The RarestThing That can hHappen at Sea

[Corona Mia]

Did that for a couple of hours this morning. Bocayna Strait, south of Lanzarote. As you do.

My lovely wife agreeing…….that my weather forecast was correct.

Prompted by this unusual news item;
Portaferry Lifeboat Rescues Teenager Drifting Out to Sea on Inflatable Unicorn
I would like to pose the question: What's the most unlikely occurrence that has happened to you at sea, or that you are aware of?

My lovely wife agreeing that my weather forecast was correct!?

 

[lenten]

trawling in and around the solent-----caught 16 foot torpeedo one of ours -- practice----one of theirs 500 lb bomb which covered in growth looked like a rock until the growth fell off-----got rid of quick----3 small bombs----looked like oversized darts-------4 inch unfired shell which i placed on the on deck chain storage area for a week and forgot about---- caused alarm in the camber dock when spotted -----numerous urns for ashes never too far from portsmouth harbour entrance------there is wonderful array of junk below the surface in the solent

 

[LittleSister]

Well, there was the time off southern Brittany, when a beautiful mermaid surfaced next to the boat, mesmerised me with her womanly charms and siren-like singing, leading me to her nearby enchanted island, where she made love to me and plied me with exotic fruits.

But that's happened a couple of times now, so I guess it's not that rare.

 

[Wansworth]

Well, there was the time off southern Brittany, when a beautiful mermaid surfaced next to the boat, mesmerised me with her womanly charms and siren-like singing, leading me to her nearby enchanted island, where she made love to me and plied me with exotic fruits.

But that's happened a couple of times now, so I guess it's not that rare.

Happened to me in Galicia…..STILL HERE?

 

[shan]

Anchored in Castle Beach Bay and heard something thumping up agains the boat. Discoverer a tender caught on our anchor chain - glance out and spot a man swimming after it. He had dragged it slightly onshore and had not considered the tide coming in. An hour later we decide to leave and as we are rounding the corner, there's the same guy in the tender along with 2 children, hanging onto a lobster pot. They had run out of fuel so we tow them to Dale. At that post, we decide to anchor in Dale overnight so we go and have a drink at The Griffin. As we are standing against the wall, enjoying our drink, we notice that the guy with the tenders obviously called a friend who has brought along the tender trailer to recover it from Dale.He backs the tender trailer down the slip way, disconnects it from the vehicle and then turns around to have a conversation - in the meantime the trailer continues down the slip way and enters the water and carries on going. By the time he has noticed why people are shouting at him, it's completely submerged - if you have ever been to Dale, you will know that the boat trailer would have simply carried on rolling down the sandy slope. The two Einsteins then spent the next 30 minutes dragging for the trailer. Captain Calamity doesn't begin to describe it!

 

[Graham376]

Strangest thing we've seen at sea was a metal whale heading towards us off the east coat of Ireland 20+ years ago - moby metal whale boat - Bing images

 

[chrishscorp]

Well, there was the time off southern Brittany, when a beautiful mermaid surfaced next to the boat, mesmerised me with her womanly charms and siren-like singing, leading me to her nearby enchanted island, where she made love to me and plied me with exotic fruits.

But that's happened a couple of times now, so I guess it's not that rare.

You dont have a note of the Lat and Long do you ?, asking for a friend

 

[R.Ems]

Well, there was the time off southern Brittany, when a beautiful mermaid surfaced next to the boat, mesmerised me with her womanly charms and siren-like singing, leading me to her nearby enchanted island, where she made love to me and plied me with exotic fruits.

But that's happened a couple of times now, so I guess it's not that rare.

Small world...on return fom the HM's office I found her, sittting in my cockpit in Roscoff Marina and wishing to go sailing after a dull package holiday apparently. She spoke a Gaelic version of French and knew how to sail, and I was curious about her bodily features...so she swung her enormous green slimy tail onboard, causing my small yacht to heel violently, and we had a jolly week of it before she had to return to the bosom of her family.
Mermaids see to be a very spur-of-the-moment and spontaneous kind of large sea mammal, I only wish they were more common!
A confession: she didn't really have a tail...

 

[sailaboutvic]

Well, there was the time off southern Brittany, when a beautiful mermaid surfaced next to the boat, mesmerised me with her womanly charms and siren-like singing, leading me to her nearby enchanted island, where she made love to me and plied me with exotic fruits.

But that's happened a couple of times now, so I guess it's not that rare.

