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Ramp Stories Continued

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Skip Gordon
Deckhand

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USA
5 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/16/2002 : 13:45:21

Saw the older mssg re ramp stories and mine is from 1972 in Nha Trang Vietnam. Yes we did have boats - my unit even had a Sunfish! Some how there were at the beach being operated by US military personnel two wooden power boats of unknown vintage about 22-25' in length. One day with a full crew aboard, one boat lost its power only a short ways off shore. The second one went to its aid and in passing the tow line managed to wrap it around the its own prop resulting in two boats with out power. There was an on shore breeze that pushed boat boats towards the beach. The waves were small - about 2' but one boat had almost no transom. The expression on 10 people's faces and the resulting panic was fantasitc when the boat beached and a wave crashed into the boat immediately filling it up!

Now the effort began to rescue the boat as following waves continued to ensure that there was as much water in the boat as in the entire South China Sea. Bailing was attempted with the obvious results. However, someone apparently had pull because shortly a deuce and a half truck arrived on the beach to help. After much argument and discussion the boat, still filling with water from the waves, was hooked up to the truck. Like the little engine that could, the deuce and a half kept pulling and pulling on the sandy beach with no results except that they managed to bury the axels so deep in the sand that now the deuce and a half was stuck!

The truck was unhooked from the boat and again with much arugment and yelling, the truck driver convinced the boaters to help push his truck out the sand. Obvbiously this was not successful. So the truck driver went for help. A while later a five ton truck showed up. This time the five ton remained on hard ground and pulled the duece and a half out of the sand.

All of this happened over three hours. We were out of beer and went home without knowing how the boat was ever removed from the beach. It was not there the next time but we never saw it again.

Many years later when I was sailing a Laser, we were pulling our boats off of a beach that had a very small concrete ramp on the beach that was only good enought to pull off small beachable boats. You would back down just far enought to then walk your boat off the beach over to your trailer and then have friends lift the boat onto the trailer - you could not back completely down into the water to float your boat on the trailer.

A catamaran sailer decided that as he had to walk his boat off the beach over a 100 yards away he would sail it on to the trailer. For some reaon his trailer was lacking the forward mast support/transpot system. He forgot that the wind was on shore and just as he was about to get to his trailer all nicely lined up, a good gust hit and he rode up the trailer onto the top of his car. After smothering our laughs, we were kind enought to help him separate boat from car.

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2002 : 22:19:42

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Yes we did have boats - my unit even had a Sunfish . . . the expression on 10 people's faces . . .
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

This reminds me of the time I launched my Sunfish when there was a major storm approaching. There was this lady on the shore that had an expression on her face that if I had to interpret what she was thinking "if I were your mother I'd have you committed!"
That was the fastest I ever sailed that boat, and, I had absolutely no business being out on that lake - but I was young and at that infallible, moronic stage we all pass through . . . <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

Edited by - OJ on 12/17/2002 12:46:29

Edited by - OJ on 12/17/2002 20:03:24

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2002 : 23:26:57

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
This reminds me of the time I launched my Sunfish when there was a major storm approaching. There was this lady on the shore that had an expression on her face that if I had to interpret she was thinking "if I were your mother I'd have you committed!"
That was the fastest I ever sailed that boat, and, I had absolutely no business being out on that lake - but I was young and at a that infallible, moronic stage we all pass through . . . <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>
OOH! I did that once, too, at age 20-something... 50+ winds ahead of a thunderstorm... Sunfish skipping across the lake like a flat rock... Could barely get the daggerboard up before hitting the beach on a run with no control (board up), where I almost killed a kid who wouldn't move when I screamed at him... (Turns out he was deaf.) Sailed about 50' up the beach with the sail at almost 180 degrees before I could dump the boat... <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> Not quite like a C-25! (I probably should've left the board down, swung up wind, dumped the boat, and then dragged it to the beach. But I didn't figure that out in the last 4-5 seconds.)

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

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 12/16/2002 23:34:21

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osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2002 : 07:08:31

Since we are moving away from "ramp stories" . . ..

