Faceplant

[Gene Neill]

Docking

Sometimes, you watch the show.

Sometimes, you are the show.

LOL ... awesome. SO true!

Patrick, cheers to you, buddy! We all do stuff like that occasionally, but it takes a MAN to post it on the internets!!

 

[capnron209]

When I take people on my boat I tell them the same thing every time. The first thing I tell them is that they need to step onto the boat or stay on the dock. They need to decide to step and then complete the step and not change their mind in the middle of getting on the boat(unless I have a video camera set up).

Well if you haven't guessed by now I'll have to tell you. I went sailing with the Barefoot Sailing Club for the last cruise of the season. It was a wonderful day. Everything on the boat worked perfectly. I came in to the dock just as the sun was going down. Still plenty of light but getting kind of cold. The wind had died down and I drove right into the dock, hit reverse and the boat stopped perfectly. It was sitting in the slip just as if it was tied up. I unhooked the fuel line so it would clear out the carb. I had not unhooked the safety line and just planned to step over it.

As I stepped over the safety line and onto the dock I noticed that my bow line was hooked to the hanger by the safety line. I had forgotten that it was there since we had rafted up the boats. I reached down and picked up the line. As I did this I noticed that the boat was leaving the dock since one foot was on the dock and the other was still on the boat. They were already too far apart for me to step on either one. My only choice was to dive onto the dock.

Unfortunately I hit face first. I thought I was going to lose a tooth but it was just loose. No bruise this morning and the tooth is mostly secure. I need to stop working so much and do more sailing. Too much thinking about work and not enough thinking about sailing.

I need to follow the rules that I make for others and step on or off without changing my mind.
Interesting end to a wonderful day.

First thing I did was jump up and make sure no one saw it happen.

I was docking my C30 one October pm, jumped from boat to dock, but dock tipped, and I fell in the water. Unfortunately, boat was in neutral, but the momentum drove the boat on top of me. I came up on side of bow as wife hit reverse. Nothing hurt, except my pride!!! Next time use the boat hook!!!!!

 

[Ward H]

Our slip has a finger pier but we rented a house with a dock so the boat was tied up abeam to the dock. This was the first opportunity for our golden retriever to come aboard. Two paws on the boat and two on the dock. She stretched out pretty far before I was able to grab her collar and pull her in.
After that she just jumped into the boat.

 

[Ken13559]

One thing I learnt though the years is when things goes exceptionally smooth and on schedule nice and well, its too good to be true and it usually is.

 

[DAVA390]

An email I sent to a friend this summer.. Campers appreciate free entertainment like that. I supplied some at the marina tiki bar last Sunday, going to go into the floating pier by myself, have lunch while awaiting Annies arrival. The restaurant /tiki bar is right next to our marina, lately the pattern has been me down there in the am to repair/scrub/sleep then launch, then she joins me after Sunday church and visit with her mom. I came into the pier downwind, turned toward the pier, smartly cut the throttle to coast in “just so”, gathered up the stern dock line, ran forward, grabbed the bow line, went to jump onto the pier and promptly tripped over the lifeline and missed going overboard between the boat and pier by inches. I hop up, tie up, walk up to the tiki bar, bartender has my usual ready, smirks “Impressive, sure you want to have this?” Apparently, a fun time was had by all!...

 

[capejt]

reminds me of a situation...

When I was working for a bareboat charter company a few years back, a charter party was all loaded up and ready to go. My boss suddenly realized that he had never put the barbeque grill back on the boat after cleaning it. He dashed down the dock with the grill in his arms and caught them just as they were backing out of he slip. He attempted to hand it over to the crew by placing one foot on the boat deck and on foot on the dock. A crew member reached over and took the grill from him, while in the meantime, the boat was drifting away from the dock. My boss looked like something from a cartoon, his legs slowly but uncontrollably spreading until he finally had to make a decision, He didn't and ended up going for a nice morning swim. The rest if us employees never let him live that down.
That is of course until one day I was walking the the docks heading back to the office after an extensive head repair job. On shore they were conducting a fashion photo-shoot with a bunch of "attractive" women. I was watching the shore and not the dock where I was walking and walked right into the drink. Now I never laugh at anyone's maritime misfortunes.

 

[rockingham]

Re: reminds me of a situation...

look before you peep.

 

[Gene Neill]

... placing one foot on the boat deck and on foot on the dock.

