humber ocean pro 6.3. I don't consider parker because I do not know this brand, or anyone who owns a parker.
Anyone wants to share their XS 650 experiences with me?
Or Humber or ribcraft 6 metre RIBS if you like? (or parker??)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poly
XS ribs are reasonably well respected as functional well built boats rather than fancier "consumer" styled boats. They are in some ways very tornado like - which is not too surprising if you track back their history. I'd consider one for long distance cruising. Do I think any 6.5m rib will be "comfortable" in rough conditions 80 miles off shore? No. But that might be my definition of comfortable and rough! If I had one would I take it cross channel, across the irish sea, or to St Kilda - yes in reasonable weather. If that was something I had to do in bad weather then I'd want a bigger boat.
Define better? I guess you can flip that question round. What does XS offer (since you've narrowed it down to that) which other builders don't? For what it is worth if I was looking for a 6.5m long distance cruising rib Parker would be on my short list.
11m is a very different proposition to 6.5m. Circumnavigating britain is very different to 80 NM offshore (i.e. 4+ hrs from land in bad weather) in rough weather. I'm not sure the artic circle trip was "comfortable" - they had twin engines and two boats, each with suspension seats - and I think they will only briefly have been more than 80 NM offshore in a well picked weather window.
Its probably worth mentioning that not every offshore rib trip goes to plan even with a good boat and very experienced crew: We thought we'd had it, say crew of exploding powerboat - Telegraph |
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