Dumb and dumber

[Jerry Stroupe]

My frist Spinnaker lesson as told by Mac Smith

Simply put, a spinnaker is a light wind sail. DO NOT USE THIS SAIL IN 25-KNOT WINDS. Doing so tends to make the boat heel excessively, and become out of control. This can be verified by speaking with me, or with Jerry Stroupe, Captain of “Blew by You”, which was in the situation, as I was attempting to teach Jerry how to “fly” the spinnaker.  This started in on a rather windy day, but there were no white caps on the lake. We knew that NOAA had predicted stronger winds, but they simply were not there. Coming back from Dolittle Island (Bomber’s Range) coming between Spence and Goat Islands, the wind not only changed directions, but also kicked up to the 20-25 knot winds forecasted. The boat heeled up to over 50 degrees, and I was hanging on to a stanchion, to stay on the boat, a 25’ Oday, with Main and Spinnaker flying, thrashing, and bouncing, along with the boat heading up, and out of control. When the boom knocked Jerry overboard, he somehow caught a stanchion inside one elbow, dragging his wallet and shoes in the water. I suggested that he not let go. I started letting out the starboard sheets to the spinnaker, of which somehow got under the boat, and caught on the keel. I decided the next thing to do was to let out the other side, and so we let out the port sheet. Because the wind was severely shifting, this did not release the load fast enough, and so I then let the halyard out, in an attempt to drop the sail.  The spinnaker was now out, 20+ feet, away from the boat, on the port side, fully inflated, and DRAGGING US SIDEWAYS. (Remember the title of this article; this is for you to learn from my mistakes) The toe rail was under water, and the portals were receiving the blunt of the water, as we were dragged sideways, dead abeam, when the starboard sheet finally released fully, and allowed the sail to flail, as if a flag, so we could retrieve it.  Jerry dried out, and we got the wet spinnaker down below, reefed the main, and returned without a jib. We were too tired to put it up! Jerry’s boat has not been sailing since that January 24, 2004, due to this fiasco. When reefing the main, an eyelet was torn. You will probably see Jerry sailing on the weekends, but without Mac Smith or the spinnaker lesson, at least for a while. Know your abilities, equipment, and trust the weatherman, at least sometimes

 

[Craig Curtis]

She'll never sail with me again!

My wife and I had acquired a small daysailer, a Paceship 23, as a gift needed fixing up. She was a novice sailor and I had a passion to learn. We spent the winter fixing up the boat, new running rigging, paint, teak, she look beautiful. We sail out of Whitehall Marina which is up the creek from Whitehall Bay which is a large "cove" just south of the Bay Bridge on the Chesapeake Bay. After a few short romps into Whitehall Bay, we decide our experience level was up to the task, so we decided it was time for a sail into the bay proper. It was a weekend and there was a lot of boat traffic. I had spent a lot of time learning the rules of the road, but was not entirely comfortable sailing and having to pay attention, as tho they were two separate entities. The conditions were perfect for a novice sailor, a steady 12 knot breeze from the southwest. We had been out for approximately 2 hours and were preparing to come in. A 36 ft Cat was paralleling us coming into port, approximately 30 yards off our starboard beam. Little did I know that he (and I) were running out of water. Later when I looked at the chart I saw that the water below us was rapidly fading, and the deeper water was off our port side. The cat had right of way, and decided to turn hard to port, cutting in front of me. My wife had just gone below to answer nature's call, and was in the process of positioning herself above the porta-potty when I, with no warning to her, decided I had to turn hard starboard to avoid the cat. Of course, I had plenty of time and room to avoid him by maintaining my course, but didn't realize it at the time. My wife, with her pants around her ankles, must have bounced off of every sharp corner in the cabin, counting the bruises the next day. In my rush to avoid the cat, I neglected to yell to my wife to hold on. It was a month of my sailing alone and learning to handle my boat before she would go out with me again.

 

[robert taylor]

thought i was going to drown

i lost the mast on my vintage (but beautifully maintained) vanguard volant. 18', 380 lbs, new mast now offers 220 sq ft of sail. when i built the new mast, i decided to leave the top open. the dubious wisdom of this was so when i turned over, as the boat came up, the water would drain out. i don't go over often, but executed a lousy jybe and stuck the mast in the bottom of a lake with soft clay. every time i got the boat to come up, it would continue through the arc and go over the other way. getting the boat up requires a dead lift from the water to mount the extended centerboard for leverage. i was 48 years old at the time and must have done this twenty times. i had made the new mast about two feet longer than the old one, but couldn't see that this was the problem. when i finally got the boat up i had to body slam the far side of the boat to stop the momentum and thus another roll. i finally got the boat back. i had no shoes, torn clothes, lost glasses. i gasped and spit water for 20 minutes. when i got the boat home, i discovered that about 3 feet of clay was packed into the open hole in the top of the mast. it was this extra weight that caused the boat to continue to roll over and over and over and ...........