When I was a kid, probably 17, my dad borrowed a friends Sailfish and when I got my uncles house in the late afternoon I wanted to go for a sail. Storms were coming, but nothing that my brother and I couldn't handle, winds were probably 20ish. We went out and sailed and tipped over, and sailed and tipped over, laughing and having a great time. An hour later we came in and the next door neighbor was out shaking her head wondering about our sanity. She said, "If you can't control the boat you shouldn't be out there."

We could, we did, and we had a great time <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

Don Peet
c25, 1665, osmepneo, sr/wk
The Great Sacandaga Lake, NY

Edited by - on

osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2002 : 07:17:21

Story # 2:

I was racing my Laser and had finished the first race. Had a lot of time before the second race, so I decided I'd stay out and practice jibing. I sailed upwind, in front of the club house, fell off and started to jibe, capsize, jibe, capsize, jibe, capsize, jibe, capsize, return upwind and do it over again. Whe we finished our race, the wind was 15ish, but it quickly picked up to 25-30, and I couldn't keep the boat under me when I jibed. After probably a half hour I decided I too tired to continue and sailed in. I landed at the Laser ramp I was told the second race had been cnaceled. I took care of the boat, took of me and made it into the bar for a drink, and seat before the fire.

Some of the salts of the club were talking about the "wild and crazy guy" who had spent soooooo much time entertaining them, and couldn't keep from capsizing.

Interesting thing, the next time I was out in any wind 20ish, I was able to jibe my Laser with ease, and could keep the hull under me. Lessons of my practice were learned.

Don Peet
c25, 1665, osmepneo, sr/wk
The Great Sacandaga Lake, NY

Edited by - on

osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2002 : 07:20:24

# 3.

My daughter hand niece took my brother's Laser for a sail. Storms approaching, wind picking up, and boat riding lower and lower in the water. They couldn't get the boat to tack and head back to the shore. With thunder all around them, my son and I got the power boat and went to rescue them and bring them in.

All was fine. They were experimenting with water ballest. When they rigged the boat they forgot the hull drain plug.

Don Peet
c25, 1665, osmepneo, sr/wk
The Great Sacandaga Lake, NY

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2002 : 09:27:37

Gents,

I'm humbled by your tales of what others perceived to be reckless abandom. In the early fifties and in a wetsuit I set out in a dinghy with a sail rig similar to the sailfish. I thought nothing of the day, thankful for what seemed like winds that would be able to really move the dink, when a CG launch came along side and barked,"didn't I know what in he$$ huricane flags looked like", "and get your a$$ off the water,fool".

Well excuse me...those winds were perfect...first time ever the dink did so well.

Val on The hard DAGNABIT

The dink was a JOLLY ROGER

Val Bisagni

Edited by - on

Bryan Beamer
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1038 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2002 : 22:27:53

Boy Scout camp years ago. We were about 1/3 mile downwind from the sailboat beach. In scouts you had to have 2 scouts in the boat witch was a Sunflower. The wind was blowing pretty good the other scout I was with did not know how to sail but wanted to try. We were going down wind and had to head back he jibed us and we turtled the boat. In the process of righting the boat the laminated daggerboard broke flush with the hull. We had to sail the boat up wind back to the beach in that wind with no dagger board. After quite awhile, tipping over & sailing sideways we finally made it back. I remember the other scout saying he was never going close to a sailboat again, I remember thinking that was the most fun I had at Boy Scout Camp.

I was 6 years old learning to sail with my dad on a Rebel 16. We were coming into the ramp that had docks on each side. We sailed into the dock dad stepped onto the dock with one foot the other still on the boat then he did the splits and fell into the 4' deep water face first. After almost 30 years I still call him up a couple times a year to remind him of that day. For some reason he still doesn't think it's funny.

Bryan Beamer
Daylight Again
C250wk #495

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MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2002 : 02:01:16

Bryan, I bet you a buck he really thinks it's funny.

