G
Guest
Guest
We have a few friends with yachts, and we've met a few others who were really nice folks, but others really do nothing to help their image...
We set off on Sunday morning from Christchurch to Chichester, intending to spend the day at East Head. The passage was 'lively' to put it mildly - we lost one Weaver stand-off arm, the depth sounder, a relay panel and the port alternator to the conditions, but these have mostly been fixed now.
Arriving at East Head with Hagrid (Seven), we found Alastair (May of Glencoe) already at anchor, so we rafted up. Alastair had 30m of chain down, plus anoth 10m of rope, and the holding was excellent. After an hour or so, Hagrid left to catch the lock at Chichester Marina. Around 2.30, sitting on the beach, we spotted a Westerly Riviera (name unknown) dragging anchor in the ebb (5 knots at least, at a guess), and going straight for May of Glencoe and Arcadia. As no-one else seemed to have noticed, Alastair and I raced for the tender, and managed to board the yacht just as she ran into our rafted boats. We managed mostly to fend her off without damage - she lost a stanchion on the port side, and a cabin window when she went broadside across our anchor, then lost her flagstaff, but all told, quite a successful rescue. Another kind soul turned up in a RIB, and helped us deploy the rest of her anchor chain, and with a sensible amount of chain out, she finally held. Alastair's wife Carmel eventually met her owners on the beach, whne they realised their boat was missing. They had no tender, and had swum ashore. At least the boat going AWOL saved them trying to swim back and getting swept out to sea...
While we were aboard the Westerly, we spotted a flybridge motorboat, Teaky C, dragging, and about to crash in to Arcadia and May of Glencoe, so deciding it was worth the risk of tangled gear, we dropped Arcadia's anchor and raced back again. This time, Teaky C's crew had managed to get aboard and start the engines. Unfortunately, they decided to lift the anchor before motoring back to their original position. As we got to them, they had Alastair's CQR hanging from their own on the bow roller. Unfortunately, they didn't have the presence of mind to use the engines, and all three boats started to drift. Working from the tender, with the help of the stranger in the RIB, we freed the anchor and attempted to redeploy it from the tender, but we were swept on to the yacht Freetime. Teaky C now disappeared.
At this point, we were subjected to a torrent of foulmouthed abuse from a 'lady' of advanced years. The crew of four on Freetime protested that they were unable to help resolve the situation, as they had no windlass, and it was up to us as we were powerboats (?). We were accused of incompetence, depsite th efact that they had watched another boat lift our anchor. We were accused of being 'weekend sailors', whatever that may mean (as it was Sunday, what does that make them, BTW?) The harridan aboard Freetime screamed that she had 'years more sailing experience than you two'. At this point, I lost my rag and pointed out that she looked like it, too.
They then announced that they wanted to leave, but couldn't raise their anchor as it was fouled, and that they couldn't use their engine as that was out of action. So, it would appear, experienced sailors are happy to raise anchor in a crowded harbour with a 5 knot current with no means of propulsion, eh?
By this time, we had now dragged to a position several boat lengths astern of Freetime. We attempted to raise Alastair's anchor, but the strain was too much, and his windlass jammed, but at least we seemed to have stopped dragging. At this point, we realised that Freetime was alongside again, her crew having attempted to break their own anchor out. As they waved one small fender at us in a rather ineffectual manner, Alastair and I had to fend them off by hand. Alastair came aboard Freetrime to help fend off, and I went forward to help with raise their anchor. With no windlass, this took some effort, (and probably cost me a broken finger in the process), but we eventually untangled them. They left without a word of thanks.
As we got our boats re-anchored, the Westerly sailed by, with the crew waving, but again, not a word of thanks.
The only bright spot was some random bloke on the beach having come rather unprepared, bought four small bottles of beer from us for a fiver (despite the fact the we tried to let him have them for free...)
And the tailpiece to this? As we were about to leave, the harbour master came alongside to relieve us of four quid for the privilege, and snapped the oar on our bloody tender with his RIB!
