jimi
Well-Known Member
45 footer mooring bow first downstream mid spring tide at East Cowes then making fast the bow breast rope first springs to mind ;-)
What is the most unintentionally stupid thing you've seen on a boat?
- Thread starter jimi
- Start date
armchairsailor
Well-Known Member
Can I count myself?
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
A big Moody attempting to berth alongside a wall in Greece. Wind was fresh-strong at the time. The boat approached upwind, when a few metres from the wall the crew threw us the stern warp. The skipper stopped motoring and the boat swung 180 degrees and collided with another boat astern. Once sorted out I asked the crew why she didn't pass me the bow line instead. Her reply was 'we always pass the stern line first'.
Evadne
Well-Known Member
Me. My first attempt at leaving a river in the dark. Headed south, then crew saw a post ahead so I swerved to leave it to starboard. Then saw the shape on the top .... and glided gently to a halt.
We spent the morning waving at peeps going out for a sail, watching the sheep graze on the sea wall ... until the tide came back in and we could motor back to the berth.
We spent the morning waving at peeps going out for a sail, watching the sheep graze on the sea wall ... until the tide came back in and we could motor back to the berth.
claymore
Well-Known Member
Jimi's Hat
Koeketiene
Well-Known Member
jimi
Well-Known Member
I'll raise you a boat stuck on Cleit Rock with a bare arse waving in the air!
marklucas
Well-Known Member
One weekend I was instructing in The Solent, and a couple of the crew wanted to experience The Folly, so we finished the Saturday mooring up on the pontoons opposite, had supper and then the water taxi across.
Hadn't really taken much notice of the MOBO to our stern - just a couple of 30ish couples on board.
Boy did we notice them when we got back! They had the stern fully zipped up but one couldn't miss the flashing disco lights and blaring music. I haven't seen anything like it since my first teenage disco in the 70s.
Truly unreal - and they didn't seem to think it odd or that everyone was watching them.
Hadn't really taken much notice of the MOBO to our stern - just a couple of 30ish couples on board.
Boy did we notice them when we got back! They had the stern fully zipped up but one couldn't miss the flashing disco lights and blaring music. I haven't seen anything like it since my first teenage disco in the 70s.
Truly unreal - and they didn't seem to think it odd or that everyone was watching them.
PaulGooch
Well-Known Member
Sailed over our own mooring buoy -got caught in the prop
In a similar vein, i reversed into the dinghy in Walton Backwaters, wound the line around the prop. Bl00dy cold, even in Sept.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
Ah ha. I now use floating line for my painter.
claymore
Well-Known Member
A hungry man with an aversion to Cauliflower Cheese stuck on a boat in Tobermory on a wet night with no chance of getting ashore Sees You -Jimi.
oldbilbo
...
Diesel into the water tank and water into the diesel.... 
( A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, no less! )
( A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, no less! )
Fourbees
Well-Known Member
As this is a bit of a confessions thread, I came off Itchenor Hard in the dark, in a crosswind, and got my own warp round the prop. But it got worse - although it was late, and October, Chichester Harbour Patrol came to help - and THEY got a part of the same warp round their prop as well! Luckily as they had an outboard they were able to clear it, and carry on with rescuing us by towing us to their pontoon. On arrival, they even dived to clear our prop - what kind people!
30boat
N/A
Diesel into the water tank and water into the diesel....
( A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, no less! )
Done that...
Sybarite
Well-Known Member
1) A beginner (?) in Bénodet turning inside the marina with strong tide flowing and alternately ramming boats on both sides of the allée, accelerating instead of putting it into reverse each time and all this being accompanied by a string of language to turn the air blue. Hit about 4 different boats before the tide carried him out. Didn't stop either.
2) I lived only a couple of hundred yards from the slipway so, to save time, I rigged the mast of my Lysander on its trailer at home. On the way to the slip, I saw, in the rear view mirror, the boat heeling as if in a strong gust; I hadn't noticed the telephone line crossing the road at an angle. Anyway the boat settled back on its trailer and the village was cut-off from the outside world. Then, in reversing to the head of the slipway, I didn't quite notice the overhanging branches. The boat emerged from the tree trying to emulate a tree itself. The rigging was festooned with branches! My last recollection of that shameful day was of my 6'5" brother in law with a foot on the boat and another on the pontoon and the gap getting wider and wider.....
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Koeketiene
Well-Known Member
The tide runs deceptively strong there, doesn't it?
One of the reasons we'll be getting a mooring the other side of the river.
E39mad
Well-Known Member
Cowes Week 1990 - there is a French First Class 12 in our class and we are sailing as far into the Leap shore as possible downwind with the kites up to stay out of the tide but all the boats move out towards the middle of the channel to avoid a pipe or other obstruction ..... all boats except the French who hold their course and plow into it at about 8+ knots and come to a sudden stop!!
Sybarite
Well-Known Member
I can't say I have noticed any particular problem. You just need to think and plan ahead a little. It also helps if you can moor heading into the tidal stream. The last time I berthed there it was using the dinghy and a 2hp outboard tied alongside when the diesel got clogged.
davidfox
Well-Known Member
Its bl...y strong there as well, though not as bad.
oldbilbo
...
May I have another go...?
At the end of the 2003 Cowes-Dinard race, my colleagues and I berthed in St Servan marina, near the end of Pontoon A close by the entrance.
After a while, the tide fell away considerably ( as it does there ) and a gaggle of J109s turned up all together, three or maybe four of them, their crews all on deck bantering, preparing fenders, sorting mooring lines....
We shouted at them. One or two stared at us, uncomprehending, for the wind was strong, and they were upwind.
Then the message got across - but not from us. One by one by one they each slammed their deep fin-and-bulb keels into the entrance sill....
You could hear the 'bangs' from the access walkway! Not one of them had noticed the very clear depth gauges on both sides of the entrance, or given a moment's thought to their considerable draft of 7 feet.
As an old pilot-instructor would intone "The flight's not over until you've parked it and handed the keys back."
At the end of the 2003 Cowes-Dinard race, my colleagues and I berthed in St Servan marina, near the end of Pontoon A close by the entrance.
After a while, the tide fell away considerably ( as it does there ) and a gaggle of J109s turned up all together, three or maybe four of them, their crews all on deck bantering, preparing fenders, sorting mooring lines....
We shouted at them. One or two stared at us, uncomprehending, for the wind was strong, and they were upwind.
Then the message got across - but not from us. One by one by one they each slammed their deep fin-and-bulb keels into the entrance sill....
You could hear the 'bangs' from the access walkway! Not one of them had noticed the very clear depth gauges on both sides of the entrance, or given a moment's thought to their considerable draft of 7 feet.
As an old pilot-instructor would intone "The flight's not over until you've parked it and handed the keys back."
