Confession Time... This Seasons Disasters please!

[Neraida]

Ok then people, I'll start...

Our second sail in Neriada, too much dacron, too much wind, knocked over, lost jib sheet in squall and ripped the number 2. Nearly soiled Oilies, VERY non-plussed 1st mate and bruised skippers ego!!

Not very dramatic, but a lifelong memory for sure.

So come on then, I would love to read tales of marina muck ups, trot tragedies, pitchpoling downwind in the roaring forties, etc etc etc.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.quest-net.org/jamesaustin/images/Img1094.JPG>Recognise us?? </A>

 

[clyst]

Tied alongside town quay to dry out being longkeel tied main halliard to rail to prevent falling over . When time to go flashed up motor cast off forwd and aft forgot halliard and motored away. Got this funny listing feeling ,now at an alarming angle everybody on quay having a good laugh !! Engine in neuteral and guess what bloody boat just stayed there believe it or not the boat would not right!! "Cut the bloody rope " I shout to people on the quay . Out came the oldboy's trusty pen knife and WHAM!! bloody boat rights like a rocket I'm sprawled in the cockpit . Too embarrassed to look around I motored away only to realise the main halliard is now shot up the mast so no way to raise the main {3/4 Rig}
Lesson to be learnt .

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[Ohdrat]

Re: Disasters??

I regularly pitchpole windsurfing in the roaring 40's .. doesn't everyone??

Other than that it was not buying a boat earlier in the season!

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[circumnavigation]

Re: Disasters??

If you have been following Katoema, you will recall the disaster back in March, if March is in your Season! Latest is that the civil process is almost finished, I return to France tomorrow to lodge all the documents for the compensation pay out. As I almost lost my life through criminal negligence, by a shipyard, when I was electrocuted on a steel yacht. There is also a criminal case and the MD will be going to prison for this. How does the forum respond, if such things were to happen against UK shipyards, or even negligence by marinas?

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mpcee.co.uk/katoema.html>http://www.mpcee.co.uk/katoema.html</A>

 

[RupertW]

My daftest moment was trying to moor up to a bouy in a chartered catamaran off Mustique (the location does matter to the story, sort of). I'd been very proud of myself for teaching my wife that day how to manouvre a cat in a small space even with its huge freeboard catching the wind, so elected to be at the bow. With no words, just prearranged hand signals the boat was stopped gently with me right by the bouy with the boat hook ready.

Alas, the huge freeboard also meant that I was completely unable to pull the iron ring on the bouy high enough for me to pass a rope through. I held onto the bouy with the hook for just long enough for the boat to start drifting away and the telescopic end of the bouy to be pulled off, leaving me with the handle. This was where I made my mistake (okay, okay, probably my second or third mistake).

The water looked so blue and warm and inviting that I dived in, grabbed the boathook's end and swam back to the dinghy which was trailing behind the boat. From my wife's perspective, and that of about three close-by watching boats, this was a bit surprising, and me being in the water prevented my wife from engaging the engines until I was in the dinghy.

The next few minutes were noisy, with both engines used at higher and higher revs, and me being whisked past other boats at the end of the tow rope as we turned at least one, possibly two full circles, before I was bounced rapidly out to sea away from all the sightseers. No other boats were touched, just.

I haven't used a boathook since, and probably won't. I think that was my error.


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[burgundyben]

Friday night before the Mercurt bash in May, TCM, Twister K, Observer, Stingo cant remember who else, anyway got v drunk in Stingo, next morning, weather was shite, wwnt and got boat, popped u pto Mercury to collect Stingo went off to Newtown, weather msierable, went looking for Lanason who was broken/breaking down, then returned to Hamble to get drunk, in propcess of collecting morring in pissing rain I got the aft mooring line round the shaft, Stingo thought I was a right tosser as did everyone esle at the Mercury bash....

<hr width=100% size=1>Sod the Healey - I think I'll buy an E-Type.

