'Born on Date' of Your First Boating Sin !

[Vachon]

Up here in Canada we believe that Jesus walked on water... we just figure it was probably winter...

[Elemein]

Just me and my cousin at age 13 when we were sailing his 420 sailing dinghy out of the marina. A nice force 4 was going and we were NOT going to let it get away from us before we go onto the water and spend a few hours, a few coca-colas, and three sandwiches.

We were sailing out of the marina when the centreboard wire unexpectedly snapped, the centreboard flew down into the water and we heard a loud "crack!". We figured it was nothing of concern, and probably just something on the keelboats or something like that, we werent worried about it anyway, we were sailing upwind and the centreboard was going to go down either way.

So, we sailed upwind for about a half hour, cracked open two coca-cola bottles, decided to go downwind, so we turned from a starboard tack to a starboard tack but downwind (sailing by the lee) the boom unexpectedly swung over, knocked my cousin overboard, I broached, got thrown out, then a wave turtled us and our sandwiches >:[ Took me and my cousin a whole hour to right the boat since when we tried to right the boat, we figured out what cracked in the marina. The centreboard.

Good luck trying to right a turtled sailing dinghy with 10% of a centreboard...

When we righted the boat, we found out our delicious homemade turkey sandwiches were fish food and out carbonated sugar was tossed overboard too...

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Vachon

Up here in Canada we believe that Jesus walked on water... we just figure it was probably winter...

Id laugh if I didn't believe you..

[NotQuiteLost]

Mine isn't anywhere near as memorable as some of those already posted, but my dad and I were motoring our Morgan 41' into a marina we'd been in a dozen times or more with our powerboat. We were a little tired, but not bad..had only been up for like ten or twelve hours, so fatigue was no excuse.

We remembered (correctly) that it was "Red Right Returning" for position relative to the buoy. Problem was, we were interpreting it as WE were supposed to be to the RIGHT of the RED BUOY. Needless to say, we beached it (thank God for full-length keels on those boats). After we stuck it on the sand bar, and realized the tide was running OUT, we noticed that the coast guard ship had about twenty crew at the rail trying (quite horribly) to hide their amusement.

We managed to rock it off the sand with the motor, but that was the earliest 'will never forget' boneheaded moment in my nautical adventuring history.

[Ex-Calif]

Ok - I remembered a big one and a scary one and one I am not proud of.

I was coming back from Malaysia a couple of years ago. Two boys on the foredeck (10 and 14 at the time). Against wind and tide. Conditions were worsening and we were starting to slam a little. I was reefed and a little water was coming over the foredeck. The boat was well under control.

The boys of course loved it and I wasn't thinking. I started the engine for "safety" as we also had a landfill wall to lee (also causing confused seas as the waves washed back) and I wanted to make sure I could get up if needed.

I was paying attention to the boat and wasn't paying close enough attention to the boys and one wave came over the bow and the boys disappeared for about 3 seconds. They reappeared and one boy was laid out hanging on to the pulpit where they had been sitting. Easily a MOB but for the grace of someone watching out for idiots (me). The boys still loved it - but they are boys.

I immediately got the clue, called the boys to the cockpit and had them don vests.
Stupidest thing ever. I still shudder a little when I think of it.

[dreamer38851]

I was 12 years old when my parents cut me loose with my 16' Thundbird with a 65hp Merc. It was the summer of 1981.

My parents ran North Bay Marina on the intercoastal waterway in Bradenton Florida.

To set the record straight at 12 years old I could dock my Dads 42' Chris Craft Steel Hull Romar as well as our 65' grouper digger. No bow thrusters. Yes, my dad was right there every time but I did not need his help.

Anyway back to the story. Right after a no name storm I took off in my boat. My parents told me NOT TO GO ON THE GULF SIDE OF ANNA MARIA ISLAND! Well that sure peaked my interest.

I headed out to Long Boat Pass to see what it was like out there and to me it looked like 12' seas. So I headed straight out knowing once I got out of the pass they would not be so bad. The seas funnel into that pass with lots of current to make them bigger.

