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j.g.evans · 22-03-2022, 08:31

After hearing several similar stories, I attached a solar powered light to the top of my engine just in case I had to find it adrift in the dark. A friend saved his dinghy this way.

flightlead404 · 22-03-2022, 08:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt. Ray

I rescued a guy at Rodney Bay St. Lucia who was standing up in his dinghy waving - almost out of sight of shore!

That's been me in Biscayne bay. Crappy old outboard failed, outgoing tide, no oars.

I always take my oars now.

Boatwright · 22-03-2022, 10:13

Bowlines are only really secure when under tension. They can untie themselves when a dingy is drifting around while at anchor or when it is surging while being towed, especially when the bitter end is short.

One variation is the "cowboy" bowline, tied by going "under the log" opposite the usual direction, which puts the bitter end outside the loop. There is also the double loop bowline -- harder to tie and untie but cowboy style it's the knot we use to tow our dinghy. We also tow with two separate lines.

It is possible to tie a regular bowline one-handed with a little practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo4gzw2mXEQ

Shrew · 22-03-2022, 10:17

At least once a year, I plain forget to tie off my dinghy. My problem (excuses, excuses) is that wherever we go, I dock and my wife ties off the dinghy. It's usually because I'm holding the boat and unloading things.

This process doesn't work when I'm by myself. Especially when what I'm unloading is ice or 5 gallon jugs of water. Then I find myself to distracted with my task

jim King · 22-03-2022, 10:45

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I'm sure many of us have our own lost dingy experiences. Fortunately for me I was able to retrieve all of my lost dingys. Hope you can too.
cheers,
Jim

Curmugeon · 23-03-2022, 05:10

Again Rodney Bay, after a session at Quatre Isle we went back to our dingy, which wasn't there. We were walking back to the Marina to try and cadge a lift when about half way back our flashlight showed up the dingy tied up in some mangroves. The lock had been cut and the thieves were waiting till the next day to move it.
Another Rodney bay story from the 80's. A 50 ft charter boat was stopped just as it was leaving for the med and 10-12 rolled up dingys were found on board.
Thirdly, we sailed back into Bequia and were told that a dingy had been stolen, which was very unusual, the surprising thing was that no boats of a certain nation, with a reputation for dingy stealing, had been in the harbour at the time. The Fun of Cruising

Shrew · 23-03-2022, 07:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curmugeon

We were walking back to the Marina to try and cadge a lift when about half way back our flashlight showed up the dingy tied up in some mangroves. The lock had been cut and the thieves were waiting till the next day to move it.

Not nearly as malicious, but one night we came back to the dinghy dock to find our dinghy moved. Not a little bit. Moved down the dock about 150ft and on the other side of the dock. I NEVER dock on the outside of the dock because it is crowded there. The inside of this dock is shallow and I always go inside because there is always space.

We're still not sure what 'the rest of the story' was on that one. We think someone borrowed it and brought it back.

garyfdl · 23-03-2022, 08:46

WARNING!

Sea story alert!

While not a dinghy, a shipmate and I managed to lose our entire submarine, with crew.

It was in the early '70's in Rota, Spain; the US had an advanced site/sub facility/military base there. There was (is?) a long pier in the harbor and the sub-tender (support ship) was tied up 'stern-to' as sort of a pier extension. Subs would come in and tie alongside of the tender.

Along the shore of the harbor, a ways from the pier, was a cafeteria that served beer, and allowed us to wear 'working uniforms'; in our case, coveralls, ball caps and canvas deck shoes, all Navy blue.

One evening, a crew mate and I decided to go to said cafeteria for burgers and beer. We ate, and proceeded to drink Heineken as fast as we could until 11 PM when they closed. This was in mid-May, on a warm, sultry, albeit moonless night.

As walking at this point was problematic, we, in the infinite drunken wisdom of our age (19 years), decided that it would be a better if we swam back to the boat/sub. We removed our shoes, tied the laces around our necks so as not to lose them, turned our hats backward, and proceeded into the harbor full of raw sewage, oil, sharks and God knows what else.

We were quite 'chatty' at first, but this was about a half mile swim and we soon grew tired, so voice contact was down to an occasional "you there?" "yeah" "OK" exchange. (BTW, did you know that it is really dark on the water on moonless nights, no matter how bright the shore is lit up?).

I got back to the sub first. Climbing up the welded ladder on the hull, I was a couple rungs from the top when I heard a distinctive "CHIK!" - "CHIK!". I looked up to see the business end of a standard issue .45 semi-auto pistol pointed at my forehead, held in the shaking hands of some guy with eyes as wide as teacups, a guy I did not know.

Now in those days there were about 120 guys on a sub, so, you pretty much know everybody, at least by sight. I had never seen this guy before in my life. My initial, astute, drunken reaction was to blurt "who the hell are you?" At that, his face relaxed (a little) his eyes contracted to (almost) normal, and he replies "who the hell am I? Who the (AHEM!) ARE YOU?!"

At this point things started to happen kind'a fast. My crew mate was yelling for me to get up the ladder so he could get up out of the water - seems the sub had started discharging their sanitary tanks overboard, right where he was. There were also guys coming out of very hole on a sub that guys can come out of - all of whom were strangers...

That evening, while we were enjoying ourselves, it seems that our sub had been moved... to the other side of the tender.

Then another sub came in and tied up where our sub had been, ergo we were on the wrong boat... BTW - operational subs don't display hull numbers, and they all look alike.

Ultimately we were released 'on our own recognizance' to go back to our boat.

Amazingly not a lot was made of the situation after-the-fact. We were summoned to our Captain's stateroom the next day, but all he said was "I heard". Nothing was ever said after that. I am however extremely grateful to the guy with the .45 (never did learn who he was) for not making my head into a canoe.