What the ---- was that meant to be?

[Dougie_the_Mate]

This was the comment of my companion on our voyage home to Scotland with my new acquisition on Wednesday of last week. One hour out of the Hamble with our (to us) new boat, quietly motoring along Calshot Reach and thinking of raising our sails for the first time we were rammed (twice) by a large (47 ft.) yacht of German build, causing significant damage to a life long dream.

We returned to the Hamble where our longed for Westerley Centaur is now ashore awaiting repairs with no end of disruption to our plans, both for a holiday and a new life of cruising.

I recently read a letter in YM which said that the Solent was a 'jungle'. Before this week I thought it was an exaggeration - now I realise it was an under-statement.

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[boatless]

That's awful, how did it happen?

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.

 

[Neraida]

Dougie, our heart goes out to you. No matter what happened we can't think of anything more horrible. Good to hear that you weren't hurt.
Good luck with the repairs, and feel free to use the solent based forumites to keep an eye on your (albeit bashed) pride and joy.

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[jimi]

What on earth happened? Commiserations and hope everything works out OK ..

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[Dougie_the_Mate]

Thank you all for your commiserations. The Bavaria was overtaking us on our port side and was hit by a squall. The helmsman attempted to luff up and as he was only about 15 - 20 metres away he powered round and slammed into our port beam. As we spun apart, I think he may have jibed as the wind got him again and he came back and raked us right along the side.

The rest of the story would take forever. The owner and skipper of the boat was an absolute gent as were the other 2 crew as we later discovered but the wee guy at the helm, never came near us to even say 'sorry'. In fact he accused us at the time of failing to observe the sail before 'steam' rule - 'you were motoring'. I had to point out that, as the overtaking vessel, he was duty bound to keep clear and we to maintain our course and speed, something he appeared not to know.

The repairs are being done at Port Solent, but I am still uncertain as to whether we will recover all our costs, including having the boat brought north on a transporter.

We will see, but thankfully no one was hurt.

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Dougie_the_Mate on 18/07/2004 12:15 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Talbot]

I feel for you and please accept my commiserations, it is never nice to have your pride and joy damaged (especially when it is not your fault)

There are a number of yotties who think that steam gives way to sail is a god given right, but it doesnt apply when overtaking!

Hopefully all will be made right and you will be able to try again soon.

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[pvb]

Centaurs are sturdy boats...

Sorry to hear of your experience - as an East Coast sailor I'm always amazed by the attraction of the Solent. But the Centaur is a good, sturdy boat and I'm sure that yours will be fine after the repairs. I had a Centaur as my first yacht in 1975 and have fond memories of good times in it.

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[Benbow]

Nasty. I suppose its possible that he didn't mean to luff, he may have just rounded-up out of control as was overpowered and been too slow to dump the main. Still entirely his fault of course.

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[jimi]

Hope all goes well and you do'nt lose out of it, you certainly should'nt as it is a black & white case of whisky .. erm i mean .. of fault. Get a written acceptance of repsonsibility ASAP.

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[Twister_Ken]

Blame the twin aft double cabins.

Ah yes, the infamous Bavaria broach to windward. A gust hits, they heel too much, the rudder come partially out of the water and loses grip, and quick as two shakes of boy scout's woggle, they shoot up to windward. Only way to avoid it is to reef early, or have someone who knows what they are doing standing by to dump the main traveller (or failing that, because the traveller on the coachroof is often not vey effective) standing by to dump the mainsheet. To an extent all fat-arsed single rudder yachts are capable of doing this, but Bav's seem especially good at it.

Sorry to hear you were there to stop them.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[billmacfarlane]

Commiserations. What a horrible thing to happen to your new boat. Sounds like the nut behind the wheel was unaware of his boat's sailing characteristics in those conditions and didn't give you enough room. Hope the repair is done well and doesn't cost you anything.

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