I started sailing in elementary school with a Kool cigarett Sea Snark. I use to take it everywhere from the irragation canal behind my parents house to one of the three dams near by. We grew to a Lido 14 when I was in high school. Some of you in California may have heard of one of these lake. The smallest is the Los Banos Creek Detention Dam, the middle dam is the fore bay for the larger San Luis Resivoiour. The larger body of water is in Pacheco Pass connecting the central valley with the SF bay area. As you can immagin wind does tend to move through this narrow opening. There is a visitor center with a green 0-15 m/h light, yellow 15 - 30 light, then red for over 30 mile (not knot)/ hour light. The red light is also the park limit, after this you have to be off of the lake. It is common to have the lights go from green to red in less than half an hour.
One day, I think it was in Feb. or March my dad and cousin and I took the lido out. The water was like glass, we were just about to go home when my dad said that it looked like a little wind on the other side of the lake ~ 7 miles. We pushed off in great hopes of at least a light sail. in about 15 minutes we had 3 foot whitcaps and the red light was glaring at us. The first mishap was the main halyard came loos and the sail came crashing down upon us. We quickly got it raised, my cousin said lets go in. Dad and I said what for this is what we came for. We were close hauled, headed for the other side of the lake. I was on the edge hooked into the hiking strap with the tiller extention in my hand. Dad was in front of me tending the jib. My cousin was on the low side (his urge to move was only surmounted by his lethargy even in this breez). The strap came lose, I fell, the boat headed into the wind got caught on the back of the sail and tacked. The boat turned turtle on top of dad, my cousin was tossed over everything and landed next to me. Barry and I swam to the boat looking for dad. He suddenly popped up and told us that the air pocket that was supose to be under the turtled boat wasn't there. The rest of the sail was by the book. I was able to get the sail down so we could get the boat up right. We started bailing with the little milk bottle bailers. The 3 foot waves filled the boat faster than we could bail, Dad said *&*^* it and got in the boat dumped what remained in the ice chest and used that to get the water out. For the next 15 or 20 minutes we huddled in the cold wet sail and tried to build up some warmth from the 50 something degeree water. I suggested sailing in with just the jib so we could stay wrapped up. As we came near the boat ramp we saw one of the park rangers watching us just shaking his head. I think he decided not to approach us with a repremand about being out in that wind. When we got to shore my cousin was sent to get the car and trailer while Dad and I got the boat apart. We worked and worked but no car came. Dad went to see what the problem was. A few minutes later he came back and told me to go to the car for a while, seems the cousin was in the car with the heater going full blast and didn't wnat to move.
I was going to write about the Sea Snark in the same kind of conditions, but I never had as great a misshap with it.

Matt/Brigitte Loeffler
E.C. Rider
Cat 25 86'
FK/SR _/)

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osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2002 : 07:53:46

Isn't it great that we can laugh at our own misadventures!

Don Peet
c25, 1665, osmepneo, sr/wk
The Great Sacandaga Lake, NY

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2002 : 22:37:03

I like the quotation on the T shirt that you can buy in Lattitudes and Attitudes magazine (my favorite sailing magazine)

"The difference between ordeal and adventure is Attitude"

