Messing About In Boats (Bloomers)

[Peter Cockerton]

Recently reading the "And What Went Wrong" posting in the home builders section I thought it might be amusing to start a posting on our "and what went wrong" during our outings on the water. You may read the postings and feel a little better that these things don't just happen to you or perhaps guard against the event and learn from other people's mistakes. I don't mind airing my eventful day yesterday on Rutland Water.

Arrived at Rutland, boat lock keys not in the car, jacked up trailer and managed to change the wheel with spare and remove the now thought through useless wheel clamp.

Rigged boat before launch, boom clipped to mast, topping lift released from mast and taken to rear of boom, topping lift pulled to lift boom, forgot to clip it on, and disappeared up the mast.

Launched boat onto the slip, turned her round, rigged stern and bow lines, parked car and trailer, back to boat, rudder down, centreboard down, tank filled, mizzen and jib rigged. Blowing a good 5 so two reefs in the main decided upon. Released the stern line to let her get head to wind, bow line rigged to slip (looped over the two horns of the cleat and back to the boat. Main up tying in the reefs oblivious to everything else whilst tying in the reefs with the sail thrashing about, next thing I hear is the boat grounding on the beach next to the pontoon, you guessed it the bow line had slipped from the cleat.

Hurriedly I pushed the boat off the beach (to save my embarrassment) pulled her back to the pontoon with the bow line, guided her along the pontoon and stepped onto the boat as she glided along and sailed into the creek, whilst in the creek set the tiller with the tamer and tidied the remaining main with the reefing points before the wind hit me in the main body of the water, almost ran into the training pontoon in the middle of the creek. There's a lot of wind out there, is the call from the guy behind me in a Macgregor 26, he too had a double reef in his main, full tanks I shout back and double reef should be ok.

In the main body of Rutland now, she is flying along with double reef, jib and mizzen, the wind is howling and the waves a good 3 foot high, I love it and as usual the boat is behaving impeccably.

Tacked my way up to the South Shore sailing club and the only two boats out with me have turned back one of them being the Macgregor. Down to the nature reserve, run back and then have a calmer reach down the North leg I pencilled in. Well we continued the beat with the gunwales just above the water, the boat crashing through significant waves (for a reservoir) and a very wet ride, and yes I was still enjoying myself. I'm now over canvassed I conclude so let's bring her around and carefully ease the sheets to get her on a broad reach (didn't fancy a full run with this wind). So all went much quieter the wind was on our starboard stern quarter and the mizzen set around 45 degrees. So with some sea room still left I planned my gybe, slowly pulling in the main, maintaining course, around we go, just as I put the tiller over the mizzen sheet slips through the camcleat, stops at the knot and puts the mizzen now at 180 degrees pointing up the boat, around comes the main and the boom jams hard up against the mizzen sail.  I can't spill the main, the boat heels over, the mizzen mast is bending worryingly and I'm making a lot of leeway to the shore. Can't release the mizzen, can't bear away, must get her head to wind and get the pressure of the mizzen then I can get the mizzen back and bring her under control again (fortunately at that point the boom lifted as I pulled her round and it rode over the mizzen.
No visible damage, I head for a part of the water where I know I can get to shelter from the wind and I get head to wind with the tiller set and the mizzen central and jib loose. I release the main halyard pull her down quickly and untie the bowline on the head, hold it in my teeth while I stuff the main under the foredeck. And yes you guessed it the wind pulled the halyard out of my mouth and it flew off at 45 degrees to the boat.

Now under jib and mizzen she behaved wonderfully, and I was still doing over 5 kns through the water, back to the pontoon, perfect approach and tied her up.
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed my little outing, the mizzen I'm afraid has done this before but not in such a dramatic fashion, I did once apply the mod listed in the forum which prevents the 180 degree rotation but unfortunately you lose the ability to use the mizzen to help tack the boat. Going to work on the mod to see if I can implement it and when required be able to "back it" for assisted tacking.
PS
I'm not usually this inept at sailing Joybells, just "one of those days" I thought I would share with you and lighten your autumn day.

Peter Cockerton

[Julian Swindell]

We've all done it. Usually several times. One of my proudest moments was simply sailing off an anchorage. Lovely day, gentle breeze, just off the beach of Brownsea island, with the wind off the beach. I finished lunch, packed bits away and went through the various stages of raising the main and unfurling the jib and gently sailed off with hardly a flap in the sails, looking, I thought, very cool and confident. After ten meters or so, the boat suddenly swung round through 180 degrees and headed back to the island. I couldn't understand it at all, but managed to tack her and set off once more, only for exactly the same thing to happen again. I was thinking "this is against all the laws of physics!" when I suddenly remembered there is one golden rule when leaving an anchorage. Raise the anchor. It really is quite important.

