OK, my turn .... (beware a bit nasty, but all turned out well)
Boxing day trip to watch the start of Sydney Hobart, with ex-girlfriends family. I went with her 70 year old father to pick up his boat. We rowed out and the chop off Birchgrove made boarding quite difficult. Whilst climbing the stern, the ladder rose with a wave then came down, trapping the webbing between forefinger and thumb ... ouch. Not a good start.
I tied off the tender to the mooring buoy and then the skipper motored straight over the line causing the engine to stall. I had to dive under and cut the line with a knife in several places to unravel from the prop! I then left the skipper to attach the tender to mooring again whilst I got my breath.
Everything went well as we picked up the rest of the family and joined the argy-bargy of small boats at the start of the race. later on, after we dropped off the guests, we returned to the mooring to find that the tender had not been tied very well and had drifted ashore. It was within sight, so I explained that I would swim ashore and get it. Afraid of being cut up by oysters, I left my shoes on. As I was about to lower myself backwards into the water, the skipper tried to stop me to tell me I still had my shoes on, and in the confusion I caught my hand on a frayed steel lifeline whilst dropping into the water.
Don't read any further if you are squeamish!
At this point, I knew something was wrong, and upon surfacing saw that half of my hand was hanging loose. The wire had entered my wrist and diagonally slashed across my palm before ripping back again. Being a Pom, I am not the greatest swimmer in the world, but I reckon I broke a few records that day as I saw the blood and realised there may be a shark loitering in the area.
Funnily enough, everything went remarkably well after this. Someone on shore had seen the incident, and dived through a thick hedge to hand me a tea towel to wrap my hand. I knocked on the back door of the house, whose shores I happened to wash up on, and an old lady allowed me through her house where the neighbour was waiting to rush me to hospital.
I was told I may lose the use of my right hand, but after 10 days in hospital and a bit of plastic surgery, I only have a scar to show and have full use of my hand. In fact I was back playing hockey within 3 months of the incident.
The whole day was a calamity, but it never put me off sailing. When I bought my first yacht, Sea Monkey, the first thing I checked was the lifelines and funnily enough they are in perfect condition!
Ian
. 
No nav lights, no interior lights, nothing but the emergency torches.... On the same trip I had inadvertantly let the cockpit locker close on the fuel line, which saw us run out of fuel about half way to Clareville. They haven't been out again...... 
