Waving at motor boats

[DanTribe]

We noticed a dinghy having trouble making headway on the Crouch today and went to offer a tow. By the time we got to him he was a aground on a lee shore. We made a couple of attempts to get a line to him but with our 2m draught this was difficult.
We waved to a couple of small motor boats who could have got close safely, but were met with stony stares.
Now they were probably right in that it wasn't their problem and anyway, thats what the Lifeboats are paid for, but some sort of acknowledgement would have been nice, even a two finger wave.
We did eventually get a line on and pull him off but it was touch and go [literally].

 

[dingdongs]

people like you are a godsend and the poor guy in the dinghy was also probably disgusted that you were the only vessel to give aid.being a motorboat myself if i see anyone in difficulty i would do my best as you did under the hard circumstances.i'm sure one day the favour will be coming your way.cheers

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

couldn't agree more with dingdongs... what goes around will come around!

 

[Master_under_Dog]

But on the other side of the coin...

...... there was the day when I awoke from a doze on the mooring to see my dinghy floating away, the ring bolt nut having worked loose. A couple in a passing tiny rubber dinghy instantly responded to my wave and rescued the dinghy just before it hit the mud and brought it back to me, waving away all my effusive thanks.

The problem it seems to me is that waves can mean a whole different lot of things ("not waving but drowning") and not all water borne folks are as switched on to what is going on around them as others. The day I fell between my dinghy and Jessie is a good case in point. All sorts of boats passed whilst I struggled in a fully inflated life jacket to get the boarding ladder down and to climb up it.

 

[PaulGooch]

Why the emphasis on the fact they were in motor boats ?

As a motor boat owner i'd be more than happy to lend a hand, i think the vast majority of boat owners would too, irrespective of the type of boat they own.

Well done to you for helping them.

 

[TimfromMersea]

It's a funny old world sometimes. A couple of years ago now we were sailing from Brightlingsea back to Mersea, and we heard a 'Pan Pan' from a broken down motor boat. We realised we could see him in the vicinity of the Molliette beacon, and told the Coastguard that we would investigate. Clacton ILB had launched and arrived shortly after us. The boat was a 20 foot or so 'sports cruiser' and I think had simply run out of fuel. (whilst waiting for the lifeboat we recovered a lost fender for them, under sail).

So as not to tie the lifeboat up for the rest of the afternoon we said that we would tow them back to Bradwell, which of course is not that far from Mersea, and the wind had gone by then so we would have motored back anyway. The ILB attached our tow line to the sports boat's trailer tiedown eye on the stemhead, which the lifeboat man thought looked stronger than the 'Christmas cracker type' mooring cleat, and with a bidle between our primary winches we started the tow. My 29' Beneteau was fine with the tow as we have a 19 hp Volvo and a 3 bladed Autoprop, so we towed him to Bradwell, where we handed the tow over to another motor boat for the last leg into the marina, as we couldn't make it all the way in with our draft.

And we have never heard a word from them from that day to this! The name of our boat and her home port of West Mersea is shown on the transom, as is a WMYC burgee sticker, and were flying the WMYC ensign and burgee. It wouldn't have hurt them to drop a note to WMYC asking them to pass it on to whichever of their members owned the relevant boat. As I say, strange times we live it.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Been there, done that...

I towed a Ferro from Walton backwaters to a mooring off Pin Mill.... along the way, the tow line took out our ensign staff....

We dropped them onto their mooring, at which point they promptly disappeared below...

Never a peep heard again... its not that i'd have wanted them to pay for the staff, thats a case of c'est la vie, but a thank you would have been nice.

I'd like to think that if it was me, i'd have dropped a bottle of something nice off at a later point in time

 

[FullCircle]

Been there, done that...

I towed a Ferro from Walton backwaters to a mooring off Pin Mill.... along the way, the tow line took out our ensign staff....

We dropped them onto their mooring, at which point they promptly disappeared below...

Never a peep heard again... its not that i'd have wanted them to pay for the staff, thats a case of c'est la vie, but a thank you would have been nice.

I'd like to think that if it was me, i'd have dropped a bottle of something nice off at a later point in time

Hear Hear.

On the other side, We towed a Squib from Burnham to the Ray Sand buoy as there was little wind, and he would not have made the tidal gate back to Blackwater. They were very cheery.

 

[Fire99]

A fact of life that there are a fair number of inconsiderate self-absorbed sods and I think sadly, in part, the sea reflects the rest of life.

However, i'd ask that people don't get soured by the bad experiences. There are still a vast number of very helpful folk out there (That reminds me Jim, I MUST get your stuff back to you, apologies for taking so long) and i've personally been helped by boat owners of all varieties in my time.

So if you don't get the thanks you deserve, yeah be a bit miffed, but cast it aside and hopefully the next folk you help are a bit more grateful.

 

[Black Diamond]

I was touched yesterday, when a passing yacht checked out Black Diamond when she was moored on the Bradwell shore. We had nipped over for a picnic on the beach, but understimated the raging surf at the high water mark, so upturned the dinghy in the bushes, thus hiding it. BD was at anchor 100 yards offshore, riding to the ebb, but the wind was pushing her up river over the tide, and obscuring her anchor warp from boats passing to seaward.

I only noticed the Good Samaritan too late, as they doubled back on their way in to Bradwell to have sight of her port side and thus the anchor rope, and onto a rapidly shelving shore which implied she was aground They then noticed us popping up like meercats in the scrub at the top of the beach and so continued their upriver journey. Thank you, it was appreciated. Sorry I couldn't see the yacht's name.

I usually rig an anchor ball, don't know why I forgot this time.

Due to the higher and later than advertised tide, the raging ebb threw up overfalls in the middle of the river which were monumental, we took one green (or I should say brown), beam on and then fell into the hole behind it. Fantastic sail home.

 

[DanTribe]

Why the emphasis on the fact they were in motor boats ?

As a motor boat owner i'd be more than happy to lend a hand, i think the vast majority of boat owners would too, irrespective of the type of boat they own.

Well done to you for helping them.

Paul
Again, this was not meant to be an anti mobo rant, but the fact is we draw 6ft ish, and cannot get into shoal water easily. The dinghy was being bashed against a concrete section of wall by a fresh breeze and very strong tide. The best we could do was stick our bows in and float a line down to him. We are not very manouvrable in astern gear so we had to go in until we touched, get the line out and come hard astern before we swung broadside to and joined the casualty.
I believe that a motor launch [several of which passed by] could have done that much easier.

 

[PaulGooch]

Paul
Again, this was not meant to be an anti mobo rant, but the fact is we draw 6ft ish, and cannot get into shoal water easily. The dinghy was being bashed against a concrete section of wall by a fresh breeze and very strong tide. The best we could do was stick our bows in and float a line down to him. We are not very manouvrable in astern gear so we had to go in until we touched, get the line out and come hard astern before we swung broadside to and joined the casualty.
I believe that a motor launch [several of which passed by] could have done that much easier.

We'd have done it a bit easier Dan, we only draw 1m for a start. We're not very manoeuvrable astern either, if we're lucky we go straight back. But, like you, we'd have given it a go. The willingness of most fellow boaters to dive in and assist in times of need is one of the many things we like about being part of the boating World.

 

[Fenlander]

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago when a motor boat i was passing came over to ask if I could tow his mate off a lee shore. I was singlehanded and just running in a new 40hp Honda so I was reluctant to get involved, that was until he sent out a mayday then I went over and helped, strangely enough it was the day after I did my radio exam.