Whats knocked your confidence or taught you a lesson.

[Coupe]

Julie,
It took me about 3 months to recover from a major wind & tide miscalculation while berthing last summer.
Turned to port into Malahide Marina, confidence on a high due to recent berthing sucesses. Never thought to check wind/tide. Turned to port again into fairway. All hell breaks loose as I am hit with reality. F3 wind and full flood now on starboard beam. Being pushed quiet fast to port with a number of sharp bows looming large. Just about gather things together as we reach the end of the fairway. Made an about turn and berthed on the breakwater instead. Bank holiday weekend so many people about, to add to my embarrasment. Stayed on the breakeater until slack - only had wind to contend with then so giving weather full consideration, managed to berth perfectly. Lesson learned however it took me a long time to regain my confidence.

 

[makkers]

- Drain Plug - yep that old classic!
- Trailor suspension giving out on roundabout, wheel snapped off
- Gearbox stopped going forward - then backwards after about two nm's going in reverse outside fawley refinery

Dont do trailors anymore, dont touch drain plug anymore, dont do outboards anymore....

Oh yes sunday just gone, nice pontoon corner rubber protector thingy (to protect my nice trailorfree, drainplug free, outboardfree boat) screw must have worked loose and now foot long gash in side of hull 6" above waterline - not sure of the lessons learnt there though? Phaps dont pontoon bash?

...and now, new berth neighbour, bit newbyish has scatched the other side !! A few more fenders put - will he get tthe message?

 

[Its_Only_Money]

I confess to having fallen foul of the "gear-shift-not-quite-in-neutral-so-engine-can't-start" trick...... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[hlb]

Ive fallen foul of, engines in gear upstairs. Engines out of gear but revs on, down stairs. Interesting /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Its_Only_Money]

Gives you an excuse to con the vessel with a megaphone /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Fortunately my current boat has only a single lever control in a single place so faults are limited to complete failure of shift or throttle (or both), no complications of a split-brain kind.

Are you cable or EDC (Electronically Disconnected Control /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif)???

 

[hlb]

Bit of both, but. Not sure, but hardly use wheel. Either engines out of marina. Then auto pilot. Nearly ever touch wheel. Even went a couple of hundred miles whilst wheel did not work. Hardly noticed. Mainly use auto pilot which is I suppose fly by wire. Much better than wheel, it goes just like it says on the can. Even go up a canal on auto!!

 

[Nautical]

Lagness off the south east coast of the Isle of Man, vicious place if you get it wrong in a gale. Coming back from Arklow, dud forecast supposed to be 4-5 sw all the way, twenty mile off the Island blew up to an 8. Caught Lagness at the wrong time, wind over tide at full rip, thought the water was boiling, felt like a hamster in a dyson. Anything that was'nt bolted down either smashed or ended up somewhere else, lost all electrical power for a while and took quite a bit of water into the engine room through the air slots in the hull, really scary to see water sloping around the engine sumps, sent the decky down with hand pump was very, very ill down there but all credit to him kept pumping till we got to Port Soderick.

Lessons learned.....never trust a forecast, never push on just to get home (should have pulled into Port St Mary) and stay away from white foamy stuff.

 

[Solitaire]

Some interesting times with my first boat - 14 ft Fletcher. The old "did you remember the bung dear" trick. Most memorbable occasion was haveing towed the boat down to Camber Quay to launch from teh deep water slip I was repeatedly asking SWMBO to remind me to put the bung in when we got down to the slip. What happens? The woman forgets (always her fault! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif). We launch and poddle off into Portsmouth Harbour - as an aside, chances are now that I'd ne stopped by those wonderfull men from teh QHM Harbour Patrol today, I knew diddly squat in the those days! Anyway, as we were in teh Harbour my daughter, who was then about 6 sort of taps me on the shoulder and says, "Daddy should there be all this water in the back?" Oh [oh really!]! Took me an hour to drain the boat and get her back in the water /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Another occasion was again with the Fletcher. All morning the boat had run fine, but post lunch the thing WOULD not start. Cranked fine but not a spark in site. This carried on untill the air was filled with th e scented fumes of 90 something octane, two stroke oil and a mixture of blue from my vocal swearing. After about half an hour, I sat back, put my head between my hands and said now think! [oh really!] came the thought - KILL CORD! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Since then? Probably a certain event which took place last weekend, taught me a lesson! But I'll go no further with that one, anyway you already know and that's as far as it goes. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[boatone]

