Note to self, always start dinghy engine before casting off.

[Flagman101]

A guy wanted to go ashore for coffee. His boat was moored in a nice bay in the BVI's
He gets in his dinghy and and unties the dinghy.
Gets to the motor and realizes he forget the little red kill switch thing.
Turns around and surprise....he as already drifted more then 20 feet from the boat.
Darn.
What to do??
Try and row the boat....
Anyone ever tried to row a 16 foot dinghy in 15 kn of wind. Wont happen.
Drifting away from the boat, toward open ocean.
Finally was able to pull on the kill switch button with fingers and start the motor.
Mental note to self. Never untie the dinghy before the engine is running.

Never happened to me again...

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Flagman101

A guy wanted to go ashore for coffee. His boat was moored in a nice bay in the BVI's
He gets in his dinghy and and unties the dinghy.
Gets to the motor and realizes he forget the little red kill switch thing.
Turns around and surprise....he as already drifted more then 20 feet from the boat.
Darn.
What to do??
Try and row the boat....
Anyone ever tried to row a 16 foot dinghy in 15 kn of wind. Wont happen.
Drifting away from the boat, toward open ocean.
Finally was able to pull on the kill switch button with fingers and start the motor.
Mental note to self. Never untie the dinghy before the engine is running.

Never happened to me again...

Good post (lesson).

[HankOnthewater]

Hmmm, like forgetting to put the bung in dinghy, leaving electrical cord plugged in when leaving dock, running aground, dropping a favourite tool in the water... all these things will happen to most of us.
About this issue,... I carry my keys on a cord around my neck, wrapping such cord into the groove for the V-shape of the plastic "kill switch thing", and voila, engine can be started.

[Jim Cate]

The start engine first rule is a corollary to the be sure that someone has the painter in hand before everyone disembarks from the dink into the boat rule.

Lessons that we all need to learn, hopefully from the mistakes of others!

Jim

[seandepagnier]

Anyone ever tried to row a 16 foot dinghy in 15 kn of wind. Wont happen.

Why ?

[iSaint]

Hah, well, three guys (me included) sailed out to a nearby island recently, got the dinghy ready and motored ashore. After walking around a couple of hours we got back in the dinghy only to run out of gas halfway to the boat. No gas, no radio, no phone. We were in water where I could barely touch the bottom so I tried to drag us near shore to no avail.

Luckily we were able to flag someone down to tow us back to the boat.

We promised to double check each other for fuel and safety equipment next time.

[Flagman101]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Why ?

In 15 kn of wind. All I could manage is not drifting as much and going circles.
Wind quickly overpowered the rower.

[boatman61]

Easy emergency fix.. Use a bit of string if you forget or lose the red cut off cord.. the draw string from your windproof for example.

[Flagman101]

Thats a nice fix. If only I was wearing one af the time.
But i will remember that

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Easy emergency fix.. Use a bit of string if you forget or lose the red cut off cord.. the draw string from your windproof for example.

We think alike.
My first thought was a bit of cord, like a shoelace.

[steamgoat]

No anchor in the dingy??

[Delancey]

Include a decent anchor and rode with your essential dinghy equipment. Might save your life someday...

[Flagman101]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Include a decent anchor and rode with your essential dinghy equipment. Might save your life someday...

Honestly never tough about the anchor.
By the time I realised I was in trouble I'm not sure the rode would have been sufficiently long to catch bottom.
My plan B was trying to drif towards a big boat anchored at the entrance of the bay.
I will remember o my next charter to check anchor.

[Delancey]

I think it's normal to think of a dinghy anchors as something you bury in the sand on the beach or use to keep the dinghy off the dock in a tidal zone.

In reality a decent (maybe oversized?) anchor along with sufficient length of rode for anchoring in deeper water are important pieces of safety gear for any dinghy.

We used to keep two rodes on our dink, a short one for daily going to the beach type stuff, then a second longer one for just in case.

Also I have heard complaints that the folding grapnel type anchors, while convenient to store, are not really suited for the purpose. We had a galvanized Danforth that was a size up from the smallest dinghy size and a short (4') length of chain that was kept in the bow locker with the longer rode.

I think it was reading a story a long time ago about some guy that got blown out into the middle of the Caribbean Sea that started me on this.

He was in a typical inflatable dinghy, engine quit, couldn't row against the wind, no handheld VHF, no water, no signals. I only read the story because he was lucky enough to get found several days later by someone passing by.

[Flagman101]

I have no control over the anchor set up as I always sail barevboat charters.
I know there is anchor but like you said, we use it to keep the dink of the dock or just drop it on the beach. I don't think I have ever anchored a dinghy.