A disaster

[Wansworth]

I have never heard of any of those guys. Who are they? Some guys with an old boat, who bought you a pint down the pub?

They sailed Cogs?

 

[oldbloke]

I have never heard of any of those guys. Who are they? Some guys with an old boat, who bought you a pint down the pub?

Flaunting your ignorance is never a good look.
They were, and in the case of Mike Mac still are, important figures in the development of dinghy racing. Multiple national and World champions.

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

Flaunting your ignorance is never a good look.

Oh I don't know about that...

 

[dunedin]

I have never heard of any of those guys. Who are they? Some guys with an old boat, who bought you a pint down the pub?

You obviously never raced dinghies with light blue sails - they did pretty well in their day, and Mike McN made great sails with an X logo, and Bill B built beautiful wooden boats (including one of mine).
Later they got shown how to do it by a pair of brothers from Forfar, who managed a unique 1, 2 in a 200+ boat fleet at Weymouth

 

[Dutch01527]

We have all been there in our sailing careers. Do not get discouraged. Next time you might have done the following:

1) Refused to move the boat in that level of wind. I was told to leave a marina in February when the wind was 20 knots steady, gusting 35 knots, to move to my swing morning. I said no way, I do not care that you want to refurb the pontoon, you can wait until it is safe. I spoke to the marina manager and he apologised, his member of staff, who told me to move, was not a sailor and did not understand the issues.
2) If you are already out, secure the line opposite to the direction that the wind and/or tide is pushing you. It the lock master wants to throw it to the bow tell him no, you want it at the stern(or midships if you want to motor against it).
3) If you feel confident doing it, reverse in with the wind / tide over the bow. This gives you more more control because you can motor against the push but probably is more tricky and better if tide is the main issue.

As said before, not a disaster, no one was hurt, just a learning experience.

 

[Norv]

Surely that is a personal opinion of the OP, and entirely relevant to how the OP feels about it, I would have thought.

Thanks all for the support, I was shocked and horrified at the inability to do anything I am not blaming anyone but myself for allowing that situation. I fighting to get the gear leaver out of the jammed position while the Boat I had just spent some £10,000 fixing was blown into the lock gate. While my wife yelled to be thrown another rope and the keeper just stared at us. Yes, it has affected me badly to have put my wife into that situation and to trust that someone would have thrown a rope to secure the rear end.

 

[Norv]

Just one thing to add:

It wasn't a disaster, just an incident. No one got hurt and the boat's still afloat, if with some cosmetic damage.

You are a 100% correct thank you lesson learned

 

[Norv]

We have all been there in our sailing careers. Do not get discouraged. Next time you might have done the following:

1) Refused to move the boat in that level of wind. I was told to leave a marina in February when the wind was 20 knots steady, gusting 35 knots, to move to my swing morning. I said no way, I do not care that you want to refurb the pontoon, you can wait until it is safe. I spoke to the marina manager and he apologised, his member of staff, who told me to move, was not a sailor and did not understand the issues.
2) If you are already out, secure the line opposite to the direction that the wind and/or tide is pushing you. It the lock master wants to throw it to the bow tell him no, you want it at the stern(or midships if you want to motor against it).
3) If you feel confident doing it, reverse in with the wind / tide over the bow. This gives you more more control because you can motor against the push but probably is more tricky and better if tide is the main issue.

As said before, not a disaster, no one was hurt, just a learning experience.

Thank you for much-needed advice yes we were under pressure to go. But as it turns out the Berth Master was in error and he should not have done what he did. the marina owners I cannot fault as they were not happy when they heard of the pressure for us to leave and have offered to pay for the damage while being towed by I have no other words but a Cowboy. Cheers

 

[Norv]

I would like to thank all for the advice and constructive criticism, as said above we reported the incident to the owners, and they have very kindly offered to pay for the repairs to the boat while being towed. I could not have asked for nicer people at the marina club, some had mentioned that they had witnessed the incident from a distance, a bad situation in those wind speeds. Thanks again and Thank you to all at the marina.

 

[Grehan]

Talking only about lock technique, tying the bow first, or only, nearly always leads to problems. Understandable for the helm to bring the boat's bow up to the bollard etc so that crew can attach but unless the stern is already sorted out, attached or loosely roped, it is highly likely that the stern will move out with momentum or breeze and then it becomes a difficult problem to get it back in again. We've seen boats swing through 180 degrees on the bow, with no chance of recovery, and boats where the bow has slammed into the lock wall.
Practical Navigation //Locks (Écluses)
Deepest sympathy to the OP, have been there and know just how upsetting it is.

 

[mattonthesea]

Deleted

 

[mattonthesea]

Deleted as already said by others

 

[Scapa86]

I wouldn’t climb a Munro here in Scotland have 25 knots of wind and I certainly wouldn’t take my boat out either. I’m not experienced enough or frankly, a good enough sailor to safely manoeuvre my boat in a lock in such weather.