tophatyachts.com

A colleague at Marine Resucue Central Coast told me they had to rescue a gent in a Top Hat this week. He had a small outboard and was motoring under the Rip Bridge when the wind suddenly strengthened. His outboard was unable to make way against the wind and currrent and he ended up trapped against the side of the bridge until Marine Rescue arrived to tow him off. He was very shaken by the experience apparently.

We have had some strong winds here over the past couple of months.

Moral of the story is that you should check the forecast carefully before heading out and try to have enough power at hand - sail/motor to get you out of danger. I am not sure if he had tried to deploy an anchor or raise a sail to avoid the danger. The boat was a but a bit beaten up. I suspect it was quite a bit worse than Philip's Swansea bridge bump last year.

safe sailing,

Mark

Brush Mark, Brush, not bump!

But I do know how he felt, not good.

Its not just being underpowered which can lead to bridge troubles. The link below demonstrates the dangers of mast eating bridges...

http://gcaptain.com/sailboat-beat-bridg ... -incident/

Cheers, RodM

Rip bridge has 17m clearance and does not open so masts bigger than that cannot get up to the Gosford Broadwater. As to the video; Why would you keep motoring towards a closing bridge?? What was the guy behind him thinking who was also powering towards the bridge?

Brush or BUMP the Roads and Maritime Services have only just replaced the wooden piles with a HUGE bull bar type structure that took 6 weeks to install, using a floating crane two barges 2 heavy lift mobile cranes and about 10 to 20 workmen. All because a Top Hat hit the bridge.

re the video, the boat made it through the bridge.

Wasn't me Greg, must have been someone else!

Is the bull bar made of soft rubber or steel? Wouldn't the wood be better to bump?

Sure Phillip, "a big boy did it and ran away"!
If you blokes keep breaking our toys and running aground we'll keep the bloody bridge closed!

I'd heard about 'turning back the boats,' but I hadn't realised it applied to Top Hats!

RodM

I pushed a friends motorless yacht under the Brooklyn bridge with my tinny. Mast was too tall so I used the same technique as in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CInYj5P4evA