Berthing disasters we have witnessed

[Chiara’s slave]

Newtown has a few odd patches of ground that seem to reject anchors of any kind

 

[The Q]

I sail on the Norfolk broads, mooring disasters by the tourists are a daily event. Along with turning, or not turning, or just leaving the moorings.
Here's an example .

The number of times I've seen hire boats sawing up and down a river bank, trying to get off a lee shore is enormous.

My own moorings are at 90 degrees to the river flow, be it in or out. Many a time I've had to go round again, getting in-between the posts.

I was woken at stupid o'clock in the morning by a large hire boat trying to reverse between our boats on the sailing club frontage. I sent them away.. a few hundred yard up river they managed to ram the river bank very hard, where it steps out a little. I think the fishermen on board were very drunk...

Here's another case of incompetence, the tide is flowing in going up river under the bridge.

 

[Arcady]

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.

I feel for you, believe me. I had exactly this scenario just a few weeks back on our new boat, but not enough room for a complete turn. The new rigging is now being replaced with even newer rigging :-(

 

[mjcoon]

I sail on the Norfolk broads, mooring disasters by the tourists are a daily event. Along with turning, or not turning, or just leaving the moorings.
Here's an example .

The number of times I've seen hire boats sawing up and down a river bank, trying to get off a lee shore is enormous.

My own moorings are at 90 degrees to the river flow, be it in or out. Many a time I've had to go round again, getting in-between the posts.

I was woken at stupid o'clock in the morning by a large hire boat trying to reverse between our boats on the sailing club frontage. I sent them away.. a few hundred yard up river they managed to ram the river bank very hard, where it steps out a little. I think the fishermen on board were very drunk...

Here's another case of incompetence, the tide is flowing in going up river under the bridge.

I've had just a few holidays on The Broads, all on ancient Bermudian sailing yachts. Which adds to the fun; not only do the mobos not understand their own manoeuvres, they don't understand the limitations of ours either!

 

[johnalison]

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.

A friend met us in a sister-ship in Warnemunde and tried to get into an adjacent box, ending up getting stuck. It took the combined efforts of his 27hp plus the aid of assorted locals pulling on the posts to get him out. I always relied on my wife to tell me which boxes I could fit into, since they are always of random sizes, even in the best-appointed harbours.

I don’t think that I have ever been responsible for a major mooring disaster, though some of my landings may have been a bit untidy, especially when I was tired. We were the victims some years ago in Neptune marina, Ipswich. We were on a club cruise and having tea with an assortment of friends inside when there was an almighty crash. I came out to find that a local boat had returned from racing and gone into my port quarter, bending the pushpit and smashing the stern light. It wasn’t as if there was any wind, and there was plenty of space, but he simply hadn’t bothered to make the turn. He wasn’t in the least apologetic for damaging my boat or the trouble he caused me only a few days before my holiday, and it was hard enough getting his details so that his insurance would pay the considerable cost of repair. I have held deep suspicion of racers ever since.

 

[john_morris_uk]

A few years ago our boat had been afloat all winter and in the spring I was asked to move her from the temporary very sheltered mooring back to her proper mooring up the harbour. The club water taxi came to help as I was single handed. Our boat was a bit sluggish under power which I put down to the weed that had grown on her. As I approached the mooring the club water taxi held station adjacent to it to help hand the mooring strop up to me when I ran forward. I approached up tide and reasonably slowly but not slow enough as it happens. Engaging astern to slow down and come to a stop with the bow over the buoy nothing happened. Full astern barely made any difference and our anchor went straight through the port window of the water taxi.

It turned out that it wasn’t only the hull that had grown weed on it. The max prop propellor was well and truly fouled up and wasn’t anywhere near its normal efficiency. Lesson learned: i should have had a trial start and stop a few times as I drove up the harbour instead of assuming the boat would behave as normal.

 

[blush2]

A few years ago we took Blush up the Auray river to Le Bono. The small anchorage was full so we picked up a mooring buoy. The next day a Bristol pilot cutter appeared and went across behind the moorings and dropped anchor. Himself commented that if he had known you could anchor there he would have done so.

At which point an angry harbour master appeared and made them move. The reason they anchored where they had was because the hydraulic gear box had packed up, they were in an oyster bed. They were made to tie their lines together and the HM tied the end to a mooring buoy behind us and left them to pull themselves across.

When they were sorted hubby took a bucket of chilled beers over to them and heard the sorry tale.

