Whats knocked your confidence or taught you a lesson.

[powerskipper]

Now we all get a fright at sometime or other either due to something breaking, or the weather or just by plain old getting it wrong.

I had some students on a day skipper this week and it was on of those courses where they leaned rather more than the RYA syllabus,
Bow thruster pin went, so they can change one of those now,
starboard engine over heated, I think we picked up a bag over sea water intake on the leg, as every thing else OK,killed engine, so power steering did not work, lifted leg while bobbing around just off bramble bank in a F4 , started her and all ran sweetly after that.
helm indicator came loose so they know how to fix that now too.
The students loved it,
So anything happened to you that you are glad it did in a way or anything that scared you.

 

[stephenmartin]

My first channel crossing last may we had an engine conk out (timing slipped) and we limped into Fecamp on one engine....had no intention of doing a night crossing untill I had a bit more experience....

But with one engine down had no choice...then ran into a F7-F8 which terrified everybody...but I had to look composed...(it was hard stopping my legs shaking)....the crew blamed me for everything and did a runner...

Dunno what I learned except to pick your crew carefully and expect the unexpected....the broker who sold me the boat laughed and said "What doesn't kill you makes you a better person"....he was right....I have done the channel 5 times in the 12 months I have been sailing and nearly always at night......crammed years of experience in a very short time....

Still make a hash of mooring though....

 

[duncan]

engine failure does it every time. Been plaugued with fuel feed problems since new and everytime I think 'nothing more left to go wrong' I get proved wrong..........
As many know the saga started a couple of months after new. Flying along sweetly the engine died...........wont go into all the incidents here.
Suffice to say paper in the fuel tank blocked/was blocking the pickup.
New tank.
Bug blocked filters.
New filters and many spares on board.
What else can go wrong?

Think before scrolling down...........

































Some paper shards had got through to the electro magnetic fuel solenoid and, over 2 years, had filtered enough small bits of crap to block that too........(it's between tank and primary).

Now if anyone can think of anywhere else they get a beer - I am now convinced I have fuel 'cracked'.......but deep down inside I am scarred and just don't have the trust I did before the probs started.

 

[zazu]

I was going from Alderney to Guernsey last Friday for the Liberation celebrations.

Force 4/5, bit bumpy but only 20 miles and using new autohelm with gyro compass which has been fantastic. Can steer extremely straight course with outdrives.

Suddenly we did a 360 degree turn at 20 knots. Wife asks what is going on while I am silent considering causes. Suddenly realise I had stored my collapsible bike in the floor locker next to compass.

Removed offending item and all returns to normal.

 

[peterandjeanette]

Always thought I knew how to handle a boat.

Wrong. Just changed to shafts after only ever owning outdrive boats. So different on mooring techniques. Reversing into a berth with cross wind/cross tide/any wind/any tide. Back to basics. More practice needed - and me, a commercial yachtmaster!! Oh, the embarrasment!

Anyone know of a private, exposed pontoon mooring where I can go and practice without the whole marina, residents, and day trippers watching? Usual scenario, whenever I do it right no-one watches. Make a total b*lls up, and everyone is there - with a camera.

 

[MedDreamer]

Broken outdrive (same failure twice) and cowboy engineer who "repaired" it the first time.

Confidence still not fully recovered

Martyn

 

[powerskipper]

harbour masters pontoon at Hamble , normally free and they are very good about practising as long as you do not pull there cleats off or wreck the pontoon. Or east Cowes marina, its were all the schools practise.

 

[Nick_H]

Mooring against the wind in a boat doing 5 knots sideways

 

[Baltimore_Bill]

Single engine, shaft drive, cross wind and an ebbing tide - that'll do it every time.

I have the reduced no-claims bonus to prove it.

 

[David_J]

Gosport to Brighton on a nice bright day with a bit of wind. Well, both wind and tide on the bow. I knew it was getting interesting when the wipers could not keep up with the water on the screen so could not even see the next wave, that and the continuous waterfall off the back of the flybridge was a giveaway. What did I learn, I guess that it can be hectic even when the weather suggests otherwise.

Pulling off the fuel pontoon on the Hamble only to find nothing more than idle available on the single engine. What did I learn. Always check power and drive before going anywhere.

On pulling into Osbourne, lifting the engine compartment to find a fog of atomised diesel, single engine dripping with fuel and a few gallon in the bilge. Fractured high pressure injector pipe. What did I learn. Not sure really as the engine was only 60 hours old. Just be happy it was diesel I guess.

Mooring in cross anything. Put a little scratch in the Gel coat a few weeks back. Grrrrr

 

[Nat]

I learnt last month Dont take almanac harbour guides as gospel.
Guide says all along harbour wall where ferry docks is deep water Isle de Tarbaco Spain.
Its not. Coming into moor at about 30 degree angle to wall big cloud of mud appeared at stern so I cut both engines rapido, luckily only damage was a slight gelcoat scrape to anchor pulpit, had to lift both stern drives right up to pull stern in. luckily no damage to duoprops......Nat

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Having the speedseal cover come loose off Beachy Head in F5 and nasty lumpy stuff as we drifted while fixing it all. Rather a lot of water came onboard!

Finger tight was not tight enough. Also taught me to remember to pump the bilge before locking into the marina, rather than doing it by hand with a bucket and titchy scoop before dumping it into the waste oil tank.