 

[extravert]

Alternative berthing method

Earlier this year a faulty fuel pump caused my engine to cut out after a few minutes of low speed running or idling. This had an annoying habit of happening just as I was approaching my berth. On one occasion it happened at the last moment just as I was about to put the engine in reverse to stop the boat in the final metres of approach. Needless to say the boat didn't stop, and gently bumped the pontoon at the end of my blind berth. I expected it to bounce off, but it didn't, everything froze. On inspection we found that my steel bowsprit attachment on the stem was exactly the same level as the wooden edge of the pontoon, and the boat had neatly impaled itself into the wood, and was being held fast. Several bemused onlookers looked on as we undertook various wiggling and shoving procedures to free it again. The fuel pump has been replaced. The hole in the pontoon has been hidden with one of those pontoon-fenders.

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I hope to own a real boat.

 

[ChrisE]

How long have you got?

1. Trip from Keyhaven to Lulworth turn right out of Solent take racing line to St. Alhelms Head, look dear the water's getting shallow, isn't that the bottom, isn't that a fish isn't that 2m on the depth sounder. Lesson 1 don't take the racing line to Aldhelm's Head without checking the chart first. I have to add that I fish those banks most weekends and have done that trip more times than I care to think of.

2. Moor on visitor's pontoon at Dartmouth, get in dingy to go ashore, shower, return to dingy, unhitch and leap in, just not quite far enough, dingy overturns and owner deposited into R Dart at 8am on a cold and wet October morning 200m swim to nearest ladder. Lesson 2, if you unhitch the dinghy don't assume that it will remain stationary.

3. Leave pontoon with daugther and son-in-law on board reverse smartly using prop walk to port then into forward ansd hard to starboard to exit to find that wheel has limited turning circle, into reverse sharply to avoid clouting expensive looking atleastfiftyfootofsomethingbig. Lesson 3 undo lashing on wheel before setting off.

And that was just October's bundle of fun.


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[Twister_Ken]

Not so much a disaster...

...as sheer stupidity.

Pre-Cherbourg I went down to the boat with Nicho (of these parts) to ferry Indigo from the Hamble to Gosport. Currently Indigo lives on a pontoon mooring on the Hamble. There was a fair old ebb running, and Indigo - bows upstream - was pinned against the pontoon by the tide which was just on the non-pontoon bow. Got boat ready, engine running, looked at the lines; aft spring and bow line slack as anything so intention was to
1. Rig a slip on the stern line
2. Let go aft spring and bow line
3. Let go forward spring
4. Step aboard and motor smartly off slipping stern line free as we go.

It went pear shaped between steps two and three. I had decided the bow, which was pinned in by the tide, needed to be shoved off a bit or we'd have difficulty motoring clear without scraping along the pontoon. And so I shoved, rather over enthusiastically. This allowed the tide to get between the bow and the pontoon, and within a couple of seconds the boat had sheered six feet off the pontoon, held motionless by a bar tight spring and a stern line. And because of the relative lengths of the two lines, she was bows out by about 30 degrees. No problem, we thought, a healthy dose of ahead and the rudder over would bring her back in.

For some reason connected with hydrodynamics and the angle of dangle in the lines it had no effect whatsoever. Nicho was standing, perplexed in the cockpit. I was standing perplexed on the pontoon. I tried to pull the bow back in on the spring. Maybe I pulled the boat 6 inches closer, and there she stuck. Once again some head scratching. By now two or three minutes had passed and I was beginning to think we might have to stay like this until the tide slackened. Then a Nich 35 motored slowly upstream (nothing was motoring fast in that ebb). A wizened old salt called across "Ease yer stern line". We did. She came back alongside sweet as a nut.

As someone once said "if you learn by your mistakes I've had a first class education."

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[Hunter34]

I could have sworn I left it here.

Anchored off Stromboli mid July this year to get a look at the molten lava spewing out of the top.
Big drop-offs around the island so put down 40m of 10mm chain + 20kg CQR in only 6m of water as close to the beach as I dare and went ashore to explore.
Came back an hour later - no boat!
We had dragged in the fine black sand away from the beach where the anchor had literally fallen off the edge of an underwater cliff.We could just make out the boat around a mile from shore going on without us.
A swift dinghy ride later (lucky for us it wasnt too rough or dark) we were back on board - problem!
Do you know ho much 40m of 10mm chain + 20kg anchor weighs? - well I dont either I just know its impossible to pull it back on board without a windlass!
We had to motor back to shore and while the wife slowly edged towards the beach the anchor slowly climbed the cliff and I took up the slack until we got below 20m which I could just about lift.
It took 2 hours of looking a bit silly to do this.
I am really hoping there will be a windlass shaped present under the tree on christmas morning!

