I bet you never.....Challenges!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Tingum

How about getting hit in the face with a large flying fish, then having it go down the front of your T shirt. All at 4:30 am when you are trying very hard to keep your eyes open!

Bet that woke you up. No nodding out after a fish smack in the face.

[rbrentp]

This may be the best thread ever. We were becalmed in the Gulf of Mexico about 60 miles off St Georges Point when we were surrounded by at least hundreds of dolphins. Walking on their tails along the sides and jumping over the bows, leaping into the air...it was great! But anyone who sails knows there is always another side...the dolphins disappeared suddenly and less than 30 seconds later we were in the darkest thickest swarm of flies I can imagine. The wife ran below to close hatches and doors and kill those that got in. Three of us in the cockpit used brooms and flip flops to kill the biting bastards by the hundreds. The dead flies in the cockpit were so thick we quickly brushed them into a large pile so we could see that we were still killing them. The dead ones that leaked blood attracted the other flies so we were able to kill them in groups of six to ten at a swat. We had a pile about three feet across and a foot high. We did not think to eat them.....another missed opportunity.

[Winf]

I bet you never had a boat tow like this?

I had anchored my 18' centre console fishing boat and started to fish. After a few minutes I thought I could feel the boat moving forward. Nah, must be imagining things.

Then the boat gave a lurch which almost knocked me off balance. As I looked out the back, I saw makings of a wake. WTF? Flicked the GPS on and I'm doing 2 knots!

Went up to the bow and the anchor line was moving through the water clearly attached to some sort of sea monster. Grabbed the line, began to haul on it and after much struggling lifted the biggest stingray I have ever seen into view. This thing must have been 2 metres across.

It had managed to hook the flukes of the danforth over its head and was now swimming as hard as it could to get away, dragging me and the boat behind it.

What now? I cleated off the line and went to call my mate on the radio that he had to come and see this but couldn't raise him. Eventually the flukes slid off but not until it had dragged me a couple of hundred metres.

This was at the mouth of the Cotterel River on Cape York peninsula.

Winf

[anacapaisland42]

Golden Lab,
Had diarrhea,
Pooped partially thru the head window
Down the wall,
Partially into the toilet
Not amused!

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by pbmaise

Seems someone here always has seen, done, experienced anything you have bigger and better.

Any sailing related challenges?

I'll start.

I bet you never..... have been squidded.

Explanation: After two days cleaning my topsides I felt good that my sailboat was looking good. Upon returning the next night I discovered a fresh patch of ink running down the aft stairwell. At first I thought someone tossed a squid.

However, recently flying squid reports were confirmed on camera.

Japanese researchers confirm squid can fly as fast as Usain Bolt (Wired UK)

Philip Maise
Hot Buoys S.V.
Philippines

Years ago while sailing back from Waikiki by myself and headed for Pearl Harbor on my Catalina 22 I had settled down for a nice broad reach to buoy #3. It was very dark and I was leaning back against the transom and all of a sudden I got smacked in the back. I reached behind me and felt a big wet spot on my t-shirt. I turned around and could see the surface of the water with light from the aft running light. Still today I don't know what creature it was that jumped at my running light and got me on the back but it was a bit startling. I'm glad it wasn't a billfish.

I've never been inked!

[Hydra]

I was at the helm early one morning near Ushant when I saw a fin flapping sideways on the surface, in front of the boat. The animal dived and tried to pass under the hull but it collided with the keel, then with the rudder. It felt as if it was a tree trunk, heavy and hard. Then, the animal surfaced in the wake. It was uglier than anything I have seen before and after.

I made some searches and concluded that I had been in a collision with a large ocean sunfish.

Alain

[southpaw]

30-some years ago, a few miles off Long Beach, saw a bunch of seagulls mobbing something in the water. Went over to look, and it was an owl. Got it on board, and by the time we were close to land it was dry enough to fly to shore. Not normal owl behaviour to be out there, maybe it had been roosting on a docked freighter.
Years later had a Lanner falcon land on the rail a couple of hundred miles off Senegal; it stayed til we were in sight of land.

[boatman61]

Bet you never surfed with a young whale during a December gale in the Biscay.. Dolphins eat yet hearts out.. this guy was a pro..

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=Hydra;1839441]I was at the helm early one morning near Ushant when I saw a fin flapping sideways on the surface, in front of the boat. The animal dived and tried to pass under the hull but it collided with the keel, then with the rudder. It felt as if it was a tree trunk, heavy and hard. Then, the animal surfaced in the wake. It was uglier than anything I have seenee before and after.

