# Gentlemen... your most embarassing sailing moment if you please.



## deniseO30

tick for tack! Touche' OK guys don't all pipe in at once!


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## SanderO

When I first got the boat I was sailing in the famous Race out by Fishers Island. There were about 20 small boats with guys fishing. I assumed that they were NOT anchored although the depth there might have been in the 20' range. 

So I sailed skilllfully right through the lot and snagged one guys anchor line. Boy you shoulda seen his face as he began following me!

I had to cut his line... take his address and send him money for new ground tackle. WOW that was embarrassing. Luckily no one got hurt and no boats were damaged.

I now stay away from these guys with fishing poles out.. some are drifting and some may be anchored and usually right in some channel or fairway.

my bad

jef
sv shiva


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## CharlieCobra

deniseO30 said:


> tick for tack! Touche' OK guys don't all pipe in at once!


Denise, I posted one for the boys too that day, it's called "What's your biggest bonehead move" I'm sure you'll get some funnies here though. Me? I'm busy coming up with new and interesting ways to be embarrased while sailing.


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## sailingdog

We already have a thread on bonehead moves...


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## retclt

Sailing with the girfriend on our Coronado 15 as a teenager in the '70's. Hook into the trapeze standup on the gunnels, lean back, backbuster, the non-sailing girlfriend sails on . . . . . . . with me swimming after. I should have checked the connection.


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## camaraderie

We were chartering on a Hylas 46 in the Virgin Islands and had anchored in a beautiful little bay. I was messing around with friends on deck and slipped and knew I was going overboard so I launched myself further out from the boat so I wouldn't hit anything on the way down. Unfortunately, the side of my head hit the water first and I felt immediate pain in my eardrum. Embarrassed and getting back on board, I thought I had water jammed in my inner ear so I suggested that my wife pour in some hydrogen peroxide to bubble it away. She did so...and it was then I found out I had a punctured ear drum as the hydrogen peroxide ran down through my ear and into my throat!! Owwwwww....I hate it when that happens!! 
No more diving that trip!! Twenty years later my friends still re-enact my spectacular dive!


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## sailingdog

Ouch Cam... ouch...


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## byrondv

camaraderie said:


> I had a punctured ear drum as the hydrogen peroxide ran down through my ear and into my throat!! Owwwwww....I hate it when that happens!!


I could have honestly gone my entire life without realizing that was possible - and been _much_ happier for it.

Ouch. *Shudders*


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## deniseO30

Ok, well duh... I was only trying to create more activity in this forum. thanks for sharing guys!


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## CharlieCobra

That's the reason I went post happy that week too Denise. It does drag on in here on ocassion.


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## chucklesR

On my stink boat (sold now) with a friend at the helm for the very first time. I was standing on the swim platform ready to fend off pilings etc. We were backing into a slip and making a little too much speed, so I asked him to slow down. He, being used to his 18hp, not the 260 hp on my Crownline goosed it in forward. The momentum change and bow up wheelie literally launched me off the stern into the 48 degree water about 50 feet away from the piers in 5ft of water. Since he was still going backwards I swam like hell to the bulkhead. Meanwhile my buddy was now on my boat, underway and had no idea how to dock it. 
Did I mention that about 30 people were on hand to watch my beatiful swan like belly flop and flounder like swim to the pier?


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## countrybumpkin

Not me, but my Dad, Duck Key......."the chart is wrong"

LOL! (the chart is wrong?!!!) Well, guess who got to take the zodiac in to the marina and con some fishing boat into pulling him and the Morgan 51 off the sand bar.


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## sailingdog

Chuckles-

Be grateful...if you had done that today...someone would have caught it on their camera phone and you'd live forever immortalized on Youtube or some other video sharing service. 



chucklesR said:


> On my stink boat (sold now) with a friend at the helm for the very first time. I was standing on the swim platform ready to fend off pilings etc. We were backing into a slip and making a little too much speed, so I asked him to slow down. He, being used to his 18hp, not the 260 hp on my Crownline goosed it in forward. The momentum change and bow up wheelie literally launched me off the stern into the 48 degree water about 50 feet away from the piers in 5ft of water. Since he was still going backwards I swam like hell to the bulkhead. Meanwhile my buddy was now on my boat, underway and had no idea how to dock it.
> Did I mention that about 30 people were on hand to watch my beatiful swan like belly flop and flounder like swim to the pier?


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## Andyman

I'm still pretty new so I'm making plenty of mistakes but the first big one was when I was out maybe on my third time alone. I motored into the wind, went up and raised the main. Went back to the cockpit and couldn't get the darn boat to sail. Looked at the main and realized I hadn't inserted the ropebolt into the mast.

Second one: forgot to pull up my rudder when I was loading the boat onto the trailer...that was a $400 lesson.

Andy


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## CharlieCobra

Been there done that! The rudder part that is.


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## GulfCoastSkimmer

*a drag*

I was launching the sunfish (the story is not about my only boat being a sunfish atm) about 30 feet or so off Bolivar beach, Lifejacket snaged on the side, and there i was, dragging from the side of a sunfish heading down the beach, with my swim trunks at my ankles. I went about 200 yards or so before loosining the halyard and dropping sail. It seemed like forever. So there i was, about 25 feet off shore, trunks on one foot, and not thinking i stood up in about 2 1/2 feet of water. To this day i dont know if the people on shore noticed the lack of trunks, but i sat back down quick, drug her back out, raised sail, and sailed off as quick as possible.


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## Lesmusic1

*No, I"m The Captian*

I'm writting this for my husband, he shares this story with people...makes everyone laugh. (my husband works too much, like I've mentioned in other threads)

Picture this: New sailers coming in to our marina, small river way. We are tacking..(SHOWING OFF to freinds in marina). It's time to start engine...IT WON'T START!!!

I ask THE CAPTAIN..(my husband).."what do you want me to do"..I had wheel. He saYS," WE ARE GOING TO TACK"....

At that time he's says, IT'S TIME TO TACK"......I diagreed with him,. me knowing that river like the back of my hand, we didn't need to tack yet and in this SMALL river way...OH..in front of ALL our marina friends....I wasn't going to do it then.

He screams "TACK...TACK"..............my responce.....
"NO, YOUR NOT THE CAPTIAN ANYMORE ( MY FULL DECISION)...I AM...AND WE AIN'T TACKING YET"...

Poor guy.....Like I said, in front of our marina.....We tacked when I thought we needed to...of course I was right BUT...my poor husband, what was he going to do loosing his Captian title in the middle of Danger!

Thank God he loves me.........most of the time


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## TSOJOURNER

Sailing my first boat, Newport 28 with a friend on the Columbia River. We head upriver, into the wind and raise the sails. When the jib goes up (hank on), I hear a funny sound. "What was that?" He says he didn't think it was from my boat, as there were many others out that summer evening. We trim the sails and bear off. A few seconds - OK, probably 10-15 seconds - I notice we aren't making any headway. Check the shore that's only 1/8 mile away, and sure enough we are under full canvas and sailing in place. Not even drifting with the current. Huh? Look around, not believing what my senses are telling me. Finally, I go up to the bow and notice my CQR is not in the bow roller...