At about three in the morning (these things always happen at that time) there was a bang which woke us. Blush was now alongside the pilot cutter, we were both still on our buoys, so we went on deck with fenders and banged on their deck to alert them. As we were attaching the fenders Blush shot forwards, whizzed round their bows and came along the other side but clearly wasn't going to stay put, so we got mooring lines out and waited until Blush had returned to the first side and tied up to them.

The crew then stood in a line on deck and introduced themselves to me. The rest of the night was peaceful and the next morning we found no damage or exchange of paint on either boat.

 

[[3889]]

I feel for you, believe me. I had exactly this scenario just a few weeks back on our new boat, but not enough room for a complete turn. The new rigging is now being replaced with even newer rigging :-(

Failed gear selectors...don't you just love 'em.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

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.

Ours was potentially worse. We moored in BullHole in the Sound of Iona as wanting to go ashore on Mull to visit the bar at Portfion a mile or so away. We saw a nice pool by an old quarry harbour but it was very near the underwater power lines to Iona, so moved over half a cable length further up the Hole. Shingle bottom so anchor took a few goes to set then we row ashore, visit bar, come back to sleep on board.

Next morning we had swung round toward the quarry harbour as expected but when we up anchored I realise that through crystal clear water I could see our Manson Supreme nestled up agains the power lines- we had dragged 100m overnight and not heard a thing. We moved gently forward till over anchor and hauled in dead carefully and the nice pointy bit happily failed to catch the cable. We could have been embarrassingly stuck or even worse there could have been a great big bang in the night and Iona would have lost its power for days

 

[The Q]

I've had just a few holidays on The Broads, all on ancient Bermudian sailing yachts. Which adds to the fun; not only do the mobos not understand their own manoeuvres, they don't understand the limitations of ours either!

Regatta week's fun, 100 ish boats, from an Oppie to a 45ft broads sailing cruiser, racing over 1.5 miles of river, in the first week in August.. hundreds of tourist boats from 15ft day boats, to 45ft motor cruiser pouring down from Wroxham and Hoveton having had 15 minutes of instruction if they were lucky...

 

[LittleSister]

I've recounted this one before. L'Aberwrach, long ago. I wanted, unusually, to berth in the marina, as I needed to find some more petrol for my outboard. The only empty berth required a sharp turn between a shoal patch and the pontoons, with the wind (or was it tide?) conspiring to put me aground on the shoal if I didn't make the turn in one go, or into the stern of the already berthed boats if the turn wasn't tight enough..

My Hurley 22 was a great sailing boat, but not handy for close quarters manoeuvring. The unhelpful combination of prop aft of rudder, through-prop exhaust, and fixed outboard position in its well meant that the boat could only be steered when making way in forward, aft steering was ineffectual, aft propulsion weak and the braking effect of shifting into reverse very limited.

I was still tired after recent arrival in Brittany following a 30+ hour single-handed trip from Devon, and I spent some considerable time hanging about in the river puzzling about how I might best solve the puzzle. I could think of no 'Plan B' if I didn't make the turn , and the only way to stop in time would be to get a line onto a cleat at the end of the pontoon finger. I just had to grit my teeth, hope for the best, and go for it.

I engaged gear and headed in at a smart enough pace to ensure I'd make the turn. I was already beyond the point of no return when I realised that so engaged had I been in thinking through the problem that I'd forgotten to put out any fenders! Once turned and facing into the berth I put the engine into reverse - not that that would make much difference to my speed in the distance available - grabbed the coil of rope I had readied and leapt for the pontoon finger. My trouser cuff caught on the top of a stanchion and I fell flat on my face on the finger, boat still moving at speed towards the main pontoon.

Luckily a group of locals standing around a neighbouring boat had seen the unfolding calamity and rushed to grab my pulpit to slow the boat and the awful crunch I expected imminently as I fell never arrived. I picked myself up, much relieved and embarrassed, and thanked them.

I could console myself that not only was disaster averted, but most French would think nothing of the absence of fenders!

 

[Slowboat35]

 

[Supertramp]

When day sailing I leave my fenders on but flipped inboard, especially if singlehanded. Copied an idea off another boat and attached a bungee hook on a few inches of rope to each fender foot. Now I could hook the fenders up onto the outside of the lifeline. Worked well.