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We set off on Sunday morning from Christchurch to Chichester, intending to spend the day at East Head. The passage was 'lively' to put it mildly - we lost one Weaver stand-off arm, the depth sounder, a relay panel and the port alternator to the conditions, but these have mostly been fixed now.
Arriving at East Head with Hagrid (Seven), we found Alastair (May of Glencoe) already at anchor, so we rafted up. Alastair had 30m of chain down, plus anoth 10m of rope, and the holding was excellent. After an hour or so, Hagrid left to catch the lock at Chichester Marina. Around 2.30, sitting on the beach, we spotted a Westerly Riviera (name unknown) dragging anchor in the ebb (5 knots at least, at a guess), and going straight for May of Glencoe and Arcadia. As no-one else seemed to have noticed, Alastair and I raced for the tender, and managed to board the yacht just as she ran into our rafted boats. We managed mostly to fend her off without damage - she lost a stanchion on the port side, and a cabin window when she went broadside across our anchor, then lost her flagstaff, but all told, quite a successful rescue. Another kind soul turned up in a RIB, and helped us deploy the rest of her anchor chain, and with a sensible amount of chain out, she finally held. Alastair's wife Carmel eventually met her owners on the beach, whne they realised their boat was missing. They had no tender, and had swum ashore. At least the boat going AWOL saved them trying to swim back and getting swept out to sea...
While we were aboard the Westerly, we spotted a flybridge motorboat, Teaky C, dragging, and about to crash in to Arcadia and May of Glencoe, so deciding it was worth the risk of tangled gear, we dropped Arcadia's anchor and raced back again. This time, Teaky C's crew had managed to get aboard and start the engines. Unfortunately, they decided to lift the anchor before motoring back to their original position. As we got to them, they had Alastair's CQR hanging from their own on the bow roller. Unfortunately, they didn't have the presence of mind to use the engines, and all three boats started to drift. Working from the tender, with the help of the stranger in the RIB, we freed the anchor and attempted to redeploy it from the tender, but we were swept on to the yacht Freetime. Teaky C now disappeared.
At this point, we were subjected to a torrent of foulmouthed abuse from a 'lady' of advanced years. The crew of four on Freetime protested that they were unable to help resolve the situation, as they had no windlass, and it was up to us as we were powerboats (?). We were accused of incompetence, depsite th efact that they had watched another boat lift our anchor. We were accused of being 'weekend sailors', whatever that may mean (as it was Sunday, what does that make them, BTW?) The harridan aboard Freetime screamed that she had 'years more sailing experience than you two'. At this point, I lost my rag and pointed out that she looked like it, too.
They then announced that they wanted to leave, but couldn't raise their anchor as it was fouled, and that they couldn't use their engine as that was out of action. So, it would appear, experienced sailors are happy to raise anchor in a crowded harbour with a 5 knot current with no means of propulsion, eh?
By this time, we had now dragged to a position several boat lengths astern of Freetime. We attempted to raise Alastair's anchor, but the strain was too much, and his windlass jammed, but at least we seemed to have stopped dragging. At this point, we realised that Freetime was alongside again, her crew having attempted to break their own anchor out. As they waved one small fender at us in a rather ineffectual manner, Alastair and I had to fend them off by hand. Alastair came aboard Freetrime to help fend off, and I went forward to help with raise their anchor. With no windlass, this took some effort, (and probably cost me a broken finger in the process), but we eventually untangled them. They left without a word of thanks.
As we got our boats re-anchored, the Westerly sailed by, with the crew waving, but again, not a word of thanks.
The only bright spot was some random bloke on the beach having come rather unprepared, bought four small bottles of beer from us for a fiver (despite the fact the we tried to let him have them for free...)
And the tailpiece to this? As we were about to leave, the harbour master came alongside to relieve us of four quid for the privilege, and snapped the oar on our bloody tender with his RIB!
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