[Michael Rogers]

A similar experience, Julian, with Cadenza (my Storm Petrel, in her pre-JR days) on, of all places, Lake Garda in Italy. Quite a lot of shore interest in this unusual and pretty little boat ('una bella bella barca!' as one Italian gent had exclaimed the previous day), in the hands of this odd cove who spoke no Italian. I don't think many of the onlookers were sailing-savvy, but it must have been apparent to most of them that I was anchored, and my perplexity at being unable to sail away must have been quite comical. The perplexity was as nothing compared with my embarrassment when I (quite quickly, actually) realised what an incompetent chump I must have seemed. I wanted to 'sail far away, dissolve and quite forget' (to misquote Keats) what had just happened. I did the sailing away bit, anyway, and didn't return to the anchorage off the slipway until, I hoped, at least some of the onlookers had gone off to do something else.

Michael

[Peter Cockerton]

Julian and Michael

Feeling better already after reading your post's, dozens of other members and guests have followed the confessions and no doubt had a good chuckle.

Come on all you other Swallow Boaters lets have your tales, perhaps a pint for someone attending one of the organised get togethers this year where the tale is regaled over dinner.

Peter Cockeron

[Clem Freeman]

I'd  been out sailing and was returning to my mooring which was about 400yds wy against the tide and wind when I managed to get stuck on a Lee shore. The wind was picking up so I decided to drop the sails and start the outboard. Would the outboard start...... No. Luckily a passing yacht threw me a line and I was towed back. On investigation of the outboard I found I hadn't connected the safety cutoff.

[Peter Cockerton]

Clem

Morbihan, Andy D boat Psalter motored from mooring back to the slip to collect Andy after he had parked up, two French guys approach me say they bumped into Andy a few minutes ago and Andy said it would be ok for me to taxi them out to their boat.

So off we went, no sails just trusty "Tommy" the Tohatsu, into the slight chop, around the dozens of moorings, dropped off the passengers, and I made my way back to the slip, just as I arrived the engine spluttered and stopped, boat tied up again. Andy had the previous night slightly disconnected the fuel connector from the main tank so when we visually checked it, it looked ok, the prime bulb still seemed firm so no other thought given.

With dozens of boat owners and crew around the slip area I would have looked a right plonker bobbing around trying to get Tommy stated again.

Another lesson learnt.

Peter Cockerton

[Graham W]

Launching onto a blustery Lake Bala, I thought I'd row out to a buoy to finish setting up the sails, rather than sailing off the stone wall and risk messing things up in very shallow water. Outboards are not allowed on the lake. The wind was rising, so I changed my mind and decided that instead of rowing into the wind quite a long way to the nearest unoccupied buoy, I'd drop anchor instead.  My normal anchor is a Fortress, more suited to the muddy bottom at the SW end of the lake, not the unexpected rocky bottom at the NE end. So I dragged and dragged and dragged.

Back to rowing, this time like a man possessed, all the way back to the buoy that I should have gone to in the first place.  The lake warden came out of his office to weigh up whether I was making any progress against the wind and whether he needed to launch his RIB to rescue me.  After what seemed like hours of high speed rowing, I made the buoy, tied up and lay down to recover.

I now have two anchors, one of which is a fishermans which grips the rocks well.  A bit too well on another occasion, when I was also setting up sail on a windy Bala.  Everything was ready and I went forward to pull up the anchor.  This was more difficult than I had expected when the jib sheet caught on something and the boat took off on a port tack, digging the anchor in still further.  I managed to free it eventually but not before the lake warden had come out to watch the buffoon in the BayRaider messing things up again.

I'm waiting for Torqeedo to come up with an electric outboard that I don't have to chop up to fit in the BR outboard well.  Please.  Soon.

[steve jones]

  You've started something Michael!

       I make a mistake ( forget something, make poor judgements) every time I go sailing, it's part of the intellectual and physical challenge  to get out of the difficult situation .

  eg:-   Whilst sailing in Plymouth recently, in early October, I decided to spend the night on  a lovely little beach I knew as a kid just a quarter of a mile west of Kingsand, in Cawsand bay. Bit of a Z shaped approach past rocks and old concrete structure on to beach. Cawsand for pint and pasty, then back to boat for the night. The weather was fine , light SW 2/3 protected from the swell by the rocks ( at  1hour +- HW)laid out anchour , all was well in the world.  Then at around 5 in the morning, ( HW 6.15) found that I was pounding on the beach!.    Tent down, too shallow for motor, so rowed out of the narrow 'trap' that I had set myself, luckily I had taken bearings as I came in ,rocks not visible in pitch darkness.
I made it out into Cawsand bay to deep water- not over yet though, sunrise another hour or so,  no navigation lights  a lot of fishing boats coming out of Plymouth, and a pilot boat going to a large ship anchoured in Cawsand bay .  In the light breeze I set sails (red) hung a led lantern in the rigging listened on channel 16 and wore a headlamp with a red light twisted around my left side.  When a boat came near I gave a rictus grin as this was the white thing on board.
   Serendipity! I sailed in past the Breakwater just as dawn broke, then into Plymouth to await the tide to carry me up the Tamar.