Andrew

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[jhr]

Negligence

Hmm. In the past, UK businesses would have got away with a hefty fine and a rap on the knuckles from the Health and Safety Executive.

With recent changes to the law and to public opinion there is now a real chance that some UK Company Directors may soon end up in jail for "corporate manslaughter" arising out of major negligence, but probably only in high profile cases causing multiple loss of life.

We shall see.

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[Chris_Robb]

Iron Cooking pots

(2 years ago) on leaving Chichester Harbour in bad viz, we set our usual compass course to wards the Inner boat passage on Horsesand fort. I noticed the depth dropping where it should have been deeper, so put her into neutral from about 7.5 knots. A second later we came to a full stop on what must have been a very steep sided sand bank. Wife was sitting on the heads - and parted company with it - other than that - no apparent damage. - then I noticed the iron caserole in front of the compass. - we were motoring NW instead of W! Did I take the blame? - I'm not telling you what SWBO said when she had recovered her composure!!!!!!

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[MrG]

RKeyhaven Anchoring

There's one confession that still gives me nightmares...

We were in a chartered Catalina 32, SWMBO, Dad, Sailng pal Mike and me.Mike layed the chain out for 2M depth and I was showing Dad how to nudge the boat into the correct depth.
By the time we had found 2M depth and started to let the anchor go the boat had drifted into 3M and was closing on a Hallberg-Rassy somthing.
Due to the drift / and depth the anchor managed to foul the chain of the HR.
We just managed to unhook the anchor in time and drift clear while the owner of the HR shouted 'GO AWAY! many times...which wasn't as much use as if he'd got a fender or 2 out...just thinking about it brings out a cold sweat...BRRRR!

<hr width=100% size=1>Mark

 

[charles_reed]

Alzheimer's and the procession of self-inflicted disasters which make up my sailing life, preclude all but the most recent from my mind.

It was late this season and I was dodging depressions to work the boat back to her winter port in Roussillon after a season spent round the Baleares, Sardegna and the Tuscan islands and coast. I'd already sat out a F9/10 in Viareggio, a most uncomfortable process, and had dodged over to Antibes to sit out another F7/9.
After 15 months in the water, with nothing but the odd clean-off with a snorkel, by the time I got to Hyeres the need for a thorough cleaning was pressing (the prop blades were x3 their normal thickness due to the build-up of coral on their leading edges).
Forty minutes after lift-out the boat was back in the water, pressure washed, barnacles prised off and prop polished, and I was €115 lighter in the pocket.
Once more back in the water, able to achieve 6.5 knots at cruising rpm instead of a sooty 4.0, "Flica" was ready for the 170nM hop across the Golf de Lion to Argeles.

Now Lion is one of the more boisterous pieces of water in the world - there's the story of the American fleet carrier who had a Tomcat washed off her flight deck (the Tomcat weighs 6.5 tons and you know how high up and aircraft carrier's flight deck might be), so it was with a sense of proper judicious caution that I approached this venture. everything that was on deck was lashed down, the roller genoa was handed for the solent and all the reef-lines were prepared for action.

The morning of Thursday 23 October dawned bright and clear, the barometer had hit 999Mb from 1002 at 01.30 when we'd had a fierce thunderstorm, but was up back at 1002 - Meteo France assured me the depression in Genoa was moving E and filling, winds NW 6/7 veering farther N as I got into Lion and dropping to 5/6, not ideal for single-handing a 31' on 258T but at least there'd be no motoring.

I was away from the pontoon by 08.30, ETA Argeles midi the following day.
The one reef in the main was increased to 2 before we cleared the Rade d'Hyeres and the boat was revelling in the wind, an easy beat with 28 apparent, making 6-7 knots.
The skipper and crew were not so certain, though a lovely sunny day there was water flying everywhere finding, with unerring accuracy, the more tender parts of one's anatomy and coating one's glasses with salt.
By 10.30 I was past Cap Scicie by Toulon, with about 15nM run, when I decided I needed to get the draught forward a bit on the solent so I tightened up the genoa halyard, Scicie usually has a bit of a sea and wind off it and I wasn't too bothered with the regular appearance of 32 knots - what was more bothering were the heads of seas which were breaking on the windward bow, every 7th or 8th would fly missing every thing on its way but me and deposit about 5 gallons of warm and grubby mediterranean in the cockpit and port bench seat. As I watched the level in the seat went down, but not through the drains into the cockpit - into the depths of the cockpit locker.