My boat did not have a bilge pump (except a hand pump) and I had the old cable and pulley steering in it. In other words this was a bay boat by all means.

Once I got out there and made my turn to head around the island all hell broke loose. I took a breaker over the side and must of had what seamed like 3 feet of water in the boat. It was more like 6". Slammed the boat full throttle ran to the back to pull the plug so the water could drain and headed out even more to get away from the breakers and the boat drained. I could not turn around or anything because with the water in the boat and the seas I would have flipped or swamped for sure. All I could do was head straight out off of Cocaina Beach.

I did get the water out of the boat and did turn around and come back in long boat pass and to tell the truth the waves where not more than 8' except in the pass but man did that scare the hell out of me. To this day my parents don't know about that.

1 month later the same summer another storm went past and I was in my dads 24' wood hull Lyman. My dad spent at least 2 years restoring that boat. Again I went out long boat pass thinking I was gong to drive around the island.

This time the waves in the pass where at least 16'. I still went ahead and tried. After I was out in the gulf I seen there was no way I was going to risk my dads boat like that (the seas out there where over 14') so I headed back into the pass. Right after I cleared everything and was on the calm watter again the transmission went out!!! If that had happened in the pass I would have been killed. I put saltwater in the transmission and drove it back to the marina. I never told my dad about going out the pass but I did tell him about the salt water I had to do to get home!

I really never calmed down. In my teens I ran my jet boat on a sand bar in the dark at 65 mph off of Emerson Point at the mouth of the Manatee River.

I have lots more but I was a hell raiser when I was younger. My sailing adventures are not much better.

I can say at 41 years old now and with my own kids and wife and I am a lot safer boater.

[ddsailor25]

The first one is in our new boat of which we launch and went straight out to a mooring in the merrimack river to rig the boat. After getting her all set we we're rushing to make the bridge opening, so we dropped the pennant line and headed for the bridge which was about 200 yards away. The bridge opened and I throttled up. We were running with the tide with an opposing wide right on the nose when the engine died. There was no turning back. We ended up going through the bridge sideways and just on the other side of the bridge I realized the problem of not opening the fuel valve.

The second one is a story of getting off a soft grounding. We were in a Cape Dory 25 and this was my first ever grounding. I rigged the boom off the side of the boat and was getting ready to go out on it when I thought I could stand in the kayak that we were towing and pull down from there. We only needed to go about 30' and we had a good current pushing us up on the bar and a 15kt wind over the stern. I climbed into the kayak and my girlfriend started the engine. The engine was wide open and i started pulling down on the boom when she started slidding. When she slipped off the bar the problem we then had was my girlfriend had no idea what she was doing. I'm standing in a kayak holding on the the end of the boom when the kayak turned sideways. Now I'm being dragged through the water with the engine still going at full tilt. It was a good thing my bathing suit was tied tight! She says, "what do I do now?" My comment can't be said on this board, but you can guess my colorful response. I climbed on board and the people on the beach started cheering. It was a comical day.

Dave

[zopi]

My first mistake? Getting on a bloody boat at an impressionable age! "s like herpes..never goes away.

Pulled a good one the other day...was dumping some leftovers out of the pressure cooker..dumper the tater in the water, might as wel feed the croakers in the James...forgot the damned trivet was in the pot...<plop> awww crap!

[boatman61]

Been 'Born' so many times I carry multi packs of 'Pampers Nappies' and baby wipes.....

[Hudson Force]

Living aboard limits ones ability to take on collection hobbies; however, there are collections that only require cyberspace. I do believe that I have the most comprehensive collection of take out pizza numbers that deliver to dinghy docks on the US East Coast,- Maine to the Florida Keys and up the Gulf Coast. Four years ago, while anchor on the Bayside of Key Largo, I waited ashore for the pizza delivery and quickley dinghied the hot pizza to the anchorage in Sunset Cove. We were just finishing off the pizza when we were surprised by a knocking on our freeboard. The accompanied inquiry was, "Is this your dinghy?" It seems that when the captain is focused on delivering the hot pizza, tying the dinghy is secondary or completely omitted.