Resolution
Well-Known Member
..........to c*ck up my berthing.
This afternoon, coming in to the marina at high tide, modest beam wind, three experienced (but elderly) crew should have been a doddle. I allocated one crew to go first with a short midships line and the other two to follow with breast lines. Came in at fair speed to avoid being blown off by the beam wind, neatly lined up a few inches from the pontoon and clunked into reverse intending to stop as usual with a big burst of reverse throttle. Midships line man hopped down and dropped his end over a cleat. Bow breast man stepped down and ambled forward with his line.
And aft breast man stepped straight down into the water between the hull and the pontoon!!
With his feet dangerously close to the prop I immediately shut down the motor, the boat sailed on, pivoted round on the midships line and whacked the pontoon ahead hard. Both the other crewmen rushed to grab the swimmer, who was by now hanging onto the pontoon. The boat swung back and they just managed to push enough to stop him being crushed between hull and pontoon.
On the helm I was trying to balance the boat without any engine, using the midships line and the bow thruster.
On the pontoon they were having great difficulty in hauling our swimmer up out of the water. (He is a large man in his seventies.) With the help of a couple of other friends this was eventually achieved, lines were attached properly, and towels were rushed to an apologetic dripping crewman. Being a tough old nut, he was much less shaken than we were, even claiming that the water had been quite warm!
A scary experience, but thankfully no injury and no damage in the end.
This afternoon, coming in to the marina at high tide, modest beam wind, three experienced (but elderly) crew should have been a doddle. I allocated one crew to go first with a short midships line and the other two to follow with breast lines. Came in at fair speed to avoid being blown off by the beam wind, neatly lined up a few inches from the pontoon and clunked into reverse intending to stop as usual with a big burst of reverse throttle. Midships line man hopped down and dropped his end over a cleat. Bow breast man stepped down and ambled forward with his line.
And aft breast man stepped straight down into the water between the hull and the pontoon!!
With his feet dangerously close to the prop I immediately shut down the motor, the boat sailed on, pivoted round on the midships line and whacked the pontoon ahead hard. Both the other crewmen rushed to grab the swimmer, who was by now hanging onto the pontoon. The boat swung back and they just managed to push enough to stop him being crushed between hull and pontoon.
On the helm I was trying to balance the boat without any engine, using the midships line and the bow thruster.
On the pontoon they were having great difficulty in hauling our swimmer up out of the water. (He is a large man in his seventies.) With the help of a couple of other friends this was eventually achieved, lines were attached properly, and towels were rushed to an apologetic dripping crewman. Being a tough old nut, he was much less shaken than we were, even claiming that the water had been quite warm!
A scary experience, but thankfully no injury and no damage in the end.
