Danny Jo
Well-Known Member
You have just capsized your dinghy in a clumsy attempt to board it from the stern step. You had taken the trouble to release the ladder earlier (because the 17-22 knot easterly blowing over a contrary tide had made conditions a bit bouncy when you were transferring newly varnished floor boards earlier today), so you are out of the water in no time at all, cursing your carelessness in donning a hydrostatic lifejackets instead of the manual one. The oars are nowhere to be seen, presumably trapped under the capsized dinghy, so you jump back in to recover the oars, remembering as you flounder in the water that the painter, which you are holding, is not made fast. What with waterlogged dinghy, painter, tide, unfastened crotch strap, and a big hat pushed forward by lifejacket so you can't see, you consider yourself reasonably successful in losing only the rowlocks and the can of two-stroke. You're back on board, and have hoisted the dinghy and outboard clear of the water on the main halyard when the Beaumaris inshore lifeboat appears.
"You OK?"
"Yes thanks"
"Do you want a hand?"
"Well that's very kind," you say, "I wouldn't mind some help getting the outboard off the dinghy so I can right it and bail her out."
The very efficient lifeboat people remove the outboard, you ease the main halyard, and, in a jiffy, there's your dinghy astride the big rib.
"Can we give you a lift back," is the kind offer. Your preference is to sort yourself out, you are not minded to become one of the MCA's dodgy boating accident stats, and you have a dinghy, a set of oars and a spare set of rowlocks. However, you are supposed to be meeting your daughter off the train in 3 hours time, and your 1 Nm journey to the slip will be against a tide rising from the present 0.5 kt to perhaps 2 kt. A phone call would quickly sort alternative transport for daughter, but the mobile in your jacket pocket has just died of salt water poisoning.
The domestic commitment clinched it, of course, but this isn't going to look good in the club, is it? Could you have refused the offer of a lift, especially since it might be interpreted as a snub by the men and woman who have so generously given up their time to assist you?
"You OK?"
"Yes thanks"
"Do you want a hand?"
"Well that's very kind," you say, "I wouldn't mind some help getting the outboard off the dinghy so I can right it and bail her out."
The very efficient lifeboat people remove the outboard, you ease the main halyard, and, in a jiffy, there's your dinghy astride the big rib.
"Can we give you a lift back," is the kind offer. Your preference is to sort yourself out, you are not minded to become one of the MCA's dodgy boating accident stats, and you have a dinghy, a set of oars and a spare set of rowlocks. However, you are supposed to be meeting your daughter off the train in 3 hours time, and your 1 Nm journey to the slip will be against a tide rising from the present 0.5 kt to perhaps 2 kt. A phone call would quickly sort alternative transport for daughter, but the mobile in your jacket pocket has just died of salt water poisoning.
The domestic commitment clinched it, of course, but this isn't going to look good in the club, is it? Could you have refused the offer of a lift, especially since it might be interpreted as a snub by the men and woman who have so generously given up their time to assist you?
