My nomination for...

[Guest]

...outstanding bloody-mindedness and stupidity above and beyond the call of duty goes to the crew of the yacht Marigold.

We fuelled up in Yarmouth on Sunday morning, and the guy on the pontoon pushed our bows out to get us clear. At this point, said yacht decides to dash forward on the wrong side of the channel, straight at my starboard bow forcing me to make a crash stop. The yacht stops, and reverses slightly. We move ahead slowly, so the yacht charges us again. Another crash stop, and we are now trapped with our starboard quarter on the quay wall, and starboard midships being fended off from a moored yacht, so we're stuck at about 45 deg to the channel. The yacht now has a third go at charging at us, which gets his port rail fouled up on my anchor. All the while, I am having a stream of abuse (of the sort that would make a stevedore blush) hurled at me by a little grey haired old lady on the yacht. As one of her port stanchions gets ripped out on my anchor, she screams "What the f*** are you doing?". "Absolutely nothing, Madam. Your husband is motoring across my bows."

Her excuse was that they were trying to get onto the fuel pontoon. Which is where I was. When she looked, we were tied up to it. Begs the question why they were in such a hurry to get to the fuel pontoon if it was obviously busy, of course, or do raggies raft up to take on their half a gallon of diesel?

The sheepish look, the glare at hubby, the audience on the quay and the complete lack of damage to my boat made this a truly memorable occassion.

 

[BarryD]

Well I laughed - glad you had no damage!

So you unscrew this, and put it safely here, then oopps...
All - IMHO, BTW, FWIW and NWGOI

 

[c_j]

Excellent,

Reminds me of recent incident whilst taking on fuel at Salterns.

Large yacht comes and indicates they wish to raft up to us at the fuel station.

I had nearly finished taking on fuel but was in no hurry and saw that they were preparing fenders and so stuck out a couple more.

Out of office runs Bosun and asks them what the ---- they think they are doing and asks do they have any experienced crew on board. At which point they all look at each other and then a small female young yacht type replies "yes".

"Could I speak to them now " says bosun. Nobody appears to be in charge so bosun advises Yacht crew to get out of Marina and wait until fuel berth is free.

I was not sure why I enjoyed this at the time but I think it is because Yachty types assume a superior air in all things seamanship wise and it is refreshing to see them in retreat.

I have now taken to waving at all yachts we pass as a sort of sport. The best thing is when the male continues to ignore my waving but the partner waves. You do not need binoculars to see the atmosphere change in said yachts cockpit.

Of course some wave anyway, because I am sure they recognise our joint love of the sea, but it is great to see them avoiding eye contact with my waving.


CJ
chris@stone.uk.com

www.stone.uk.com

 

[Guest]

Quite agree. I make some very exaggerated turns these days to keep out of the way of the yotties, and I've yet to see any acknowledgement from even one of them. But when we pass one an hundred yards away, I always wave. Most wave back, but like you say, it's funny watching the rest trying to ignore you...

 

[Mike_02]

You have reported a common problem that i have often seen and disscussed in other forums.

The issue of the older skipper with a very small crew and a big boat. I'm sorry to all of you out there who disagree but for me to two do not add up very well.

I ahve said before that often (not always) if you hear a skipper shouting in a marina it will be an older gent.

I think this works for motorboats less than yachts but i'm not sure why.

Just take a look at St peter port fuel barge when the tide is over the sill...what a mess..every body wants to get fuel ad leave NOW...no body wants to wait and it's all very very funny to watch.
It's all just like the various typs of craft that try to moor up get in yarmouth at the same time....why oh why can't people slow down.....and just wait....there is room for us all.

Oh and you will be please to know that as a raggie i ALWAYS let motorboats pass me in the entrance..the reason is simple...I know that your crafts don't handle at slow speed so i would rather be behind you so i can see what is going on.

 

[iangrant]

You must come to expect this - suddenly there you are defenceless, tied to the jetty, an opportunity not to be missed by a raving lunatic, you overtook some hours/day/weeks ago - you just had to be rammed! Just you wait 'till I see you out there I'll, - I'll, - I'll, wave at you!!

;-)

Ian

 

[Guest]

Thank you, Mike. Your last point is a good one - I followed a raggie back into Christchurch at 1.2kts. Almost impossible to steer at that speed, but no room to get past, either...