Sure enough, when I climbed below, there was water happily chuckling out of the under-sink locker and the saloon had about 2" of water in the leeward side.

At this point the boat suddenly slowed down amidst the noise of flogging sails and started to gyrate madly to the seas - sure enough there was the solent, half-way down the forestay and already in the water. That's one of the troubles with a foil, when the sail comes down it promptly tries to abandon ship.
Trying to get the solent back on deck was major task - sitting on the foredeck with the spi lift attached to my harness, water was pumping up my legs and out round my neck with every other wave - and have you ever tried to heave to under main alone? I managed to cut boatspeed to a couple of knots and on the 3rd try get the solent back on deck and sufficiently tamed for it to stay there. There was the small problem of lifting the solent again, off the wind and blanketed by the main, it went up fairly easily on the roller genoa drisse, but by the time I'd got it up I was about 8 miles further S, even with 2 reefs she was surfing out of the tops of the waves at about 12 knots on main alone.
By now I was too far S of my line to hope to lay Argeles, cold, saturated and seasick, so I laid onto the other tack and painfully beat up past the mothballed French Navy, into the anchorage off St Mandrier in Toulon Rade, where I stayed the next 36 hours, drying out the boat and all the lockers, relashing the leeward guardrail (the dodger had torn in half and the intermediate was loose where I had to cut the lashing to recover the solent).
The water had got into the fridge compressor which was displaying all its lights as though it was a disco laser. A phone call to Anders at Thermoproduktor gave me some tests that confirmed that both PCBs, were shot - Anders was off to Fort Lauderdale the following morning but promised to get them in the post to me. (I warned him to watch out for alligators and women, especially the latter).

Oh! the cause - the whipped eye at the end of the Spectra halyard had just parted due to UV degradation (it was the old spi halyard so had done about 5 seasons in UK waters and 3 farther S.

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[jimi]

Not me but a friend

Extract fom a friends account of a day's racing with S#nsa#l

Leaving Port Solent we were fortunate to be able to take advantage of free flow, which made the exit somewhat easier than it could have been.
Sunsail xx, obviously recognising it’s number on the port post of the channel out of Port Solent, took it upon itself to drive directly into the aforementioned post. Amazingly, the spinnaker pole took the prime impact causing the boat to lurch off leaving a pretty red stripe down the starboard side. “That’s to confuse the opposition”, said one of the crew. “They won’t know whether it’s the port or starboard side of the boat!” No damage done, Sunsail xx carried on her way down to the Solent. It appeared that the other boats were giving her a very wide berth, though.
The hooter went, and the race was on. Just like all of the other boats, we sailed inshore trying to cheat the tide. “What is your depth?” I asked the helm. “Seven metres”, came the reply. “Is that adjusted for the depth of the keel?” I asked. “I don’t know”, the crew responded in unison. “Let’s assume it isn’t”, interjected a brighter member of crew. We all agreed this was wise.
I was concerned we were close to Ryde sands and again asked for a depth reading. “10 metres”. Fine, I thought, but no more than 30 seconds later, Sunsail xx once again came to a grinding halt. There are no posts here; it can’t be that! Then we bounced. Yes we were firmly on the sands. “Engine on, quickly!” I cried. “Get the sails down!” After what must have been about one minute, the helm informed us in a very relieved voice that we were again afloat. At least we now knew that the depth sounder had been adjusted. (In case you are wondering, this is not the preferred method for checking the depth sounder).
I radioed the committee boat. “This is Sunsail xx, we would like to inform you we are retiring from this race as we had to use our engine”.
“Thank you, PHYC Committee, out”.
Well, maybe they didn’t notice! Shhhh!
Race 2 began off Spit sand fort and was raced solely in the area of the Swashway outside Portsmouth Harbour. Once again yy made a good start and xx a poor one, but at least the race was going smoothly. At the end of the last downwind leg, with no other boat behind us, we arrived at the mark, but just as we were about to round it, a rogue wave hit us broadside and threw us straight into the yellow ball. Now we had a yellow fleck on the port side, to go with the red one on the starboard side.
On the way back in we heard one of the other yachts asking for an explanation from the committee boat about an alarm that was squealing on the engine control panel. Our skipper had the answer immediately. “It happened last week, apparently. The sea-water cooling stops coming through and the engine overheats”, he explained. Fortunately for us, he had found out how to resolve this particular problem, for, just as we were approaching our berth in Camper and Nicholson’s marina (Gosport), our alarm went off too.


