God I'm an Idiot!

PineyWoods · Mar 15, 2016

How 'bout leaving my Lake Lanier, GA slip singlehanded in our nearly new '77 Endeavour 32 with the 30A 110V cable still firmly jammed with a turn around a winch cleat, dragging the friggin' power pylon into the lake, shorting out the whole dock? Careless Idiot!

Or in '79 after a hard slog outside from Panama City to Apalachicola, FL arriving at the Municipal Marina about midnight and entered a slip, shifting from N into FWD with a blip of the throttle rather than REV. Fortunately the concrete walls of the square marina were higher than our bow, and we hit square on the turn of Xanadu's headstay chainplate with a resounding BOOM! Lights came on all around us. "Hi, folks, we're here!" Fatigued Idiot! This was the first leg of a year's great school-aboard cruise with our 11 and 14 year old daughters through the Keys, Bahamas, Chesapeake, E. coast up to Newport, RI and back.
Pete

Ron20324 · Mar 15, 2016

Yeah, TopCat... as others have said, stop being so hard on yourself. That's what WE'RE here for

Thom Hoffman · Mar 15, 2016

Ooooh, the memories come back. At the end of one of our early years with our H-30, I busied myself one late afternoon in late October, getting to the boat (still on her mooring) ready for being hauld out in the days ahead. Reasonably warm afternoon to row out and take care of the chores on the list; close to sunset, dropping temps and it's time to get back ashore. Loaded some things into the cockpit to take back ashore with me. Unfortunately, the dinghy was gone! Some idiot forgot to tie it to the stern once coming aboard. The marina crew was gone, nobody answering the VHF, and the harbor was devoid of anything moving in or out at this hour. While considering my options, I was relieved to see the dingy had drifted ashore into a safe area, rather than down harbor. After many efforts at hailing a live person, and considering my alternatives, I was ultimately rescued and hitched a ride ashore with another boater coming in. Only time I've let that happen....so far. ;-)

Thom Hoffman · Mar 15, 2016

It's not only the tides that'll get me into trouble, it's the currents too. I'd docked (solo trip) on the outside of the town landing heading into the current coming down the river feeding into the bay. An hour or two ashore and it was time to leave. Climbed aboard to fire up the engine and was pleased to see there was an easy escape from the dock with nobody in front or behind me. Easy street. Back onto the dock, I released the spring line and tossed it aboard, then to the stern and did the same. By the time I'd covered the 30+ feet to where the bow line was cleated, I was shocked to quickly realize that in my absence, the tide/current had changed and had now brought the boat half way around so the bow was almost facing the dock, and rotating swiftly. More by impulse than plan, I got both hand firmly gripped onto the bow sprint and pitched myself aboard as if saddling up. A purposeful walk to the helm and putting her into gear had me underway (in the direction I wanted to go) with only shaken nerves. Almost looked like I'd planned it that way,...but I knew better.

Scotty C-M · Mar 15, 2016

TC, I've done it too. I was 18. I borrowed my Dad's boat and broke the mast by backing it on the trailer into an overhead electric line. The boat (and my parents) had won several season championships on that boat. They went from a wood mast to an aluminum mast. With the new mast it never was the same! Opps. My Dad just said, "No problem, Son. Accidents happen. No one was hurt" His attitude was the true lesson of that day. Dad just passed away at 96. Thanks for reminding me. By the way, TC, no problem, accidents happen. No one was hurt!