I made some searches and concluded that I had been in a collision with a large ocean sunfish.

Alain[/QUOTE
They do the fin flap to lure gulls into thinking they're a sick fish.. then when they land.. they eat em..

[pbmaise]

Thats the way to do this challenge. Good job!

I was inked, or squided, by a lone squid. And cleaned one spot.

meirriba replied with being squidded by a school of squid and having to clean the whole boat.

Skat analysis seems to be missing from most sailing books. Yet, as we can see in this thread mother nature can get too close to you while you venture into it.

Regarding strange things appearing in the bunk in the night, I bet someone has a bigger story that doesn't involve a drunken sailor.

[Pelagic]

I had chartered a 42ft power boat in BVI for HK friends who did not want to sail.

One restless blustery night at anchor, after the other couple had gone to bed as did my girlfriend, I decided to get rid of my full beard.

The swim grid seemed like a practical place, so I sat there under the stern light and full moon,, dipping my feet in the water ....clipping and shaving away to perfection before having a quick swim to clean off.

I then joined my girlfriend in the fwd cabin, snuggling in anticipation of her early morning surprise and my reward.

About 3am, SPLAT! something hit my face. Confused I jumped up feeling wetness and turned on a flash light.

I could see black (...or was it Red?) on the sheets and pillow, but what my partner saw was a blackened stranger almost on top of her.

She screamed, gave me a mighty thwack and ran to the aft cabin, yelling that we had been boarded by someone.

Recovering from my hit, I stumbled aft to find the other 3 armed and ready to beat me to a pulp in that low light.

Luckily they recognised my voice and yes it was a large squid that had either flown or been dropped down the open hatch onto my face.

Lesson learned that a shaved squid face does not get any early morning nooky!

[pbmaise]

I bet you never hiked up a mountain, searched for 100 ft tall bamboo, and personally carried it down to make a spar.

Background:
While converting my rig to traditional paraw style I wanted to use traditional bamboo. What is packed within the bamboo is not traditional but unseen.

Given the size of my vessel, I required a long good piece so personally went to a valley where they grew tallest protected from typhoons.

I use the bottom 70 feet. It is so long, I made a boom cripple. The longest bamboo is not set on the gallows of the boom cripple in this photo.

[pbmaise]

Pelagic very good. But

"Oh yeah, if you think a frightened gf after shaving was a good story, what about dynamite while shaving?"

I was sitting on stern step shaving, legs in the water, when I noted a small 2-man fishing boat paddle within 200 meters. I felt the pressure shock in my feet when they blasted more of the reef looking for fish.

Okay, not as good as yours.

Some squid can flash colors red whitish so your confusion as to color is understandable. You don't seem to know what hit you.

What was for lunch that next day?

[El Pinguino]

Lying to anchor and shore lines .. about 30 feet offshore... at Isla Hoste, TdF, once when at about 0200 dark became aware of something moving... took about 30 minutes of lights off, wait, lights on, pounce.... repeat... until we caught him. Bigger than a mouse..smaller than a rat.... don't know if he was a native or introduced.

I assume he walked the tight rope... we gave him flying lessons in the general direction of the land.

He had been a busy little chappy... a week or so later we found he had nibbled a corner off a carton of orange juice, a box of wine and a carton of UHT milk....

[meirriba]

OK, here is another story:
We were sailing near the west corner of Cyprus, nice weather but a dark band of dark clouds closing on us from the north/west.
A small black bird appears and lands on the boat. Seems tired and not afraid of us. There is a general joy and people brings it food and water.
Next stage - several more birds of the same family land in the cockpit. Some are trying to enter the saloon.
Next flock arrives and we are in a middle of the Hitchcock movie. Dozens of birds fly around the cockpit, land wherever, and whenever the door to the saloon is opened, some of the birds try to enter and hide inside behind curtains. We hunt the intruders and release them in the cockpit.
A falcon arrives from the land and frightens the human and avian crew in the cockpit by diving around. It takes one bird and sits down to feed on the bow.
Meanwhile night falls and the dark band of clouds comes over us with wind, rain and thunder. We get inside and close the door to the cockpit leaving one poor helmsman on duty.
In the morning: about half of the birds lay down frozen and dead around the boat. The other half disappeared. We do not know whether the birds flew off when the weather settled towards sunrise, or died during the night as the rest of the flock but were washed off.
I have 5 witnesses to this sad story