Epic Fail

[rgranger]

Hello All

Thought I would share a really bone-headed mistake I made.... just in case it helps someone else.

I had planned a 10-day cruise in the NC outer banks with my youngest daughter as a final big father-daughter adventure before she heads off to college. I have done the same cruise with her three older siblings.

Yesterday, we were prepped and ready to launch. I was backing up the boat and was a little off line. I could have corrected but thought, I'll just pull up 20 feet and straighten out. And then the rig came crashing down. Yep! There was an overhead power line that I had actually noticed earlier. But that was two hours earlier and I was tired, and rushing and just plain forgot about it.

I will be spending a few weeks putting my boat back together. Guys!!! Make a check list and put "look overhead" on the list.

I was really feeling sorry for myself yesterday but this morning I am thankful that no one was hurt, the boat is fixable and none of my electronics got fried. I can fix this and I relearned a hard lesson.

 

[Leeward Rail]

That sucks. It's a bit too common an occurance I'm afraid, so don't beat yourself up.
Hopefully this reminder will help someone, and like you say... you can repair the boat, and since no one was hurt, just end up taking her sailing later than planned.

 

[rgranger]

Just got off of the phone with Joe at the SBO store. He thinks he can run down the parts for me. As it turns out, I got lucky. I should be able to get my rig back up with three simple parts. The cap on the end of the boom that fits in the goose neck, a bracket for the spreader and the SS cover-guide for the CDI furler.

I will need to hack off about an inch off of my boom but I have at least three inches remaining when I have my main's foot out hauled all the way so... that should be fine. I checked all of my stays, no meat hooks... so they are also okay. It looks like the failure point was the toggle on the end of the turn buckle for the CDI furler. So I will replace that turnbuckle also.

 

[JamesG161]

OUCH!!
Horray for big boats. Boo for slip fees.
Jim...

 

[Jackdaw]

Awesome! Your mast fell but didn't break, bend, or crease. Amazing and very lucky you!

 

[JRacer]

Glad to hear that only parts got broken. Could have been a lot worse.

 

[Jtcf78911]

Sorry to see this but thanks for sharing. My wife is always telling me not to rush, especially on the boat. No reason for it and it just leads to, well, you know... Wives tend to be right about some things!! Tom O'Day 28

 

[EV21]

Thanks for sharing. Glad the only casualties were hardware.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I never considered the possibility of overhead powerlines. I never grew up with trailerable boats, until I got my hobie cat. Even then, it wasn't until I asked a guy at West Marine, why the top of mast was composite and not aluminum all the way up. That's when I learned that people hit those powerlines ALL the time. I made an assessment of each boat launch area first thing after that. However, I never had to work around powerlines at any of the ramps I went to. I know, because I've made similar mistakes for different things, how easy it is to forget from one second to the next because, having made that initial assessment, you relax too much.

So glad to read you are down but not out.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[kloudie1]

Man.. good that no one was hurt..

 

[Jackdaw]

Its very interesting to me that a piece of the rigging failed before the spar did. And that you didn't feel it enough to stop. When you see a mast hit things like bridges the boat pops a wheelie before the mast breaks, normally at the spreaders. Can you post a pic of the failed part??

 

[Hydro Therapy]

I hope your able to get her back together and share that quality time with your daughter.

 

[Tedd]

Oh man, that is painful!
I've recently made a new mast raising system for my Mac 26S that makes it easy to put the rigging up and take it down while on the water. No more worrying about the mast while maneouvring at the boat launch!

[Edited to add: Glad everyone was okay the boat damage not too bad. Whew!]

 

[rgranger]

@Jackdaw
Here is a pic

The ears that go around this T and are pintled to the bow chainplate failed . There was an extender that might have contributed. I don’t know the exact name of the extended but you see them all the time on the shrouds of smaller boats instead of turnbuckles.

Here are some more pics

 

[FDL S2]

Looking at the pictures, I'm guessing that you hit the overhead line with very top of the mast, it landed on the spreader and pulled the furler apart?

 

[rgranger]

Looking at the pictures, I'm guessing that you hit the overhead line with very top of the mast, it landed on the spreader and pulled the furler apart?

That would make sense. I think the goose neck on the boom took it hard due to the Vang attachment. The line on my Vang is a mess

 

[rgranger]

Awesome! Your mast fell but didn't break, bend, or crease. Amazing and very lucky you!

... and my electronics are still working

 

[rgranger]

I may need to straighten some poles on my bimi

 

[FDL S2]

That would make sense. I think the goose neck on the boom took it hard due to the bang attachment. The line on my Vang is a mess

That sounds right. I'm always amazed at the stress these parts will take under sail, but then odd, non sailing stress will tear them apart.

 

[shemandr]

I almost did that once. If it weren't for a teenage gal staffing a parking booth adjacent to the ramp I probably would have hit the power line. Sorry you're cruise is messed up. I hope you get the repairs done in time to do some version of it.