And me a few times too , maybe it was her sister

 

[westhinder]

The wind blows from the ideal direction both going down and when returning up Channel.

This actually happened to me, going to Norway and coming back. Both times three days of ideal winds I did realise that was a once in a lifetime occasion. With my luck it is usually headwinds both ways

 

[johnalison]

This actually happened to me, going to Norway and coming back. Both times three days of ideal winds I did realise that was a once in a lifetime occasion. With my luck it is usually headwinds both ways

We once did a three-week cruise in our then Sadler 29 from the East Coast to the Channel Isles and back and only put in one tack the whole way, mostly sailing. Essex, Brighton, Cherbourg, Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey.

Another remarkable cruise was some ten years ago when we arrived back after three months away and realised that nothing had gone wrong.

 

[Gerry]

Sat in anchorage off Gibraltar heard a boat called Fanny Magnet on VHF.( much laughter ensued).....some months later got T boned at night by self same boat, Fanny Magnet, in an anchorage off Tobago! Din't expect any compensation but pleasantly surprised a few days later when the owner hove up with cash. He said he had found a child's handkerchief with the name of our boat embroidered on it. Fairly unusual name. Local witch doctor told him the gods were telling him if he didn't pay he would be cursed! Really strange experience all round but we were most grateful to the Trinidadian gods.

 

[Birdseye]

Prompted by this unusual news item;
Portaferry Lifeboat Rescues Teenager Drifting Out to Sea on Inflatable Unicorn
I would like to pose the question: What's the most unlikely occurrence that has happened to you at sea, or that you are aware of?

The rarest thing? A nice 15kn offshore breeze on the beam with a cloudless sky and a flat sea. In a good year it happens maybe once.

 

[Bouba]

Having a tree fall on you?

Isn’t that what a mast is made of?

 

[dunedin]

Between Canaries and Cape Verdes. Dark o'clock, Mrs Sensible arrived in cockpit to take over the watch, bit sleepy. A flying fish hit her in the back of her head and then flapped about a bit in the cockpit. Underwhelmed is a good descriptive word.....

That can’t be rare ……. happened to me also on the ARC, up on deck to take over watch, took wheel but before off watch could go below … wham hit by flying fish. Oh he laughed ! Gave me a fright till worked out what had happened, not fastest processing at 02:00hrs.

 

[AndrewB]

In line with the lucky rescue described by the OP, this is one that happened to me that sounds hard to believe, but is quite true.

Back in the late 1970's I was mad on windsurfing, and sailed off the beach at Whitstable whenever I could. One day I arrived to find thick fog, no-one else around, but somewhat foolishly I was not going to be put off. I reckoned I could sail accurately to the direction of the wind. Some way out beyond the Whitstable Street buoy I heard a faint cry. It was a lad clinging to a windsurfer board , completely disoriented and exhausted, and being carried further out to sea by the tide. I took him in tow (not that easy with a short board) back to the beach, where he rushed off into the fog without a word of thanks, leaving the board which I realised he'd stolen. Had I not been out there, his chances would have been slim.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Having a tree fall on you?

I had a nice new yacht berthed near me recently with tree damage.

Quite a whack and it brought the lorry to a standstill.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Heard a Mayday call in the channel years ago from a chap who was sailing singlehanded but in company with another singlehander. His mate had failed to respond to a regular vhf call. Coastguard sent the helicopter and they found the boat sailing on autopilot with nobody aboard. But the winchman found the log book so they flew back up the yacht's track towards the last position in the log and found the casualty alive and floating in his lifejacket. As far as I could tell at the time he was cold but otherwise Ok.

I vaguely recall a story from when I was a nipper where a boat sailed into Dover harbour uninvited and was intercepted by the patrol launch and found to have no one aboard. A full search was done off the South Foreland and the single crewman was recovered alive. Anyone know if that is true or did I imagine it?

 

[ionbard]

This actually happened to me, going to Norway and coming back. Both times three days of ideal winds I did realise that was a once in a lifetime occasion. With my luck it is usually headwinds both ways

You’re lucky! I’ve crossed twice, once Lerwick-Sklinna/ Tjotta, and the other Stavanger-Lerwick. Both times glassy calm and motoring the whole way :-| (that was 3 days motoring for the first one!).

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Strangest thing we've seen at sea was a metal whale heading towards us off the east coat of Ireland 20+ years ago - moby metal whale boat - Bing images

Someone must have been inspired by one of the "Flook" cartoons!