 

[robert taylor]

same volant, different dumbness

this is the same boat from previous post. i mentioned the boat is beautifully maintained. i have replaced blocks, sails, and gelcoat on bottom 3 times in the 27 years that i have owned this 33 year old boat. the last time i did this, everything was refitted and gleaming. with wife and kids in the front yard ready to go for a sail, i hooked the trailor to the car and began maneuvering the boat to get out of the driveway. while backing up, i heard a huge noise and something that sounded like the "boing" of a big spring vibrating. i got out of the car to find i had failed to pull the rudder up. while backing up, it had forcibly engaged the saint augustine grass and thumped a clump 4 inches deep, by 1 foot wide, by 2 feet long about 50 feet from the boat. i was relieved to discover that the centerboard was not broken.....i was not relieved to discover that the pintles and gugeons had been driven completely through the transom. it is fixed better than new now, but that day required several beers sitting in the garage looking at shards of fiberglass to come up with a game plan to fix it.

 

[Lori]

Thru-hull near-disaster

One day I found I had a clogged intake on the thru-hull that feeds the engine cooling for my Hunter 35.5. I had been running the boat daily to charge the battery in a shallow bay where the boat was anchored for a week, and had pulled in significant amount of seagrass. I took the hose off the thru-hull from the inside in efforts to clear it with a high-speed inflater, hanger, and wire tie all to no avail. I rerouted the intake for the head to get the boat to my home port (a good trick to remember) and finally succumbed to calling a diver to clear the clog. After he brought up a clump of grass to the dockside, we had a liesurely conversation about the zinc's, bottom paint condition, etc. After that conversation I meandered below only to hear an odd sound... the sound of a fountain in the aft cabin of my boat... I had forgotten to close the seacock and was filling the boat with seawater! I was able to throw the valve before too much water came in, and am simply glad I came below when I did!

 

[tomD]

So nice to join such good company:

We motored out past the breakwater into 25 not headwinds, got seaway, raised the headsail on our C-22, and did a heave to. The little boat sat there perfectly. She held the tiller over while I went forward to put a reef in the main. Not problem, except I tied one reefline around the sidestay as well as the boom. I told her to bear off, she did, the boom was then tied to the windward sidestay, cracked in half, and the whole thing got quite busy, with a full headsail and a broken boom in the cockpit and lines everywhere. To fix this embarassing mess I used the Sailor's Universal Tool: the credit card.

 

[Pete Brady]

How to impress the neighboors

Backing out of the slip with a Stern line attached (I was alone on the boat) has to be high on my list of Dumb moves. It not only was embarrassing but potentially dangerous as the line when tight turned the boat around and created a high anxiety time. All ended well and I now use a check list before leaving the dock.

 

[Harry]

David Hoppe Of Wisconsin

Are you from Green Bay?Sell Insurance?When I lived in Green Bay, my agent was David Hoppe!

 

[David Marod]

Dumb Dumb Dumb

Dumbest move to date (there have been many) was after a significant cruise around Puget Sound and we were coming back to the Marina. I was anxious to get the boat put away and go home but decided to fill it up with fuel and empty the head before going to the dock. After putting 3/4 of a tank of gasoline into my deisel I thought something was wrong. I immediately stopped, shut off the fuel feed and motored to the dock where I had to pump the entire tank out, get rid of the deisel/gas and refuel the boat. It took hours.....

 

[capitybill]

what can go wrong in an hour?

what could go wrong in just an hour? yeah, how about fog? THREE straight days 50' visability!!and no food on board and stuck offshore on a bar(rather be in one!)Yep,good ole smart ass me. I was just going to move the boat to new spot in Crystal river fl. it was a 48'bruce roberts spray and sure enough I put it on a bar just out from the nuke plant and sat there three days before any one could see me! Took me two years before I could look at peanut butter again. YEEHAH CAPY

 

[Mark Wieber]

Learning the difference...

Our AMF Flight 12 (minifish) Is a great little boat. It will not sink, and is fully sailable even with the footwell full of water. It planes well and is the most fun when the wind is up. It has sailed away from several spectacular spills, and on one gloriuosly windy day actually managed to cartwheel when the pilot (me) got swept off completely by a missplaced wave. No damage, some reassembly, got really cold, sailed home. Our Catalina C36, another big wind day, missrouted port jib sheet (through the safety lines), $475 damage. Knowbody got wet, or cold. Lesson: should have re-furled the jib before trying to straighten out the sheets. Oops!

 

[robert taylor]

shore power

come on folks...i can't be the only one here to leave the dock with the shore power connected.....twice!

 

[WG Wright]

I can't stop laughing...the teather

I, also have used the stern porta-potty on occasion. I guess as soon as I stop laughing, I will find the teather and attach one end by the stern Head for future use.....

