My first Rescue

[tinkicker0]

Yesterday evening.

Was chugging along up river when a 16 footish ski type boat with outboard was observed apparently anchored up near the middle of the channel, so I cut the power to idle to avoid my wash breaking the anchor free or rocking them about.

As I approached, the young guy started waving his arms about so I got a bit closer. Apparently his outboard had cut out and they had been drifting without power downstream for "ages".

So I lashed them to the starboard side using springs and took them back up river to Bishopthorpe marina where their trailer was.

They don't handle well with asymmetric thrust do they? More like a crabbing motion, had to try keep the other boat upstream a bit and use opposite lock.

Anyway, got to the marina but lots of boats parked around the slip and very confined space to the dock, tried a couple of times. Got him within 4 feet of the dock after a bit of a struggle and concerned my bow was running out of water as it was over the slip, had to hail another boater to take his painter, cut him loose and get the hell outta there before we drifted into one of the other boats.

The lad was very embarrassed as you are, but SWMBO said the wife commented that she was very impressed with my skill.


Anyway went back down river to my usual mooring spot just downstream of the fuel pontoon and full of cocksureness as Captain Tinny, skipper extraordinary, approached the pontoon using my usual ferry glide approach as I have done a 100 times before without incident.
Could I get in? Could I hell, damned thing was swinging all over the place , Conscious of other skippers,moored on the other side of the river looking on over their chardonnay, I was getting a bit flustered. Got in close again, SWMBO hooked the bollard of choice with the stern line and job sorted.

NOPE, SWMBO had lifted the bight off our sterncleat in hooking the bollard so rope on bollard, sterncleat without rope and we swinging back into the stream again looking at the mooring line left on the pontoon
I could have easily said a few naughty words to SWMBO by this time, but she is a tender thing and such things are better bitten back.

Finally got in and got to surround a goodly quantity of beer, although it was a timely reminder that if you start thinking you are good, fate is gonna bite you on the ass.

 

[Searush]

Surprised at your comments about the handling - but don't know either of boats involved. However, did you try re-aligning the towed boat to "toe-in" a little?

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

When I saw your post title I thought
'Hey up, th'old Wiccan has been having problems, hope the Hound is okay'
Then it turns out you are making a bid to start 'River Start' a northern competitor to those well know rescuers 'Sea Start' who, as far as I know are only to be found upon the South Coast.
To do this properly you need some new kit, maybe you could speak with 'Cleggy' from 'Last of the Summer Wine' I'm sure they will have some tips for you.
But, more seriously though, 'Well Done That Man' I hope your pride was not dented too much, and that the hapless young couple did not have too many problems getting theor pride and joy sorted.

Mal

 

[tinkicker0]

Surprised at your comments about the handling - but don't know either of boats involved. However, did you try re-aligning the towed boat to "toe-in" a little?

On reflection, that was the problem. The fore deck is pretty inaccessible on my boat under way, unless you want to open the windscreen and climb up the dashboard, so had to use a stern and mid cleat in the heat of the moment.
His bow when going ahead would wander out about 10 degrees or so, making the whole lot crab.
I'll know better for next time.

I hope your pride was not dented too much, and that the hapless young couple did not have too many problems getting theor pride and joy sorted.

I had the impression that they had run out of fuel, as they did not seem to be too concerned with trying to repair the motor. Still had the motor cover fastened down.

As far as my pride, a good few cans of brew soon repaired it.

 

[lisilou]

Well done you. Hope there's a good samaritan like you about if/when we get into bother.

 

[Searush]

Well done you. Hope there's a good samaritan like you about if/when we get into bother.

No guarantees of course, but it's surprising ow often complete strangers will help if they can. So we all have an obligation to do the same if we see someone needing a good Samaritan.

 

[penfold]

On reflection, that was the problem. The fore deck is pretty inaccessible on my boat under way, unless you want to open the windscreen and climb up the dashboard, so had to use a stern and mid cleat in the heat of the moment.
His bow when going ahead would wander out about 10 degrees or so, making the whole lot crab.

Bow in would be good, also secure the other boat as far forward as possible, i.e. his stern at your midships. This offers the easiest handling. Depending on the cleats available it may make sense to go bow-to-bow and tow him backwards.

 

[volvopaul]

Rescue..... we went to a blue rib this afternoon drifting with no engine and taking on water just off Calshot spit buoy, I heard him on to SC so just proceeded to the buoy, by this time Calshot LB had been deployed, we liased with SCGD and directed LB to them, we left at a steady 6 knots as he was by then under his own way just before the LB was alongside.

