Boat off mooring - salvage claim... Again?! Arrr!

[dimdav]

So it's happened a lot, will happen again apparently, and here we have a man who can swim in a lifejacket in 40 knots, with his ready prepared salvage bag including lock breaking equipment and waterproof salvage note pad. I assume all these boats which break away have boarding ladders too?

Cool story, bro...

It certainly does sound like a bit of an "Oddity" if you know what I mean...

 

[Iain C]

It certainly does sound like a bit of an "Oddity" if you know what I mean...

 

[Graham376]

So... what would you do? Just trolling there... but is there a recognised route to getting "something" for the risks time etc?

We've towed boats off mud flats and jumped aboard and anchored a couple whose moorings have failed but expected nothing in return, just asked they in return help others when needed. Have received some nice bottles of wine though as thanks.

 

[langstonelayabout]

If I was the owner, I would want to take a very good look at the broken ends of the mooring rope.

I had a boat that broke it's mooring in a F9 and was thoroughly mashed under a local bridge.

The frayed/broken mooring rope was one of the tings that the insurance company did want to see. It remains to my regret that the boat was only secured to the buoy with one (thick) rope that wore through in one night, and not a chain as well.

 

[A1Sailor]

We've towed boats off mud flats and jumped aboard and anchored a couple whose moorings have failed but expected nothing in return, just asked they in return help others when needed. Have received some nice bottles of wine though as thanks.

I've just remembered I "salvaged" a yacht in Tayvallich Bay as a teenager. It had slipped its mooring (shackle at rope-chain junction not wired so it worked loose) and went aground on a falling tide. I hung off the end of its boom to reduce draft and a mate towed it with his speedboat.
I got a Para Handy book as a thank you from the owner. I wonder what my mate got?

 

[longjohnsilver]

@Longjohnsilver... Arrr!
Cabin / hatch lock.
Searching for anchor / ropes to tie her up with and fenders in case of collision with bridge.
Also it occurred to me that all might not be well below decks, and of course now responsible for the situation, had I not taken the perfectly sensible action of opening her and checking there might have been further damage or even total loss.
It seemed reasonable... and I did feel better once I was able to see daggerboard was raised no holes etc... yet you have a good point. She was technically safe at this point ... I could have tried to swim back for fenders and mooring ropes, or waited for tide to ebb and walked back to my boat to collect what was needed? It was more expedient to rummage for the required bits. The effort to drag her off the mud on the next tide required the winch and heavy mooring line stowed aboard.
Yet it would taste a lie not to admit that pure curiosity also played it's part.
On balance, in similar circumstances, I would probably do it again ... as a result I obtained the owners details, had a place to wait out the bad weather until the next tide, and access to the right equipment when I needed it.

How, or rather what did you use to cut the lock off? Bolt croppers spring to mind, but you wouldn’t have been swimming with those, and unlikely to find them conveniently left in the cockpit.

 

[A1Sailor]

How, or rather what did you use to cut the lock off? Bolt croppers spring to mind, but you wouldn’t have been swimming with those, and unlikely to find them conveniently left in the cockpit.

 

[shan]

2 screwdrivers will generally give enough leverage to bust a padlock.

 

[Praxinoscope]

Fat beard is obviously a Navy Seal or member of the SBS, to have achieved all this single handed in a British Estuary and 40 Knots of wind. Better treat him with respect, they’re trained to kill with their bare hands.

 

[dom]

How, or rather what did you use to cut the lock off? Bolt croppers spring to mind, but you wouldn’t have been swimming with those, and unlikely to find them conveniently left in the cockpit.

Pair of bolt croppers down the old Speedos?

 

[Mariner69]

Pair of bolt croppers down the old Speedos?

Doesn't everybody?

 

[A1Sailor]

Could Fatbread be Rev John Morris? Was he not in the SBS?

 

[Angele]

Could Fatbread be Rev John Morris? Was he not in the SBS?

My money is on Seajet.

 

[A1Sailor]

My money is on Seajet.

I doubt it. Seajet would just have sailed over and hoisted the offending yacht onto the davits of his Anderson 22 to effect the rescue.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

It certainly does sound like a bit of an "Oddity" if you know what I mean...

Beard, check. Hyperbole, check.

 

[Praxinoscope]

Could Fatbeard be Paddy Ashdown (ex. SBS), I know he was on radio 4 this morning and he didn’t mention it, but that was probably a recording, although with such super human powers maybe he could have been fully recovered from his struggles the previous day.

 

[RichardS]

My god , in over 16 years of posting here , I think this is the first time everyone is on the same page .

I'm not sure about that Vic. I think that some forumites still believe that this is a true tale of derring-do. :ambivalence:

How, or rather what did you use to cut the lock off? Bolt croppers spring to mind, but you wouldn’t have been swimming with those, and unlikely to find them conveniently left in the cockpit.

See post #22 for the full monty.

The biggest surprise to me throughout this entire thread is how few sailors appear to actually have any experience at all of what a 40 knot wind is like.

Richard

 

[dom]

The biggest surprise to me throughout this entire thread is how few sailors appear to actually have any experience at all of what a 40 knot wind is like.

+1 Dentists recommend stretchy nylon towropes in such situations to avoid danger to one's teeth.

Not a lot of people know that.

 

[Odyssey]

Not judging just saying that I have boarded drifting yachts twice,( including swimming out but on a calm sunny day ). Did it on the principal that someone might do the same for me and who wants to see a boat damaged?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Pair of bolt croppers down the old Speedos?

No, he's just pleased to see you.