Seems like a lot of Kodak moments start with that line right there!

 

[rpwillia]

Agree with Tenacity

No pictures, it didn't happen

There is a proven corollary that if you do something perfectly, no one is around to see it , but if you screw up royal there is video.

 

[woodster]

My Kodak moment .....

i was helping my buddy with his boat on its maiden voyage after the first launch at Turners marina at dog river ...it was Sunday morning and we were reading the boat for the crossing of the bay to Fair hope pier...the dock fingers are about 42 inches above the deck of the boat and no ladder to go up on the finger ....I weigh 185 lbs soaking wet with a full stomach my buddy weighs about 375 to 425 on an empty stomach ....i climbed up on the finger and waited for him to come up so we could run an errand...... low and be hold he started up and could not get all the way to the top and the slack ran out of the dock line and left him hanging on the piling...well i am standing there unable to help him get up or pull the boat back under him ....it left me totally help less in assisting him...this seemed like an eternity to me and i felt bad for him but could do anything ...oh and it was cold a morning at that time ...now that i look back on it it is comical now..... but i just knew at the time i was going to have to fish a wounded water buffalo out of the drink ...he finally got composed enough to finish the climb up but it seem like a long time coming.....

 

[stevewitt1]

In our Yacht Club any such coordinated (or uncoordinated) move such as this if witnessed by any other member will most likely earn the person an award at our annual Commodore's Ball. And yes, nothing matters if no one witnessed it.

Of course, I've never committed any act such as that, worthy of an award. (And if you believe that I have 32' Sloop with a 25 kt average cruise speed to sell you.)

Kudos to you Patrick for sharing with us all.....

Steve


Visit us at.. http://www.ocontoyachtclub.com and http://www.warbirdsix.com

 

[WayneH]

Agreeing with Ken

It never happened to me. Noooo neeeevvvvver.
Ken

All I want to add is although this has never happened to me, there weren't pictures either. So there.

 

[justsomeguy]

I leave a blood trail whenever this stuff happens to me.

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

Mine was similar to Ward's. A couple years ago we were at our usual sailing location and we got tired of stinkpotters taking forever on launch or recovery , so I chose to launch at the first available spot with the dock on my starboard side. As I have to back up until my van's bumper is well underwater, this is never my first choice for launch or recovery(much wasted motion walking all the way around the van and then back to make sure things are secure.
Sure enough, our aged pooch tried to make it into the boat from the unfamiliar side and went right into the water instead. This was, unfortunately, our first clue that his eyesight was beginning to match his brain power in it's lack of function (never the brightest dog in the pack). Lucky for the mutt, a bystander fished him out using his live vest before any injury occurred.

 

[BobM]

At Lake George I made the mistake of leaping off a boat onto a wet and as it turned out, very slippery dock. I,Leander and my feet went right out from under me! I landed on my ass quite hard. A sailboat makes docking more entertaining, but it was a powers oat and certainly was maneuverable enough to get closer so I could debark safely. Just too used to sailboats!

 

[down_shift]

Similar dog story as above. Winterized the boat last weekend with my two Duck Tolling Retrievers at my side. One is my garage rat (and this is a great thing) and constant companion and the other just sorts of lays there to the point you forget he is with you. As I typically do when bringing the dogs or rest of my family, I readjust the stern lines so the aft beam is close to the finger pier and open the adjacent gate in the lifelines. The dogs are free to jump back and forth at will. On this trip, after prepping the boat for its winter haulout, I completely overlooked just how many pillows, comforters, throws, etc ( you know, all the stuff the Admiral brings aboard) I had to bring home. It became a game of Tetris trying to fit everything in the SUV. My companion was sort of getting in the way jumping in and put of the tailgate. So on the third haul of pillows (wish that I was joking) I secured his lead to the winch (loop handle fits perfectly over the Lewmar 46). It is long enough for him to be in the cockpit or pier and not hang himself if falling into the drink. Buttoning up the boat, I had to find and wake up sleepy dog and get him to hop on the pier. Then I closed the gate and readjusted the stern lines to center the stern in my slip. As I was just about to cleat the line on the non-finger side, sleepy dog starts barking like crazy. I turn around and see companion dog restraining the boat with all his might, all four paws digging into the pier. I was inches from pulling the poor guy off the pier. That was the first time I've heard sleepy dog bark in a year.