OK, what did you forget?

[Reefmagnet]

Reversed the new to us boat out of the travel-lift carefully in idle. Got out of the protection of the piles and the wind grabbed us, pushing us back towards the travel lift wharf and the shore's rock wall. Threw the boat into forward and pushed the "go" lever forward. Nothing. Pushed it more forward. Still nothing. The engine remained steadfastly at idle, with insufficient power to overcome the force of the wind pushing us towards shore. It was about this time that I remembered I'd disconnected the throttle linkage at the engine for testing prior to launch. I also had no recollection of re-connecting it.

We guided the boat towards the travel lift piles, preferring to clobber them than the rock wall and by shear fluke, I was able to lasso a pile from the stern to arrest our momentum. In a further stroke of luck, the bow stopped adjacent to a ladder. All was looking good! Unfortunately, the boat yard crew at that exact moment had to delay assisting us because they had to attend - of all things - a safety meeting. Thirty minutes later, they turned up with a dory and towed us off the piles. Fortunately, no damage done. The wife complained a bit about hanging on to a ladder for a half hour, though!

[masonc]

Drove the wife to the supermarket two miles away, dropped her off and went to get gas up the road. Came out of off the gas station and drove home, and got the whole way home before noticing I was alone. Went back for her and found her walking home with the groceries. Not one of my proudest moments.

[teddythetwig]

I was tinkering around the engine with a screw driver the day before, just checking things out. The next day I took a few friends + new people out for a cruise. Everything went well, until we got back to the dock, all tied up. When I tried to choke the engine off, it would just continue in idle. I was completely baffled. I could see the control arm moving back and forth on the engine. Upon close inspection, I found the screwdriver. I had left it on the engine and it had managed to wedge itself between the choke lever, preventing it from travelling fully.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by alctel

You can open a bottle of wine using a shoe - saved me a few times.

Either it's a regional thing, or else I'm cheap - but my wine bottles have screwcaps


(Hmmm. Google tells me 99% of Australian wines are now screwcap)

[akprb]

Sailor's Confessional? Good question :-)

I "forgot" to clear out of Samoa. (actually I started to clear out and became so frustrated I "forgot" to finish)

Upon arrival in Tonga we baked fresh cookies while waiting at the customs dock.

The four men piled onboard to the smell of fresh baking and a smiling crew. Once all had a cookie and a bit of coffee the largest of the bunch said "where are your papers?"

I handed over the document, passports, crew list and what I did have from Samoa, probably a rodent inspection form, and waited.

He then asked "where are your clearance papers." I explained I tried but offices were either closed or at lunch or in training and we had to leave with the weather.

A few moments of silence......

Then he said "don't do that again."

I would not recommend following my example :-)

[Nautica96]

I remember heading out to do some fishing only to leave the bait in the fridge at home. It was very frustrating not only for me, but for my friends who were relying on me to bring the bait for the day.

[SofiaB]

Kill switch if on shore power.

[Jimmyhenry]

A friend departed the fuel dock with the fuel hose still connected. Amazing how far it stretched before pulling off the bowser.

[Wayshar]

We were heading out for a month long trip. I was halfway through filling my fuel tanks at the fuel dock when I realized that I had forgotten my wallet at home. Sent my girlfriend to retrieve it while I was still pumping fuel. A little embarrassing sitting there for a while taking up space at the fuel dock until wallet arrived. Would have been a bummer if we didn’t fill up before leaving our marina...

[michaelratinter]

Forgot to check steering before leaving slip. The hydraulic ram leaked all fluid into the bilge.

We managed to back into a slip across the fairway using prop walk and our hydrovane auxilliary rudder.

[dancor01]

Originally Posted by Don C L

So I was pondering things I had forgotten on past ventures and how I could NOT forget them next time... you know things that might be easily overlooked but turned out to be kind of personally, or otherwise, important! For me last time it was fingernail clippers.
This might also include "what broke and you wish you had had a spare for?" Last time for me it was the outboard primer bulb.

Spare hose, fan belt, Hoses clamps all size. Bolts and screws. a foot of coper pipe,1/2 and 3/8 (can make bushing with that) Carb clearner.

[fschaefer4]

Along the lines of Painted Skies and their watermelon-

I worked in Alaska on a commercial fishing boat. We closed up the boat for winter storage and somehow forgot that there were 4 fish, more of less, left in one of the holds. I say "more or less" because no one was going to sift through the slime to count bones. Thankfully, that was the first season I was NOT the new guy, so he got the honors of scooping it out.

[secrabtree]

Jim - I thought you would have learned in your C22 days that lines should tie to cleats.

[Buzzman]

OK - I got three for y'all:

1. On towing home a new-to-me beach cat, only **just** avoided taking out the fuel bowser at the gas station with the bow of fuel-filler-side hull....
Left a dent in the side of the bowser, and a scratch on the stem.
Trailer and cat were way wider than the car....

2. On a business trip from Sydney to Melbourne, I had to meet my boss at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Domestic Airport, as he was paying for the tickets with his corporate credit card. All I had to remember was my ID, as you can't board without it.
I left my wallet on the kitchen bench - a two-hour-turnaround.
He took the original flight, I took the next one. He had hired the rental car, had lunch and was slowly consuming himself with frustration by the time I landed at Melbourne. Needless to say, it was a quiet trip for me....
Never lived it down....

3. On a fishing trip with several mates all arriving from all over the country at Myall Lakes, I was in such a rush to get going I managed to leave behind the entire fuel system of the outboard. Lines, pump, tank, the lot. Three hours each way to collect....
Had set up camp before I realised this, so had to leave my 15-yr-old son and 13-yr-old nephew to 'guard' the camp (adult friends of mine were also in attendance).
Couldn't understand (at first) why the sister-in-law was so dirty on me for leaving her kid behind.....he had a great time......

Oh, well. My bad.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

2. On a business trip from Sydney to Melbourne, I had to meet my boss at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Domestic Airport, as he was paying for the tickets with his corporate credit card. All I had to remember was my ID, as you can't board without it.
I left my wallet on the kitchen bench - a two-hour-turnaround.

In a similar vein. Went to check in for the first leg of a multi-leg an international flight and found I had grabbed the wife's passport instead of mine.

Fortunately, I had not lleft check-in until the last minute. A rapid phone call home got the correct one delivered to the airport just as the flight was about to close.