What amazed me was the amount of boats that were nearer to the casualty than us when the shout for help went out but either completely ignored him or just dont tune into CH16, when we heard his cry we were just doing a steady 6 knots to kill time before we could get under Bursledon bridge, but as he was taking on water we then informed SCG and made a sprint towards him, other boats with big flappy things pointing up towards the sky just motored on past him! ill say no more as we had the most nicest raggy moor next to us this weekend in Yarmouth giving us the guided tour of there newly acuired yacht, just shows the rags can love the stinkpot owners after all!

 

[Kawasaki]

Bow in would be good, also secure the other boat as far forward as possible, i.e. his stern at your midships. This offers the easiest handling. Depending on the cleats available it may make sense to go bow-to-bow and tow him backwards.

penfold
I like your first two sentences
But towing bow to bow
Then to tow backwards seems a bit of a no no imho
Do you mean the towing vessel is reversing??

 

[penfold]

penfold
I like your first two sentences
But towing bow to bow
Then to tow backwards seems a bit of a no no imho
Do you mean the towing vessel is reversing??

Not explaining myself very well. The placement of the cleats/hardpoints on the casualty vessel and/or towing vessel may make it easier to secure them for an alongside tow with the bows in opposite directions. At low speed pushing the casualty vessel backwards should not cause problems; if it's rough enough to cause problems it's too rough for an alongside tow.

 

[markcw]

well done for the rescue, when the foot is on the other side the feeling of someone helping is great.

We broke down a few of weeks in torquay bay had my father inlaw and his wife on board for the first time, my two young children and us two on the boat. The boat had been fine getting it of the trailer and warming her up, got every one loaded up and life jackets on all, headed out into the bay with very very choppy and windy condition and a great smile and glee on my wife parrents at the excitement of being on the boat for the first time.

I sunddenly noticed the temp was in the red and could smell a very very hot metal smell. DAMM no water to the engine not a drop rechecked my clear reinforced tubes to cooling system and no water anywhere but plenty below us, switched off my VP v6 engine powerd off every thing and i just prayed my auto fire extinquisher was not going to go off.

Radio to harbour control who advised my to try and correct the fault as they had not means of getting to me other than a £35 call out charge, even thou i just payed £25 for the slipway use???.

Luckaly for me the Princess Dart came along and very kindly towed us back to the pontoon ,to the relief of my wife parrents who by now had very green and pal looking faces from the rocking about, the kids well they found it hilarious.

Did go back out on the water minius 2 passengers ,the fault was casued by cavitation in the water pump and very luckaly no damage to the engine

So to all those who have rescued thanks its a massive relief under a very stressful situation.

 

[Searush]

Going back to the earlier post, Like Kwacka I would be doubtful about towing a small MoBo backwards. Two reasons, you are restricted to very slow speeds (or there is a risk of swamping) plus the stern offers far more resitance than the bow so the drag on that side is considerably increased - agravating the steering problem TK observed.

 

[nimrod1230]

"ill say no more as we had the most nicest raggy moor next to us this weekend in Yarmouth giving us the guided tour of there newly acuired yacht, just shows the rags can love the stinkpot owners after all!"
As the raggy alongside you Paul it was a pleasure to meet you and your lovely family and as it is the first time I have met a forumite the best possible experience.
Heard the problems with the Rib and your quick response but we were miles away so no help at all. Hope to bump into you again. Terry.

 

[EugeneR]

My rescue

As part of a previous holiday, we anchored in Newtown Creek for a day or two.

For some reason, I still do not know, I left the engine and house batteries in parallel while allowing everyone to consume whatever energy they needed - kids watching lots of DVD, playing playstation and the fridge keeping the beer nice and cold.

As with all holidays, departure time arrived... and as one would expect given the above, the engine would not start - both banks were flat. So, what do you do? At the time, there were one or two boats around so I went to the nearest mobo asking if I could borrow a battery to get me going again.

The guy was sitting in the cockpit reading some magazine. He clearly did not want to be disturbed but what else could I do? "Sorry mate", he said, "can't help you. My batteries are down there... too much hassle getting them out for you."

His response reminds me of a recent trip to Cherbourg where we arrived well after sunset on a 60 foot boat. There was an easy space to moor up... well over 120ft... but with a small, UK-flagged boat in the middle. They were in the saloon watching TV so we dropped a member of crew to ask them, politely as one always does, whether we could move them to make some space for us. "What! You expect us to move during Coronation Street? No chance!" Needless to say, they did not move at all that night and we had to squeeze in somewhere else...

Anyway, back to "my rescue"... back on the boat, SWMBO and I started to consider the alternatives... ask a raggie - surely they have batteries too... call Sea Start... stay another day...

