What put you in trouble at sea and how did you deal with it.

[Baddox]

Our tidal marina is accessed through a lock, which is where many interesting antics occur, usually to the newer skippers.

Coming into the lock one day I swung the boat towards the inner floating pontoon and as usual went to straighten up at the same time as putting the brakes on by putting the engine astern. It was at this untimely point the throttle leaver dropped off the control unit while the boat still powered towards the pontoon and waiting boats ahead.

Faster that you could say “oh bother, how inconvenient!” I picked it up and more in desperate optimism than any technical appraisal, shoved the level back onto the shaft it came from. It worked, engine went astern and the boat moored without any drama visible from the outside.

The lever fitted on a splined shaft which is why it worked without the errant locking nut which was soon found and fitted.

 

[jbweston]

My experience seems almost trivial. I was taking our boat to Guernsey on our own for the first time. Everything went swimmingly until I decided to check our position on the chart. Opened the chart and started to fold to the correct section when...whoosh the wind ripped it out of my hands and into the sea
So here we were approaching some of the most hazardous waters I ever been to. All I was left with was a Motorboats and Yachting with a cruise report on the area. Still we made it successfully but it was quite a sphincter twitching couple of hours

It isn't trivial. Very frightening for you. The sort of situation where unsympathetic people who've never been in small boats say 'What idiot would be at sea without a proper map?' (as they'd call it). Answer, the sort of person that most of us are.

It's striking that there's a narrow dividing line between the comical and the tragic. The same incident can lead to a serious problem or a laugh-about-it-in-the-pub-afterwards story.

The last time I ended up in falling in the sea it was like Coco the Clown doing his Incompetent Crew course. We were in a Swedish harbour moored next to a single-hander with a long keel. Not quire rafted up, as we were all moored by bow lines to the jetty and stern lines to buoys, but with boats each side of us. He said his boat was unruly going astern as is typical of some long keelers. He asked if I would hold a long line from his bow to control it as he went astern out of the berth. Of course.

I stood on the jetty and payed out the line as he moved out. All was going well. His boat was moving back, I was keeping the bow in line as he did so, paying out the line as he went. As the end of the line came into my hands some idiot thought inside my head made me hold onto it rather than letting it go or throwing it towards his bow. From his point of view everything was going well, so naturally he kept going astern. It never occurred to him that the idiot (me) controlling his bow would continue to grip the end of the line as it pulled me off the jetty into the harbour. I popped up above the surface a few seconds later without my glasses and feeling very stupid.

No lifejacket (of course!) - as we were in harbour - there's a lesson there too. It wouldn't have been so funny if I'd hit my head on the jetty as I'd gone in.

 

[DavidJ]

Not quite on par with the scary sea tales above but…….
I “helped” a mate taking his new canal boat from the River Severn into the canal system at Tewkesbury
So just going into the first lock I put out the new fenders that I had recommended and my mate skilfully entered the lock only to jam it tight against the sides. No matter how much reverse we pilled on it was well and truely stuck.
Along came the lock keeper completely unfazed and said he would “flush” us out. So opening up the lockgate we were “flushed” backwards on the tidal wave.
I thanked the lock keeper and mentioned that his lock was a bit narrow and he replied “They are all like that sir”
Just goes to show not all “skills” are transferable