I decided to post this rather than hijack another thread on when and if to help fellow cruisers having difficulty. This is a true story.
I was down at the
dock on a breezy summer day changing out the
batteries on Idora. Across the way from me (astern) one of my neighbors arrived for an afternoon picnic sail on her
classic 30 foot gaff rig catboat. (I had seen her earlier in the week
cleaning and painting and knew that it was her
boat.) Now I could see that she had been preparing for a date with her new (non
boating ) beau. She looked excited and pleased, obivously looking forward to the afternoon.
In that marina it was common for people to secure their dingy ahead of their
boat in the slip, tied off to the bow in some way and to back out with it in that position and then walk the painter back to a stern cleat on the way out of the marina. I noticed that she had moved her
anchor forward during
cleaning and that it was hanging over the bow roller on the starboard side of the
bowsprit.
In due coiurse she started the
engine, cast off and backed out of the slip. Unfortunately the
wind and
current in combination with the dingy in the
water tied to a bow cleat conspired to prevent her from turning the boat. So back and forth she went unable to turn in the available space, only able to move for and aft. Frantic to control the boat she added more and more
power on each fore and aft traverse in a vain attempt to turn. Finally, she gave up and hollered up to her boyfriend to untie the dingy painter and bring it aft so that the she could overcome the
wind and
current and turn the boat. The hapless boyfriend proceeded to untie the chain brake and the
anchor fell straight into the dingy--now she was really in a pickle and resumed roaring to and fro at full
power, completely unable to control the boat with the weight of the anchor in the dingy! Quite correctly she hollered up to the boyfriend to recover the anchor. Unfortunately, he proceeded to vault over the bow into the dingy where she could no longer see him. Her anguished cries indicated that she thought he had fallen off the boat until she witnessed the anchor come flying up over the life lines and crash onto the beautiful
teak deck. THEN!! as a result of his thowing the anchor while standing in a moving dink he toppled over backward and splashed into the drink!!
This was just too much and the poor woman was reduced to tears. She cut the
engine and drifted up against the stern(s) of the adjacent
boats. By this time everyone in the marina was watching these unfortunate
events and a
mob 
armed with boat hooks, life slings and
dock lines conveged on the scene. The dingy was secured to the stern, the engine restarted and the beau fished out of the drink and deposited on
deck.
As they motored out of the marina I could not help but feel that it was quite likely that they would end up married. What an excellent first date.
Water is Life!!!!
brilliant, many thanks for writing this up, but for the grace of God goes ..................... 
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