Danny Jo
Well-Known Member
Freestyle sailed into Loch Foyle three weeks ago and was caught in a salmon drift net. Less than 30 minutes later another yacht sailed in and was caught on another. (Yes, I thought they were illegal too, but apparently fishermen on Loch Foyle have a special dispensation to use them.)
It was blowing around 18 kts from the northwest. Furling the genny was easy, but getting the main down when you are tethered by the stern is something else. Fortunately I had a reef in, and I hauled up the boom on the topping lift, but like a fool I eased the main sheet, until the penny dropped and I sheeted it in hard to reduce the windage. The crew were all for cutting the net, but I reckoned that so long as I was attached to a valuable bit of fishing kit I stood a reasonable chance of getting a tow into harbour, and so it proved. Tied up in Greencastle, I took a look underneath, found that the float rope had a half-hitch around the propeller, and was free in less time than it takes to consume two lung-fulls of air.
The other crew wasn't so lucky, because they had started their engine before fouling their net. I and the other skipper both had a go at cutting it off, and managed to cut away enough rope to turn the prop, but could not clear the mass of fine netting. The diver engaged to cut it all away came up with bad news - the bronze cutlass bearing housing (to which the fixed part of the boat's serrated, scissor-type ropecutter was attached) was rotating freely in its own housing, another bronze fitting glassed into the hull. The cutlass housing was supposed to be screwed into the hull fitting, but the thread had been stripped.
My view is that this boat would have been a lot better off without a rope cutter. To the cost of the diver, the rope cutter has added the cost of a specially hired crane and some expensive work to rehouse the cutlass bearing into the hull.
It was blowing around 18 kts from the northwest. Furling the genny was easy, but getting the main down when you are tethered by the stern is something else. Fortunately I had a reef in, and I hauled up the boom on the topping lift, but like a fool I eased the main sheet, until the penny dropped and I sheeted it in hard to reduce the windage. The crew were all for cutting the net, but I reckoned that so long as I was attached to a valuable bit of fishing kit I stood a reasonable chance of getting a tow into harbour, and so it proved. Tied up in Greencastle, I took a look underneath, found that the float rope had a half-hitch around the propeller, and was free in less time than it takes to consume two lung-fulls of air.
The other crew wasn't so lucky, because they had started their engine before fouling their net. I and the other skipper both had a go at cutting it off, and managed to cut away enough rope to turn the prop, but could not clear the mass of fine netting. The diver engaged to cut it all away came up with bad news - the bronze cutlass bearing housing (to which the fixed part of the boat's serrated, scissor-type ropecutter was attached) was rotating freely in its own housing, another bronze fitting glassed into the hull. The cutlass housing was supposed to be screwed into the hull fitting, but the thread had been stripped.
My view is that this boat would have been a lot better off without a rope cutter. To the cost of the diver, the rope cutter has added the cost of a specially hired crane and some expensive work to rehouse the cutlass bearing into the hull.
