Leaving the Dock (Fail)

AaronD

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Aug 10, 2014
723
Catalina 22 9874 Newberg, OR / Olympia, WA
This has been a few years, so I'm willing to admit to it now. Perhaps some of you will enjoy...

I haven't always done that well with leaving the dock (at least not if you consider 'bring along your spouse' as part of a successful launch).

We were just moving up from a little daysailer to the C-22, and headed out for our first overnight (and our first trip without experienced crew for guidance). My brother-in-law joined us, so we had 3 adults and 2 kids aged 5 and 2. The first day's sailing adventures were boneheaded, but did no lasting damage to anything but my ego; we settled for motoring up a lengthy channel and docking for the night at an island we'd visited before by kayak.

We docked smoothly and enjoyed a nice evening. But as we were motoring up, I had kept an eye on the rapidly dropping fuel gauge. Hmm... I thought the 3 gallon tank should be plenty for this trip, but we're now reading only 1/4 of a tank.

In light of my severe limitations as an outboard mechanic, we had along an electric trolling motor for backup. So I wired it in place, with the plan that we'd head out under electric power, cruise down the channel with the current, and save the fuel for the last couple miles against the tide to the boat ramp. I didn't realize at the time that the boat's battery was a woefully undersized starter battery, and not even deep-cycle - definitely not enough to get much thrust from the electric outboard.

In the morning, as we turned everything on and prepared to head out, my brother-in-law commented 'Hey, the depth sounder says 5 feet. Didn't the Beneteau down the dock just say he drew 6.5? Oh. Nevermind. Now it says 8 feet...Now 10...Now 13'. Hmm... Maybe the depth sounder has to warm up a bit? I know I don't do well before my morning coffee...maybe the same applies to my 35-year-old instruments?

We decided to ignore that oddity and try to leave the dock (facing into a current of 2+ knots). No problem. Drop the bow line, leave my wife with the spring line, hit the throttle, and she'll step aboard as we pass her. Except of course that the electric motor didn't have nearly enough thrust to fight the current. The current caught the bow and pulled us away from the dock, leaving her forced to push us away before we drifted backward into the cabin cruiser behind us.

So we left the dock without my wife, which was rather alarming for the kids! Realizing that there's no way we could fight the current on the limited electric thrust, I tried to reassure the kids that we'll just start the gasoline outboard, burn a little of that limited fuel supply, and go back to pick up Mom. I turned around to start the outboard - without realizing my 2-year-old daughter had climbed up onto the seat behind me. I pulled the cord, and my elbow knocked her off the seat onto the cockpit sole. Of course the motor doesn't fire, so a few seconds later, I did the exact same thing again (accompanied by her ever-increasing and well-justified wails and tears :frown:). I handed her to my brother-in-law and got the outboard started (thankfully, without knocking her down yet again).

About that time, the kind gentleman from the cabin cruiser at the dock arrived with my wife in his dinghy. As she climbed aboard, our daughter dived into her arms crying "Daddy please not hit me in the head anymore."

Did I mention this was Father's Day? Quality parenting at it's best... :banghead:

Feeling about as low as a Dad can, I headed downstream again. Back on electric power now, just enough for steerage. The depth sounder now reads 70 feet (?!? The chart doesn't show 70 feet anywhere in this channel !?!?) Suddenly, "Beeeeep" Depth alarm! 3 feet! :yikes: With the keel up, we draw 2, so I was scrambling. This repeated regularly for the next few hours - seemingly random depth readings and sudden alarms.

We raised a sail, but there wasn't even enough wind to maintain steerage, and we knew we couldn't tack against it in a narrow channel. The battery finally died completely, so we risked the gasoline motor, and the precious fuel.

Docking went surprisingly smoothly. Only then did I actually look in the fuel tank. As most of you experienced salts probably already guessed, the gauge was completely meaningless - we still had around half a tank left :banghead:(I promptly replaced that tank with a larger one, with a gauge that works better, but I don't believe that one either).

I've managed to leave my wife at the dock since then, but thankfully without quite as much drama as the first time.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,995
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
True Confessions of a father on Father's Day... That was memorable experience. I suspect it has been the story told occasionally when the family feels the need to remind Dad of his limits...
I enjoyed it and have empathetic feelings about your adventures.
Have a good day today, and thank you.
 
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AaronD

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Aug 10, 2014
723
Catalina 22 9874 Newberg, OR / Olympia, WA
And you're still married? A good yarn. Have a happy Father's Day and to the rest of you Daddies out there.
Very much still married. She actually has fond memories of that trip, especially of waking up together in the boat on Fathers' Day. My own memories are obviously a bit more mixed... :confused: