New boater eavesdropping / 120v twist lock

[Skipper]

3 parts here, but related. A stunning comedy of potential tragedies this weekend.
For the last month or more, my neighbor to starboard has had the anchor light on. Rinker 300 powerboat. When I came down this weekend on Friday, the light was off. Finally he must have visited the boat.
Then, I saw it. The twist lock shore power cord at the dock box. -See picture-
These types of situations litter this whole harbor, especially on my dock and others where there are still 15 amp outlets requiring adapters. (The harbor was built in 1966)
Loose plugs, indoor extension cords, exposed wires, etc. Yet, no fires :-/

Anyway, I secured the connection for him. Suddenly, the anchor light began to glow.

Next, this morning at 6:15am, my neighbor to port came to his new-to-him Grady White, noisily piled on fishing gear as usual, and started up the twin Yamaha's. One motor began a medium-pitch grinding noise a second after starting. Alternator, stuck solenoid? Didn't matter, he left to go fishing. It's ok I guess, he's got 2 motors.

This last one is fantastic. My neighbor 2 slips to port comes around about a minute after the Grady left, and discovers that he's got dead batts on his new-to-him Mainship 30 diesel. His shorepower cord had (coincidentally) apparently been knocked loose at the dock box by the Grady owner's dock cart, and the Mainship guy was blaming the dead batts on it. I knew this through the Mainship guy complaining to his wife on the cellphone.
20 minutes later, the charger had apparently juiced up the batts enough to turn the diesel over, and it started. But with a loud whining alarm below, not at the helm. (Bilge alarm?) He couldn't find the source.
The family then arrived, a couple if teens, wife, and a guest I think.
The owner's response to the still-screaming alarm was, "maybe it will go away".
They left. And they only have one engine.
All this in one weekend, in just my little area in one harbor.

 

[25yearslater]

Where are you at? I want to visit since you can't buy that kind of entertainment. Talk about a comedy of errors. I don't want to dock there mind you as sooner or later the comedy is bound to turn to tragedy and the humor stops.

 

[Whigman]

I'm a relatively new boater. .. from personal experience I look around and see if I can find a salty sea dog and pepper him/her with questions before pushing off dock. No shame in admitting lack of knowledge to gain said knowledge... real shame is having to radio in the coast guard when youre adrift because you left in a powerboat with questionable power.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Let me correct that for you:

in a powerboat with questionable power XXX skipper...

 

[Chris Patterson]

Ever notice how other people seem to get away with this madness, but on our own boats it has to be utterly perfect, yet still suffer calamities?

 

[woodster]

Ever notice how other people seem to get away with this madness, but on our own boats it has to be utterly perfect, yet still suffer calamities?

I got a buddy that can go in to m60 fire fight with a daisy bb rifle and come out unscaved totally amazing

 

[Kings Gambit]

If you roll the dice often enough you come up with "snake eyes."

 

[Whigman]

I've had my share of miraculous moments like riding my bike alone on deserted highways all night and having my motor blow 10 yards away from a harley dealership 30 minutes before they open. I'm however, rather unwilling to try that on the open seas.

 

[Whigman]

I got a buddy that can go in to m60 fire fight with a daisy bb rifle and come out unscaved totally amazing

Haha...must've been a Marine. Seems like that's standard issue. Marines get hand-me-downs.

 

[capta]

Awe come on, you are being way too harsh here. All three of them probably have Sea Tow or Boat US towing, so why not go out and have a nice PART of one of the last nice days on the water this season, before being towed in?

 

[MitchM]

these are the same kinds of morons we have in the northeast. but here the least favorite neighbor docking trick is: start your engine, leave your shore power 'on' at the post, untwist the 30amp connector from your boat and try to throw it onto the dock, watch the live end fall into the water , and just motor obliviously out of your slip . we've tried to tell the guy why this is a fatally bad procedure, but he advises us that ' he has his captains license.'

 

[Kings Gambit]

Awe come on, you are being way too harsh here. All three of them probably have Sea Tow or Boat US towing, so why not go out and have a nice PART of one of the last nice days on the water this season, before being towed in?