At that point, we were interrupted by the same guy I had asked before. "Want to borrow this, he said?"... pointing to a portable generator with him in his dinghy. At least I could give him some cold beer while we waited for the battery to charge

And, just to show how these things happen... we arrived back at the Hamble to see someone on a yacht waving at us... turns out they had broken down and needed a tow up river... we did so gladly, happy for the opportunity to pass on some goodwill...

And what happened to the boat in Cherbourg? I don't know... maybe they hit a rock or something, the next day...

 

[pappaecho]

No good deed goes unpunished!

 

[25931]

Yesterday evening.

Was chugging along up river when a 16 footish ski type boat with outboard was observed apparently anchored up near the middle of the channel, so I cut the power to idle to avoid my wash breaking the anchor free or rocking them about.

As I approached, the young guy started waving his arms about so I got a bit closer. Apparently his outboard had cut out and they had been drifting without power downstream for "ages".

So I lashed them to the starboard side using springs and took them back up river to Bishopthorpe marina where their trailer was.

They don't handle well with asymmetric thrust do they? More like a crabbing motion, had to try keep the other boat upstream a bit and use opposite lock.

Anyway, got to the marina but lots of boats parked around the slip and very confined space to the dock, tried a couple of times. Got him within 4 feet of the dock after a bit of a struggle and concerned my bow was running out of water as it was over the slip, had to hail another boater to take his painter, cut him loose and get the hell outta there before we drifted into one of the other boats.

The lad was very embarrassed as you are, but SWMBO said the wife commented that she was very impressed with my skill.


Anyway went back down river to my usual mooring spot just downstream of the fuel pontoon and full of cocksureness as Captain Tinny, skipper extraordinary, approached the pontoon using my usual ferry glide approach as I have done a 100 times before without incident.
Could I get in? Could I hell, damned thing was swinging all over the place , Conscious of other skippers,moored on the other side of the river looking on over their chardonnay, I was getting a bit flustered. Got in close again, SWMBO hooked the bollard of choice with the stern line and job sorted.

NOPE, SWMBO had lifted the bight off our sterncleat in hooking the bollard so rope on bollard, sterncleat without rope and we swinging back into the stream again looking at the mooring line left on the pontoon
I could have easily said a few naughty words to SWMBO by this time, but she is a tender thing and such things are better bitten back.

Finally got in and got to surround a goodly quantity of beer, although it was a timely reminder that if you start thinking you are good, fate is gonna bite you on the ass.

.....and that would be treating the donkey cruelly.

 

[whisper]

Yesterday evening.

Was chugging along up river when a 16 footish ski type boat with outboard was observed apparently anchored up near the middle of the channel, so I cut the power to idle to avoid my wash breaking the anchor free or rocking them about.

As I approached, the young guy started waving his arms about so I got a bit closer. Apparently his outboard had cut out and they had been drifting without power downstream for "ages".

I seem to "rescue" some unfortunate/s about once a year. Causes have varied from Outboard fallen off transom of 14ft speedboat and lost "Over the Bar" , engine failure near Prawle Pt., exhausted windsurfer, to small boats aground on mud (or about to be). Latter is fairly regular and seems to happen to both locals and visitors. "Lifeboat" can be our Targa or me rowing its 2.2m inflatable. It's nice to be able to help, as having a young family stuck on the mud in an open boat for 6hrs or so ain't a nice way to spend a day.

Perhaps you'd all better avoid Salcombe this year as I may be lurking, vulture like, waiting for your desperate call.

 

[stuhaynes]

Good Samaritans

No guarantees of course, but it's surprising ow often complete strangers will help if they can. So we all have an obligation to do the same if we see someone needing a good Samaritan.

Sunday last week delivering an old (50 ton +) barge for a charity, the engine conked out, injector pump failure. We were on a wide canal having just left miles of river behind us. We were able to drift into the bank, where the bow met mud. We were well stuck but only 150 yards from a deep water mooring (150 yards from a pub). Problem is that we were well stuck. We tried for 2 hours to lever the bow out of the mud with absolutely no effect at all. In this 2 hour period we did not see a single passing craft, then N.B. Erik came past and I shouted them and asked for a tow off, in fairness, expecting a firm 'no'. Couldn't have been more wrong..... It took an hour before the bow moved, but it did, and we hand lined the barge to the mooring. They stayed right to the end. We thanked them and the skipper offered them first, a drink in the pub (declined) and 2nd, cash. The answer we received was "no need, we're boaters, we've been helped out in the past and believe that this is exactly what boating is all about".

Sort of puts it all into perspective. Sadly didn't get their names, we were too knackered to think, but many thanks N.B. Erik.

In case you're wondering why we hand lined the barge to the mooring it was to keep the speed as low as possible. 1 hour to do do 150 yards is very slow, but at least we were able to stop her. The only available mooring was between 2 other boats, the one that we could have hit looked very expensive....

Good though innit.