Don't want your name here?!!

[GordMay]

And now for a laugh...
From The “Equipped To Survive” Newsletter: http://www.equipped.com/ets_news_0101.txt

EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE AWARDED COAST GUARD GRANT:

Douglas Ritter, Chairman and Executive Director of the non-profit Equipped To Survive Foundation, announced today thereceipt of a five-year U.S. Coast Guard Boating SafetyGrant of $10,000,000. Ritter expressed his appreciation to the Coast Guard for the award, saying "after years of trying to get one of these Boating Safety grants, I'm glad we finally 'broke the code' and came up with a project that caught their eye."

The project, dubbed "BBOD" (pronounced BeeBod) for "Boaters Better Off Dead," is designed to encourage the clean up of the defective gene pool among boaters. Ritter commented that "we decided that instead of trying to change the
really stupid behavior of the really dumb boaters, an effort that has absorbed billions of dollars to no avail, it would be more financially prudent in these difficult
economic times to encourage them to do the incredibly stupid stuff they eventually do sooner or later, thereby eliminating them from the boating community as efficiently as possible. " While boating fatalities are expected to peak for a period after implementation of the program, after a short period of time they are expected to decline rapidly to levels only dreamed of by boating safety advocates.

Asked to give examples of what sorts of behavior the project would encourage, Ritter listed a few possibilities, including encouragement not to wear a PFD when sailing single-handed offshore and a suggestion to save money by purchasing a kiddie pool instead of a real life raft. Coast Guard spokesperson Don T. Car said, we figure we are really better off removing anyone dumb enough to listen to such advice from the boating community as quickly as possible. The Coast Guard is estimating that their ten million dollar investment will return savings over the next decade on the order of 200 million dollars by the reduction in needless search and rescue operations.

Admiral Thomas H. Collins, Commandant of the Coast Guard, was present at the announcement and was heard to mumble under his breath, "Darwin will finally prevail."

[Alan Wheeler]

Love it. That is just brilliant.
One stupididty we had here in NZ last week, was a small powerboat, I would say 16 to 18ft, open top, about five onboard and attempted to negotiate a netoriuose Bar in a Place called Raglan. It is considered one of the most dangerouse in NZ and believe me, few would attempt this thing in the best of weather. Well on this occasion, it was considered really ruff and the Bar was officially closed. Yep you guessed it, this little boat was heading out to go fishing. And what was worse, NO ONE was wearing a life Jacket. Sadly, a few were removed fromt he Gene pool that day. I am just not sure if the guy behind the wheel was one of them. Chances are, like in most accidents, the guy responsible probably survived.

P.S. If you haven't read the Darwin Awards, you just have too. www.darwinawards.com

[sv_makai]

I think I met a few boaters lining up to be volunteer as test subjects.

It sounds like it will make the waters safer. I don't see the savings because there will have to be follow up studies to determine the effectivenss of the program, studies to detemerine if more studies need to be done, and finally the add on bills which will be needed to study the genetic impacts of improving the gene pool.

[witchcraft]

They also always say, the first person who thinks sails should be reduced, or thinks something is a bad idea should be listened too. In this case we should have listened to ourselves.
We were new to this boat, although not to sailing. Arranged to sail to Main Duck Island, with another boat. We were not out long when I said we should not be going there today, my partner agreed. We could not raise the other boat to let him know we were turning back, so we continued. The trip was fine, despite thrashing to windward. Comfortable sail, this boat really is steady.
We realize upon arriving we will have to anchor in "thehole" Having only one dingy between us we rafted together ( dont do this!). Had a nice dinner. It was blowing hard. Another sailboat ran in tryng to get out of the weather. Soon it was like a movie. We were dragging, two boats tied together!!! I drove us forward, grounding our friends boat. We tossed lines to people on the lone dock who tied us off. It really was like a movie, pitch dark except for the lighthouse light shining through the rain which was driving sideways. Geez, I have no idea why we decided it would be a good idea to raft up overnight.
The next morning, someone with a Zodiac pulled our friend off, we retrieved all the extra lines and were off. No winches for the anchor on our boat, I managed to retrieve it, it was of course well stuck at this point.
Sailed the 20 nm home and were tied up pouring drinks in three hours. It was still windy, and with dropping a sail we still made that kind of time.
Alls well that ends well, but it was little exciting at the time. Very dumb too. We certainly had sailed enough to know better.
Witchcraft

[canucksailor]

Did enjoy the poll - glad that no one can trace my answers...just remember, if you aren't going aground at some point, you probably aren't going anywhere...

[canucksailor]

>>>attempted to negotiate a notorious Bar -
I have negotiated a number of notorious bars in my time...give me a rivermouth anyday, lol...