A few months later and my wife joined me for a winter sail. We got everything ready for a 5 am start. Keeping quiet to avoid waking a handful of nearby residents we started to back gently out of the berth. About halfway out things were going slowly so I gave another burst of astern. No movement, boat swinging round. My wife is keeping the bow and anchor off the neighbouring boat and yells "What the hell are you doing...". It took several seconds in the dark for it to dawn that one of the recently fitted fender clips was caught in the pontoon cleat. I resorted to bow thruster help, disentangled and we set off, stirred and shaken.

I have found an amazing number of simple things can go wrong at 4 or 5 in the morning. Fender system modified. Amazing strength in 6mm line!!

 

[Wansworth]

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.

Should have flown flags. Slow down………..probably wouldn’t have made a difference

 

[michael_w]

I've seen one of the yachts from Britannia Naval College try to leave an inner berth at Treguier whilst the tide was in full spate. They got completely pinned with the finger under the hull. The cleats taking chunks out of the gel coat.

Conversely one of the best bits of berthing I've witnessed was in Bonifaccio. A large motor yacht reversed at considerable speed aiming for a gap on the quay much too small. At the perfect moment her master went full ahead and the subsequent jet of water opened the gap and she slipped in. Cue a round of applause from the bystanders and the sound of popping fenders.

 

[BobnLesley]

I've seen one of the yachts from Britannia Naval College try to leave an inner berth at Treguier whilst the tide was in full spate. They got completely pinned with the finger under the hull. The cleats taking chunks out of the gel coat...

Treguier was where we saw the most horrendous: A french flagged AWB approached a down-tide berth at around half-tide on the flood, not even going into neutral until its bow was within the berth; I don't think he ever did engage reverse. They must've still been doing 4-5 knots when the young lady sat on the foredeck with her legs through the pulpit attempted to fend the bow off the fast approaching pontoon with her feet.

On a lighter note, we were anchored at Mytikas on the Greek mainland, just north of Kalamos one afternoon when five flashily dressed and very drunk Greek lads got brought out to a big rib on another mooring; having rolled themselves aboard they fired-up the monster outboard and a few minutes later just gunned it. Their mooring line was 50+ feet long (no idea why) and none of them had thought to slip it ; so by the time the boat had covered a hundred feet at full-chat they were making a serious speed; the boat snapped around 180 degrees, shot stern first into the air and flipped over before landing, sending the lads bouncing across the water like skimmed stones. Despite the inversion, the motor somehow continued to scream for 20-30 seconds, before stopping with a very permanent sounding bang.

 

[mjcoon]

On a lighter note, we were anchored at Mytikas on the Greek mainland, just north of Kalamos one afternoon when five flashily dressed and very drunk Greek lads got brought out to a big rib on another mooring; having rolled themselves aboard they fired-up the monster outboard and a few minutes later just gunned it. Their mooring line was 50+ feet long (no idea why) and none of them had thought to slip it ; so by the time the boat had covered a hundred feet at full-chat they were making a serious speed; the boat snapped around 180 degrees, shot stern first into the air and flipped over before landing, sending the lads bouncing across the water like skimmed stones. Despite the inversion, the motor somehow continued to scream for 20-30 seconds, before stopping with a very permanent sounding bang.

There is a Great Director up there somewhere carrying on the traditions of the Keystone Cops etc...

 

[johnalison]

I earlier overlooked my own worst incident. At least it wasn’t embarrassing, since there was no one else about at the time. We arrived at Ijmuiden on our way out from Amsterdam and found a suitable berth. With my wife on the foredeck I made a good, confident, perfect half circle and drove straight into a dirty great wooden post. My wife is not thin, but nor is she over-wide, but in standing by the mast she had totally obscured the post. I am pleased to record that a nice man who deals in stainless steel was able to make the pushpit straight again.

 

[mjcoon]

I earlier overlooked my own worst incident. At least it wasn’t embarrassing, since there was no one else about at the time. We arrived at Ijmuiden on our way out from Amsterdam and found a suitable berth. With my wife on the foredeck I made a good, confident, perfect half circle and drove straight into a dirty great wooden post. My wife is not thin, but nor is she over-wide, but in standing by the mast she had totally obscured the post. I am pleased to record that a nice man who deals in stainless steel was able to make the pushpit straight again.

It's tricky, as a foredeck hand, knowing whether to attempt to merge with the mast to avoid obscuring the helm's view, or to stand by the shrouds to obscure a hopefully irrelevant view instead...

 

[Arcady]

Failed gear selectors...don't you just love 'em.
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Yup. Here’s mine …