The anchor had been dislodged by the jib and dropped (that was the funny sound). After bearing off I somehow managed to wrap the rode all the way around the fin keel. Would not come up. Another sailboat came by to help, but he approached from up river and smashed into me. The guy uttered a loud profanity and kept going. Then the sherrif's boat came by and suggested the following: I tied a fender to the bitter end of the rode and dropped it over as the boat drifted/sailed down river. Few moments later the fender popped up and I retrieved the anchor. Learned then and there the importance of securing the anchor while underway...


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## sailingdog

lesmusic1- Isn't that mutiny??

Moonfish- At least you now the anchor works.


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## Robby Barlow

Visiting a nice bay in Ibiza this summer I hit the remote to drop the anchor on a sandy patch in about 6mts. of water. After dropping 35mts. of chain I put the engine in reverse to dig it in, and about 100mts later the anchor was still not holding. At that stage I realized that I had forgotten to take of the safety & the anchor was still hanging on the bow.


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## Cruisingdad

Ok, I will chime in with my most embarrasing (and stupid) moment:

Me, mom, dad, and my wife were anchored off of some island in S Florida (don't remember which one now). We invited mom and dad down with us to experience the beauty of cruising and life on a sailboat. It was a warm Florida night, all the hatches were open, we were playing cards - and life was wonderful. However...

The distant smell of the head kept creeping into the cabin. I was concerned that the tank was leaking so opened up the board and looked at it. Sure enough, there was a very small drip. I quickly closed it and told mom and dad everything would be fine. I did not want to tell them the head was dripping SH** in the hold. After all, I am trying to convince them to sell everything and go cruising with us. You know, nothing but margaritas and sunsets.

As I had already drank about three margaritas, a great plan suddenly hit me: Go outside and take the top off the holding tank lid so the smell would dissipate outside. I finished my turn at cards, quietly excused myself, walked outside, and popped open the lid.

What happened next was a sight I will never forget:

"AHHHH!!!! BRIAN WHAT DID YOU DO!!!!"

"OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT SMELL"

"JESUS C**** GET ME OUT OF HERE!!"

Mom, dad, and Kris came running out of the salon and outside of the boat with their noses in their shirts and gasping for air. Apparently that stench is heavier than air so the holding tank belched and it was sucked down below. 

THeir eyes were watering, I though Kris was going to be sick... and dad was cursing me.

HEHE!! Oh well. We were able to return down below later that night!! And believe it or not, they are still going cruising with us!!!

- CD


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## Jeff_H

I apologize that this was written for another venue and is a bit long. It's hard to describe my most embarassing sailing experience but it might also be one of my most memorable as well. Frankly, I have been blessed with a lifetime of 'most memorable' sailing experiences and cursed with a fair number of embarassing ones as well. Perhaps the one that comes most strongly to mind is my first sail on _Diana_, my Folkboat. After graduating from college, I had purchased '_Diana_' as a derelict, and a near wreck. I had spent seven months restoring her to sailing condition. I had replaced the rig, rudder, and keel bolts. I had sistered the frames, replaced some floor timbers and planking, constructed a new cockpit and interior, replaced a piece of the stem and the forward face of the cabin, had wooded the bottom and repainted her inside and out. 

As 1973 raced to an end, my yard bill was paid up through December 31st, and I had decided that I would get the old girl launched in time for the New Year. As it worked out the yard closed down on Christmas Eve and would not open again until January 2. So, it was that 'Diana' was splashed on Christmas Eve. 

'Diana' was a lapstrake wooden Folkboat. Having been out of the water for so long, her planking had dried out and her seams had opened up so wide that you could pass a thick piece of cardboard through them. There is a process to launching a boat that has been out of the water for that long that amounts to nearly sinking the boat for a day or so, but that is story for another time. Even after the seams have seemingly swelled close again, the theory with a wooden boat that has been out of the water for a long period of time, is that you must let them swell in the water for another week or so before you sail them. Since much of the strength and stiffness of a wooden boat comes from the friction between the planks, this swelling period allows the planks to swell hard against each other.

I spent the week bailing, finishing the rigging, and working on fabricating the new cockpit and interior for the boat. To keep 'Diana' from sinking, I was sleeping aboard. I slept on a slatted grate that I had made as a temporary cabin sole with my foot hanging into the bilge so that the rising water would wake me and I would know to bail. 

In a week that passed before I noticed that it had even started, it was suddenly New Years Eve and I had to get the boat out of the boatyard. With a week in the water, the leaking had pretty well stopped. I had been given permission to tie up for free between an old piling and a bulkhead on the edge of the boatyard out of the everyone's way. I figured as long as I had to sail over to the new slipway, I might as well go out for a sail first. 

This was my first sail on the Folkboat, and my first sail as the skipper of my own keel boat, and only the second time that I had single-handed a boat this big, and the first time I had single-handed at night. I slipped out just as the sun was setting in a classic sky-on-fire Florida sunset, beating east in a light ghosting breeze beneath a Jack-o-lantern of a sky. I sailed quietly toward a blood red rising moon in an ever darkening evening toward the pass at the southern end of Key Biscayne. 

Now a Folkboat is a marvelous little boat, which as I discovered that night, can sail herself seemingly for days at a time; just trim, aim and off she goes. I sat up on the cabin top, jib sheet in hand; steering off the wind by tightening the sheet and heading up with an ease of the sheet. These were simpler times and quieter times. I had Biscayne Bay to myself; no running lights to be seen anywhere. 'Diana' was free of anything that one might call modern. She did not have an engine and so did not have an electrical system or running lights. Being a few inches less than 25 feet on deck, I simply carried the legally required flashlight, which I was prepared to shine on my sails if another boat appeared in the night. The head was a simple 'bucket and chuck it' system. She lack lifelines and stanchions, and the deck hard was crude and underpowered but reliable.

To those of you who have spent much time single-handing after dark, you will probably know what I mean, when I say there is nothing quite like the emotional sensation of being alone at night at sea. There is this profound sense of being more alone than you have ever been in your life. There is a sense of tranquility and a sense of speed that is far beyond that felt in the light of day. There's a sense of self-reliance and sense of a fear that comes from realizing that it is up to only you to make the right or wrong decisions out there and if your decisions are wrong it is only you who pays the consequences. The carpet of stars overhead lit the sea and their distance made me seem infinitesimally small, and humbly insignificant. 