[BC Mike]

The pub gowers guide book to Auckland pubs states you need a chart to negotiate the Ponsonby Pub, AKA The Gluepot, and actually supplies one for the task. I believe though that this famous bar has since been replaced with more politically correct and smaller yuppie establishments. The Pub in Onehunga and another in Pukekohe and so large your can spent an entire day cruising from bar to bar. My fellow piss heads and I negotiated all 52 pubs in the greater Auckland area in one day. There are now more pubs than that. Burp.
Michael

[Cool Change]

Approaching the Bridge at Long Boat Key on the West coast of Florida, the current was running at about 9 Kts. I called the bridge tender for an opening, as I put the engine in reverse (outboard) it decided to quit for the day, now the currernt pushed me toward the bridge (still not open) at about 9 Kts. I had about 10 seconds to figure out what the best course of action would be
(not long enough), I hit the the bridge, knocked the mast down, and in the process cut my left arm open 1/2" deep from the wrist to just past the elbow. No damage to the bridge, but, I'm now being pushed through the channel into the bay. Fortunately Tow Boat US was only 5 minutes away he towed me into the marina where friends took me to the hospital, it took 30 stitches to close the cut on my arm. Needless to say I now have a stern anchor ready whenever I approch a bridge.

[GordMay]

Cool Change:
That’s probably good advice for any close quarters (or "tricky") maneuvering situation.
The conventional exhortation is a to have a “readily deployable” anchor - but if it’s on the bow ...

Gord

[Strygaldwir]

Motoring up the intercoastal waterway in South Carolina. We were just passing an inlet we were about maybe 40 feet from the inlet side and 60 feet from the other side. Depth sounders says 6 feet, then 2 feet. At 2.2 feet, we are on the bottom. We were not going very fast, about 5kts. I was worried about the depth. Anyway, we came to a stop, pretty much instantly. We reversed throttles, backed out way off, headed toward the other shore got through okay. Annoying more than anything. The message is always be VERY aware of the possibility of buildups where two bodies of water intersect.

Keith

[thegun]

If you've ever chartered, you know the situation: you're on an unfamiliar boat in unfamiliar waters. But by the time I pulled my stunt, we had been sailing in south Florida and the Keys for a week and had just spent our last night of the charter at the City of Miami marina before heading for Ft Lauderdale up the coast. We had just cleared the marina and were headed south on a short stretch of the ICW before turning east into the Government Cut channel. It was fairly early in the morning, and there was no other boat traffic. I rounded the marker indicating the entrance to the channel and swung the 46-ft Beneteau eastward to head toward the Atlantic.

Halfway through my turn, the keel quietly and gently plowed a furrow in the bottom, and we came to a humiliating stop. This was not a serious problem, though. We were technically still in the channel, so I knew there was deep water on at least two sides. Also the tide was coming in, and there was no boat traffic for us to impede.

First I did the logical thing. I tried to back out the way I went in, but she didn't budge perceptably. Then I had the whole crew move to the stern and start trying to rock the boat as I pushed the engine RPMs to 2500. Slowly she started backing down, then faster, then too fast. Just as I reached for the lever with my right hand to slide the engine into neutral, the wheel spun out of my left hand, cracking two fingers in the process.

The crew cheered our success at getting ungrounded while I struggled to regain control of the boat. The rudder was slammed hard against the stops, and the wheel was jammed. Luckily, there were still no other vessels around and apparently no spectators close enough for us to hear their laughter.

I managed to free the steering, and we headed on out the channel toward the ocean. I soon discovered that the autopilot no longer worked properly (a pin was sheared), but I was convinced that the rudder, cables, etc. were still intact and working. We tacked north against a variable wind and occasional rain but made it to Port Everglades at Ft Lauderdale well before a December sundown.

Of course, this was a learning experience, however dumb the mistake. I knew that a rudder can easily get slammed over when a boat is backed down too fast and gets out of control. What I hadn't thought of in advance is that the yacht could gain so much sternway so quickly as the keel came unstuck. I suspect that what happened was that the boat got moving sooner than I realized and that I was still trying to get unhung too long after she broke loose and started accelerating backwards.

It was an expensive lesson, both in humiliation and the $135 in labor and parts the charter service billed me for.

[boredinthecity]

Firstly, I must defend myself and say that I was not the one in charge of the boat

Situation was small boat, driver sitting on the transom using a small out board

An attractive young lady was sitting on the end of a short jetty fishing while getting an all over tan. We slammed in to the end of the next jetty.

Lesson learnt was that when you use any kind of tiller steering you tend to unconsciously steer toward where you’re looking.

