The good and the bad

[tcrespo]

Thought I'd share this quick story with you to show the good and bad in people out there. I normally check on my boat, kept in a slip in SC, twice per week. I was out of town for a few days and couldn't get down there, and vandals struck. Seems that a couple of kids were out on the dock early evening on Saturday and when nobody was looking, they pulled out the pin on my forestay and my mast went down. The kids quickly disappeared and are gone. The mast went down at an angle towards the stern, and the boom seems to have caught on the cockpit, holding it at around a 45 degree angle. Unfortunately, the cabin roof couldn't take the stress and I've got a pretty big crack, all the way through into the cabin, about 2 feet across. Pretty upsetting, and definitely will impact my plans for some nice fall sailing.So, what's the good out of all of this? A great guy (whom I had never met face to face) owns a 27' sailboat two docks over (same marina). He came in around 6:00 from an afternoon of sailing, saw my mast was going down, and quickly jumped in to save the day. He and his buddy used my halyard and rigged up a temporary stay, got the mast back up and straight, and then using a couple of my spring lines, tied off my furler (which was bouncing madly around, tearing up the boat). He did a great job of minimizing what could have been a major loss to me. I spoke to him yesterday by phone (after getting his number from the office). Nice guy, very humble, just wanting to help out a fellow sailor/boater. He's not in the greatest of health, and is actually soon going to sell his boat. He could have just notified the office and moved on, but took the time to save my boat.So, while I'm pretty ticked off at these little punks, overall, I must say that I feel good about the positive things in life. The marina is going to start enforcing their policy of only letting slip renters onto the docks, but it's a little late for me. I'll be switching out the circular pins with a difficult to remove cotter pin when the repairs are completed.I just wanted to share this with you so you'd be aware - doesn't take a vandal long to really do some damage.Tom

 

[Brian D]

I am sorry to hear...

about the damage to your boat. I am glad that someone was near by to minimize the damage. I really believe that people are generally good, but it is that small percentage that really ruin it for the majority.Will your insurance help in anyway?

 

[Jim]

WOW! Darn Kids

I am glad that everything turned out good.

 

[Deadline]

The other percentage

The majority of boat owners are conscientious and helpful, as witness by this site celebrating 6 million visits over the years. Good for you that the Good Samaratan stepped up, no pun intended. You have the added satisfaction of knowing you would too.

 

[Rich (P303)]

What would you have done?

I was sitting at my mooring at dusk... taking in the sunset after a G&T or two/three when I heard this hideous scraping. Looking over I noticed a 2x8 barge 16' x 16' (moored) with lobster traps running underneath a transome of at least a 50 footer. I called the Marina on the VHF... but they had left for the day. Do I motor over to the barge and move it to a different mooring? Board the unattended boat and through over a bunch of my fenders? Throw all the lobster traps off the barge? Get shot at or sunk by the lobstermen for screwing with their stuff (been there, did that)? Get sued by a lawyer for the lobstermen or boat owner for screwing around with their stuff? You make the call! I think if we took lawyers out of the equation... everything would have turned out O.K.!

 

[BarryL]

Good People

Hello,Sorry to hear about your boat damage. Hopefully you can easily repair the damage.I have had good people help me a few times. One time I went down to my boat (kept on a mooring) the day after a storm blew through. I rowed out to my boat, which looked fine. When I got on the boat I noticed my sail cover was tied down with some strange line. It turned out that the sail cover started to blow off, and the mainsail started to come out. A guy was on a boat upwind of me, saw what was happening, went down to my boat, tied everything up, then went back to his boat.I thanked him profusely the next time I saw him (and repaid him when he boat started to sink, and I called him to get down there). I have gone on other boats when I saw a headsail starting to unfurl to tie it back up. I think us boaters need to help each other out.Barry

 

[Black Jack]

Fishermen

It has been said before and aside from the romantic notions of 'The Old Man and the Sea" fishermen are out there for one reason.They love the sea about as much as a trucker loves the highway & trafficNow will come the 'stories' about how great and generous they are sometimes it is even true fishermen do not like us maybe I should say it a different way we are just some much flotsam in their way recreational boaters are far removed from the real world for themShould have had a tape plyer when i was fishing just to listen to a few commentsDo they help folks sure when they absolutly have to. most of the time they will not answer the radio unless the uscg tells them to or they are the minority that has a good responsible skipperI know good fishermen but boys you can deny all you want this is a fact of life in the sea

 

[tcrespo]

The bright side!

Well, I try to always look at things in a positive way. My plan (as of 3 days ago) was to sail long into the fall, and then take a rest for the winter. With the challenge now presented to me, I will:- Finally paint the hull that nice shade of green that my wife has always wanted.- Repair the "dish" situation that was present around the mast on the cabin top.- Redo the topsides - probably end up painting the whole thing as long as I'm at it.So, the sailing season ends early for me, but by Spring, the boat will be in great shape and I'll be even more proud to sail her!The only part that still upsets me a little is that I spoke to the marina again yesterday, and they said "We did see those boys on the dock, but figured they were just fishing and didn't say anything to them to leave. I guess we'll start enforcing the no trespassing now." I could make a big deal of this, especially since there are signs that say no fishing and other signs saying that the docks are for the use of slip renters only, but I'm not that kind of person and I'm just going to let it go. The more I look at the damage, it won't be that bad to fix - just a good chance to keep those fiberglass skills sharp!

 

[Tim]

Most people are good

I had something similar happen to me a couple of years ago, although not nearly as severe.I keep my boat on a mooring and we had some really windy weather come through. My forward hatch was not secure so apparently the wind got under it and it was thrown open, smashing the wooden frame.I only knew about this because when I was next up to the boat I found that someone had gotten on board and closed and tied the hatch down so it would stay in place and stop more rain from getting in. I have no idea who helped me out but am forever grateful and hope for the chance for me to be an anonymous helper some day.The great majority of people are good, but the stories of bad people get told more often so it makes it seem like there are more of them.