<hr width=100% size=1>O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

 

[NigeCh]

Had to deliver a boat from a South Coast Marina to the Morbihan. The envelope came through the post with the boat keys, with precise info where she was right down to pontoon and exact finger number.

Arrived with crew, reported to and checked in with the harbourmaster, showed him the sent info. Had difficulty in opening the boat up, but put it down to a grotty key. Engine key worked fine.

Checked the boat out, stocked provisions and set off. Arrived safely and moored the boat.

Got back to the UK to find a text message on my mobile phone from the delivery organising Company, "Why is the boat still where it is. Your contract was to deliver it to Vannes?"





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[drawp]

Good Samaritan

We were coming alongside a windward pontoon berth and there was quite a strong wind blowing across the pontoon. I explained to the crew that we would have to come in "hard and fast" which is what I imagine airline pilots say when they know it is going to be a rough landing. My son with the bow line and my daughter with the stern line were ready to quickly get ashore. As we approached my son threw his line to this guy standing on the pontoon when he offered to help. The bow was still 10 ft off the pontoon when this guy wrapped the line around his back like a mountain climber, dug his heels in and put on the brakes. We hit the pontoon quite hard and came to a stop at an angle of about 30 degrees. Fortunately my daughter managed to get a stern line ashore before we were blown too far out. The good Samaritan gave me a look of utter scorn and contempt, then scuttled off down the pontoon before I could get ashore and wring his neck.

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[Cactus]

..After a fine spin in F5-6, me and the old man decided enough was enough and headed back to the marina. We'd just reached that point outside the marina entrance (ROCKS!) when I'd dragged down the jib when that noise that used to be the engine was replaced by..silence.

So as the wind blew us further toward certain wallet-lightening, I was up the foredeck like Linford and the jib went back up. As luck would have it, the wind was kind and let us just slip into the entrance and a nifty tack and a drop of the sheet gave me enough chance to perform a suicidal leap onto a (luckily) vacant pontoon.

It was brown oilies time no doubt. Turns out the fuel line was blocked with 10 years of guff in the tank. Needless to say, the new engine arrives next week!

I'd just like to thank the kind chaps who watched us come alongside under sail and never thought to walk the 10 yards and take a line!

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[chriscallender]

#1 : Leaving for cross channel trip early the followin morning. Went out to the boat on mooring alone and brought her alongside a drying pontoon at around HW to pick up crew. Crew came aboard, did a briefing which took us to about HW+1, then slipped the lines. Moved the throttle forwards nothing happened. Put a bit more power still nothing happened. Thought to myself the tide must have dropped faster than I thought it would and the keel was in the mud, no worries not such a bad place to spend the night (next to pub!). Then one of the new crewmembers asked me what the little pin did below the throttle lever as he had pulled it out earlier. Tried pulling away from the pontoon in gear rather than neutral and found that this typically works much better.

#2: Had to get a friend back to station after a weekend on the solent as he had a flight to Glasgow to catch. Was a bit late so we agreed we'd go alongside at Gunwarf Quays and he could walk (run actually!) from there to Portsmouth Harbour station and get a train up to London. Just use a centre mooring line I said, I'll only be alongside for 30 seconds. Approached pontoon at speed (about 6 knots!) in a rush to get him to the train in time. Shifted to neutral in preparation for massive burst astern which would have brought us to a halt nicely alongside - that is if the engine had not died when I shifted to neutral. Said friend jumped off, applied centre mooring line to a cleat on the pontoon, boat twisted, bow swung in and there is now a nice deep dent in the wood on the pontoon exactly the shape of my bow, caused by impact at 6 knots. Not a mark on the boat though!!!

Chris

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