Out here in California it's Vessel Assist. There certainly were a lot of calls over Labor Day Weekend. People out of gas, engine wouldn't start for whatever other reason, taking on water, etc. There was a guy in a powerboat taking on water in Santa Monica Bay. We had BayWatch, Vessel Assist, and Sector Los Angeles all talking to this guy trying to get his location. The rescuers wanted his GPS but he kept giving them "... miles off Marina del Rey", etc. They tried to vector him to King Harbor at Redondo Beach but he kept saying he was closer to MdR and wished to go there, etc. Either Sector Los Angeles or Vessel Assist eventually identified him on their AIS plotter, b/c he had AIS and it was transmitting, to find out his location. Eventually he and the rescue boat met up and they started pumping. So, another reason for AIS--if you don't know which harbor is which and cannot read, or find, your GPS, but you can remember the name of your boat or your own name, Vessel Assist might locate you and get there in time! That's where we are now. So what if the boat is sinking when it leaves the slip--Vessel Assist to the rescue--keeping an eye on you through the marvel of AIS! Perhaps someone should start a monitoring service-- the sort of "shadow skipper" that checks in on you and tells you where you are every few minutes or hours. "Yeah- uh, come left 3 degrees to miss that channel marker; good, good; straighten out now and slow down-- good."

 

[Stu Jackson]

Another good one, KG. We get that here during Fleet Week & Opening Day. Two days I don't go out, like driving on New Years Eve.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Another good one, KG. We get that here during Fleet Week & Opening Day. Two days I don't go out, like driving on New Years Eve.

Thanks, Stu. As we both know, one cannot make this stuff up. It's all true!

 

[Skipper]

Where are you at? I want to visit since you can't buy that kind of entertainment. Talk about a comedy of errors. I don't want to dock there mind you as sooner or later the comedy is bound to turn to tragedy and the humor stops.

I'm in Dana Point, CA.

 

[Skipper]

Out here in California it's Vessel Assist. There certainly were a lot of calls over Labor Day Weekend. People out of gas, engine wouldn't start for whatever other reason, taking on water, etc. There was a guy in a powerboat taking on water in Santa Monica Bay. We had BayWatch, Vessel Assist, and Sector Los Angeles all talking to this guy trying to get his location. The rescuers wanted his GPS but he kept giving them "... miles off Marina del Rey", etc. They tried to vector him to King Harbor at Redondo Beach but he kept saying he was closer to MdR and wished to go there, etc. Either Sector Los Angeles or Vessel Assist eventually identified him on their AIS plotter, b/c he had AIS and it was transmitting, to find out his location. Eventually he and the rescue boat met up and they started pumping. So, another reason for AIS--if you don't know which harbor is which and cannot read, or find, your GPS, but you can remember the name of your boat or your own name, Vessel Assist might locate you and get there in time! That's where we are now. So what if the boat is sinking when it leaves the slip--Vessel Assist to the rescue--keeping an eye on you through the marvel of AIS! Perhaps someone should start a monitoring service-- the sort of "shadow skipper" that checks in on you and tells you where you are every few minutes or hours. "Yeah- uh, come left 3 degrees to miss that channel marker; good, good; straighten out now and slow down-- good."

Yep, we get loads of good radio antics out here in So Cal.
One of my favorites is the one where this poor new sailor gets caught up in a bit of a wind storm we had here back in the spring. He gets his headsail muckered up in the furler, and can't retrieve it nor get her pointed into the wind to drop the main. Then he wisely gets the motor running, and then unwisely wraps a jib sheet into the prop. 27 foot Coronado-ish boat.

So he gets on the VHF. Among other things, part of his distress call includes, "There's wind everywhere!"
Then, when the CG asks if he has a GPS, he replies, "I don't know. (pause) I have a radio."

He got towed in.

Disclaimer: I too have made some hilarious errors during my sailing career. However, nobody has ever seen nor heard them. Except my wife....but I make it look like heroics, through seemingly miraculous recoveries.

 

[Boomer54]

One Saturday afternoon: watched a transient power boat smack sideways into a slipped powerboat(no wind or current, just went sideways) and the flip the owner of the boat he hit the bird; watched a sailboat hit the concrete walkway head on(his slip was to port, he forgot to turn), went and helped him get docked and then overheard him ask"anyone know how to turn the engine off"; then watched a guy fall in two docks away(plenty of help nearby to get him landed).

 

[IH82BL8]

I want to visit since you can't buy that kind of entertainment.

Plenty of free entertainment at your nearest public boat ramp.

By way of confession: Ran aground on my way out, first day out as a new boat owner, still within sight of the marina.

 

[sea_casper]

Plenty of free entertainment at your nearest public boat ramp.

By way of confession: Ran aground on my way out, first day out as a new boat owner, still within sight of the marina.

Some days you watch the show.

Some days you are the show.

 

[Tim R.]

Saw a guy in a 20 something bow rider pull up to fuel dock, throw it in reverse to stop the boat. He jumps off with the bow line but the boat was still in reverse. It pulled out of his hands and watched it do circles in the marina in reverse and also hitting other boats. He was also a licensed captain.