[ QUOTE ]
Since then? Probably a certain event which took place last weekend, taught me a lesson! But I'll go no further with that one, anyway you already know and that's as far as it goes.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK.....you gonna tell us or do we have to duff you up to find out.......or maybe we can find out just what it takes to bribe a nun? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Coupe]

As a matter of interest. Arklow has new marina now, small but well sheltered. Staff down there very helpful getting boats in and out. Also, Irish Met Service has a link to the weather buoy south of IoM which you may find usefull - see www.met.ie - marine observasions - buoy M2.

 

[Doffy]

Fog, 50ft vis and a cargo vessel outside of the channel with men ringing bell at sharp end. It worries one when you look up from the helm and see a black shape 25mtrs away. I'm in shallowish water he must be dragging bottom and he doesn't reply to horn.

 

[Angus_James149]

In Dartmouth we were trying to disembark from a trot mooring and got the port prop caught in the line between the bouys as we were new to moboing and didn't realise the effect of the (light) breeze on the boat (Older Nelson 40) would be stronger than the tide. As we were trying to extract the boat with the starboard engine the port engine engaged of its own accod, luckily cutting the line cleanly. Dread to think of the damage that could have been done if the rope haddn't broken. Anyway after getting the boat away from the trot continued with a thankfully eneventfull trip round to salcombe.

 

[ccscott49]

I admit to hitting a bouy in the middle of the northsea, fell asleep on watch, bouy had a light, white, painted yellow, special mark, not on chart, which was updated, to a month before, nowt on the navtex, not a happy bunny! Nor was Englanders bow, scratched the paint! Taught me not to go to sea tired and keep a better look out, also learn how to turn autopilot off quickly. Just got the boat, so hadn't swotted up, on all her systems. Wont let that happen again!

 

[Sammo]

Left the Channel du four and set course for Start Point, dark night, goosewingging with 4 turned in and we two on watch, then about half way across there was 2 almighty bangs in quick succession. Caught off balance I fell to the cockpit floor as the whole boat shook.
I was sure something horrible had happened, so was the rest of the crew who except for the skipper quickly turned out on deck.
My mind raced, had we rammed a bouy, hit a loose container, or a smaller boat. Were we damaged. I was sure we were all going to die.
Then came the voice of the skipper from below,

Concorde!


………

 

[Micky]

Wouldn't say it has knocked my confidence any, but sure has refreshed my memory NOT to lay back and relax too much.

Today took the full blunt of some nasty waves from a pilot boat broadside on. Knocked us about quite a bit, rolling/tilting the boat 40 degrees +. Toolbox went one-way, TV went the other along with all the cups and other loose odds and ends.

Mrs Mick, lost her grip and ended up on her bum in the cockpit.
Must say, still had an enjoyable cruise, and woke us both up.

 

[paulineb]

Mooring Tommy on the visitors pontoon outside the clubhouse with a row of 'gentlemen' stood standing watching through the window with pints in hand.


I DID IT THO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hlb]

Coming back from CI's to Weymouth, thought the scenery looked strange.

Bloody auto pilot took us strait to Pool!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Renegade_Master]

Quote

"Mainly use auto pilot" "hardly ever touch the wheel"

Then


"Bloody auto pilot took us strait to Poole!!"


hmm perhaps time for a rethink Haydn

 

[hlb]

Just proves that the auto pilot knows where I'm going, even if I do not!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Renegade_Master]

no it didnt you wanted to go to Weymouth?