I sailed for hours into the chill moderate breezes, but around ten or so, I reached the mouth of the cut into the ocean and turned back for home on a nice broad reach and a building breeze. The trip back into the lights of Dinner Key is lost to my memory but when I arrived at the harbor I began to sort through my possibilities. It suddenly had occurred to me that I had never brought a boat this big into a dock alone under sail. I sailed back out into the mooring area, and practiced a couple approaches to the piling. I decided my best bet was to approach a couple boat lengths to leeward on a beam reach and then head up into the wind. I had decided that there was no way that I could be on the helm and still make it forward in time to place a line over the piling. Somehow, seen through the rose colored optimism of youth, it made great sense to me to steer in controlling the direction of the boat with the jibsheet while sitting on the foredeck. If I missed the piling I would fetch up on sand bar just ahead of the piling. Now youth is an amazing thing, you have not learned enough to know what you don't and may never know. Youth brings a confidence that can only come when you don't know the consequences of making a really big mistake. 

So in my youthful confidence I came roaring in on a beam reach, sitting on the foredeck, jib sheet in hand. At the moment of truth, I freed the jib sheet and Diana pirouetted gracefully up into the wind. I grabbed the clew of the jib and moving it from side to side, steering and slowing the boat. Coming to a dead stop right next to the piling. Polite as you may, I threw a bight of a dockline over the piling. And there I stood, dockline in hand, congratulating myself on a job well done. I stood there cold and numb; a toothy grin across my face, scanning the docks for some sign of life; some witness to my brilliant feat of seamanship. No good deed goes unpunished and in my moment of self-congratulatory elation, nature took its turn to take me down a peg or two, hitting Diana with a big puff from the opposite side of the jib from where I stood on the narrow foredeck, pushing me hard towards the rail. As I went over the side, I dove for the shrouds, grabbing the upper shroud with my forearm, slicing it deeply on the Nicropress fitting that should have been taped for just such a reason, dropping feet first into the cold waters of Biscayne Bay in December but keeping my grip on boat. 

As I hung over the side, legs in the water, I tried to decide whether to let go and fall backwards into the water, or pull myself aboard. Remembering a check in my wallet in my pocket, I pulled myself aboard. My scream as I went over the side had roused a crowd from the boats tied up nearby; a crowd that arrived just as I pulled myself from the water. As I lay there on the foredeck, winded and bleeding, soaked and shivering; the sound of fireworks and firecrackers bursting in the distant darkness and a chorus of Auld Lang Sine from the drunks in local juke joint wafted out to tell me that I just had entered into the brand New Year. 

Jeff


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## jrd22

GREAT story Jeff! I have found, like you, that it rarely takes long to get knocked off whatever pedastal you've imagined yourself to be on. I'm still laughing picturing you standing on deck, looking for witnesses! Thanks, John


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## BlowinSouth

There have been so many how do I pick just one? I think the MOST embarrassing would have to be about 10 years ago as a newbie sailor on Puget Sound. I was singlehanding one rather blustery fall weekend and was pulling up to a floating fuel dock at Point Defiance. The dock was little more than a steel barge, with a very smooth, wet and slippery deck. The wind was up that day around 20+ and the sea had a good 2-3 ft chop and the dock was bobbing like a cork.

I motored up to the dock and tried to position the boat close enough to make the leap of faith. With mooring lines in hand I jumped for the dock. Did I mentioned the dock was wet and slick as ice from a thin film of diesel? Well, I promptly landed flat on my back and dropped the mooring lines in the drink.

As the boat continued on its way without me I quickly reached out for the cockpit gunwhale to grab the stern line and found myself in that classic and precarious position of “hands on boat- feet on dock” and as the gap between the boat and dock widened I felt that familiar “uh-oh” in the pit of my stomach and a second later found myself in the water.

I swam toward the boat and grabbed the stern line, and luckily there was a ladder welded to the dock, for just such an occasion I assume. I managed to wrangle the boat back to the dock and tie her off as I noticed a group of onlookers up on the wharf. I promptly went below to hide and put on some dry clothes.

Not my proudest moment!


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## BlowinSouth

Another one worth mentioning is another time about 5 years ago on a friends newly purchased S2 30’ center cockpit with a bum motor. He had the brilliant idea of installing an outboard motor WITHOUT remote controls on a stern bracket as a temporary alternative to replacing the inboard diesel.

Well this configuration was wrought with peril. The least of which was that it took two people to operate. The helmsman (my friend) had to shout commands back to the motor operator (me) as I hung precariously off the aft cabin top and reached down to control the throttle.

It was time to test the new motor. After a fairly graceful exit from the slip we got underway and enjoyed a nice day of sailing. Our re-entry to slip was not as graceful. Now keep in mind that I couldn’t hear a damn thing hanging off the stern with my head down near the motor and had to pull myself back up to hear anything, not mention that I couldn’t see what was in front of us either. 

Being very cautious I was gentle on the throttle and heaved myself back up to see how things were going and he said to “give it a little more” so I did. A few seconds later I thought I heard some yelling so I pulled myself back up to hear him screaming

“REVERSE REVERSE REVERSE!!!”

I frantically shifted into reverse and gunned it and the motor tilted up and the prop came of the water as the RPM’s maxed out. Needless to say we crashed head on into the dock and put a nice gash in the bow.

If the image of the Keystone Cops on a boat comes to mind that would be fairly accurate. 

Not surprisingly, the very next weekend he came wheeling a new used motor down to the dock, the installation of which was another keystone cop episode!


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## CharlieCobra

I had an outboard do that on my little boat once. Luckily, we didn't hit anything.


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## sailingdog

Anton-

That's not so embarrassing for you...for her though...


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## Freesail99

Anton, what a great story. Thanks for the morning laugh.


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## TSOJOURNER

Saling Gipsy moth 4 i the small ships raced an sweden 42 up our arsewhen he decided to tack, he caught his anchor around our mizzen backstay and we hinged together. more embarassing for him than us but at least it was 2 pictures in the paper.


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## TSOJOURNER

O.k one more. Out in Antigua we were sailing a elan 45. Out on the piss 1 night when finally we headed back to english habour. we jumped on our boat (or so we thought) and crashed. me in the galley one other crew member in his suspected cabin. I Was awoken at 6 in the morning not with the usual smiling chef and her cup of tea ready but a 6 foot police officer brandishing his shotgun. After two hours in a cell and a lot of barganing from the skipper we were finally released with no charge we did have to appologise to the owner who was very understanding, as really he should have locked his boat.
However we were on head duty for the week for causing the boat to lose a day. NEVER AGAIN


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## tomaz_423

David, how on earth did you find a second elan 45 in English harbour. This is not a common boat on that side of the ocean.
Or were you two so wasted that you did not notice it was a different brand?


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## Livinondreams

Me and my friends were following some girls we just met. Wow, did I look like a fool but in my defense, it didn't have a buoy marking it, but I was in to shallow of water.

It wasn't sailing, but it was boating


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## TSOJOURNER

No definately an Elan, or maybe a Swan???


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## merttan

I drove an hour to the boat carried everything (beers, meats, veggies, ice, etc..) aboard then got my launch check up done... Ready to move out...
Yeah someone forgot the outboard keys back in the house... 
And we learned how to hotwire a boat that day....