[capt lar]

in an effort to get all of us to not take ourselves too seriously, i will tell this true tail, hoping i never meet any of you to have to hear the chuckles.

long ago i had an international 210 - if you don't know, look it up - of course these boats don't have any means of moving except the wind. you could buy (still can) these boats for nothing - i paid $1,600.- for one forgotten in storage at the graves yard in marblehead and used her as a daysailor. this was early on in my sailing history and i made many bad decisions but the best, or worst was on the day i was sailing into a harbor with my girlfriend to pick up another couple for a daysail. i have always disliked this harbor, having sailed out of it for many years after this. it is one of those places where the wind is always extremely light except within 30 yards of any dock, where it gusts to winds that feel like 20k. with one design boats this gives the special thrill of extreme acceleration in a very short time with no turning room. on this day i was in a rush to get to the dock and use the outgoing tide to help clear the harbor. i grabbed the boat off the mooring in my found dingy and in my haste, i did not throw the old and stiff main sheet over the side to soften it up. we were drifting slowly to the dock expecting a smooth arrival with relaxed tie-up on the starboard side. i was in control and proud of my sleek vessel. tourists were miling about directly overhead on the granite pier carved from local granite as a towering symbol of finnish pride. tourists collect here with their cameras trying to find something to photograph so their day would show purpose. some saw my 210 approach and collected to snap the needed photo. 30 yards from the dock the dreaded gust assaulted my small vessel and launched us at amazing speed straight ahead toward the granite wall. there was no room. i fed out line through the blocks to try and dump some air, but we looked like we were on the starting line and the gun was 3 seconds away. the tourists were now excited, smiling, more were running to see this great disaster. cameras were focused and poised to capture that special shot.

my boom was now finally pushed all the way out to starboard and the main sheet was dragging in the water. as we flew by the dock, perhaps 8 feet to go before watching the first 3rd of the boat explode, the main sheet hooked itself around the first cleat on the dock, stopped the boat prior to the wall and held us in place. smooth, instant, what a skipper.
i think i heard some booing as the crowd turned away in bitter sadness and resumed their hunt for the days photo. we had a nice sail. true. capt. lar

OK... I won't put everyone to sleep with the details that lead up to this adventure, but the lessons are clear. When my wife and I bought our first sail boat together, we took on more than a project. My experience was fairly extensive, but not with wooden sail boats, and not with large cruising boats.
The project was a 30 year old Angleman, with more rot than wood (no exageration as we came to learn). After 10 months on the hard rebuilding, and replacing, the boat yard posted notice that it had been sold and all vessels must be launched within 10 days. We were not even aware the yard was for sale. Our slip was 100 miles to the south. Our new engine was on a pallet undr the boat, 3 planks were still out, and about 12 still needed to be done. In 10 days, with the help of a local ?boatwright?, we were in the water, and the engine was on the deck. The standing rigging was secure, but no running rigging was in place. We were given a week in the boatyard slip to get ready to go south. I installed the engine, and the last thing I had asked from the yard was to hire out their mechanic to check the packing gland. The boat was purchesed without an engine, and the packing was tightened down hard on the shaft. We came away with a clean bill of health, and began our motor trip south. 25 miles out through the bay in flat calm and one of the most beautiful days I have seen on the bay, the boat, the engine and the crew, (this was my wife's first boating experience) performed flawlessly. about 5 pm local, we entered what is called the potato patch a couple miles outside the Golden Gate. This is where we started to turn south. And so did the voyage. At this point, the sun went away. I do not mean it set, it just plain got dark. The 5-6' seas of the potato patch built almost immediately to 10-15'seas, and the wind began to increase to about 20kts. South we went, into the blackness and rough seas in an untested vessel. (by the way, we did stop in San Francisco for a couple hours, and checked the boat top to bottom. We found no problems). So on we motored into the darkness. About 2 hours south of the Golden Gate, my wife went below to get us some tea. She came back up a bit concerned, as the cabin sole was awash. By about a foot. We had the bilge on automatic, so we assumed that the pump had failed. I went below, and checked the most likely source of the leak, and was not surprised to see that the packing gland was leaking. I changed the pump out, while my wife pumped the manual bilge. It was at that point that we realized that the manual bilge pick up was far enough aft and high enough that the water needed to be over the setees before the pump would pick up anything. Fortunately, or so we thought, I had the spare electric pump and two more to back it up. After about 15 minutes of the pump running we realized that the water level was going up not down. We checked the pump, and finally determined that the outlet was plugged somewhere between the pump and the thruhull. The one spare I did not have, was 1" hose. We later found out that hose would not have solved it unless it was long enough to extend out a port light, as the clog was a result of sawdust in the bilge plugging the thruhull. Long story short, we bailed by 5 gallon bucket, (more my wife bailed, because she was too terrifed to take the helm) for the next 12 hours. When we were in our slip I was able to tighten the packing down until we could haul out. When we did haul out we found a piece of the packing left approx 1" long, and nothing else.

All right, now I am feeling a bit like Charlie Brown. With all the new members, SOMEONE has to have had something go wrong.