    Steve Jones  BR17  NONA ME
 

[Peter Cockerton]

This is like reading my favourite part of PBO without forking out a penny, Steve much impressed with your pilotage and in the dark "to boot".

Let's have more, all you readers who never post anything on the forum this is your opportunity to let us put a story to a name and hopefully one day a face.

Peter Cockerton

[Matthew P]

I ain't sayin nuthin except we all have sinned, keep a good look-out, reef when you first think of it, make allowance for your crews' capabilities and the skipper is responsible for anything that goes wrong!

[Rob Johnstone]

After the first launch of Vagabond, I intended to motor smoothly away from the slip and find my allotted berth in the marina. Freddie (mercury) started immediately and Vagabond pootled away.

In the wrong direction.

I quickly discovered that the rudder "didn't seem to work". Steering by the outboard didn't work either and we careered around, clonking the odd boat or three. I crawled into a vacant berth to assess the situation.

Eventually the penny dropped and I realised that the rudder needs the centre board to be down before it's effective.

Despite this learning experience, it has been repeated several times since but I least I can recognise the symptoms and quickly drop the board!

[david]

Ever thought the distance to the dock was shorter than it really was? 

I had a fun incident as I sailed up to the dock and the club, the wind blew me off the dock and I tried to jump. Well, I should have stayed on the boat! I fell in the water. I could not pull my self over the side. So, I slid around to the stern and used the rudder step to climb onto the boat. The rudder step worked well, but not really the way I wanted to find this out. The wind continued to push the boat out and it was good I chose to stay with the boat, rather than holding onto the dock. I sailed out a little then came back in. A person saw me go in and came down to help. He held the bow for me this time so no more drama. I was soaked up to my chest. This in full view of all the people having lunch at the restaurant!

[Peter Cockerton]

Nice one David

I'm sure all readers have this mental picture of you now athletically leaping from your boat almost making the jetty only to fall just short and making your entry into the water with barely a ripple. Still you did get the chance to check out the rudder step.

Andy often whinges at me after he has masterly sailed the boat to the pontoon in Rutland creek where the wind is changing directions and strength all the time only for me to miss the opportunity to take the leap onto the pontoon (been there, done that, and very nearly took a bath like you did).

I have witnessed one guy walk straight off the pontoon whilst using his phone when the pontoon took a left turn.

Another who walked off the pontoon after we got dropped off by the water taxi, it was dark and no doubt he had visited the local watering hole like us, he had long hair in a ponytail I seem to remember which I grabbed hold of after he went under for the second time and was at risk from going under the pontoon walkway and used it to pull him to the side.

PS

Just remembered how I nearly took a bath when after a long trip back from Guernsey where we planned to stopover in Fowey (Practical course for my COC with Cornish Adventure Sailing based in falmouth). I was very tired and leapt ashore to tie her up, the bow and stern lines were on and I reached over for the cleat to put a spring line on and not thinking the bow moved away, I had no choice but to grab the guard rail and hook a leg over the rail to stop me falling in, the pursuing manoeuvres to get over the rail and back on board was unwitnessed thankfully but I remember being very sore and bruised the next day. To top it all the skipper returned after allegedly requesting permission to berth for the night, and refused decided we had to take her back to Falmouth that same night ( we reckon he called his other half and given his orders). So another lesson well learnt "don't lean over to the boat and expect it not to move".

Keep them coming in. I certainly have more " life experiences" shall we say to report.

Peter Cockerton

[Johan Ellingsen]

I may have tried your patience with this one before,but maybe it bears retelling:
2 summers ago,I was out (on my own,and in far to much wind), on one of my first trips with "Lill-Freja".Having decided to reef the mainsail,I started pulling it down,and it promptly stuck in the mast-track.Utterly forgetting that I no longer had 4 tons of boat under me ,I went forward...and off.Situation: quite far out on the "Sea of Slaves" ( a big sea-loch) ,nobody in sight,hanging on to boat,August water quite warm.Climb back on board,yes...er,no.I was utterly unable to get back;a topic dealt with by Tony and others.But I spectacularly sprung a knuckle tendon trying.Ok, what?
The boat was sailing slowly,after a fashion, and I found I could hand-walk to the stern and steer with one foot on the rudder,hanging by the side-rail.Ran us ashore.Got back to marina.Wet.Took train home.Wife away,thank God!And nobody really saw me.Whisky helped with core hypothermia and woes of soul.

I now have a boarding ladder you can deploy from sea-level.But I nearly had to swim for it,then.How stupid can you get?