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## JiffyLube

One beautiful sunny day my wife and I, along with two Power Squardon members, took our boat out for an afternoon of sailing. We backed out of our slip, but the shifter in forward, and away we went. When we dedcided to come back in for the day, I slowed the boat down to 2 to 3 knots as I was going down the fairway to our slip. Just before I was ready to make the turn into our slip, I shifted the transmission into reverse (no power) to slow down for the approach. Just as I started to make the turn into the slip, I noticed that the boat was not slowing down. As we were coming into the slip I decided I better give some power to reverse, so I gave the engine two short burst of power. Instead of slowing down, the boat was speeding up! My wife was able to get onto the finger with a dock line while I realized that we were going to fast (but not knowing why), then I heard her yell out "TWO FAST!!!" At the precise moment she yelled that, the boat crashed into the slip, and we were all scrambling around trying to control the boat. I was trying to stay composed, but I was as embassed as hell, because I knew the two Power Squardron members with us were going to tell everyone we knew. After they left our boat, I started poking around the boat trying to figure out what went wrong. What I discovered was the transmission cable broke! It had to of broken when we reversed out the slip at the beginning of the day, and since we never needed reverse all day, we had no idea that the cable was broke. While I tried to tell the PS members that were with us that day about the mechanical error (not human error), it was to late as they had passed the story of the crash on to everyone we knew. I received the Bilge Water award from the PS for that event, but it was all in fun.


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## sailhagg

Samething happened to me only I lost both forward and reverse. The cable didn't break it just slipped off the connection. Of course this was the day we decided to try out the most wind we've seen since having this boat.  I love being part of the circus! I did get it back together and off we went for some great sailing!


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## JiffyLube

sailhagg said:


> Samething happened to me only I lost both forward and reverse. The cable didn't break it just slipped off the connection. Of course this was the day we decided to try out the most wind we've seen since having this boat.  I love being part of the circus! I did get it back together and off we went for some great sailing!


Had I known that we lost reverse, I could have assigned someone to move the transmission shifter by hand. Then I could have yelled down below "Engine room!...Reverse!"


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## Skipper Joe

so far? Two things. (I am a newbie and it shows!) 

#1. I wanted to remove our 150 Genoa so we could put on our fancy new canvas (poorly measured and made by a dude I should but won't mention) Wull I ain't never removed one of them thangs afore. I released everything and started to unfurl the sail, then asked my wife to hold the sheets and kwapapafoof i grabbed her just as the wind whisked heran sail away. It was like one of those youtube extreme sailing videos and we were still tied to the dock!

#2. Boy am I a dummy. After removing that headsail the halyard was thwapawhacking all night long. At 3:00am I had had enough and went out and said, I'll just raise the #$%^&* thing to the top and that'll stop it from thwapawhacking in my sleepy time.... I literally said "Doh!" when it was halfway up there. Looks like I'm buying a bosun's chair next week...

I'm sure I'll have plenty more!


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## wduncan50

My wife and I were racing our 16'9" O'Day Daysailer on a lake in Texas, must of been around November and cold. The wind was around 20 and as we were just "for fun" racers we decided to call it a day early. We headed up to the floating dock trying to come up from downwind (did I mention the boat had no motor?). As we were making our approach a bass boat fishing the dock decided to pull forward into the place I was headed for. I steered to starboard to dock at the place he had just left when he reverses back into this place. Now I had no chose but to come about and try again. As I was making a loop my center board decided to come up, a problem I fixed before our next outing. My wife was standing on the bow with the painter in hand when I realized we were being blown into a downwind dock and the boat would not respond. I noticed the centerboard and quickly put it back down, but it was too late we were hard on the downwind dock. My wife was trying to fend us off when the centerboard took effect and I was able to tack off of the dock, the problem was that my wife was on the wrong side of the Jib and in the water she went. She was instantly nearly frozen by water around 40 - 45 degrees. She was trying to climb up the dock, not an easy thing in warm weather and asked a fisherman there to help her. He said just a minute and reeled in his fishing line first, quite the gentleman huh? I finally got to the windward dock and docked, this is when I noticed the 2 foot rip we had put in the Jib. As you can imagine this was our last race in cold weather.


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## JiffyLube

wduncan50 said:


> He said just a minute and reeled in his fishing line first, quite the gentleman huh?


Priorities first...lol


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## bossk

We had our boat in for a little work, and during that time the mechanic decided to use the head, but every seacock and valve was off, so in his effort to flush he just moved the waste into the hose. Being new to the boat, I didn't realize that the diverter valve wasn't sending flow to the holding tank but was set for flushing overboard.

As I was pumping the water I had added to the bowl to try and kill the smell, I'm standing there thinking this shouldn't be this hard. As I turned to the wife to say I think something was up I gave one last mighty pump, and BAM! I blew off the hose going to the diverter valve and showered myself in whatever happened to be in the hose, just some stale urine luckly!

Lots of swearing, then the smell hits me and I'm running out of the boat stripping off everything I could while trying to not throw up cause I've got a really weak stomach 

Needless to say, I know which way to turn the diverter now! (The handle was cut down to give it a full range of movement, so it was a little guess work) All my friends seem to be greatly amused at that story!


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## sailingdog

I guess you were pretty pissed off about that... . 


bossk said:


> We had our boat in for a little work, and during that time the mechanic decided to use the head, but every seacock and valve was off, so in his effort to flush he just moved the waste into the hose. Being new to the boat, I didn't realize that the diverter valve wasn't sending flow to the holding tank but was set for flushing overboard.
> 
> As I was pumping the water I had added to the bowl to try and kill the smell, I'm standing there thinking this shouldn't be this hard. As I turned to the wife to say I think something was up I gave one last mighty pump, and BAM! I blew off the hose going to the diverter valve and showered myself in whatever happened to be in the hose, just some stale urine luckly!
> 
> Lots of swearing, then the smell hits me and I'm running out of the boat stripping off everything I could while trying to not throw up cause I've got a really weak stomach
> 
> Needless to say, I know which way to turn the diverter now! (The handle was cut down to give it a full range of movement, so it was a little guess work) All my friends seem to be greatly amused at that story!


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## lsusailing

Was getting ready to cast off and was straddling the boat, which is silly and the boat moved and I went in the water at the dock. Had my self inflating offshore PFD on and it of course deployed. Several people on the dock ran up and said are you okay? I said, sure, I was just testing my PFD to insure it works. ( I am a big fat lier) Still went out sailing and was soaked, good sail!!! Talk about a bonehead stupid deal, never straddle a 12,000 lb boat, it will move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## sailingdog

The problem wasn't that you were straddling the boat...but that you were straddling the space between the boat and the dock...  Boats will move, except for CDs... the brick bbq pit makes it too heavy to move. 

Nice recovery on the questions... not too implausible. 


lsusailing said:


> Was getting ready to cast off and was straddling the boat, which is silly and the boat moved and I went in the water at the dock. Had my self inflating offshore PFD on and it of course deployed. Several people on the dock ran up and said are you okay? I said, sure, I was just testing my PFD to insure it works. ( I am a big fat lier) Still went out sailing and was soaked, good sail!!! Talk about a bonehead stupid deal, never straddle a 12,000 lb boat, it will move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## JT1019

My most embarrassing moment...that’s easy. I once went “sailing” on my friends MacGregor 26X.


