New Scary Experience In the Marina

Jan 10, 2011
319
Macgregor 25 675 Lake Lanier
I went sailing today. My new used motor fired right up, ran like a champ and was so quiet. I backed out of the slip like a pro. I shifted into forward and throttled up. Suddenly the engine make a loud bad noise and I was moving between two piers full of boats in slips and no engine. I have a slip near shore so there was a long line of boats on both sides.

I learned that one guy paddling like a madman can stop my boat and get it back to a slip with a very light wind.

The line I use to pull the engine mount up and down had dropped into the water and wrapped around the prop. I was able to unwrap it and nothing was damaged. I am going to be a lot more careful about that line. I have it tied to the motor as a safety rope. Just in case the mount ever let go of the motor. I think that I will now use a separate line and shorten the line I use to control the motor mount.

This is the first bad situation for me where throwing out the anchor would not do any good.

I think I panicked for a few minutes.

Sorry, no pictures I was trying not to crash.
 
Aug 22, 2011
1,113
MacGregor Venture V224 Cheeseland
Its definitely better to be up a creek with a paddle than without.
Do you keep a boat hook handy for unexpected fending off?

Oh wait - paddle does that too

I am pretty about making sure the rear of boat is clear before firing up.
You are a good reminder why.

Glad you didn't crash.
 
Sep 25, 2008
7,075
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
I learned a similar lesson years ago - make sure the bow lines are short enough so they only stream back to JUST BEFORE the prop. Stern lines and springs tend to drift away precluding the problem.
 
Nov 23, 2011
2,023
MacGregor 26D London Ontario Canada
I had my OB stuck in reverse about 3/4 throttle and bouncing up and down once while I was trying to dock in about a 20m/h side wind. I was pulling the boat at the end of the season.
I had put it in reverse and gave it a shot of gas to slow a bit while coming in to the dock hot because of the cross wind. The twist grip pulled right off the tiller arm! Small parts went splash and some how the OB wasn't locked down.
I got really lucky and backed up holding the motor down to ware I thought I would drift to the dock. It was a perfect drift! I stepped off the bow. 3 more feet and I'd be swimming or on the other side of the lake! No amount of paddling would have helped in that wind.
Only my daughter Jasmine got to see this performance from the safety of the dock.
We typically are the last boat out...
Glad you didn't hit anyone.
 

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Sounds like another good reason NOT to trail a line off the stern.
 
Nov 19, 2011
1,489
MacGregor 26S Hampton, VA
[QUOTE="patrickfarley;1145757" I think I panicked for a few minutes. Sorry, no pictures I was trying not to crash.[/QUOTE]

I can't believe you didn't take pics! Surely you had one empty hand. Hahaha.

I did a similar thing but it was my rudder up haul rope. I use a clip to attach it to my backstay now.
 
May 4, 2005
4,062
Macgregor 26d Ft Lauderdale, Fl
I saw a large sailboat almost crash into a crowed dock, when its dingy painter got caught in the prop while waiting for a bridge. his anchor saved the day at the last second.

glad it turned out alright.
 
Aug 2, 2005
1,155
Pearson 33-2 & Typhoon 18 Seneca Lake
This is the first bad situation for me where throwing out the anchor would not do any good.

I think I panicked for a few minutes.

Sorry, no pictures I was trying not to crash.[/quote]


Somewhere I read "sailing is hours of boredom separated by moments of panic!" In your case you controlled the panic well enough to avoid injury or damage. However, someone should have taken a video for instructional purposes.
 
Dec 29, 2013
1
MacGregor Venture 222 Michigan
Good recovery!

I had a similar experience with a motor that decided to die, and then after I got it going again, the fuel line pulled out when I turned it too far to one side. It was quite an anxious moment to be drifting out of control toward a boat that looked to be worth around $100K. While my boat is not really worth insuring, the experience did convince me to get liability insurance. I now have $300K coverage against damage to other boats.
 
Jul 15, 2014
31
Hunter H-376 Silver Cloud Marina
A few years ago I was leaving port in a direct 20 plus knot wind. Our 40' was a wide girl, with a 13' beam. I remarked when we entered port to get some lunch and fill up on diesel how tight the port was. It offered very little room to maneuver in case of emergency. Little did I know that a few hours later I'd find out just how difficult it would be.

On leaving the port the wind had kicked up to a 20 plus, gusting wind.

[A storm warning would be issued a few minutes later. Imagine boats stacked tightly together on port and starboard for a good 200 yards with no where to turn. The tight passage offered less than 30' - 40' from one side to the other].

We where leaving port under engine, but had our mainsail up with jib (attached but sitting in its bag on the bow). The mainsail was lose flapping loudly in in the wind when suddenly the engine stopped. The gusting wind was so strong it was driving us backwards as we tried restart the engine to no avail.

I gave the order to raise the jib sail as we struggled to save out boat from certain disaster. Valiantly we attempted tight jibes in such close quarter conditions barely missing the boats on either side. Then when we had somehow managed to break out of the end of boat row. a sudden, violent gust of wind pushed the bow of the boat hard to port. There was nothing we could do, no where to turn...collision was immanent.