Never was a pint more welcome.

 

[dralex]

Add a tiny engine and small prop onto that combination and you're probably on a sailing boat.

 

[nedmin]

Left L,Arsenal marina(Paris) short of diesel, told only fuel available upstream but only "red", but watch out as river police station just downstream.Got filled up,watching all the time!! Untied and forgot the flow of the Seine.finished up beam on to a massive moored barge pushing the stainless handrail in and gashing my shoulder.Pig sick.Tied up that night and saw a good piece of joist concreted in, opposite damaged h,rail. Looped a length of rope and made a "spanish windlass" wound away and handrail back to original.Always think about flows even on inland waterways now!!

 

[gjgm]

probably ought to teach me some sort of lesson
but twas nice and calm the other week, so ensured everyone was holding on nice and tight for an extreme s turn. Might have been a bit too tight as my seat broker off the pedestal leaving me on the cockpit floor still holding onto the wheel and throttle now somewhere above my head. Guess it taught me that at least the throttle was well fixed to the boat. If that and the wheel had come away too, might have been a real problem getting home!

 

[spannerman]

Decided to pick up a girl I knew from the other side of the fjord and go to a party further down the fjord, so borrowed a friends new boat with a 2.8 D-Tronic, had a great evening til on the way home in the dark, first the battery light came on followed rapidly by loss of powersteering and engine overheating, quick look in the engine room and saw that the alternator belt had come off and taken the power steering pump belt with it. Only 8 miles to go in the pitch dark to drop her home then 8 miles back to the marina.
Dilemma:- had to drive at idle to keep the temp down, and should I switch off the the nav lights to save power for the D-Tronic system or use lights and risk running out of juice and the engine stopping as no volts for the ECU. Decided to do without the lights, slightly worrying as the only traffic was high speed catamaran ferrys doing 36kts, so switched on the nav lights when I heard one coming then off again. Still I got to stay at her house overnight, although no one at the workshop believed me when I rang next day and asked them to send belts and tools out on the ferry so I could get back home! They accused me of rigging the boat.
Moral of story, just because its brand new don't expect everything to work and check you have some tools on board.

 

[hlb]

Came out of Portmadock years ago on the last bit of tide. It looked just a bit hazy in front. Reached the bar and it was pea soup. Got to Pwethelli?? but did not see it till about ten yards away!!

Got shut of the old Decca which some times said we were in Birmingham! Bought GPS and radar. Would not go to sea without them again!!

 

[davedpc]

SBS a few days after the show if you can wait to September!

 

[Whitelighter]

I decided to take my Chris Craft out late in september for an end of season blast. Weather was fine so we tottled out of Emsworth as soon as we could (limited access, about 2 1/2 hours either side of high water). We had a couple of friends with us and I was keen to show off the boat as we had only purchased her in the spring.

Went out of chichester over the bar and was greated by a lovely flat sea. Went WOT towards Bembridge for a bit then decided by comitte that we would just blast about for a couple of hours. The boat was handling beautifully, and after about an hour we started to head back as it is a good half hour from the entrance to the harbour down to the marina.

SWMBO says she can hear a 'funny noise' from the back. I chose to put it down to the fact she hasnt a clue what a normal noise is, so most things are funny to her. SWMBO insists we slow down so come off the plane and pottle into Chichester. I too can now here funny noise but boat seems ok and figure, hey, we're on the way in any how.

Just past Sparkes marina boat stops dead. I cant start it and the engine wont turn over. With my limited mechanical knowledge I decide it is either engine or gearbox - neither appealing. SWMBO goes into full panic and starts with the whole ' I told you I heard a noise' routine.

Drop anchor and join seastart on the spot. Waited for an hour for the chichester boat to pitch up and get towed back to emsworth, cept now there is no water so actually get towed back to the public DRYING pontoon just outside. Have to leave boat for the night. Emsworth staff recover it on the tide and haul it out of the water. The diagnosis from John Cutler was 'the most destroyed gearbox I have ever seen'. Needless to say, a new Volvo leg was a costly lesson to learn. I lost so much faith with the boat I put it up for sale and never used it again. Because we had brought it new I never realised how to check the drive oil. In fact SWMBO was lost so much confidence she insisted that IF (yeah right) we replaced it we bought a brand new boat so everything could be explained properly and we would know the levels were topped up and we had a warrenty.

So lesson learnt, £3000 for the leg and and additional £30k cause I had to buy new next time around. And even now I am very paranoid about strange noises and check the oil levels in the engine bay at least once an hour.......

 

[aztec]

you mean apart from...

taking to the water in november to clear the props of rope

the numerous times shear pins "do"

the once a shear pin didn't... but the propeller shaft "did"

that time when coming home at night when suddenly all goes quiet...
.... never did recover the outboard...

asking my mate not to do anything silly... shortly before he tries to sink a borrowed tender.. and try to drown hiself while recovering it.

explaining (to same mate) how to tie a painter off... only to come back 5 mins later to find that the tender's sodded off to poole.... on it's own.

does running aground in poole harbour count?

ah!... fitting a left handed prop... that was funny.

switching over the 1-2-both switch.. yes.. engines running.. murdering both altanators.. new as well

finding out that you DO need wipers... after being too tight to replace the motor.

i won't mention hitting solid objects..

or sinking your boat..

or... never mind...