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## ckgreenman

Ok here's one. My wife and I are out on the lake at night heading home from dinner at a local restaurant. This is only the second time I've driven the boat at night on this lake but the moon was full and I have the depth alarm set to 10 feet ( my mariah only draws 2) so I'm feeling pretty confident. We're moving along at about 30 kts when I notice the flashing green marker about 1/2 mile ahead. In my mind I'm thinking "Red, Right Returning" (we ARE heading home after all) so I veer off to the right of the green marker. Shortly afterwards I notice something floating in the water ahead. I found out a couple seconds later that is was a bunch of seagulls and they weren't floating, they were standing!!!. I kill the throttle just as the depth alarm goes off and the display shows 1.5 feet. Took me about 30 minutes to get the boat off the sand bar and headed back out into the main channel. 

It never occurred to me that I was technically heading down river as it were and therefore the markers were reversed. It pays to learn the local waters before getting cocky. The one positive side of it is that I happened to have a small handheld GPS with me so while I was stuck, I took the time to put in a landmark.


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## welshwind

Not really sailing, but tangential to it.

We had just bought a RIB with a 15hp motor to tool around the marina and, when Lake Michigan was deemed flat enough and there was no wind, to head over to the beach (instead of getting in the van).

I'm up at the boat and my family is coming to join me. They call and indicate that they are going to be about 45 minutes late. I think to myself, "Great! I can spend the next 45 minutes out in the dinghy breaking in the engine". (To break it in, you need to run it near full throttle which you can't do in the marina). So I go out, just myself. I was smart enough to put the kill-switch lanyard on my person, but not smart enough to clip it to my life preserver (Can you guess where this is going?)

So, I get out on the lake - it is slightly rough - and I get up to planing speed. I start to turn to the starboard and hit a huge wake of a powerboat that had just throttled up coming out of the harbour entrance. Somehow, I didn't know it was there. I was going fast enough that it literally threw me out of the dinghy. I remember my first thought being "Hey, my vest inflated!". Anyway, the good news is the dinghy didn't flip and the lanyard was pulled off the kill switch so the engine stopped. This was really good news as it was early spring and the water temperature was about 58 degrees F. Bad news is that the lanyard, which had been wrapped around my wrist, was pulled off and surely on its way to the lake bed.

I climbed back in the dinghy and used the oars to get back to my dock. I walked up to the parking lot, still soaking wet, just in time to meet my arriving family. My youngest looked at me and said "Why are you all wet?". That, of course, let to one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" stories. It also lead to me purchasing an extra lanyard which is kept in the dinghy at all times.


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## sailingdog

Carrying spares is cheating...


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## ckgreenman

Ok here's another one. This is more like one of those "DUH" moments. We've not had our Mariah all that long (about 2 years) when we move to North Carolina. Our first month was spent in an RV park (with lake access) until we can find a house. Well one weekend, my sister and her family come up to visit and we decide to take the boat out. We get the boat on the ramp adn in the water but no matter what I try I can't get the engine to start. We pull it back out and drive to out site where my Bro-in-law and I try to figure out what's wrong with it. After a couple hours of tinkering we give up since it has now started to rain. Later that week I take the boat over to a local mechanic who informs me that in order to start the engine I need to make sure the switch is in the "run" position. And here I thought the key switch was the run switch. lol

DUH!!!


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## lsusailing

Ops, did use a spring line to back out of the slip. There was a knot at the end of the spring line so it got caught on the cleat so the stern went hard to port and I almost bumped my neighboor etc.. Got it off quickly and was lucky, could have been worse, really a dumbass move

Waiting for someone to fess up about leaving the dock with the shore power still hooked up. I have never done it (promise) but I have seen it done.

Fun post, sort of like going to confession!!! if you be catholic


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## ckgreenman

lsusailing said:


> Waiting for someone to fess up about leaving the dock with the shore power still hooked up. I have never done it (promise) but I have seen it done.


Um. guilty!! The good part is that the shore end came loose and I was able reel in the cord. It ALMOST looked planned.


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## sailingdog

Was at a marina last season working on a boat and the AC-powered work light I was using went dark.... came up on deck to see that the big powerboat a few slips down had left the dock with the shorepower still connected, and had pulled the shorepower pylon from the deck. Since they were between the boat I was on and the shore, I lost power to my pylon when theirs went swimming.


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## sasfish

*re*

I was comming down the coast of north island New Zealand from Bay of Islands to Auckland. We had just had a good night sail and my wife had taken the 3:00am to dawn shift. I was down below sleeping. I heard a loud horn and somebody talking on a load speaker I rushed up on deck to find we had run on to the Americas cup coarse and we where being removed. The bad part is that the patrol boat with its six crew of mixed men and woman where right along side and I was as nude as the day I was born.


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## sailingdog

Did you have to pay for psychological counseling for the patrol boat's crew? They must have been traumatized.


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## J36ZT

Several years back, when I was new to sailing, I had an old Rhodes 19. I also had some strange ideas. One was to see the 4th of July fireworks from the boat and spend the night camped out on Angel Island. The Rhodes had a fixed keel and was on a trailer. The closest place to hoist the boat into the water was at Burkeley. I carefully packed the camping gear into the boat and elicited the help of one of my sons to act as crew. He'd been sailing with me and we thought we could pull it off... The plan was to see the fireworks from the boat, anchor the boat, swim to shore, and camp on Angel Island.
Anyway, we got a late start, traffic was bad, and there was a 4th of July celebration near the marina. We just barely pulled the boat away from the dock when the fireworks started (Objective #1 completed).
By this time, it was dark. I don't mean dark with a little moon; I mean really dark. To make matters worse, the wind picked up to near 30-knots the closer we got to Angel Island. Then, we got hit with the full force of the seas coming in under the Golden Gate; about 4-foot swells. I remember seeing the spreaders only a few feet above the water on many occasions that night. We decided to tack and try to anchor on the south side of the Island. The bow simply refused to swing into the wind. Somewhere I read that in heavy weather jibbing may sometimes be referred to tacking. I moved the tiller all the way to port and nothing seemed to happen. We were on a collision course and the island was approaching fast. The thought of climbing out of four-foot swells/waves on a rocky shore was scary. But, slowly, the bow came over and put us on a broad reach. We were drenched, cold, and decided trying to anchor was a stupid idea. The swim to shore with all the camping gear would not have been safe either.
We changed plans to put the boat on the docks at Angel Island and find someplace to set camp. Once on the docks, we found out (by reading the signs) there was NO CAMPING and NO OVERNIGHT DOCKING! Our only choice was to use one of the moorings and sleep on the boat. The only problem was all the mooring balls were being used...by expensive yachts.
When the people in their nice pretty yachts woke up in the morning, what they found was this: One decrepit looking, mostly gray (except where the paint had pealed) Rhodes 19 sailboat; mainsail loosely tied to the boom and jib bungee corded to the foredeck; with a dome tent pitched over the cockpit (tent was bigger than the aft portion of the boat). We had attached the bow to a buoy and thrown the anchor off the stern to keep us from swinging into the boat that was also attached to it.
We did get quite a few strange looks that morning when we moved the boat to the docks, packed up the tent, and paid the $4 for the use of the mooring. It was no surprise we hurriedly set sail back to Burkeley.

