I've followed this post on and off all day and the discussion reminds me of the days when I spent most of my summer days in and out of the water at my girlfriends house while I was in college back in the late 1970s. This is the time I really learned to sail and made it a lifelong hobby. There were 3 or 4 of us that always hung out together at her house swimming and sailing one of the three daysailers they had. We were young and dumb and invincible. We swam across the lake on several occassions and were considered fish that lived on land. Her father had sailed competitively in college, but had recently undergone an open heart surgery replete with the scar from his throat to his belly button. He was on limited exercise and could go sailing with one or more of us. That is largely how I learned to sail, by taking him out so he could be out on the water.
One day, I drove up to the house and my girlfriend's mother was hysterical. Apparently, the father had stayed home from work and decided to take one of the boats (a Y-scow) out on his own. With the binoculars, she could see him out on the lake sitting cross legged on the bottom side of a turned turtle hull. He had been there for a couple of hours. So within minutes my girlfriend, her brother, myself and another friend got in an aluminum dingy and motored out to the scow. What a mess! The boat was 100% turtle with the masthead stuck in the mud about 22-23 feet below. We got the dad in the dinghy and the three of us guys tried to turn the boat. Unfortunately, the dad sitting on the hull had driven the mast into the mud! Alternatively, each one of us swam to the bottom of the lake pulling ourselves along the mast and halyard to see if we could free the masthead...to no avail. The main was topped out and in the mud as well. We couldn't see anything that deep down in a freshwater lake in Indiana and we realized, rightly or wrongly, that we would have to lower the main to free the mast. So the brother methodically uncleated the sheets and halyards, knowing the boat the best, and the rest of us would dive down in that cold, dark water to start coaxing the main down (up) the mast. Unfortunately, the main wasn't on slides, instead the whelp was inserted in the slide on the mast. So bringing the main down was not easy. This is where I learned that swimming in waters with loose lines trailing around was dangerous! Thankfully, no one got tied up. After about what seems like an hour, we emerged successful, throwing the main in the dinghy. Now to attack the stuck masthead. Standing on the bottom 20 feet down, holding our breaths, not one of us alone could pull up on the mast and raise the boat enough to free the mast. The scow was made out of wood and was heavy. We were trying to deadlift it while standing in mud, holding our breaths in 20 feet of water. We had about 10-15 seconds down there at best. Glad we were young! Eventually, it took two of us to pull up on the mast while one of us pulled on the gunwale to turn it over. Then it was just a matter of securing the lines, bailing the cockpit, and towing the boat to the dock. We all got back safe, sound and alive. Obviously, the dad was in hot water, but we were the heroes of the day! I had use of all three of their boats anytime I wanted after that. As the Duke says "Life is hard, but its harder if you are stupid!" We were fairly stupid in our approach, clearly risking the lives of three college guys to retrieve a boat. It probably would have been way safer to get a bigger boat, attach a line and drag the scow out of the mud. But we didn't, and we had great pride in our acheivement! What a day to remember!
One day, I drove up to the house and my girlfriend's mother was hysterical. Apparently, the father had stayed home from work and decided to take one of the boats (a Y-scow) out on his own. With the binoculars, she could see him out on the lake sitting cross legged on the bottom side of a turned turtle hull. He had been there for a couple of hours. So within minutes my girlfriend, her brother, myself and another friend got in an aluminum dingy and motored out to the scow. What a mess! The boat was 100% turtle with the masthead stuck in the mud about 22-23 feet below. We got the dad in the dinghy and the three of us guys tried to turn the boat. Unfortunately, the dad sitting on the hull had driven the mast into the mud! Alternatively, each one of us swam to the bottom of the lake pulling ourselves along the mast and halyard to see if we could free the masthead...to no avail. The main was topped out and in the mud as well. We couldn't see anything that deep down in a freshwater lake in Indiana and we realized, rightly or wrongly, that we would have to lower the main to free the mast. So the brother methodically uncleated the sheets and halyards, knowing the boat the best, and the rest of us would dive down in that cold, dark water to start coaxing the main down (up) the mast. Unfortunately, the main wasn't on slides, instead the whelp was inserted in the slide on the mast. So bringing the main down was not easy. This is where I learned that swimming in waters with loose lines trailing around was dangerous! Thankfully, no one got tied up. After about what seems like an hour, we emerged successful, throwing the main in the dinghy. Now to attack the stuck masthead. Standing on the bottom 20 feet down, holding our breaths, not one of us alone could pull up on the mast and raise the boat enough to free the mast. The scow was made out of wood and was heavy. We were trying to deadlift it while standing in mud, holding our breaths in 20 feet of water. We had about 10-15 seconds down there at best. Glad we were young! Eventually, it took two of us to pull up on the mast while one of us pulled on the gunwale to turn it over. Then it was just a matter of securing the lines, bailing the cockpit, and towing the boat to the dock. We all got back safe, sound and alive. Obviously, the dad was in hot water, but we were the heroes of the day! I had use of all three of their boats anytime I wanted after that. As the Duke says "Life is hard, but its harder if you are stupid!" We were fairly stupid in our approach, clearly risking the lives of three college guys to retrieve a boat. It probably would have been way safer to get a bigger boat, attach a line and drag the scow out of the mud. But we didn't, and we had great pride in our acheivement! What a day to remember!
