Don't want your name here?!!

Since recently, we have aquired some aspiring boat builders to the site, anyone have any boat building oops's. Splash the boat only to find out there was a bit more balast than you needed? Head out on that first sea trial to find out she was a bit too tender? Forgot to pin the prop nut?
I can speak from experience on this one, do not reuse an old pin on the prop nut. Sailing a 40 footer into the slip with an inexperienced crew can be quite the adventure. Oh, and new props are not cheap.

[CaptainK]

I got one.

I was still in the US Navy. And this incident is still talked about. It was a nice August late morning. The wind was gusting. And the skies was partily cloudy. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN69) was moving along through the mouth of the Chesapeke river and going over the Hampton bridge tunnel.

Then, as men manned the rails. I was one of the men manning the rails, that very morning. And everyone rendered their salutes, to port. An outgoing submarine, off our port bow was heading out on a major cruise. Nobody on the bridge was paying attention to the starboard side.

Behold! On the starboard side bow, was an anchored Spanish coal carrier. And the Eisenhower moving along. With the aid of the gusting wind pushing our aircraft carrier into the path of the anchored ship.

All of a sudden, just about 6 seconds before collison. The collison alarm sounded. And all of a sudden, you could hear steel on steel. Rubbing and grinding at eachother. (I will never forget a sound like that as long as I live!) The Eisenhower was only 200 yards from it's pier. When we hit that Spanish coal carrier.

Needless to say. The captain of the IKE was relieved of command over that incident. And there was a few million dollars in damages. Luckily we were due to go to the shipyards, for routine maintaince anyways. The incident just gave the yardbirds more work to do.

This is a very true story. And one of many accidents over the 200+ years. That our US Navy has had happen. The moral of this story is this. If the bridge crew were watching the starboard side. And not fully paying attention to just the portside. That accident would've never happened.

Regards,

Kevin
CaptainK

I can hear it now, FEND FEND!!

[CaptainK]

Stroke...Stroke...Stroke...

That's what I would be haveing if that sucker was drifting my way

[Alan Wheeler]

I remember watching a woman christening their beloved new and very large motor yacht. She had several swings at the anchor on the bow with the large magnum of champange, but couldn't break it. Her husband, now very embarrased, made some comment and the wife put everything she had into the biff with the bottle. The result was the bottle slipped from her grasp and shot of the bow and up across the deck and straight through the front window in a shower of broken glass, that unfortunatly, was not the bottles.

[CaptainK]

Ha ha ha ha ....oh damn. Ha ha ha.!!!!!!!

[CaptainK]

Ha ha ha ha ....oh damn. Ha ha ha.!!!!!!!

Wheeler. So you actually watch that happen. That must've been a funny moment.

I'm sure that even you must've laughed about that?

Regards,

Kevin
CaptianK

[Yachts66]

I've run aground more times than I can count, but I've always been lucky and never did it on rocks or coral. I guess my problem is I like to explore....get off the beaten path so to speak and that's when I get in trouble. I see a river and I think, "I wonder where that goes,” and things go down hill from there! LOL

One of the reasons I'm buying a steel boat this time around is this bad habit I've got. My last boat was a glass HC and she was a great boat, but I noticed every time I hauled her, the bottom of her keel was ever more dinged up. C'est la vi.

Regards,

TJ

[CaptainK]

Hey Yachts66,

If that is your problem. Then I highly recommend that you get a steel hulled boat!!


Regards,


Kevin
CaptainK

[GordMay]

A charter sailing vessel with load of politicians was half way to the Bahamas when a freak storm hit the boat. Several of the passengers were thrown overboard and drowned. After retrieval of the bodies, and with the knowledge that they may not be rescued for some time, if ever, the deceased were buried at sea.
Three days later, the local Coast Guard found the damaged craft. Upon boarding, the Coast Guard Captain asked, "Is everyone okay?" The Captain of the damaged vessel explained that he had a few passengers fall over board.
The Coast Guard Captain asked, "Are they all dead?" The Sailing boat captain replied, "Well, some of them said they weren't, but you know how those politicians lie."

As a result of recent questions, AND to qualify my experience with bilge pump issues, I though I would bring this thread back to life. My story is on page 2. The lesson, is my signature.

Now I am feeling guilty. I feel like I owe another adventure if I am going to revive this thread, so here goes.
About a year and a half ago My wife and I and her son and his girl friend decided to sail up to Santa Cruz to anchor for the weekend. My wifes son has sailed a couple of times, but his girlfriend had not. We had been doing some major boat projects, and had not been out for about 6 months. One of those projects involved changing the prop, as the one on the boat when we bought it was too big. We headed to SC, about 12 miles. We were about half way, and my wife started having a panaic attack. It was a solid force 5, and we were heeled pretty good, so that was probably a factor.We made the decision to turn back.
Now I should probably mention that I am a big proponent of learning to sail in and out of the slip. I do this regularly on my 28' boat, as I have no engine. I had recently given some real thought to my ability to handle my 40 footer in this circumstance, and decided that I would rather no find out.
So back to the story. We sailed back, and into the harbor. It was a fantastic daysail even if we didn't get where we were headed. We sailed down the channel, and headed up behind the MBARI ships to drop the sails. I fired up the engine while my crew went forward to drop sails. As they dropped the main, I put it in forward to stand off, and the boat started going backwards. I gave it some throttle, but was still going backwards. I tried reverse, and no change. I went below, and saw that the shaft was turning. I sure you have guessed by now that we had lost the prop. I stopped my crew, and explained that we would have to sail into the slip. We left the jib and mizzen up, fell off, and sailed on and into the slip. Looked like we knew what we were doing. The crew never knew the severity of the problem.
Lessons learned: do not reuse cotter pins. (it sheared, and dropped the nut). Practice sailing into the slip. (do it with the engine running, or however you feel comfortable, but do it) and finally, the captain must have a plan, direct the crew. Because I had thought of this possible situation, I had a plan, so it was not an emergency, it was just a problem.

[Loith]

I've sailed into a clam bed with mud so soft that the first hint of a problem was an almost inperceptable slowing of the boat. First tactic- full astern with the outboard. Second tactic- row a kedge anchor out to stern and winch it back to the boat (plastered with black mud). Third tactic- tell my female crew that we had to wait for the incoming tide to float her off. This all happened 30 years ago after coming through the Cape Cod Canal at night and sailing by dead reckoning on a compass course from what I thought was the correct red blinking marker.

My actual "mistake" was in telling my crew earlier in the day that some boats won't float off if they are laid on their sides due to the cockpit design.

My mistake was compounded by the fact that I had to pick up someone who had arrived on a bus at a wharf now a 2 mile row away. I left my unhappy crew in the dark with the VHF and told her I would be back. About 4 hours later we arrived to find the unhappy crew and a lot of stuff crashing loose from various shelves, etc.. The boat did float off and we were happy to be on our way at dawn. Diving later I found that the mud was so soft that it didn't even rub the scum off the bottom paint!