Skipper, J/36 "Zero Tolerance"


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## sasfish

sailingdog said:


> Did you have to pay for psychological counseling for the patrol boat's crew? They must have been traumatized.


I should have but no I came about and quickly put on my shorts.


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## Ferroever

I am laughing so hard reading all these anecdotes. 
As I have only just started sailing, I only have one story. The usual. Wondering why I wasn't going anywhere whilst reversing away from the jetty. This was on my 21ft boat.
Hang on. I just remembered a big blunder with the big boat, 45ft 20 tonne ferro ketch.
We are slowly motoring towards the marina for a haul out and given that it was quite a breezy day, I asked a friend to bring his tender along to nudge my boat away from any trouble. Well, he tied it to the side of the big boat and then came and stood on deck. Just as we were going through the narrowest part of the channel [San Carlos, Mx], right between rocks and a hard place, we noticed that the tender had gone walkies. Not sure how we did it; a bit of reversing, praying, and a boat hook, but disaster was somehow averted.
Boy did we laugh afterwards.


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## davesailski

Not SAiling related but a good cruising story none the less - 

I was chartering in the Carribbean with several guy buddies, as it was a "boys" cruise, our days were winding up with increasingly elongated brandy and cigar "hours". On evening, after a particularly elongated brandy bout, one crew member went foward to relieve himself. After several minutes a panicked voice call back - something's wrong, I feel myself going but it is not hitting the water!!! 

To which the one non-drinker replied You' re peeing in the dingy *******!


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## Boasun

My mistakes are few and far between... But when I do make one it is very embarassing and in front of a large audience.


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## mgmhead

First sail with my own boat, new marina and lots of new aquaintances, Sunday afternoon coming into Rock Hall (MD) harbor. Beautiful afternoon and plenty of other sailors on the docks. I ran her aground, what a display of seamanship (harbormanship?) with a big audience to watch. Good news, I backed her off, found the chanel and got myself backed into my slip saving just a little face.

Since I've learned that if you sail the Chesapeake you've either ran aground or your going to. Hey, at least I got through this season without repeating that embarassment.


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## TSOJOURNER

The single most embarrising moment can only be told among clse friends, but there are others:

We sailed out of Newport Oregon headed for the Straights of Juan de Fuca. In my first year of serious sailing, I was trying a lot of things which you never try again. 

I used a snap shackle to attach the tack of my 100% Jib to the deck. About 8 hours later, there was a loud "pow" like a gun going off. I looked in utter amazement as the jib floated up in the air, still of course attched to the halyard, and drifted ove the mizzen mast where it suddenly dove down, making an opening like a lineman in the NFL, through the sail, as it slid down the mizzen mast, sail and all. Ripping from Luff to Leach.

Lesson: snap shackles won't take a side load.


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## svOhJoy

I was varnishing the house on Oh Joy the first while sailing on the hard in the yard at Boat Haven in Port Townsend. The guy across the way had his radio blasting the unending drone of talk radio: an on-going rant fest for 6 hours straight. 

He had been working away in his cockpit and late in the afternoon I noticed that he didn't appear to be around any longer. But his radio was. Still blasting away. And even though the hot air was probably helping my varnish dry, it was making me crazy. So I climbed up his ladder, stepped into his cockpit and turned the radio off. 

I sat down on the cockpit sole and wrote him a note, using the bridge deck as a handy desk. I explained that I had turned his radio off and, if he was leaving it on for security purposes, I'd be happy to keep an eye on his boat, in lieu of Rush and friends, since I was living aboard right next door while I was working on my boat.

It's those friendly gestures that get you every time. 

While I was penning away on my epistle, the owner apparently returned to his boat, dropped the ladder by the jack stands and drove off. Leaving me high and dry, literally. About-15-feet-high. Too-high-to-jump-down-high. Damn-it-what-do-I-do-now-high. 

The guys over at the Shipwrights Co-op had gone home. (They would have laughed at me anyway.) No one was around anywhere. I was stuck.

I started looking around in his cockpit lockers. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I expected to find a really large scupper that I could use for my escape. That's when I saw his dinghy anchor, complete with about 100 feet of light line. 

That gave me an idea: I could take the dinghy anchor, drop it over the side and try to snag the top rung of the ladder and pull it up. And that's what I proceeded to do. After about a half hour of dangling, I snagged the rung and pulled the ladder to the gunwale and was just removing the anchor to stow it back in the locker when, you guessed it, the owner pulled up.

He had a couple of questions for me. They were good questions, too. Probing. Insightful. Mildly accusatory. I assured him that I wasn't stealing his dinghy anchor. He seemed less than convinced. 

I slunk back to my boat and considered having my brain removed. And my neighbor? He turned his radio back on and left for the night.


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## rdstanley

In hind sight wouldn't it have been easier to learn to like Rush.


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## svOhJoy

Doh!!! I never thought of that! You're a genius.


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## davmarwood

*Most Embarrassing Moment*

After a day of sailing the upper Chesapeake, we pulled into the fairway in preparation for backing into our slip which was to our port. A number of our dockmates turned up to help with the lines when we got close enough, so we had lots of witnesses. Our boat has a bow thruster installed courtesy of the PO and I was using that to push the bow to starboard so we could make the 90 degree turn and back into the slip. Just as the starboard momentum took hold of the bow, so did the wind which was blowing from port to starboard, and the bow began to rapidly move too far to starboard. When I pushed the "port" button on the thruster to straighten out the boat, guess what - nothing. It picked that time to crap out. Now we were backing at about a 45 degree angle into the slip, and by the time I realized what was happening, we banged into our neighbors boat and put a nice 1/4 inch deep 6 inch gouge in her side about 6 inches below the toerail, as well as plowed into a piling and crushed our bracket holding the U shaped life preserver. All the fragments gouged out of the neighbors boat were now floating in the water around our stern as evidence of my incompetance.
The damages? In addition to a red face, $800 to fix the bow thruster (1 year old motor was defective) and $450 to fix the neighbors boat. A friend with an airplane remarked that any landing you walk away from is a good one, but that didn't comfort me much.


