Berthing disasters we have witnessed

[KeithMD]

Suggested by Fred Drift here
Demand for marina and mooring berths soars in UK

I've seen a few in Mayflower, when neighbours lost control while trying to get back into their berth, usually with an adverse wind as they cut engine power. Or they were trying to reverse out of their berth, but misjudged their prop kick and ended-up in an awkward position. The best ones end-up pinned by the wind across the stern of other boats. While M'Lady and I watched from the next row of boats with a glass of wine in hand. We didn't have any popcorn.
It's an Absolute Disaster Darling - I'll give it 10

We have, of course, leapt to help neigbours that were close enough to reach on the same pontoon.
It's never happened to us of course (cough) - at least not with witnesses to tell the tale.

Anyone else seen some epic ones? Or willing to confess to their own misdemeanors?

 

[KeithMD]

@Tradewinds asked:
Do they still issue bertholders with a laminated card showing the tidal streams through the berths?

I've got a vague memory of folks on pontoons E to L having that, where the tide could really whip through.
But we were on B or C and didn't get given one.

 

[jac]

My favourite. Pontoon mooring in the Hamble. i'm aboard doing some odd jobs and see a boat that moors about 3 boats down heading into her berth - wind is slightly blowing her off - older couple in the cockpit, younger guy on side decks.

I decide to wonder down to help and just as i'm getting there, crew decides to jump, not realising that having a 3 foot jump to the pontoon is not helped by having a stern line with 2 feet of slack in it.

On the positive side, the water is not that cold and he now knows his lifejacket works.

I obviously helped him out, moored the boat up and never said anything again to him!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Saw a bad one in East Cowes Marina last summer. Quite a nice wooden classic that I’m sure some people here could name, pinned across the end of the pontoon. Engine trouble was the cause, not your usual operator error. I felt for the guy. No pictures, it wouldn’t have been right. I did suggest winching him off, but he did’t like the idea. He was stuck there til the tide turned, with all that horrid chop from passing motor boats with no consideration for his plight.

 

[Clancy Moped]

I've seen a Whitbread winner med morning in Nisyros Greece, he crossed every chain 5 boat on both sides of his intended berth several times, he might be able to sail fast but he was crap at parking.

 

[jac]

Actually this other one is more a confession!

Lined up to back into a mooring with a mid river pontoon a couple of boatlengths ahead anmd down tide, bridge over the river about 80 yards further. Minimal wind and sheltered spot. ( Deacons boatyard if you know it)

Boat is stationary, slight flood tide so engage astern gently then apply some revs - nothing. Gear cable had snapped so we drifted off down tide until we could drag ourselves alongside a boat further upriver.

Fortunately had several crew on board so was able rev the engine and get some drive using the "Andy Remote" - calling down to a mate for "3 seconds of ahead." for him to rev it directly on the engine and then cut it when required!

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Actually this other one is more a confession!

Lined up to back into a mooring with a mid river pontoon a couple of boatlengths ahead anmd down tide, bridge over the river about 80 yards further. Minimal wind and sheltered spot. ( Deacons boatyard if you know it)

Boat is stationary, slight flood tide so engage astern gently then apply some revs - nothing. Gear cable had snapped so we drifted off down tide until we could drag ourselves alongside a boat further upriver.

Fortunately had several crew on board so was able rev the engine and get some drive using the "Andy Remote" - calling down to a mate for "3 seconds of ahead." for him to rev it directly on the engine and then cut it when required!

And somewhere in the distance: "It's an Absolute Disaster Darling - I'll give it 10" was heard!

We are all just one mistake away from being the butt of someone else's jokes.

 

[flaming]

The most memorable one was in Benodet. It just so happened that all of the boats already on the visitor's pontoon had arrived on the same tide, and as the tide absolutely jets past the pontoon were all moored facing the same way, into the tide as it was when they arrived.
The tide turned and more yachts arrived. The first one seemed to assume that because all of the boats were facing in the same direction, so must he... So he made a down tide approach, in at least 3 knots of tide, he must have been doing 5 knots over the ground when he absolutely clattered into the boat behind us, bounced down it, then us, then the boat in front before finally sheering off, his one tiny fender not really up to the job....

The most amazing thing though was that the next 3 boats who were watching did exactly the same approach, with similar results, and every skipper on the pontoon was on deck yelling and gesticulating them to come in the other way...

My own personal worst was in a lock in Holland. I still have no idea how it happened, but to cut a long story short I drove into the lock forwards, but I had to reverse out whilst hiding from the open laughter of the other lock occupants... Fortunately the only damage was to my pride.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Not disastrous but funny, a MB came in next to us in Castle Sardo Sardinia, she was taking the lines shouting at the top of her posh voice 'thrust me darling, more thrust darling'

 

[jac]

Not disastrous but funny, a MB came in next to us in Castle Sardo Sardinia, she was taking the lines shouting at the top of her posh voice 'thrust me darling, more thrust darling'

Think this thread has moved from berthing to birthing

 

[Stemar]

Morse control failure in Ipswich Marina - a shiny new Hanse turned smartly into their berth and gave a good burst of astern to stop the boat, except that the gear selector had disconnected itself, so they just added more momentum to their impact with the pontoon. I did something similar coming alongside the Hardway pontoon a few years ago. Got to where I wanted to be and went astern to stop, but just speeded up. Fortunately I had plenty of space ahead, so I just went round again and stopped the engine as I got alongside, stepped off the moving and got a line round a cleat.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

We had a minor disaster on the Crinan Canal leaving a berth. Moored on the bend between the Vital Spark and some other boat on a blustery day. Boat being long keel and rudder being inadequate (likewise my judgement), the bows failed to come out and I my stern clonked the other boats stanchion bending it. Still we did not damage the Vital Spark.