 

[T J Furstenau]

Men Overboard - Left Behind

Okay, after much deliberation, I would have to say that this is the top of my "Dumb" sailing moves. It's amazing how replaying less than 30 seconds on the water seems like 30 minutes.Out sailing with my brother on my Hobie 16, double trapeze, flying the hull. As I drive the boat a bit too hard, and the windward hull is about 2-3 feet out of the water, we bury the leeward hull into a wave. Oh, and the mainsheet is cleated in the cam at the time. My brother, on the forward trapeze, loses his footing and makes like a pendulum swinging out in front of the boat, shifting the weight in that direction. Rather than rolling over, it looks like we are going to flip over forwards. Well, just as he hits the water right in front of the boat, he releases the buckle on his harness. By the way, his life jacket was tucked under the foot straps on the trampoline. No more weight pulling on the front of the boat, wouldn't you know it pops right back up and is ready to roll again. Did I mention that I had the mainsheet cleated?Well the boat does indeed take off, and I manage to keep my brother centered right between the pontoons, hoping he has the sense to stay under the trampoline. As I pass over him I look down and see him indeed below the water, apparently struggling. So being the good brother, as he passes from under the trampoline, I grab his life jacket and dive in after him. I did mentioned that the mainsheet was cleated in the cam??Well just as I'm clearing the back of the boat, his head pops up and he yells "What are you doing?". I was going to save his life, I thought that was apparent! It seems that what appeared to me as struggling, was him waving (below the surface) to let me know he was okay. So know we are both in the water, and I'm certain that I've mentioned at this point about the mainsheet. Well the boat was trimmed quite well, cause it took off across the lake, even flew a hull on its own. Turn over??? Nyeah, came right down and kept going.Well fortunately, one of those pesky one-person, stand-up jet-skiers that we love to hate saw our predicament, came by and asked if we needed help. I grabbed on to the back of his ski and yelled "FOLLOW THAT BOAT!" Off across the lake and I climbed on while it was moving like a movie action hero, quick tack, and I was back to pick up my brother.Lessons learned:1. Never cleat the main in those conditions.2. Always wear a life jacket when out on the trapeze.3. Next time leave my brother behind, he's too much ballast anyway.T J

 

[Brian Dellett]

Could have been tragic

So my buddy buys a used Catalina 22 . Both of us have sailed before as kids, he on big boats and me small and both of us haven't been out for years.So after getting it all ready to go we set out on a great windy day on the Barneget Bay mid-summer. Through the afternoon the wind picks up and we got this thing maxed. Flying over boat wakes, bow spray coming over and smiles ear to ear while were zipping all over the place. The wind calms for a little bit and we're doing some tightening of this and that and Mike says to me Dude wheres the anchor? I shrug. He's like we must have lost it b/c it was up front on the pulpit when we left. Mikes friend dave who was helping get the boat ready put it up there and as we were bouncing around one of the brackets slipped out wide and the anchor fell right off The good thing was Dave did not know enough to tie it to the boat. Can you imagine good winds and the boat maxed and all of a sudden the brakes being thrown on. Where we would have ended up? Who knows never mind the injuries to the boat and us

 

[Rob]

Not too COOL!

Years ago on my seawind ketch, I had a airconditioning experience worth mentioning. I had a small budget and needed air so I got a 12,000 btu window unit. I set it on the dock, made real cool vent ports that fit quit snug in the porthole on the side of the boat. I was the talk of the dock everyone came buy to check it out. The system worked real well for $100.00 dollors.Yes, it worked real well allday long ,but I was drunk and late for a raftup so I jumped in my boat and pulled out! But to my suprise my dock neighbor starts yelling ROB ROB you dumbass your dragging your airconditioner. being the rocket scientist that I am, I ran on deck expecting to pull the unit on board. (of course the unit was on the bottm under my slip) but bing excited and drunk I pulled on the vent duct so hard that I fell right on my butt. As I motored away I looked back with a drunken pride knowing I had just given the 40 people viewing the seen something to laugh at all wekend long.

 

[Fred Ficarra]

My Gawd, these stories are coming in at the rate

of one every 20 minutes! How did we survive? *pop

 

[Rick D]

Catharsis, Fred..

..my wife and I went to breakfast this morning and had tears in our eyes as I recounted some of these stories and she reminded me of more of mine. Like: tasting the strange blue water in the false bilge to see if it was salt or fresh (it was from the holding tank), tripping the dog into the drink, clogging the head and exploding it in my face, leaving the freezer on when the boat was dry-docked, tossing a dock guy in the drink when the crew sent him an uncleated line, reporting a mayday flare (4th of July, duh) swallowing a Transderm-Scopalamine patch my wife discarded in my beer, and oh-so-many more. This is a good reminder to us to share our misfortunes so others can spend more time sailing. In the meantime, this is way fun.... Rick D.

 

[Brigitte]

Kiss the dock

Last summer, we docked our mistral 16 on the east side of the dock where we usually have it for the season. Of course the wind decided to blow from that direction (this happens about once during the whole summer!) and we had only used cheap yellow rope, thinking all it needed to do was keep the boat between two arms. Well, what happened is that one of our aft lines broke and our boat banged the entire night against the dock !!! what a sight! We are still to this day cursing our stupidity and underestimating the force of the wind!

 

[Brigitte]

Kiss the dock (result)

As I was saying, our boat banged the whole night against the dock. We got a call the next morning from our friend, thinking what a wonderfull day for a sail...