Dead in our sights was a massive 55' Steel Hull Cruiser. BOOM@!#*

Thank god the Hull was steel.
 

abk

.
Aug 9, 2007
203
Hunter H 26 Somers Point, NJ
It is a known fact to me that any line in the water will ALWAYS find its way to the prop to foul it and it will always happen at the most inopportune time. Like when you power up the iron sail to get out of the way of a commercial freighter coming at you when the wind goes to zero.
 
Apr 30, 2013
36
Hunter 35 Michigan
My scary marina incident was coming in, not heading out. And it end up being steering, not power that was lost. We had come in the harbor entrance, the river running with a fair amount of storm runoff - mud, sticks, etc in the water, Made the left turn into the marina, made the right down the top of the marina, and just turned left into the main channel when steering locked up tighter than a drum. Fortunately it's a wide channel, and I had taken my turn wide. But ahead, in my curving path, was one of the big 60+ footers at the end of the t dock. Fortunately, still having power, I was able to stop before the collision, but was still stuck in the channel. Was able to judiciously use my prop walk to get myself into a position to toss a line and have someone pull me to open spot. Quick inspection showed everything on top seemed okay. Dove under to find that I ended up managing to wedge a stick/branch in the space between the rudder and the hull. What are the chances? What stuck with me was the mantra that runs through my head anytime I'm maneuvering in the marina - "Don't go any faster than you plan on hitting the dock."
 
Jul 17, 2014
112
Hunter 23.5 Chesapeake Bay
I awoke one fine day in an anchorage, where I and a young lady had overnighted, to discover some rough weather blowing our way. Hauled anchor and headed for port which was only a few miles away. On the open bay the blow and chop were worse than expected and we were jostled about significantly. But I handled the helm in my usual manly fashion looking like the brave sea captain that I was, when suddenly "blurp" the reassureing "brrrrrrrr" of the outboard was GONE! I had a WTF moment, looked down at the prop and saw a nice length of line trailing behind us.

I had left the anchor lying on the foredeck in my hurry to leave the anchorage and due to the rough seas it was seeking the bottom again. But due to our motion and the depth it ended up just trailing behind the boat, unbeknownst to me. Well, I had never encountered this and didn't know what to do. I thought the motor was toast or the shear key was sheared or something equally unfixable. Oh yes, did I mention we were mere yards from a huge point of land surrounded by fiberglass-eating rip-rap, toward which the prevailing wind was rapidly taking us? :eek:

I don't remember why, but I couldn't raise the main for some reason. I called to my scantily clad companion to "hoist the jib" as she scrambled around saying "what's a jib?" Well, I managed to get the jib up enough to catch the wind enough to give me steerage and pull us away from the rip-rap, to which we were close enough to count the barnacles on each rock. Once liberated from certain death, I tilted up the outboard, unwound the line and pulled in the anchor, and "brrrrrrrrrr" the motor started right up again.

I ended up dropping my terrified companion off at the nearest dock, to where I had called a friend to give her a ride. Never saw her again. Guess she was just not a sailing type of girl. ;)
 
Feb 9, 2009
19
2 26 Lake Tahoe
I was transiting a Naval Base harbor in order to get to my berth when the engine on my 38' yawl died. The base had strict rules about "under power only, NO sail!". What to do? After what seemed like an eternity of failed attempts to restart, I gave up, hoisted the Jib and came in under sail. Soon I had the Navy Harbor master pursuing me with bullhorn using colorful language, insisting I drop my sail...(gee I wish I had a bullhorn with which to reply....note to self: buy bullhorn.). Anyway, I finally got him to understand my problem. I was able to complete my approach and entered my slip as smooth as.... Thru a seagull. Learn to use your Jib or Storm sail in an emergency.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
We were motoring back to our slip in a busy harbor and a dock line ended up in the prop on our diesel...we were drifting into a stone jetty on a gusty day and my wife did immediately throw the anchor in and saved the day, keeping us off the rocks...I then called for help, but we were stabilized by our anchor...I was busy panicking until she threw the anchor...so it can save you in a bad situation.. Pat
 
Aug 1, 2013
61
Hunter 240 Muskegon, MI
This sort of stuff is why we try to make sure to have a dock pole on deck any time we are heading out (we always have it ready coming in). Thought it is better now, our marina had some serious weeds growing in the water that essentially made it so I had little to no steering (think large clumps of weeds on your rudder/centerboard) on occasion. This made for a few fun times trying to get in/out of our slip without hitting anything. Our boat is small enough (probably around 4000 lbs or so) that we can push off things to keep us from hitting anything.
 
Apr 21, 2014
11
Catalina 30 Alameda
Words to live by

What stuck with me was the mantra that runs through my head anytime I'm maneuvering in the marina - "Don't go any faster than you plan on hitting the dock."
And here I was thinking how much more confident/experienced my sailor-neighbors must be than I, to be scooting their boats in and out of our marina at such a high rate of speed! I haven't heard the saying; "Don't go any faster than you plan on hitting the dock." until reading this post, but I totally agree! Thanks for the helpful advice.