Boat Hit While At Anchor!!

[Don Guillette]

Stu: I received the Catalina owners magazine and noticed your article regarding another boat ramming you while at anchor. It must have been and interesting experience -- did you see him coming at you?

I've only been involved with one ramming and I was on the boat that did the ramming. It was during a beer can race (I hate those races -- I prefer match racing) and the Shoreline YC -Long Beach, Ca race boat came out of nowhere and cut across our bow. We never saw them until it was too late. All we saw was this yellow boat materialize. My skipper tried to avoid the collision and we almost made it. Instead of "T boning" them we hit them near the stern ---- our bow stuck and we had to start the engine to pull away. It was a bad day and we heard about it for months on end!!!

 

[Jackdaw]

Boats don't just come out of NOWHERE......... ;^)

In particular in a race.

 

[rgranger]

Nowhere

 

[BudGates]

Even nowhere is somewhere.

 

[rgranger]

I like being nowhere... that is the point ....

 

[Stu Jackson]

I received the Catalina owners magazine and noticed your article regarding another boat ramming you while at anchor. It must have been and interesting experience -- did you see him coming at you?

Hi, Don,

Nope, I was down below at the time, reading a book after dinner. It was 2130, and just after dark, 3/4 moon and a well lit anchorage. Clear as a bell, no fog.

Problem was the bozo was also "lit" having spent too much time at the yacht club bar. He actually had the nerve to say, "I saw you when we were coming in (about 1700), but thought you'd already left!" Sheez.

He had his girlfriend with him and claimed he'd been getting the boat ready to sail. Issue was there was no wind, his sail cover was still on and he just wasn't looking where he was going.

It was a C&C32, the one with the aluminum toe rail and as about a sharp pointy end as you could imagine.

Good news is the insurance, his, covered it all. Bad news is I lost a month or so of sailing. Good news is I got a new bow pulpit and starboard lifelines, and anew bottom job.

 

[Calif. Ted]

A powerboat hit mine once at the dock when I wasn't there, luckily a dockmate witnessed and let me know. I had to ask the guy "If he knew anything about the ding on my transom from when you hit it yesterday?" "Oh yeah, he says, I'm sorry, I was coming in and the wind caught the boat and I kind of panicked" Oh, OK then as long as you were in a panic ????? Don't know how he thought that explained it, I was on the UPWIND side, if he'd done NOTHING he would have been blown away from me.
BTW I NEED lifelines, bottom paint and my bow pulpit is a little tweaked, some guys have all the luck.

 

[BudGates]

I spent a good part of my high-school senior year and all of the next summer building a sailing canoe. On her maiden voyage there was no wind so my brother laid down in the bow. About 10 minutes into the sail a speed boat with some drunk at the wheel rammed me. All my brother saw was the bow of the other boat suddenly sticking over the gunwale above him. If he had still been sitting up it would have hit him. The hull withstood the impact but it tore up my leeboards and bent my mast. Even though it was a clear sunny day and I had a big blue and white sail standing 18 feet in the air he claimed that he didn't see me. Being only 18 I was too young and stupid to hold the drunken skipper accountable.

 

[kimelmore]

We had a 65 ft sloop hit a couple of weeks ago on an end tie. The idiot was drunk as a skunk. Good thing there were witnesses. It is the 2nd time in 3 months someone managed to hit that particular boat. Needless to say the owner is looking to get off the end tie into a slip ASAP.

 

[Kermit]

The closest I've come to being hit was on a clear day when I was under full sail. The power boat driver honestly did not see me even though I was directly in front of them. You have to be looking ahead to see what's in front of you. Fortunately I can whistle REAL loud.

 

[fred1diver]

can say I've never heard a frog whistle

 

[Don Guillette]

Stu: I'll bet that woke you up!! We darn near sunk the YC race boat. You could see clear into the rear berth. The way they got it back to the dock was with everyone on the rail heeling it over.