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## Mc51

*Here is one of mine, not sure if it is the most embarrasing*

As in the last post mine was also with getting into the slip, but I can't blame it on a bow thruster malfunction. Let me start with the fact that I had sailed various catamarans 18ft and under for many years before I bought our sloop. When you're finished sailing no problem, just run it up on the beach and ease the sheets. I am a poor guy with a love for a rich man's sport. I bought Warhorse on Ebay. She was 36 years old and I think the outboard was original equipment. It still had plenty of power, but that was part of the problem. The throttle had a tendency to stick. After looking and pricing slips at all of the marinas in the area we decided on the one at NAS Pensacola. The first two weeks we were at the transient pier which was an L shaped pier that we just sailed along side of and I would jump off with a line in my hand. We moved to a permanent slip on the pier that was close to the entrance of the bayou. I had talked to a few of the old hands that had a slip on our pier and found that many preferred to back their boats into the slip because they road the waves coming from the bayou entrance better that way. The first time we docked her there we had been out for a great day of sailing with 15 knot south winds. When we came back in the wind was off the bow. I had pretty good rpms on the motor to push against the wind. I made a turn that would put us parallel to the pier but not to close. As we came up on the no wake buoy I cut back the throttle. That was when I realized that this might get ugly. As I mentioned it was a great day on the water. I think most of the boats in the marina had been out and I had the wonderful luck of most of them being back ahead of us and everyone still being on their boats. I handed the tiller to my wife and tried to make the motor throttle down. No luck on that but I did manage to shut it down. We were still coming in way too fast. Most of the neighbors didn't appreciate our disregarding the no wake rule. Cal 25 sailboats have a large rudder and respond well to the tiller so we made the turn at our slip to back in. I managed to get the outboard started and the throttle seemed to be working. We were about a hundred meters out from the pier backing in against the 15 knot wind. I reached down and gave it a little more throttle. It was supposed to be a little more throttle but it became full throttle. That was when I learned that the aft rake to the rudder makes it almost impossible to control when backing the boat at more than an idle. The tiller almost knocked me down and Warhorse turned hard to the starboard. I killed the motor and had my daughter throw out the anchor. Did I mention that everyone in the marina was watching us. I also forgot to mention that I am in the Army and we are at a Navy marina. We still had about 70 meters of water between us and the pier. I dug out an old electric trolling motor that had been my father's. My mother had insisted that I carry it on our boat. I mounted it and we backed in at the really safe speed of about 1/10th of a knot. I haven't attempted to back in under power since. In fact we usually shut the outboard down at the no wake buoy. Grab a line with the boathook when we get to our slip and then we man handle her around and into the slip.


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## sailingdog

svOhJoy said:


> Doh!!! I never thought of that! You're a genius.


Of course, you could probably have called the police about noisy radios... most cities have a noise ordinance of some sort...  but that would have been less neighborly, but sounds like the guy is a rude bastage, leaving the radio on intentionally like that and deserving of a ticket or two.


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## sailingdog

One more reason I'm not a big fan of bow thrusters... 


davmarwood said:


> After a day of sailing the upper Chesapeake, we pulled into the fairway in preparation for backing into our slip which was to our port. A number of our dockmates turned up to help with the lines when we got close enough, so we had lots of witnesses. Our boat has a bow thruster installed courtesy of the PO and I was using that to push the bow to starboard so we could make the 90 degree turn and back into the slip. Just as the starboard momentum took hold of the bow, so did the wind which was blowing from port to starboard, and the bow began to rapidly move too far to starboard. When I pushed the "port" button on the thruster to straighten out the boat, guess what - nothing. It picked that time to crap out. Now we were backing at about a 45 degree angle into the slip, and by the time I realized what was happening, we banged into our neighbors boat and put a nice 1/4 inch deep 6 inch gouge in her side about 6 inches below the toerail, as well as plowed into a piling and crushed our bracket holding the U shaped life preserver. All the fragments gouged out of the neighbors boat were now floating in the water around our stern as evidence of my incompetance.
> The damages? In addition to a red face, $800 to fix the bow thruster (1 year old motor was defective) and $450 to fix the neighbors boat. A friend with an airplane remarked that any landing you walk away from is a good one, but that didn't comfort me much.


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## T37Chef

The most recent embarrassing moment (note: I said most recent) was taking the head sail of the furler, in which I watched as half of it falls into the water. 

So how the hell do you fold that thing on the deck anyway? The sail isn't easy to fold with two people on land, damned Pentax material!


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## bluwateronly

okay I'm in. I invited my daughter and her boyfriend for a nice day of sailing on the SF bay. I start backing the boat out of the slip (only second time on this boat) the boat started to go to port because of prop walk and I was getting close to a piling so I put her in netural and run up to bow with the boat hook to get us going straight, push her off and she went to far to starboard and snagged my anchor on the backstay of the boat in the next slip (feeling real stupid at this point) I run up again and unsnag anchor no problem I then run back and jump into the cockpit landing on the gear shift and putting the boat in reverse at full throttle which swung us the wrong way. The whole time my daughter and boyfriend are wondering if this was a good idea.:laugher We had a great day of sailing and I now use a spring line


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## J24mark

I had a full crew of 5 on my J/24 a couple weeks ago for a saturday race. I just had the outboard checked out and carb rebuilt the day before so I figured that would run like new (because it was), well my confidence in mechanical objects ran dry that day because the motor wouldn't start 30 minutes before we had to be at the starting line, talk about embarrassing.


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## Dick Pluta

I could probably keep this thread going singlehanded but it's great to know I am not alone. The one that comes to mind today is one of my worst. I had brought my boat from NJ down to Fort Lauderdale, where she was stored for a few months bfore crossing to the Bahamas. A friend flew in from California the crew for the trip over. While we were preparing he asked if he needed his passport. I told him "Of course! You're going to a foreign country". He had to have his lady FedEx it to him, but that's not the blunder. I realized I didn't have the current registration. Phone calls to the NJ DMV were for a duplicate were useless. We had to jump in the car, drive to NJ, get a duplicate and drive back. About 3000 miles for a piece of paper. Dumb dumb dumb!

Dick Pluta
AEGEA
Nassau, Bahamas


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## NCC320

My son and I were sailing on Blount's Bay some years back. The wind was good, it was a grey day and only one other boat was out. In the bay, there are a number of day markers/lights. The green marker in the middle of the bay, for some reason is always somewhat hard to see, and from a certain angle, all you see is the piling, if you see anything. We were sailing a Kells 28,overcanvassed with a deck sweeper 150 genny, with rail at the water's edge. The boat had tiller steering and under these conditions, developed lots of weather helm, so I, the helmsman, was on the high side. My son had gone below for some reason. I knew exactly where the other boat was and thought I knew where that marker was. But in an instant, with all the slamming and banging in the world, the boat came to a stop in little over a foot (as evidenced by marks on the bow rubrail), the boat then spun around and came to rest snuggly against the piling and the marker light platform, which seemed now a bit skewed. Also, the wood piling definitely had a list to it. Neither of us was hurt, the boat seemed intact, and even the relatively new genny, after having slid down and against the sharp corner of the platform was undamaged. We got the boat off, finished sailing and returned to the marina. That night, I waited and watched to see if the light was going to come on....if not, I was going to have to notify the Coast Guard and would probably have gotten a large fine. Luckily the light did come on and I guess no one was ever the wiser, but that piling and platform were definitely a little askew. Several years later, the river froze over (rarely ever happens) and the ice flow took out that marker, so later it was replaced by a new one, that stands a little straighter. Forturnately, few people saw this embarrassing situation....also there's a lesson here....know at all times what is ahead or near you. And I don't use deck sweepers anymore.