 

[Medskipper]

Problem is raggies are hopeless at close quarter handling at little or no speed as well!! they have to come in to a pontoon at quite a speed to make it behave and they dont seem to have any control when going astern at all!

Its all very difficult isnt it?

Barry



I just want to retire with my boat to the Med!

 

[Mike_02]

I'm afraid that you have hit one of the nails on the head...going astern..i have a long keel yacht and i cannot predict or control the yacht in astern...all i can do is point it in a general direction and have fenders ready sometimes.

So as a result i have learnt just not to go astern when i really don't have to.

An answer to your question about being hopeless at slow speed...on a motorboat you have the throttle very near the heel so it's all close to hand.

On a yacht with a tiller the throttle is on near the floor. It is designed to be used by the foot not the hand but i very very seldom see this. It is very scary when i see a boat coming into a mooring and the skipper lets go of the helm to reach the throttle....i have seen this so many times.

So as you can see it's often just the design of our boats and people not using them as they are intended.

Oh and just before you mention yachts with wheels....have you ever tried to steer a large yacht with a large wheel at slow speed...it's not impossible but takes a lot of practice. I would suggest you try it.

 

[burgundyben]

Rubbish!

I think thats rubbish, I have many time driven a Contessa 32 and its pretty straight forward, you understand the limitations of the boat and the effects of wind, tidde and prop walk and plan your manouvre accordingly.

Likewise, I have parked a 40 foot race yacht (J120) with a big wheel most weekends for 3 years, its a sinch, the same principles as above.

My huntress is more of a pig to park than any yacht ever and even then, I have to plan what I am going to do, in worst case, I plonk the bow or stern near to whatever I want to be along side then man handle the boat along side as I wish.

Admitedly I do have the benefit of having worked for 5 years for a sailing school in my teens/early 20's where I had to park a boat almost everyday.

Ooo, good evening officer.........

 

[Mike_02]

Re: Rubbish!

Did i say that motorboats were easy to park....no i didn't. I know what they are like to park...they are very different to yachts. All i am saying is that different types of yachts do differnent things.

Any fool could park a 100ft yacht in a nice space...but the skill and experience comes into it when you are against tide or wind and in a very very tight space.

The problem with yachts and tight spaces is like reversing a car....people don't do it often enough to practice it enough...and therefore are not very good at it.

I have many times parked boats with outdrives and i found that you cannot park them like you can a yacht..but agian i did a lot of practice and eventually i became good at it.

Another thing that i question is why do skippers almost always insist upon driving out of every space or mooring.

if i cannot do this with ease i turn the boat using ropes to make it easy....too many skippers out there who try to drive in and out of every situation and tight space..this causes most of the scrapes that happen...and yes this applies to boat sail and power.

 

[Guest]

Re: Rubbish!

all very interesting and erudite, but doesn't get away from the fact that the idiot was on the wrong side of the channel, trying to park somewhere that was already full of boat, and would not wait for me to get clear - he took three goes at ramming into me...

and anyway... am I to understand from the previous comments that yachts that are designed with a top speed of six knots are also designed to handle like a bag of crap at 3kts? If so, at what speed, exactly, are they controllable? Strikes me that two raggies have just confirmed what we all suspected - they're all unseaworthy and should be scuppered.

 

[andrewhopkins]

why we dont wave

Its just that we often cant see you. Either you're behind tinted glass or up on a fly deck.

No other reason than that (for me anyway)!

 

[adrianbarker]

It was YOU !!

How you didn't shout, just a tad, I'll never know.

We were watching from the quay right by the fuel pump !

I can confirm all details as correct.

There were many shakes of heads on the quay I can tell you.

Complete Wally.





You didn't have that one the last time we saw you !

 

[Guest]

You could've introduced yourself! Small world, eh?

 

[ccscott49]

Re: Rubbish!

Try 57' of 48 ton motorsailer, with twin screws and a barn door central rudder that does nothing until your moving at three knots and nothing atall astern! and the wind gets hold of your not unsubstantial bow! I get as close as I can to the quay/pontoon/wall etc, then get a warp ashore, heaven! spring her anywhere then! I've even put the dinghy in the water with a crew as a tug before now! wind with tide or even against, things get a little easier. But I totally agree about the pillock, why can't people wait? or like the channel islands thing, why not plan ahead and get fuel before hand.