Damifudo · Mar 16, 2016

Let me join in on the fun. On the forth of July we were going out to watch the fireworks and I was checking my lights and noticed the bow light was not working. I took it apart to clean it and replace the bulb. When I put it back together I put the lenses in reversed and had the green on the port and red on the Starboard and headed out. When heading back I looked over at one boat and said hey his lights are backwards a few minutes later another boat is backwards and then a third..... Doh I am an idiot. My brother till this day if we are out after dark still tells me that it looks like all the boats have their lights on backwards again!.

agprice22 · Mar 16, 2016

Ugh... Not a sailing mistake, but it has to do with my "boatyard..." I installed a new outdoor, gfci outlet in my shed for working on my boat. I shut down the power to the building and branched off a nearby line. Hooked it up, started work on my boat, using my multi-max dremel... No problem. My wife connected a small vacuum, and boom! That sucker blew up! Smoked! Weird. Must be the vacuum... Kept working with the dremel multimax. No problem! Bought a new vacuum. Plugged it in, turned it on, BOOM! Smoked that sucker, popped the gfci breaker. Haha. I went into the basement to check the breaker... Huh? Two toggles? Oh #%$&!!
I had connected to a 240 volt service!
Oddly, the dremel did not blow... It probably ran at 2x the speed! Since I was running it at the lowest speed, it worked?
I am simply humbled and glad I did not hurt anyone!
I vowed to check the breakers instead of just shutting down the main. Ugh!
God protects us fools!

NCNoviceCouple · Mar 29, 2016

1. Dropped the mast while practicing raising/lowering in the driveway.
2. Ran the trailer for my C22 off the end of a concrete ramp.
3. Forgot to put the rudder on before launching and leaving the dock.
4. Dropped the pin that secures the rudder overboard.
5. The first time docking in my new marina I handed my daughter a new line and told her to forward and throw it around a piling. She let go of both ends, missed the piling and we lost the line.

No one was hurt during the creation of these memories. I love sailing.

druid · Apr 2, 2016

Oh, where do I start...
Under Greatest Insult: I finally got my new-to-me Catalina 36 docked at the gas dock after about 12 attempts, and the guy says "Charter?" Oh, that HURTS...

druid

Ron20324 · Apr 2, 2016

[QUOTE...docked at the gas dock ...druid[/QUOTE]

Nomenclature is important. You might try to say FUEL dock. In a magazine letter to the editor, a skipper said the marina was closed when he came in, so tied up at the "fuel" dock. In the morning, a kick on the hull was the dockhand telling him he had to move his boat. Skipper said he was waiting for the gas pumps to open. So, the dockhand filled him up with... GAS. Skipper complained that his motor was running rough, and how much dirt was in the diesel fuel. Dockhand says, "diesel? YOU SAID GAS"" ... Proper nomenclature at all times.

druid · Apr 4, 2016

Ron20324 said:
[QUOTE...docked at the gas dock ...druid

Nomenclature is important. You might try to say FUEL dock. In a magazine letter to the editor, a skipper said the marina was closed when he came in, so tied up at the "fuel" dock. In the morning, a kick on the hull was the dockhand telling him he had to move his boat. Skipper said he was waiting for the gas pumps to open. So, the dockhand filled him up with... GAS. Skipper complained that his moror was running rough, and how much dirt was in the diesel fuel. Dockhand says, "diesel? YOU SAID GAS"" ... Proper nomenclature at all times.[/QUOTE]

Never did that, but DID put diesel in my (gas) Triumph Spitfire once. Once...

druid

Greengas · Apr 11, 2016

My entry into the idiot competition and I think this might qualify in two different ways. First, the batteries that I use for both my RV and boat (group 31 deep cycle) are 3 years old. In that time I never got around to checking the fluid level so let's just say that they were very thirsty (idiot action 1). Then I found a container with distilled water and started pouring. They were very thirsty indeed. Used one container to fill one and then found a container of "purified" water for the second. Hooked one battery up to my charger and went to bed. The next morning the battery was 100% charged but it was also bubbling out fluid. I looked at the container I used and it was distilled alright, distilled Vinegar (idiot action 2). The other battery (the one filled with purified water) seemed much better. So I'm wondering, can a battery be used that was filled with vinegar? I mean after all it was distilled

justsomeguy · Apr 12, 2016

topcat0399 said:
The the enormity of all....

Whoa, man. You just blew my mind.