The collision occurred about 200 yds from the start line. The boat was a Newport 30, which is built like a tank. We were closehauled on starboard tack and going as fast as that boat was capable. It was a 2 man per boat race. The Newport had a 150 deck sweeper and that blocked our view. Moments before the accident we looked under the jib and didn't see anyone so to us in hindsight the other boat came out of nowhere. Obviously, both boats should have been paying attention but that's why mishaps are called accidents. If the participants in any accident were paying attention there would not be accidents of any sort. The situation on both boats developed so fast and it ruined what could have been a nice day on the water.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Stu: I'll bet that woke you up!

Don, abba-sol-lute-a-lee!!! I thought my anchor had let go and I was bouncing off boats in the surrounding marina or was hard aground. Imagine my utter relief as well as disbelief when I popped up abovedecks and saw I was exactly where I thought I should be! It was a RESOUNDING and VIOLENT impact and it felt like a bomb had gone off.

The bozo was hanging onto my now slack lifelines, standing on his bow, repeatedly intoning: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so very, very sorry."

After 85 repeats, I final got through to him to let go of my damn lifelines, and go get a line so I could tie him off and not let him do a getaway. As I recall, what I did say was: "OK, enough already, let go of my lifelines that you busted, and go get a line." It took a few repeats on my part to get that through to him.

Some folks...

 

[NotCook]

Bummer.

I was down below in our passageway looking for something in a cabinet, while docked in our slip. I heard a series of "clunks" against our steel hull, and stood up to see a guy standing in his kayak, with his face pressed against our porthole and his hands around his face to shield it from the light so he could see in. I put my face up to the porthole from inside and "made a face" at him. He jumped back startled and almost fell out of his kayak, then quickly paddled away toward his (less nosey) companion in another kayak. I went up on deck later to check out the paint to see if he had scarred it up, but the neoprene only left a scuff that buffed out. It was worth the entertainment value to see the shock on his face to see someone staring back at him through the porthole!

 

[HEINZIR]

My boat was dismasted at her mooring by a drunken power boater in the middle of the night. It was a hit and run. Police never caught him. In the pictures the topping lift is the only thing keeping the mast out of the water.

 

[Jackdaw]

My boat was dismasted at her mooring by a drunken power boater in the middle of the night. It was a hit and run. Police never caught him. In the pictures the topping lift is the only thing keeping the mast out of the water.

There are some real jerkweeds driving around 'tonka in their 40 foot penis extenders. Hate when that happens. Every now and then we get one doing a high-speed flyby of our buoy field at WYC. Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full.....

 

[cb32863]

There are some real jerkweeds driving around 'tonka in their 40 foot penis extenders. Hate when that happens. Every now and then we get one doing a high-speed flyby of our buoy field at WYC. Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full.....

Or through the channel on Tuesday evening with, as you put it, the Sonny Crockett wannabe..... that boat was huge, I am sure nothing else was on that boat. Well, except for the gal that was with him's "enhancements".

 

[Jackdaw]

Or through the channel on Tuesday evening with, as you put it, the Sonny Crockett wannabe..... that boat was huge, I am sure nothing else was on that boat. Well, except for the gal that was with him's "enhancements".

Not that I have anything against 'enhancements'...

 

[flynhi4u]

My boat was dismasted at her mooring by a drunken power boater in the middle of the night. It was a hit and run. Police never caught him. In the pictures the topping lift is the only thing keeping the mast out of the water.

View attachment 124493 View attachment 124494

That had to make you sick when you pulled up and saw your boat in that shape. Not like mast parts are hard to find.

Sam

 

[MitchM]

the guilty boater's insurance should pay the innocent victim for the rental of a similar boat while the innocent's is laid up a month for repair in primo boating season. it is certainly a 'consequential damage' of the negligence of the guilty boater... under the law, one is liable for all reasonable consequential damages arising out of one's negligence. t hat's why car insurance companies cover the cost of a replacement vehicle.