We had near disaster when our Morse controller decided to not set astern or drop the revs but did a go round on mooring without hitting a soul. After 2 weeks practice in Scilly I was fairly ok (well tense but hiding it) when approaching the mooring pontoon at Fowey at 5kts and drifting to a halt by cutting engine and hoping ashore with bow rope to hurriedly snub her. The gin palaces never knew how close they were to having my stout bowsprit intrude into their drinks area

 

[Kelpie]

We don't use marinas much, but we regularly see boats making an absolute hash of picking up moorings.
Typical approach seems to be: blast up towards the buoy at 5kt, smallest crew member on deck is hopelessly too short of arm to reach down to pass a rope through the eye, for some reason they try to do everything standing up and only manage to snag it with a boathook. They fight the boat to a halt and then just stand there, only calling for help when they're hanging on by their fingertips.

There were two boats at it at the same time last week- the first lost their boathook, the other managed to get a rope through and rather than cleat it off just stood there waging a futile tug of war, which the boat won.

Quite often you see high freeboard cats thunder up to a buoy, run it over, and then the whole crew peer down through the trampoline or over the bow, looking for the buoy, which is sitting right at the bottom of the steps on one hull. All they'd have to do is walk down with a long rope and they'd be secure.

All good entertainment and obviously we always pick up a mooring first time every time...

 

[westhinder]

The pontoons of Buckler’s Hard are stronger than my bow. I found that out after I had come in with a strong flood tide running. I had been given a berth facing the tide and close to the bank. Approaching the berth it was abundantly clear that the tide was strong and turning into the berth would require some power. What I hadn’t expected was that the tide was running a lot slower so close by the bank, so I came into the berth with too much way on, and even though I gave a mighty burst astern, I crashed into the main pontoon. The pontoon was ok, my bow needed more than cosmetic repairs, my pride took an even bigger hit.

 

[LittleSister]

I am surprised there aren't serious berthing entertainments mishaps more often, really. (I don't think I've ever seen one live.) Even the minor dings, scrapes and embarrassments are rarer than they might be.

Judging by YouTube videos the Americans seem experts at the whole thing. The application of hundreds of horsepower and daytime drinking helps enhance the spectacle.

 

[mattonthesea]

My favourite, but not worst, mishap was on Denmark. I misjudged the width of the poles on a box mooring and got stuck between them. It took a lot of reversing power, and pushing, to get out. And then a lot of guesswork (long keel in a breeze) as to which easy we would face once out.

 

[Misterbreeze]

Relatively inexperienced and at the end of an exhausting rough night crossing from Guernsey to Haslar in a charter boat twice the size of anything I'd sailed in before my relief at arrival turned to horror when the skipper told me to park it up in the most awkward berth in the marina. Sunday morning, big audience. I hadn't previously handled it under power at all but all went well until a few metres away when the skipper accidentally istood on the morse control and we launched forward into the pontoon with such force that the whole crew hit the deck. Loud enough for everyone on the Solent to hear the skipper screamed "What the **** are you doing, idiot!!!" I never sailed with him again, only he & I know why.

 

[KeithMD]

We are all just one mistake away from being the butt of someone else's jokes.

Ah yes, alright then, it's time I confessed.

Not berthing, but mooring, in Cawsand Bay. We'd anchored well away from all the other boats already there, with our stern towards the beach. We settled down for lunch, then a snooze. Woke up and thought - "that's funny, the tide's gone out a long way" - because we seemed much closer to the shore. Only when I turned round to look at all the other boats did I realise that while we were snoozing, we'd dragged our anchor about 200 yards, straight through all the other better-anchored boats, towards the shore!

It was a blessing we didn't foul our anchor line on anyone else's. We quietly pulled up our anchor and motored away.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I am surprised there aren't serious berthing entertainments mishaps more often, really. (I don't think I've ever seen one live.) Even the minor dings, scrapes and embarrassments are rarer than they might be.

Judging by YouTube videos the Americans seem experts at the whole thing. The application of hundreds of horsepower and daytime drinking helps enhance the spectacle.

I stumbled upon a youtube vid the other day, along those lines. I never knew boats could do some of that.

 

[Stemar]

Ah yes, alright then, it's time I confessed.

Not berthing, but mooring, in Cawsand Bay. We'd anchored well away from all the other boats already there, with our stern towards the beach. We settled down for lunch, then a snooze. Woke up and thought - "that's funny, the tide's gone out a long way" - because we seemed much closer to the shore. Only when I turned round to look at all the other boats did I realise that while we were snoozing, we'd dragged our anchor about 200 yards, straight through all the other better-anchored boats, towards the shore!

It was a blessing we didn't foul our anchor line on anyone else's. We quietly pulled up our anchor and motored away.

I did something similar in Newtown Creek, the only time my trusty Delta ever dragged. Through the entrance, turn east, thread my way through the anchored boats and find a convenient spot. Dropped the hook and it seemed to set. All was fine while I had my dinner watching the sun set, and so to bed. I woke to find myself aground on the shingle bank on the west side of the creek. I'd slept through dragging 150 yards past half a dozen boats without, AFAIK, touching any of them. As soon as I started to float, I pulled myself off the bank and left in (I hope) solitary ignominy