"Are you ready to take our ropes?"

snooks

snooks

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\"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

"Erm...If I have to, but I'm sorting out my own at the moment" says me sorting out our shore lines as we were the 5 boat out on a raft this weekend
"I can go round again if you want" comes the reply as he's 6 inches from us handing over two big bunches of rope in the process

Later on that day.....
My girlfriend and I are in the cockpit, relaxing listening to the Monaco GP on the radio, sorting odds and ends out, next door skipper comes back, stands on OUR foredeck and has a long conversation with his partner about the rest of their day.

That evening...
Relaxing down below, oil lamp, bottle wine, post dinner glow, classic FM drifting through the cabin....Thud, thud thud as his heavy footed crew come across our deck, lots of raised voices, someone standing on our deck arguing....then THUD THUD THUD THUD! Skipper staggers heavily shaking the boat with each footstomp. Girlfriend is out of the companionway "Excuse me, would you mind keeping it down?" Me up on deck "Oi, can you walks across a little quieter please?" he comes back with "I'm just walking across" at least I think that what he said as he stumbled aboard his own boat.

This morning.....
No apology, partner casts off the spring too soon, he casts off the stern, and they are just about to motor off with their bow still attached to our stern.

Short of printing out the rafting do's and don'ts out of this month's YM, or the Expert On Board we did in May 2008 about rafting, what's the best way to point out a lack of manners?
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

[ QUOTE ]
we were the 5 boat out on a raft this weekend

[/ QUOTE ]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Fecking bank holiday nightmare.
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Threaten to throw the barstewards over the side!
We have had the same prob several times. The worst was in Funchal. The Arc brigade were unfortunately massing. (Individually they are lovely). The hairy foredeck gorillas were jumping from boat to boat. When one chap decided that going through the centre cockpit was much easier, he was asked/told to retrace his steps and go round the fore deck. He objected strongly. It was then it was suggested either he obliged or went swimming /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

[ QUOTE ]
what's the best way to point out a lack of manners?

[/ QUOTE ]
1) hand them back the massive coil of rope they've passed you as they come into the raft un-invited ... give the bow a shuv off at the same time - this would stop the problem from the outset - but you don't know they are all bad until they are alongside ..

2) once established that they are "all bad" ... wait till they are onboard and anounce that you are departing at some ungodly hour in the morning and they may wish to move.

3) if 2 doesn't work then up early and a good blast of the other listening spectrum to classic FM and a big fryup should disturb them from their slumbers ...

4) in total desperation, you could (and I don't endorse this for one minute) tow them to a swinging mooring somewhere else using your tender/outboard and leave them there ...
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Thats why I always find a nice spot to anchor everytime!!!

The final straw was a few years back and the third boat out of 4 at tarbet........was awoke to a noise as some bird tramped over the foredeck in her high heels..!!!! to ad insult to injury her boyfriend stood on the foredeck droping fag ash over my rolled up foresail that was on the deck.............very nearly ripped his ears off!!!!
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Swing mooring for us .. Seen the rafting at Southwold .. With SWMBO's food who needs to be attached to the land anyway .. This year we aim to practice with the hook .. Should give us a few more options .. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

official looking chalk board that you hang from the side of your boat with the words "No Mooring".... all you need to do is hide it whenever you see the Harbour Master!


.... not that I would do such a thing!!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Graham
I'm surprised you even made this post!!!!!!!!

Are you trying to live in the real world or just one you would like too?

We've all rafted up and sometimes it's a pure joy, you get on well with your neighbours, enjoy a few drinks and laughs, but on other occasions it's a real nightmare as you have described.

What's the difference with land lubbers, some of us have good neighbours others don't? Sailing is no different ~ sometimes you have good neighbours but sometimes you get the neighbours from HELL!!!!!

Peter.
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

The difference is that you only have to put up with raft-neighbours-from-beyond for one night /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

At an owners' rally a few years ago, the then commodore/secretary brought along a friend who was a caravanner. He thought that caravanners were a sociable bunch, but were snooty pariahs compared with us yotties. "That's because you don't have to crawl across each others' roofs to get home when you've been to the pub", he was told. Sums it up, rally. If you want to be sociable you have to put up with people as well as meeting ones you like. Otherwise you go sailing in the more lonely areas of the UK, where you never see another human for weeks on end.
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

"Otherwise you go sailing in the more lonely areas of the UK, where you never see another human for weeks on end."

Aaaaaaaaah!....BLISS! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Raft . . . what is this rafting that you speak of. . it sounds quite tribal

WhitesoxatTean24thMay.jpg


I will wander away now quickly /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

we were the 5 boat out on a raft this weekend
========================================

Thats the lure of sailing - getting away from it all! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Do you have to raft up? Why not Med/Baltic moor instead? Is it a cultural requirement? Or tidal dito?

This is a serious question! I always wondered why people raft in certain places but not in others. For example they do raft up in Denmark and Germany but not in Sweden and Finland. So can't be tides...
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Yes, the difference is tide. Denmark and Germany have a tidal coast and a non tidal coast, so they do it the way that works everywhere.
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

[ QUOTE ]
as he's 6 inches from us handing over two big bunches of rope in the process

[/ QUOTE ]
"Sure - no problem." Take the bunch of rope, put a bowline in the end, pass it under your guardrail and the loop over your cleat. Release the rest into the water and return to what you were doing.

Any competent skipper will want to take in the line on his own boat anyway.

Trouble is, when we act ungenerously towards someone we suspect of being ungenerous, we're really doing the same as them. The guy asking 'we can go round again if you like' while chucking his knitting your way may be behaving so pushily because he's fearing we'll refuse him or come up with some nonsense story that we're about to depart. So perhaps it pays to give the benefit of the doubt.

Here endeth the first lesson.

There again, experience shows that the people who behave like that usually are the rude and exploitative social leeches our instinct has taught us to take them for.
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

Leave the raft at 5am, and return an hour later on outside of raft.

Stomp all over his decks on the following evening and see if he gets the point.
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

It was in Bembridge, rafting is the only option unless you can dry out, which with a fin keel I can't

I would have liked to do the 5am start, but the tide dictates when we can all leave, and I'm not very good in the mornings...so we were were stuck.

I didn't know whether I should have said something at the start, but as fireball said "you don't know they are all bad until they are alongside" and I didn't want to come across as rude or anitsocial, but obviously they didn't have the same concerns

Ho hum /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: \"Are you ready to take our ropes?\"

If you put up a notice "No Mooring Alongside . . . By Order of Harbourmaster" he will probably think it is one of his signs anyway.
 
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