Happy for your unattended boat to be used as a cherry picker??

[jac]

Reading in this months YM about a guy who commuted from his boat to work over a summer.

One of the incidents he recounts involves losing the main halyard up his mast.

His solution was to go alongside an unattended yacht, be hauled up their mast by his girlfriend, haul his own mast across and retrieve his halyard.

I have to say, I would not be impressed.

No damage so all's well that ends well but there must be better ways to retrieve the halyard that don't end up prevailing on someone else's space and risking damage to someone's boat.

Imaging turning up and finding your own main halyard snapped, blood stains on the deck and some interesting questions from your insurance company.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

It wouldn't bother me. I wouldn't do it though as you just don't know the condition of the other vessels stuff.

 

[prv]

I'd be happy to help if I was there, but not very impressed if I found out it had been done while I wasn't.

The same point jumped out at me when I read the story.

Pete

 

[Houleaux]

I'd be happy to help if I was there, but not very impressed if I found out it had been done while I wasn't.

Same here.

However, in 50+ knots of wind a mousing line that I'd left in my mast parted and - incredibly - got tangled up in the anemometer at the top of the mast of the boat on the adjacent marina berth (I bet you couldn't get it to do that if you tried!) so we were effectively joined together! I wanted to leave and had no idea when the owner of the boat was next due to visit the marina. I could have just cut the line free from my boat, but that hardly seemed fair.

My solution was to advise the staff in the marina office of the situation and employ the resident rigger to go up the mast and carefully untangle the string. As it happened, the rigger noticed a broken strand on one of the shrouds on his way up. The owner was informed and arranged for it to be replaced - thereby averting a potential rig failure - so I guess everyone was a winner on that occasion!

 

[armchairsailor]

Same here.

However, in 50+ knots of wind a mousing line that I'd left in my mast parted and - incredibly - got tangled up in the anemometer at the top of the mast of the boat on the adjacent marina berth (I bet you couldn't get it to do that if you tried!) so we were effectively joined together! I wanted to leave and had no idea when the owner of the boat was next due to visit the marina. I could have just cut the line free from my boat, but that hardly seemed fair.

My solution was to advise the staff in the marina office of the situation and employ the resident rigger to go up the mast and carefully untangle the string. As it happened, the rigger noticed a broken strand on one of the shrouds on his way up. The owner was informed and arranged for it to be replaced - thereby averting a potential rig failure - so I guess everyone was a winner on that occasion!

That's fair enough, since it was something that was your responsibility, but to just arbitrarily avail yourself of someone else's property in order to fix your own really isn't on... Perhaps the writer was thinking that it would be easier to seek forgiveness than permission?

 

[mjcoon]

That's fair enough, since it was something that was your responsibility, but to just arbitrarily avail yourself of someone else's property in order to fix your own really isn't on... Perhaps the writer was thinking that it would be easier to seek forgiveness than permission?

Even "easier" when divided by the probability of being found out!

Mike.

 

[Searush]

Even "easier" when divided by the probability of being found out!

Mike.

That probability rises somewhat when you choose to tell everyone about it.

Incidentally, I wouldn't stress if it happened to my boat. I've had much worse - ass holes moored a rough old heavy dinghy alongside SR without fenders & left me with a hundred blue dots chipa & scratches along the hull, bless 'em. I spent ours in the freezing cold trying to get them out before launch this year & still failed. Now that's a proper pain in the butt (& frozen fingers)