Several years later on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon, I saw another sailboat hit the same marker.....not nearly as hard as us, but he totally destroyed one of his sails, ripping it all the way from leech to luft in two places. He sheepishly recovered and sailed on with the torn sail and obviously hoped no one saw him.....but we did. However, there was no room on my part for poking fun at this poor unforturnate.


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## WhatTheFoley

First time taking the boat out on a cruise. I'd mostly been day sailing on Lake Union in Seattle. Didn’t really have a need to use the depth sounder... So now my girlfriend and I are on our first cruise together. Had a great time sailing down to Vashon island... 

Just outside of Quartermaster harbor, I look a the depth sounder and it reads 24.0.. surprised that it's that shallow I start to pay more attention, and I get out the charts. 

still looking at the charts (which indicate well over 12 fathoms or more) and I notice it's down to 16.5... I stop the motor, and ask my girlfriend to go up to the bow and take a look. 

trying to stay calm.. I keep looking at the depth sounder, and it’s down to 9.3 then 7.6... I had already put the eng in reverse and came to a stop... 

At this point I'm freaking out... cause my boat draws 5'6"... the chart says nothing about a shoal.. no markers or buoys... WTF!!!! My girlfriend is trying to calm me down a bit… 

look really closely at the depth sounder... a piece of the covering inside the gauge had chipped off and dammed if it didn’t look exactly like a decimal point.. I was in 76ft of water! D'oh!!!!!!


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## AaronOnTheHudson

Shortly after purchasing my boat I took it out for the first time single handed (a trip across the river for a pump out). The water was pretty rough... and I was tying up to a unprotected pier. Because the pier was very short and "L" shaped it took me several approach attempts... I definitely didn't want to mash my bow into the other side of the pier. Some nice (at the time) guy came to help me dock. I threw him the bow line and grabbed the stern line for myself. As I started climbing to the very high dock I noticed the boat was moving. The guy who took the bow line had not tided to the side of the pier I was on. Instead he was pulling the boat to cleat of at the other side of the L shape. Before I could do anything the bow smashed into the dock. Based on the height of the waves I could have done damage... fortunately due to the tide height all I did was smash my bow lights and bend the casing. Although it wasn't really my fault it was embarrassing to sail back to my marina with plastic and wires hanging. Needless to say I will never give a dock line to a stranger without telling them exactly what to do.


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## OsmundL

*Not me*

We had spent days anchored by a popular lagoon north of Sydney. It was our first real boat, quite sparse - we had for example no fridge, only a camping box with ice, so eventually we had to shop. This meant leaving the anchorage for the nearest store, but we didn't want to surrender our great spot. So, we left the anchor down with a buoy at the end and felt smug.

On our return we ran into great commotion all over the harbour. A fancy yacht twice our size appeared to drift through a group of others, people on deck with bosuns' hooks, and a diver was under water. Ropes seemed to criss-cross the water. "Poor guy," we thought and continued looking for our buoy.

That's when we spotted it. As I said, we weren't too richly endowed, so the buoy was actually our life buoy with our boat's name on it, tied on with floating rope; that's all we had spare. It was now part of a tangle around the fancy yacht. He had run straight into it and caught his propeller, then drifted and lifted a couple of other boats' anchors.

This was not the time to claim back our buoy. We motored quietly to the furthest end of the bay, hung towels over the side to hide our boat's name, and cowered inside. For a couple of hours wife, two young daughters and blushing self lay low while a police launch circled the fleet scrutinizing all present.

That afternoon, we made sure to nod whenever someone mentioned reckless newbies, and we weren't missing an anchor, no Sir.


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## Stiche

Having my stern turn almost 90 degrees in the ballard locks (Seattle) because there was no-one to recieve the stern line on the next boat, having to strike the birgie while the lock tenders are yelling at me to put my engine in reverse (you ever try to manuever in reverse in a Cal 25?), and on top of everything else, stalling out of the other end of the locks because I forgot to open the air inlet on the gas tank.
<sigh>


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## tager

Delivering my current boat from Everett to Lake Union, I had to transit the small locks at Ballard with a 2 horse outboard. It took a while in my heavy 24' Islander. I eventually made it, and as I went forward to tend lines, the admiral decided to till over hard towards the steel wall of the lock... embarassing to say the least. 

Later, at the Fremont bridge, the operator said over the megaphone (You need to go faster if you want to go under the bridge.) 

Haha!


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## swimnfit

*Don't leave the tiller!!*

When I was younger and really much more stupid. My girlfriend and I were enjoying a nice quiet motoring around San Diego bay late at night in my Columbia 22. As things progress as things usually do under a full moon and amourous thoughts upon the water. I thought I could skillfully tie my tiller off on a steady course while going below for more "intimate" conversation.  Things were going just dandy and we were having a truly good time when I noticed a flashing light from my portholes. I knew no one else was nearby and I did not hear a motor outside other than my own, but the light was flickering enough for me to take quick look ahead at the course we were steering. Good thing I did because dead ahead and only a few yards away was one of the large navigational buoys (#23 I think).  Needless to say I lept to the tiller and wrenched it to steer clear without a single worry of my clothing, or lack thereof. It was a very close call with the buoy passing to starboard by only a foot... not much more. No damage, just embarrasment and the loss of a night of romance. And a HUGE lesson learned!!:laugher


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## LarryandSusanMacDonald

On our first trip back north on the ICW about 11 years ago, we had just had a bouncy ride across the Albemarle Sound and entered the North River. About a mile or so up the engine sputtered and quit. We didn't have the sails up because it was squally and the river winds around quite a bit. 

So I quickly dropped the anchor and went to try to see what the problem was.

"Could we be out of fuel?" Suzi asked.

"No, not a chance. I've been very careful to calculate how much we've been using and we've got at least 40 gallons left." I answered.

"Shouldn't we dip the tank, just to be sure?" she persisted.

"No." I answered again, getting a little testy. "I just bed the thing and there's fuel at the engine. I think it might be the fuel pump."

"Can you fix it?"

"Hell, I don't even know where it is."

So, long story short... (too late, I know) a $1,200 dollar tow job (at night, in a storm) into Coinjock and the next day we hired a mechanic. He went below and came up and said, "I think you're out of fuel."

"No," I said, "I'm sure we've got about 40 gallons left. It's a 175 gallon tank and I've been keeping close track. Besides, when I bled it, there seemed to be plenty."

"I still think you should check the tank, I'm getting nothing."

"Larry," Suzi said gently, "I think we have a 135 gallon tank."

I dipped it... dry as a bone.  I sent the mechanic on his way. And blushed for the rest of the day.


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## patrickrea

svOhJoy said:


> I slunk back to my boat and considered having my brain removed. And my neighbor? He turned his radio back on and left for the night.


Disconnect his shorepower!!


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