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Well the other thread took on a life of it's own... let's see if we can keep the momentum...

I would like to hear everyones most embarrasing sailing story... be brave... we all have them, good learning curves, funny stories and sometimes plain stupid.

<I of course dont' have any...>

But I know this guy who:

- Ran out of fuel in the middle of a bar crossing, with no sails up.

- Got a bag of rubbish stuck in the rigging - looong story - and without a bosuns chair had to motor back to a marina 5 hours away to get it out.

- Had this little run in with a couple of massive chunks of surf after not checking conditions...

- Had an anchor chain turn to a solid lump of rust after having the drain on the anchor well block - not use it for a couple of months...

Not me but -

Ok Karl, while I'm here I'll go first,

Just went out to look at the Camden Haven River bar one day and as it was so flat, decided to slip out for a bit. I only put up the No2 Genoa and all was fine .

Had a great sail and motor sailed back over the bar. Once over the bar and as the wind was about 10knts + decided I had better hand that Genoa.

Wouldn't come down

On closer inspection saw that I had clipped one of the hanks on back to front and it was locking onto the forestay when I tried to lower the Genoa.

At this point my 'seamanship' came into play and grabbing the boat hook I hooked the errant hank and pulled it down to where I could remove it from the forestay and lower the rest of the sail .

The day was saved and never again will I raise a sail with out checking that it is correctly hanked on.

Phillip.

PS No comment from those with those windee things up front please

I'll bight....

Second day out since we had bought Dulcamara. "The anchor lives on the roller, most of the time" said the previous owner. "Good" says I, "I like easy set ups". "See, there is a pelican clip in the anchor locker that holds the chain in place so the anchor won't run out on it's own." he says....

So, there we are relatively new to the whole going under the Sydney Harbour Washing (Bridge) Machine at lunchtime on a Saturday and there are three cross washes from various gin palaces and ferries.... big sloppy wave hits the bow after it had risen, took the pressure off the pelican clip and it was "anchors away" right outside the Opera House.

No, I hadn't checked that he had actually put the clip on the chain securely last time and yes, it was dislodged. Quite funny now I look back.

Or, how about installing a new eletric galley pump and forgetting to check the water in the battery for 4 months with 40 something amps of solar going into it daily.....We had invited some friends for sundowners at Clareville Beach, with a bbq dinner. By 9pm we were about to clean up and motor back to the mooring in Careel, when the battery gave in and landed us in complete darkness as soon as the tap was turned on. 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......

One last one.... when sailing off the mooring at the last Sailaway in the Basin, I slightly grazed Keith and Sylph due to slight inexperience and bravado....

Only thing I can say is, "stay clear"....

Michael

Michael
Drazed with Sylph!! how long ago was that?

here is a photo of my SYLPH,was that the boat?

8philip8

8philip8 wrote:Michael
Drazed with Sylph!! how long ago was that?

8philip8

Woops, sorry Philip, no it was SWIFT!..... I'm sorry for the confusion.....

Michael

Ok I am willing to be laughed at.
A couple of years ago on Australia day I took out a married landlubber couple to watch the festivities on Sydney Harbour.

Before we headed off I climbed the mast to put up Aussie Flag bunting.
When I got down to admire my handywork I realised I had all the flags upside down. Oops
So in my attempt to climb up again to rectify I injured my foot. So they had to stay upside down.

We started to motor up the harbour and were just about under the Harbour Bridge and the engine died. Was still running but absolutely no propulsion. Whilst trying to sort this out, the ferries in the ferry race came around Kirribilli.
We then had Coast Guard, Water Police and just about everyone else shouting at us to get out of the way which we were trying to do as quickly as we could. One of the ferries had to change course to go around us. We certainly got a close look.

We ended up getting a tow and were put on a police mooring and decided to stay there for the day.

Went down below to get some food and nerve relaxant when male landlubber called down that the dingy was on its way to Parramatta. So I dived over the side and had to chase it up river. Thankfully someone gave both me and the dingy and lift back.

Enjoyed the rest of the day and the fireworks and stayed at the mooring overnight.
Next day, lady landlubber woke up with a screaming migraine, the rising sun flashing on her face set it off. She was emptying herself from both ends.
Had to ring Sea Tow for assistance.
Got back to my own mooring, sent landlubber passengers home to recover and got off myself with some help from knights in shining armour.

The engine has since been retired and replaced. My new one has never let me down.
Landlubbers have never come out with me again.
It took a few months of physiotherapy and many $$$ to fix my injured foot. Had a rolling pin under my desk for excercises for months.
Had to pay someone else to remove the upside down flags.
Lady landlubber tried to return the bowl she borrowed to throw up in. I declined.

Can laugh about it all now.
But it was not that funny at the time.

Ok stop laughing now!!!!!

Diana - what a story! Love it! <Promise I will stop laughing soon>

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

WOW that was as an eventful day as Diana's story
the good thing is we all learn something from these events.

my turn
I was cleaning the hull of Sylph on my dinghy one sunday morning,
as my Miss' biggest worry of dropping the oars in the water,
so she made me removed them from the dinghy while I cleaned arround the hull.
as the job was 98% completed & the the rope got lose & I was drifting on a dinghy with no oars.luckly there was a fishing boat went pass & gave me a tow back to Sylph & finish the last 2%.
by the way I did motor over the mooring line too (not on the same day)& the motor'd stopped,
I had to dive in to undo the line by turn back the prop.
now after droping the mooring line, wait untill 5-10 m clear ,then motor on.(lesson learned)

8philip8

Hi Everyone,


Don't think anyone can bet this one! Iv'e been through a boat propeller head first



Cheers Bear