Frightening incident Sunday

[gmp]

How young is too young? On Sunday in our marina a targa 34 came in to berth with Dad and 8 yr old twin girls on board. Dad steps off the stern to tie up leaving daughter in control of bow thruster shouting instructions from finger. The girls then start fighting and actually knock port engine into gear!! Boat slews around towards neighbouring boat. Dad tries in vain to lean over to try and put into neutral, girls are screaming hysterically and Dad then falls into the water at the stern!!! Everyone came running to help appearing from nowhere. Fortunately one of the girls had the presence of mind to turn the engines off. The consequences don't bear thinking about.

The question is surely when stepping off you switch off engines first and don't leave two quarreling youngsters in control. The damage to both boats and people could have been horrendous. Boats mend people don't. Apparantly the neighbouring boat had rigged his fenders midships and the anchor caught one of them and so the damage was minimal.

 

[Whitelighter]

more importantly, why didn't the girls take the line? If you moor properly, you can put the boat on a cleat so all they have to do is tie off. I used to do that with my mum and dad with no problems at that age.

Leaving the girls on the helm is worse than just treating the whole manouver as if you were single handed.

 

[Brayman]

I always leave my engine running until safely tied up, you never know when you might need to make a quick getaway, and that's not the time to find a flat battery or some other problem. As for letting anyone else near the controls - not likely

 

[Kipper]

Sounds like it was a lucky escape for all. Cant see why he would think that was a wise move. Stupid, even hard to believe really but thankfully no one was hurt.

 

[lovezoo]

Well my boat insurance specifies 21 as a minimum age, plus a RYA level 2 powerboating qualification. Wonder if they would have paid out if he had caused some damage?

 

[volvopaul]

Personally I dont think its a good Idea to go to sea with two 8 year olds on board anyway. Single handed is ok as you only have youself to worry about.

The question I would ask is if something happened to dad what would they do in the middle of the channel?

Think he needs to rethink his boating while he is still in one piece, imagine falling between two sets of duoprops!.

 

[peterb26]

FMG!

 

[Nautorius]

That is a difficult situation. I have single handed with only young ones for crew. Do not know what I would have done. Mind you, I do not have a bow thruster!

Thanks for reporting and food for thought!

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Another scary story but before we completely flame the guy, we've all done stupid things in boats. I don't blame him for leaving the engines running; I do the same until we're totally tied up and, maybe, he was trying to interest and involve his kids in the boat. You would'nt immediately think that getting them to nudge a little joystick would lead to them putting one engine into gear. As for falling in the water, well, any parent would think only of their children if they were in danger.
I would'nt have done the same as this bloke but I can't help having a feeling of there but for the grace of God

 

[Planty]

Well said! P

 

[PCUK]

No, lets flame the tw*t. Total stupidity, incompetence and criminal negligence. Another cretin for the shouldn't have a boat department!!!

 

[Sixpence]

Glad you said that , we all do stupid things at times so having a pop at someone who's less than perfect decisions led to less than perfect results is a bit like the 'Let he who is without sin' routine . Just be thankful nobody was hurt

 

[duncan]

absolutely

it's hard enough to learn from others misfortunes (or mistakes) as it is - and impossible if you don't hear about them too!

that's on top of the 'it could easily happen to me

 

[Sneds]

Agree with the daftness of two 8 year olds at the helm but hopefully the lesson is now learned, not just by him but the rest of us aswell!

 

[AdeOlly]

Not clever but lets hope that the guy has learnt frm that near disaster.

I single hand with my 3yr old son and give a great deal of thought to safety. FWIW, when berthing alone or with him I use the boat hook to drop a line from the mid cleat with a large loop held open with hosepipe onto the end pontoon cleat, then steer away from pontoon and then add a bit of throttle brings the boat nicely alongside. Engines off then step off with both the bow and stern lines and tie up. If the wind is blowing me off the pontoon I stay on the boat, leave an engine in gear so pressing against the pontoon, lassoo cleat and tie off the stern line, then go forwards to lassoo a forward cleat and tie the bow line off. I can't think of a safer way of tying up but open to suggestions. I also clip on his safety line to the aft cockpit hand rail so he can't actually get to the helm, though he's starting to protest about this!

Re the comment about what to do if something happens to Dad, well when he was 2 my little monster manged to activate the DSC distress on the VHF..... Coastguard was very understanding /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[fireball]

There are 8yr olds sailing dinghies without an adult onboard - and probably better than a large number of adults too!
Whether or not it is stupid to "leave an 8yr old in control" or not depends on the usual practice. Perhaps they have done similar manouver plenty of times before - with Dad not getting off to tie up ... all gone ok before? why not this time?

We learn from our mistakes - and I doubt either the twins or the Dad will make the same mistake again.

 

[gjgm]

I also leave the engine running until finally tied up. I would hope that the girls have used the b/thruster before, so knew what was expected of them, only in this case something unexpected occured. Could an adult also have knocked the engine into gear while distracted or panicked over something- though maybe an adult would have pulled it back out of gear, and perhaps thats the real difference here. The girls might have known what to do to move the bow a touch, but not how to deal with anything else.
On balance, not safe at all, but not a likeliehood he d probably considered.

 

[fireball]

Perhaps that is where you want the positive action gear shift as seen on most ribs? Change into gear is then a conscious decision.

 

[Stoaty]

Your all flaming the guy but do a risk assessment. What's the chances of this happening? On my risk assessment it's somewhere below being struck by lightening three times while standing on the bow singing a desert song. When did this last happen? When will it happen again? Anyone hurt by it?

Enjoy your boating you and your kids.

 

[Alistairr]

Yes, part of the training on PB2, we were told too leave the engine running till safely tied up too pontoon or whatever.

Glad no-one was hurt.

Al.