True

Here's to all our adventures, past, present, and future
Frank

Frank

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 12/21/2002 : 19:09:57

From the "I Learned Sailing the Hard Way" file:
Location: San Francisco Bay, west of Alcatraz in "The Slot", a beautiful mid-summer day in July 1987. Captain Larry, First Mate Lynn, and Deckhand Shanna (7 years old) out for a daysail (a Three-Hour-Tour!) in my new-to-me '84 MacGregor 25. We launched at Richmond in the morning in almost-calm conditions, with Pier 39 in San Francisco the intended destination. This is about 8 NM each way, say an hour and a half. By the time we get half way there, the wind is blowing about 20 kts due west from the Golden Gate, against a 3 kt ebb, and a nasty 3 foot wind chop has popped up. Close-hauled on starboard tack, we get to the west side of Alcatraz, intending to then set a course for Pier 39, but the boat is being pounded pretty hard, so we decide to head back to Richmond. I tack around, then fall off, but this is worse in a way; now broad reaching on Port tack, the boat still has a lot of weather helm, and steering in the quartering seas takes so much tiller pressure that I am worried about breaking the rudder post (a not-very-sturdy extruded aluminum channel supporting a swing-up rudder), or snapping the tiller off at the rudder post connection. It has been 20+ years since my last sailing experiences on SF Bay, with the Sea Scouts, and my rusty memories of what to do in rough conditions are not helping me deal with this rapidly developing quasi-emergency. My first thought is to reef down, but I realize the main sail has no sail slugs, or even reef points, just the luff rope directly into the mast slot, so there is no way to reef. The sail can only be all the way up, or all the way down, and I decide to douse the main and sail on just the jib. While I am up on the cabin roof trying to stuff the main back into the sail bag, the boat makes an unplanned gybe (read: "near-death-roll" with me clinging to the mast for dear life), and the crew in the cockpit, with zero sailing experience, releases the jib sheets but doesn't complete the maneuver by pulling in the sheets on what is now the lee side. In a heartbeat, the wildly flogging jib sail and its sheets are fully tangled around the headstay, the mainsail is down and can't be raised again quickly, and the wind is fast pushing us toward the western tip of Alcatraz Island; a reef of wash rocks is just a little over 200 yards away and we are approaching it at what seems the speed of light. Wife and daughter are in full panic mode, scrambling into life jackets and getting ready to abandon ship, and tourists on Alcatraz, almost close enough to throw rocks at us, have abandoned their tour guide, pointing and gesticulating furiously at us, and I suppose getting ready to find the nearest telephone (no cell phones in 1988) and call the Coast Guard to come rescue the idiot who is about to crash and burn on the rocks. Seeing that the approaching reef is probably less than 5 minutes away at our rate of drift, I abandon my attempts to untangle the jib and jump back into the cockpit, whereupon I remember that the outboard is raised and therefore not ready for immediate use. More precious seconds tick way whilst I attempt to unlock the unfamiliar outboard bracket and deploy the motor back into the water. First Mate is screaming at me to "DO SOMETHING @#*&(!! QUICK!!", Deckhand Shanna is up on the foredeck trying to untangle the jib while I am shouting technical boat jargon at her which she doesn't understand, and I can now actually hear the surf splashing the rocks over the whistle of the wind in the rigging. The rocks are now only a few boat lengths away, and I have the motor tilted back down, but the bracket is still raised, so the prop won't bite. At last, with maybe 30 seconds to spare, the motor bracket gets properly lowered, and we get away safe, with no boat damage and no injuries except to my ego and dignity. It was 2 years before I could convince Lynn and Shanna to go sailing with me again, and that very next time, on the San Joaquin River Delta, the afternoon wind turned blustery, and I scared them again, although not as badly as that first time. In the years that followed, I made some modifications to the boat to help make it easier to control: CDI roller furling, a quick-reefing system, sail slugs and reef points on the mainsail, and I gradually learned enough sailing skills to handle and control the boat safely even in blustery winds. That MacGregor 25, a "Clorox bottle" if there ever was one, taught me a lot about small sailboat handling, and never broke down, although those first two years I abused the hardware a few times by keeping up too much sail in stiff winds. Moral of the story is pretty obvious: the sea is always ready to teach even an "old salt" a harsh lesson, so novices beware!. We got off lucky; if the outboard had failed to start and run at that critical moment, I almost certainly would have lost the boat and maybe our lives. I made several bad decisions in just a few minutes: we were way too close to a lee shore when starting a sail change, I left the cockpit with no other experienced crew to handle the boat, I started out by dousing the main instead of the jib, which would have been much faster and easier, and I was just too inexperienced for the boat, locale, and conditions. Can you believe there are people who have sailed Catalina 22's and 25's to Hawaii?!? I am occasionally nervous even on sheltered waters like San Francisco Bay and the Delta. Hope you all have a great Holiday Season!

Edited by - lcharlot on 12/21/2002 20:29:37

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