mickshep
Well-Known Member
A few weks ago I posted a rather angry and to some a less than sympathetic post regarding the actions of a certain instructor placed in charge of a group of youngsters that resulted in the loss of the instructor concerned. Rather than making any judgments this time I shall just pass on the details of the events at the marina where I am based this last sunday. The local combined cadet force turn up for sailing and canoeing. kids rig the sailing dinghies with apparently no supervision, (booms angled down almost to transom level, jib luffs not tensioned at all, no attempt being made by the adults present to correct the situation or help in any way). As the kids then float off down the marina 3 adults without lifejackets climb into the 15' dory that acts as rescue boat, realising that doing the job that they were presumably there for would prove rather boring they then commenced doing high speed turns in the marina between the pontoons some 10m from the moored yachts to shouts of approval from the shore every time the boat leapt over its own wash. by this time the warrior 35 two boats up from us was rocking so violently that the engineer working below lost the entire contents of his tool box into the bilge as it was thrown accross the cockpit, these shannanigans continued for about 10 min's despite the repeated requests of people on the pontoons for it to stop, when a member of the marina staff turned up and shouted at them they became abusive and threatening. Feelings at this stage were running so high that a violent confrontation could very easily have resulted, thankfully this time common sence prevailed. This same cadet force has at its disposal a large poweful launch, a couple of weeks ago the (adult) helmsman made a monumental cock up of berthing the vessel, instead of springing the vessel out of an impossible position as he was advised by experienced skippers on hand he resorted to great fistfulls of throttle ahead and in reverse, resulting in the smashing of the brand new outboard of a berthed folkboat. o.k accidents can and do happen, I've had my share, but to then continue as though nothing had happened and not even report the incident is reprehensible, In the end a witness reported the damage and its cause. This is not a post knocking the cadets or any of the wonderfull establishments or people who dedicate time and money to helping kids get afloat. I was not going to even post this but last night a young lad on his first time out in his first dinghy sailed past with the topping lift hauled up tight ruining the shape of his sail, I asked how he was doing and he told me with great pride about his new vessel, I then asked if he would like a couple of pointers and showed him how to rig his boat properly. the contribution from the uniformed cadet officer on the quay as the lad had sailed past moments earlier had been to shout disparageing remarks about the state of the lads boat, all to the loud laughter of the cadets present. I'm not going to rant on, I think the events of sunday and yesterday speak for themselves, Cheers Mick
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