I hit a bridge :(

[anacapaisland42]

I imagine everyone has seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIyxLcnGeY

Bill

Originally Posted by RainDog

Hit on the forestay about a foot or two below the top of the mast. On the plus side it was right in downtown Nassau, so there were hundreds of witnesses. Seems like I got away with it. Other than a detailed rig inspection, anything else I should check?

[cheoah]

Very pleased to hear your rig is standing!


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[Uncle G]

Could have been worse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnZ6RjEXws

[GrahamHO]

Did you damage the bridge?

[brantleychuck]

Sounds like a close one, real glad it looks like just a learning experience.

I have a 40 foot fiberglass mast on my 40 foot pilot house motor sailer. I just raised it myself using the boom as a gin pole. It's a heavy piece for sure. Got me wondering how strong that old fiberglass mast was. Talked to a owner of a sister ship the other day . He had just hit a bridge with the mast. The forces involved pulled the mast head off releasing all the shrouds above the spreaders. This allowed the mast to bend back. His wife on deck said it bent back like a bow getting ready to shoot a arrow ! Mast is ok , just needs a little fiberglass repair to re attach the mast head fitting.
Don't think I'll give much more thought to " how strong my mast is ".



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[CruisingKitty]

We watched a boat hit the bridge on the East River in NY. It closed unexpectedly and the skipper wasn't paying attention. It turned his boat sideways and the mast bounced under the bridge reminiscent of a stick hitting a picket fence like piano keys. We watched this having seen the bridge come down and stopped our boat behind him. We heard the bridge tender on the VHF holding the PTT down yell, "H___ S___ he's going to hit!"

The guy had several people on board. They came out the other side without an antenna and the top of the mast stripped clean of anything else. But they hardly noticed a thing. As far as we could see, they just kept partying up the river to the Sound. Very nonchalant.

I hope your hit was more of a kiss.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Uncle G

Could have been worse:

And he kept going

What amazed me with that one is the guy behind him was having a serious got at it too with full throttle.

[Ocean Girl]

I was leaving the Hurricane Hole Marina basin and headed to the fuel dock. When I left I thought the fuel dock was before the bridge. Somehow it just did not register in my brain at all that there was a bridge there. Even after I hit it I did not think "bridge". My first thought was that I ran aground. When I hit the boat came to a dead stop after leaning back a good ways. I just backed out the way I came in. This was the northern most span of the east bridge. Luckily I was only making 2 knots when I hit. There does not seem to be any damage. For sure feel lucky.

[natraps116]

Yeah i have a 66 ft mast and was wondering how you hit a bridge in nassau. Now i understand completly. You were going to THAT fuel dock. Yeah bra, there a bridge there lol. Glad it was not a catastrophe

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[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Schooner Chandlery

One of my biggest fears--in my imagination the entire rig fails, of course. Did you hit and spin back? Replay requested because my imagination of hitting bridges (overhead) always includes big doom and gloom in a rather spectacular way.

Here you go...a gloom and doom pic of another boat that hit a bridge near New Orleans.

[gizmofish]

I am (fairly) new sailor. That being said: Here is a video I came across several years ago that, simply, amuses me. I love this guy and his seamanship.

"A tall mast under a low bridge." It's, obviously, not the first time he has done this.

https://youtu.be/kiv0fxFcV3I

NHF

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

I was leaving the Hurricane Hole Marina basin and headed to the fuel dock. When I left I thought the fuel dock was before the bridge. Somehow it just did not register in my brain at all that there was a bridge there. Even after I hit it I did not think "bridge". My first thought was that I ran aground. When I hit the boat came to a dead stop after leaning back a good ways. I just backed out the way I came in. This was the northern most span of the east bridge. Luckily I was only making 2 knots when I hit. There does not seem to be any damage. For sure feel lucky.

Oh I see now...

So it was DEFINITELY...

RD's fault for not keeping a look out then...

I still want the cocktail tally....

[HappyMdRSailor]

Welcome to CF gizmofish !

[Ocean Girl]

After we hit I checked all chain plates, clevis pins etc. I took the binox to the mast, checked tangs, rigging and such as best as I could. I also closely inspected the aft heel of our mast and sighted up the mast port, starboard, aft, fwd. Everything looks fine! I see no stress at base of mast, the mast is not twisted or torqued. I want to go aloft to look more closely at the upper fittings.

RD was at the helm along with a friend we picked up in Nassau. I was actually down below lounging on the settee, so was slacking on my duties.

What it felt like down in the main salon: a big spongy stop. No loud bang, some "zinging" sound like metal rubbing the rigging. In my mind, trying to figure out what could possibly make the boat behave this way, I thought of a boat hitting a pier with their bobstay...but we don't have a bobstay! Crazy. To be honest, I think I would of done the same thing, how the entrance to the marina lines up the fuel dock so close, dodger and rain fly covers up all overhead views. Bridge just didn't register in my mind either.

What I think happened: we hit bridge with forestay about 2 plus feet below our masthead, then slid to starboard and rubbed our upper port shroud. I can see a scratch or dark line on the mast but won't be sure it's from the collision till I get up there. We were going under 2 knots, more like 1.6 knots and had a wicked current ( thankfully we were going against the current!!)

All we could say afterwards was how lucky we are to have such a strong, overbuilt, vessel to absorb our mistakes.

We are in Bimini now and I will go aloft tomorrow to check up top before we cross the Gulf Stream over to Florida. I'll take picks of anything suspicious.

I think from now on, when there is a bridge in the area, I will roll up the rain fly to give us overhead visibility

Erika

PS
Pic is of west side of bridge, we hit the east side. Fuel dock has red canvas awning

[Ocean Girl]

Fuel dock situation: green line was our track into the marina the day before. Brown line is the route I'd plotted from nassaul to Bimini. I wish I had the tracker on so we'd know exactly where on the bridge we hit. I might go through the garmin chart plotter and see if I can extract the route, then I'd know at what height (roughly) we hit. After we hit we still had to deal with traffic, heavy current, and fueling up. Plus all the ribbing we took from the locals that were at the fuel dock and aboard the tour boats So there wasn't much time for documenting exactly what happened.
Cheers
Erika