pyrojames
Well-Known Member
Or how to break your foot.
Down to CdG last Friday with Mum (71) and E and M (5 and 3) to do so odd jobs and then go for a gentle sail or motor down to Hamford Water. Th elist of jobs and then weather made Hamford unappealing so we spent the day at SYH and had dinner in the Lightship (E and M's favourite)
Joined on Saturday by Shaun to go for a gentle sail with all in the Stour and Orwell. Wind a brisk 4 S-SE and fine on the starboard bow as we lay on the long hammerhead at the SE end of SYH. CdG pulls to port as you go astern, so the planned departure involved slipping the mooring lines, going astern, with the propwalk pulling the stern in to the channel between the fingers behind us, the bow passing through the wind, and then as the wind would blow the bow round, going ahead and down to the marina entrance.
Only that wasn't what happened.
The propwalk wasn't enough to pull the bow through the wind, and having given it a few more revs to try and pull the stern across ended up with the bow clearing the hammer head and blowing down into the channel between the fingers. Shuffling ahead and astern resulted in as being blow broadside down towards the sterns of the boats on the fingers behind us. We cleared all of them except for the last, and with CdG still ticking over astern, I jumped on the last boat in the row and fended off with my feet.
I didn't know my foot could bend quite like that, but I did manage to fend off and avoid contact. I run back to the cockpit, shoved her astern some more, so that we put the aft edge of the keel in the mud on the breakwater and allowed the bow to blow off down wind. Clear of everything, we headed out to Harwich got the main up and had a gentle sail up the Stour and anchored for lunch.
Post lunch sail up to the RHYC for dinner, by which time I was finding it harder to walk. In the morning my foot was badly swollen and hurt quite a lot. We abandoned sailing the sailing, and the boat and I drove the kids and Mum home before going off to A&E.
Badly bodged first departure of the year. Plastercast for 3-4 weeks. Bugger.
Critical error? Not having a stern spring to help bring the bow through the wind and relying entirely on propwalk. No backup plan until after it all went wrong. Oh and sticking my foot in the way of 19 tons wasn't too bright either.
Down to CdG last Friday with Mum (71) and E and M (5 and 3) to do so odd jobs and then go for a gentle sail or motor down to Hamford Water. Th elist of jobs and then weather made Hamford unappealing so we spent the day at SYH and had dinner in the Lightship (E and M's favourite)
Joined on Saturday by Shaun to go for a gentle sail with all in the Stour and Orwell. Wind a brisk 4 S-SE and fine on the starboard bow as we lay on the long hammerhead at the SE end of SYH. CdG pulls to port as you go astern, so the planned departure involved slipping the mooring lines, going astern, with the propwalk pulling the stern in to the channel between the fingers behind us, the bow passing through the wind, and then as the wind would blow the bow round, going ahead and down to the marina entrance.
Only that wasn't what happened.
The propwalk wasn't enough to pull the bow through the wind, and having given it a few more revs to try and pull the stern across ended up with the bow clearing the hammer head and blowing down into the channel between the fingers. Shuffling ahead and astern resulted in as being blow broadside down towards the sterns of the boats on the fingers behind us. We cleared all of them except for the last, and with CdG still ticking over astern, I jumped on the last boat in the row and fended off with my feet.
I didn't know my foot could bend quite like that, but I did manage to fend off and avoid contact. I run back to the cockpit, shoved her astern some more, so that we put the aft edge of the keel in the mud on the breakwater and allowed the bow to blow off down wind. Clear of everything, we headed out to Harwich got the main up and had a gentle sail up the Stour and anchored for lunch.
Post lunch sail up to the RHYC for dinner, by which time I was finding it harder to walk. In the morning my foot was badly swollen and hurt quite a lot. We abandoned sailing the sailing, and the boat and I drove the kids and Mum home before going off to A&E.
Badly bodged first departure of the year. Plastercast for 3-4 weeks. Bugger.
Critical error? Not having a stern spring to help bring the bow through the wind and relying entirely on propwalk. No backup plan until after it all went wrong. Oh and sticking my foot in the way of 19 tons wasn't too bright either.
