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coldducks
Captain

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USA
342 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/05/2002 : 07:35:26

thansk, everyone, for sharing your most embarrassing moments with us. we thought we were the only ones that screwed up! especially duane. his comment, to GET RIGHT BACK ON THAT HORSE, stayed with us. SOOO, saturday morning we decided it was just a fluke and took a big breath and threw off the lines. the water was flat and there was no wind. as we were backing out, we both said to each other, that we thought the motor sounded a little different. but off we went. it seemed to take a while for the motor to speed up, but after a second or two (seemed like forever with the dock looking right straight at us) it kicked in and we were off. had a great sail. decided to head to one of the harbor islands, pick up a mooring, do some swimming off the back of the boat and spend the night. our plans of a nice pleasant weekend turned out to be a nightmare! as usual, for a saturday, there were a million boats in the harbor. about 2 hours into our sail with a perfect steady wind, we encountered a huge motor boat approaching along side of us. no problem, as he got closer he turned off, but right on the other side of him was this little 22 custom racing sailboat (you know the flat ones with no where to sit) with 3 JERKS in it. they were so busy watching the motor boat that they never saw the traffic on the other side of him. all of a sudden one of them started screaming to their "captain" watch out for the other boats. well, he missed us by about a foot on our stern, then turned heading right for us again. thank god we were able to manuver away from him. we finally get to our destination, grab a mooring and feel good that our fist time back on the boat since "our most embarrasing moment" wasn't too bad after all. went swimming, cooked on our grill, had a few drinks, watched the stars, went to bed. the next morning got up, made coffee, sat out in the sun, did some more swimming and spend the day, thinking we were safe and sound on the mooring. WRONG.. someone had come in in the morning and anchored in front of us. they jumped off their boat to swim, you guessed it, their anchor slipped and the boat was heading right for us. fortunatly one was able to make it back to the boat and started it up just in time. ok, so our recovery from our "most embarrasing day" isn't looking too great. we decide to pick up and head home. get off the mooring fine and all of a sudden the motor starts blowing smoke and dies. we are still in the mooring field and you know the current is flowing to the beach behind us where all the other boats are either moored or anchored. we never got the sails up so fast in our lives, caught what little wind there was and got out of there. now, there is not enough wind, no engine and sunday traffic. we could sail most of the way home, but could not dare chance sailing into the marina and our slip. so reluctantly we called sea tow. we waited 2 hours for them and had to be towed into our slip. I AM NOT SURE WHICH MOMENT WAS OUR MOST EMBARRASING! I GOT BACK ONTO THAT HORSE, AND IT STOMPED US RIGHT INTO THE GROUND!!

COLDDUCKS
FANTASY #409 C250WK

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cathluk
Admiral

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USA
513 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2002 : 08:12:41

Naw - you did fine! Sounds like most of the trouble before the engine dies was caused by someone else & you successfully worked through the problems THEY caused. As for the motor - you did exactly what you needed in getting the sailed up & using the wind - you didn't hit anyone or run aground so it sounds like you successfully dealt with another unexpected situation.

Get that motor fixed & keep on sailing! Expecially since it sounds like you had a great weekend otherwise.

Cathy
"Blown Away"
'97 C250WK #253

Edited by - on

Gary
1st Mate

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58 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2002 : 11:04:55

Concur with Cathy. You did a superb job overcoming all those difficulties. I wonder how much Towboat US would have charged to tow you all the way back to your marina if you had a stinkpot instead of a sailboat! Fair winds & calm seas, Gary

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Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2002 : 13:40:58

Okay so what did you learn....Beside the fact that it is embarassing to get towed home...

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John Mason
Admiral

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USA
687 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2002 : 15:12:40

Who was it said, "No boats sunk, no one got hurt...successful outing!" (Get the motor fixed and the rest should be smooth sailing)

John Mason - Ali Paroosa
1982 - FK/SR #3290

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frich
Captain

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USA
418 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2002 : 16:52:56

Next time I would check if there is a dark cloud overhead prior to launching.

I am a proponent of having to expierience the bad to realize the good times. I am sure there will plenty of good sails ahead, Keep the spirits up and enjoy

Frank Rich
84 C25 SK

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coldducks
Captain

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USA
342 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2002 : 17:08:22

frank, i laughed outloud when i read your response. HAHAHAHAHAH. I AM STILL LAUGHING. you guys have all been so good. what do you think of turning this boat into a beautiful C250 cottage on the water!! hahahahah. ( i am afraid of what that horse will do to me next time!) hahahahahah!

COLDDUCKS
FANTASY #409 C250WK

Edited by - on

n/a
deleted

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62 Posts

Response Posted - 08/06/2002 : 11:53:35

Yep, sounds like a normal experience to me. Some days, most days are terrific but then some are like your Sunday. Remember, nothing actually went wrong until you left on Sunday. The rest was just drills. The more comfortable you become with your boat the less you will notice the drills. Ever hear that expression, "The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude"? That's sailing...

Edited by - on

Phredde
Navigator

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125 Posts

Response Posted - 08/12/2002 : 21:21:23

Agreed, all around. Read my latest post to the other thread for more reassurance. When we were sailing without gas, I felt like the guy who won't stop for directions when my admiral was asking why we couldn't just phone vessel assist to let them know our situation. But all worked out well in the end. Our motto and closing toast on Phredde has always been "Nobody Died!" and mother nature and the sailing gods willing, we'll always sing that tune.

By the way, I had a little motor skip and puff of smoke on my way out that day too. Another lesson to watch those tell tale signs.

Phredde
Catalina 25
San Francisco

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 08/12/2002 : 22:12:30

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
...my admiral was asking why we couldn't just phone vessel assist to let them know our situation.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
Funny thing about "vessel assist"... On our 4-day delivery cruise last year, we got caught in weather just outside a harbor, and had engine trouble just as the rain hit full force. We tried to reach TowBoatUS, then the Coast Guard tried for us, and TBUS's answer was we were too far away and the weather was too bad. So we pulled part of the jib out and sailed into the marina--right into the slip. The dock boy did a great job stopping us--we rolled up the jib just a little too late! <img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle> At least we had "auxiliary power". Try that on a Bayliner!

Dave Bristle - 1985 C-25 #5032 SR-FK-Dinette "Passage" in SW CT

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coldducks
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
342 Posts

Response Posted - 08/12/2002 : 22:13:01

i cant believe you said that about your motor. the EXACT SAME THING happened to us on our next outing. we both said to each other, "does this motor sound different to you?". but stupidly, we kept going. sure enough, we had the smoke and the skip AND NO WIND TO SAIL. so we did the best we could and ended up being towed into our slip. you know, you can sail all the way back, wind willing, but who wants to sail between all your FRIENDS boats to try to sail into your slip. not me.... thank you for sharing your latest experience it really does help...we have been sailing with NO problems for 5 years, all of a sudden we have had the worst two weeks imaginable...but it is not going to stop us, we still have about 2 months left for the season here in boston, and i will be damned if this is going to stop us....thanks again...

COLDDUCKS
FANTASY #409 C250WK

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