Dropping money over the side

[higgs]

Spinnaker pole

Yea, I lost a spinnaker pole. It was stored on deck using shock cords to secure it. One was off when I left, but i still thought the pole was secure. It was a 70 mile double handed race on L Mich, but I did it single handed as my crew dropped out. Winds kicked up to 30+. Fortunately, we were travelling along the lee shore, so seas stayed under 4 feet, but the gusty winds kept us very busy. The race was run on a close reach and winds were such that no one one used a spinnaker. My pole was stored on the leward side of the boat and I spent the day on the windward side of the boat. The race finished at the Port Washington harbor mouth, so once over the line, I dropped sails, started the engine, lashed the helm over hard, and, as the boat circled, got things ready to dock. It was then I noticed my pole was gone.

 

[Larry Wilson]

Overboard

I've lost all of my favorite baseball caps. My wedding band fell off one cold sailing day, and bounced off the fore deck, luckily, into the jumble of head sail laying on the deck. That one would have been the ultimate nightmare. It's almost always a screw or bolt that I can't get locally, and I can't leave the dock without it.

 

[Fred]

You-all reminded me of the

time I took the pit out of an avocado in the cockpit with my Swiss Army pocketknife. Pit in one hand and knife in the other.You got it. I threw the knlfe over the side, and stood there looking at the pit in my other hand.

 

[abe]

Heck, I thought the minute you buy a boat...

..you are already throwing money overboard.abe

 

[Roger (Ninette Manitoba)]

lucky days

At out previous marina, the local divers would make potential money by selling back to us all the things we threw overboard during the last season. The best was a crimping tool which started a bidding war between a few sailors. There was always an interesting basket of goodies, and as predicted as supported in the thread, most were sunglasses, followed closely by tools. The tools most often found were the rusted and seized ones of course.My luckiest day was the day I dropped my whisker pole overboard. It was a lightweight tube, filled with air, and as it bobbed once, I was able to swoop down from the deck of our low slung dinghy and grab it.

 

[Paul Akers]

I've lost two cell phones!

...And a $75 pair of sunglasses. And the list goes on... just be prepared with back-ups!

 

[Waffle]

I have loss the following

$250 Electronic car key (my wife)$500 Pair of glasses$200 Two cell phone$350 Lead filled Rudder for SJ-21 (Retrieved by diver)$250 Rudder for Kingfisher day sailor (Built new one)But I found a $1200 solid gold necklass while snorkeling on my friends dock at Lake Norman. I, of course, gave it back to my friend who insisted I take a reward, so we can right of the $80 reward. I also found a Twenty dollar bill when SCUBA diving off a fishing jetty. I guess it is give and take with the sea!

 

[Sean]

Fred **That was classic**

I'm sitting here reading all these on this rainy wet day. I've had my share slip ups..once when I walked down the ramp to coral my favorite floating money pit into her cradle and trailer her out, when I noticed that my cell phone had started vibrating..it seems I had drifted a little too far down the ramp into the water and my cell phone didn't appreciate that.But out of all these, I have to say Fred's was the best..."holding the pit"! I could totally picture it...-Sean

 

[LancerDude]

Cell Phones Dont Swim

It's too bad someone does'nt design a cell phone that can swim...not that I would ever let something like that go over the side. I try to not carry phones,wallets,etc around the boat with me.Worst thing I've lost over the side was ME!!!Luckily,I was able to recover myself to continue service.LOL >>>>> David

 

[TJ]

lost and found in five minutes

While hanging around a dock in Toledo Oregon I stopped to talk to a very old salt working on his sloop. While chatting I was fumbling with my keys and sure enough let them slip into twenty feet of water. Without missing a word I asked if he had a big magnet on board and within minutes I was bouncing it on the bottom. When I pulled the magnet up on the very first try, there were my keys hanging by the steel belt hook. I thanked the salt and handed back his magnet and we continued swapping yarns just like it was an everyday occurance.Its been thirty years since and I always have a big magnet. Maybe that why my compass spins. TJ

 

[David10430]

Winch Handle

On a friend's boat, in the middle of a 6 hr. race, somehow I managed to drop the only (non-locking) winch handle on the boat overboard. It was tough tacking the rest of the race! I replaced it with a locking, floating handle.

