Ever Recovered anything lost overboard ?

My neighbour put part of his canvas canopy , neatly folded , on the marina pontoon.
He went of do do something on the boat and when he returned the canopy had gone. The wind had blown the canopy off the pontoon.
With a small grappling hook anchor the first discovery after a few minutes was a canvas canopy cover - but it was not his canvas !
What seemed like an hour later we did find his canvas .

A following boat did deliver a fender back to us before we had realised it was lost.
 
Stainless steel part of canopy came loose while on the berth, bounced off the deck and plop! magnet kept for such a task no use so on with the scuba gear in zero vis and feel my way around the general area.
After 10 minutes found it.... took longer to wash off the marina crud.
 
Have retrieved my Tilley hat a couple of times using MOB drill, a very good quality pair of adjustable spanner’s, (first time in 21 years that found a use for the ‘Seasaver’ magnet I keep on board, it was a present from SWMBO so has to be seen to be appreciated.
The sad item we lost and never retrieved was a friend’s (now sadly departed) set of false teeth which flew out when he tripped over the tail end of the Genoa sheet and they went straight over the side in about 10 fathoms.
 
A large pirates axe dropped in 3m of water at the Brixham Pirate Festival earlier this year. It had been the 'pirate's' prized weapon for 15 years and he was very pleased when my small rare earth magnet on a string retrieved it for him.
The same magnet also found a large shackle pin belonging to the crane company, lost overboard during club craning out at the end of the season.
The magnet is only about 2" diameter and 1/2" thick but incredibly powerful.
Unfortunately a Seagull I lost at night in the Dart was never recovered. It was only 20 years ago so it would probably still run if only I could find it.;)
 
Hats, sunglasses etc. I think the best one was when I was standing waist-deep in the sea in the Maldives on a group snorkelling trip. This woman was screaming that she'd lost her wedding ring. I stuck my head down and bingo, it was right in front of me.
 
While anchored in Greece dropped a towel overboard. While looking over the side to see where the towel went I then dropped my hat.
No problem says I, will use a small grappling anchor. One slight mistake I hadn't secured it the rope.
Too deep to free dive so had to use a bigger anchor (properly secured this time) to use it to get to the bottom and retrieve the items

Still laugh about it now...
 
Mate's Oakleys. He went overboard about a mile offshore when my helming of a RHIB was less than considerate. Guilt stricken, I took a transit and walked out 6 hours later at low water (10m tidal range, flatish beach) and found them. I did pick him up at the time, in case anyone's wondering.
 
We operate a small (and legit/inoffensive!) SUP coaching business in the same dock system as our marina. We boast a 100% record of recovering clients’ smartphones from the (12-20ft) bottom. Calling the phone while we dive makes them easy to locate (most are Ip rated now and ‘work’ in the drink) but little the owners know that the salt water and depth will probably brick them within days/hours!
 
I took down the wind instruments transducer, serviced the whole lot, missing cups and old bearings, and while going up the mast again swoooosh it fell in the water.
I waited for low water, dived and managed to find it. Thorough wash in distilled water, then 99% alcohol, new beari gs and now it works like a charm.

Funnier, I once took outmy mainsail and laid it on the pontoon for the sail repair guy to take it away. Strong wind during the night and the following morning no more mainsail. Who might have stolen a broken sail... We then saw a distinguished white hue in the water, under the boat, it was there :) We managed to grab it with a small grapnel and bring it back on the pontoon.
 
Kukri said:
Nice bronze boathook with ash shaft. Twice.
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My favourite boat-hook, one of the few sailing things that got transferred when we changed boats in Greece and eventually left with the second boat in NZ >20 years later was plucked from the water (it was stuck upright in the mud) off the yacht club/marina in Chichester harbour - Langstone or Hayling; it still had the paper price label on when we found it, so I'm guessing that somebody had had a bad day.
 
BobnLesley said:
My favourite boat-hook, one of the few sailing things that got transferred when we changed boats in Greece and eventually left with the second boat in NZ >20 years later was plucked from the water (it was stuck upright in the mud) off the yacht club/marina in Chichester harbour - Langstone or Hayling; it still had the paper price label on when we found it, so I'm guessing that somebody had had a bad day.
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I bet that really peeved the owner who had stuck it there to mark where he'd dropped his phone/wallet/keys before going to find a net to pick them up with. :)
 
Our only pet 'Dino' joined the crew when we rescued him en-route between Greece and Malta; we've always assumed that he's either a Greek or Italian Dinosaur as he's not miserable enough to have come from one of the Balkan states, but he doesn't say much so we can't be sure which. I can recommend a dinosaur for an onboard pet as even the really picky places like French Poly and New Zealand were happy to grant him free-practique. He's also one of the very few things we made the effort to have shipped home after we'd left the boat in NZdino.jpeg
 
Capt Popeye said:
Might mention , should not Wallets and Card Holders be kept in a Waterproof Wallet /Holder so that they
A can float
B be kept dry
C be found easier

Just asking ? (for a friend ?)
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Either you are out sailing or crewing, OR you are fiddling with your little gadget. You can't be doing both.
 
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