Aaaaaaaaaaaargh

[spottydog]

As mentioned here about 6 weeks ago my boat was broken into and damaged whilst on my mooring at Pin Mill. Reluctantly I decided to move the boat into a marina. Shotley had space so I duly took a berth there, friendly staff and secure marina.
Popped down to the boat yesterday evening to find someone has changed the shape of my pushpit and stanchions and ripped a dodger. That will teach me to spend so much time, money and effort last winter getting the boat looking her best for the Vega Rally in Holland next week !!!!
One last moan b****r all wind forecasted for the trip over there this weekend.

 

[FullCircle]

As mentioned here about 6 weeks ago my boat was broken into and damaged whilst on my mooring at Pin Mill. Reluctantly I decided to move the boat into a marina. Shotley had space so I duly took a berth there, friendly staff and secure marina.
Popped down to the boat yesterday evening to find someone has changed the shape of my pushpit and stanchions and ripped a dodger. That will teach me to spend so much time, money and effort last winter getting the boat looking her best for the Vega Rally in Holland next week !!!!
One last moan b****r all wind forecasted for the trip over there this weekend.

I don't know what to say except commiserations. Which doesn't somehow seem enough.

 

[spottydog]

Talking to someone who saw the incident it was apparently quite a comic book accident.
A visitor tried to berth astern in a berth opposite me, being singlehanded he slipped it into neutral, got off the boat to tie up. Unfortunately he missed neutral and had put it in gear, there then followed an uneven match of him trying to hold a boat that was determined to pop over and nuzzle up to the port quarter of Te Arawa. He lost.
I almost smile when I try to envisage the scene, I even feel sorry for the chap, as there was quite a gallery that watched it happen, there but for the grace and all that......

 

[FullCircle]

Well at least you have his insurance, so some small recompense.

 

[PaulGooch]

I also spoke to a couple today who were there when this happened, marina staff were apparently called and are aware of incident. If you haven't already done so, i'd suggest a word in the tower.

 

[bitman]

, as there was quite a gallery that watched it happen,

and no one helped him, typical...

 

[Lucky Duck]

and no one helped him, typical...

I was thinking along those lines

 

[PaulGooch]

and no one helped him, typical...

We know this how ?

I'm berthed close to Te Arawa and all of the berth holders around there, that i know, would be keen to help where they could. How long would it take a sail boat under power to traverse the 35 feet required to hit the boat opposite ?

 

[Lucky Duck]

We know this how ?

My reading of post #3 certainly gave me that impression.

 

[PaulGooch]

My reading of post #3 certainly gave me that impression.

Seems a little harsh to me to presume that no-one tried to help, just because no-one managed to sprint from where they were standing, to the struggling yachtsman in less time than it took a yacht to motor 35 feet. Besides, how many berth holders would it take to stop an unmanned yacht, with the eingine in gear, standing an a 2 feet wide finger ?

 

[Lucky Duck]

I take you point and I'm sure everybody did what they could to help, but the post left me with a nagging doubt.

A while back I made the same mistake of leaving the boat in 'tick over' reverse rather than neutral when I jumped ashore with the lines. Fortunately I wasn't singlehaded and the bow line was secured so it couldn't really go anywhere.

 

[Wunja]

Paul, I agree with you that reactively, it would probably not have been possible for the bystanders to help, however, they had presumably also watched the single handed boat come into the haven and could pro-actively have headed to the berth in order to take lines and reduce the stress on the guy trying to do two things at once.

 

[PaulGooch]

I take you point and I'm sure everybody did what they could to help, but the post left me with a nagging doubt.

A while back I made the same mistake of leaving the boat in 'tick over' reverse rather than neutral when I jumped ashore with the lines. Fortunately I wasn't singlehaded and the bow line was secured so it couldn't really go anywhere.

Gave mine a little blast of reverse coming against the pontoon in Wells harbour once, the harbour master had caught a line and i didn't knock it back into neutral properly. I hadn't quite got off the boat before we realised what had happened. I managed to get back to the helm and knock it out of gear before we dragged him off the pontoon lol (suspect he was getting ready to let go)

Paul, I agree with you that reactively, it would probably not have been possible for the bystanders to help, however, they had presumably also watched the single handed boat come into the haven and could pro-actively have headed to the berth in order to take lines and reduce the stress on the guy trying to do two things at once.

Where he was berthed, other boaters might not get much of a chance to see him coming and notice he was single handed. But, it certainly would be the nice thing to do to go catch a line anyway. If we see another boat coming in within a few boats of us, i do generally nip along and catch a line, single handed or not.