Yeah, had to practice that one earlier this year:
We were motoring out of Lake Sylvia in Ft. Lauderale one early morning. All was fine till we felt a thud, a heavy vibration and heard the engine spooling down...
Kicked it in neutral before it died, tried reverse in case of a line around the shaft, uh no cigar.
In slow motion we put the stays'l up and aimed for a nearby marina.
Had a stern
anchor ready to go out and at the right moment, dropped the
anchor and let the sail out...or vice versa.
Missed the intended
dock by a boat lenght or two, but looked really good snugging up to the next dock...As if we planned it.
Found a movers blanket around the prop and shaft., took 3 dives with a sharp knife to cut it loose..All while the dock guy told us we had to leave as some mega yacht was scheduled to come in a few yours.
Don't think he knew or could appreciate our
emergency landing and the problem of leaving the dock with no
power...
(Just like forcing a cancer patient to get well and get the hell out of the
emergency room.)
Good practice however, but hope I never have to do another dead-stick again...The third one on this ship and several on previous
boats.
Moral of the story: Keep the
diesel clean and flowing, and keep them blankets of the prop and the shaft....