 

[Joe Pyles]

Money

The logic that part of a boat lies below the waterline proves the amount of money thrown into the boat is thus in the water. As for things gone bye bye, my best story relates is the Walker Bay Dinghy and Honda 2hp 4 stroke Outboard. Tethered to the stern, the hold thing sank as I stepped in to go to shore. When I bobbed up wife was looking at me as if I was a idiot instead of throwing me a life ring! Sold Walker Bay immediately, repaired the Honda, got a stable inflatable dinghy and decided that all was fair to lose in the water except yourself.Next story is the Garhauer Solid Boom Vang I placed on a lawn chair dockside while preparing the boom for installation. Up came a gust of wind. Chair and Vang into the water. Now, you think you can go back to your high school days of diving with mask and fins? I plunged into the murky deep unable to see the hand in front of my face and at the same time running out of air realizing I was still in the descent. Got a friend to find the Vang. Drained Vang for an hour before installing. Never did find the chair? If you are working with something near the edge of your boat and you think you may drop it in the water you increase actual odds that you will drop it in the water. True? The formula is: higher the cost of an object and the nearer high cost object to the water. . . the possibility of dropping high cost object in the water is increased by the square root of your thinking you might drop object in the water. Formula odds increase four times if your buddies are talking to you and watching you work with the high cost object. If your wife is watching and she knows you might drop an object in the water to justify a new object. . . don't go there!

 

[OldCat]

My Good Sailing Buddy...

My good sailing buddy lost his cell phone over the dock in Avalon (Catalina, CA).Worse, after diving for it and drying it out, he lost it a second time as we were picking up a mooring in 35kts of wind at Twin Harbors (Catalina). Worse still - the cell phone was in his pocket *yks. Yep - he went over the side with the phone as he was walking the mooring line to the bow *yks.So, I guess that I've lost a buddy overboard - took a few beers for him to feel better .Who do I lose overboard? Of course, my strongest most athletic crew! At least we had the stern line on the mooring . . .Kevin

 

[nick]

The most amazing ...

overboard story I have occurred after a difficult crossing of the Noosa bar including a couple of groundings. I anchoring in the Noosa river at around 6.00pm with the tide just starting to come in.In sorting out the anchor I lost a new aluminium boat hook and my cap overboard and they both went floating up the river. I was too knackered to bother about any retrieval. Early the next morning I went on deck to take the early air and low and behold spotted the boathook floating back downstream. It was so close that I was able to reach it by leaning out from the boarding platform. I had only just got it aboard when the cap appeared which was also retrieved. Note to only buy caps with foam headbands and record the state of tide when floating things go overboard.Other misshaps have been not so sucessful two mobile phones, two pairs of sunglasses, however a complete headsail furling drum was retrieved by a diver for $75.

 

[Steve O.]

here's my list:

Lost: winch handle, vise grips, car keys, sunglasses, handheld radio, cockpit cushion, silverware, pillow, assorted pins & shacklesRecovered the car keys, pillow, nglasses and radio. Dried the radio out and it still works.Found a small danforth anchor and rode, several fenders and a $5 bill.

 

[Landsend]

My list over twenty years.

2 winch handles, eyeglasses, solar vent, car keys, wife, numerous tools hardware and screws, and on average about 3 caps a year. I did find one really nice, expensive plow anchor.

 

[Ralph18414]

One winter, while lubing a mast winch, I dropped a

retaining ring and watched it roll off the deck, bounce, clear the toe rail, and go into the drink. A month or so later, at the slip, I dropped into the water a huge phillips screw driver that I had since I was a young man.The following summer, while swimming off the dock, I decided to try and retrieve my screw driver. On the second dive, while holding my breath and feeling around in the mud at the bottom of the lake, I felt a small circular piece of wire and new right away it was the retaining ring. Bolstered by the reward of my retaining pin, I kept diving, hoping to find my screw driver. No such luck. However, at the time, I thought the retaining ring was more valuable since there are no marine stores in Northern Alabama that sell whinch parts.

 

[Ben16737]

*fingerscrossed*

My list of overboard items is still very short. A few pairs of sunglasses, and the padlock from an outboard lock. I make sure that keys and wallet are zipped securely into a bag before I walk onto the dock. I should probably make a few offerings to Neptune to help my good luck continue...

 

[Eufrades]

Anchor

I'm surprised nobody has lost an anchor!I am too new to sailing to have lost anything yet, but my uncle who inspired me to start sailing (he gave my his boat this past summer) told me of the day he and my aunt were having a tiff. She turfed the new anchor overboard without noticing it hadn't been hooked up yet!

 

[caguy]

I like that Landsend

your wife is listed between car keys and numerous tools.