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A Boating Story

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gambrose
Deckhand

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USA
20 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/07/2005 : 22:49:22

Jack Driscoll, the new owner of our C25, sent this after his first season:

Last summer, down on Lake Isabella, located in the high desert, an hour east of Bakersfield, CA, some folks, new to boating, were having a problem. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get their brand new 22 foot boat, going. It was
very sluggish in almost every maneuver, no matter how much power they applied. After about an hour of trying to make it go, they putted into a nearby marina, thinking someone there may be able to tell them what was wrong. A thorough topside check revealed everything in perfect working condition. The engine ran fine, the out-drive went up and down, and the propeller was the correct size and pitch. So, one of the marina guys jumped in the water to check underneath. He came up choking on water, he was laughing so hard.

NOW REMEMBER...THIS IS TRUE.

Under the boat, still strapped securely in place, was the
trailor!

Edited by - on

Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 01/08/2005 : 05:16:21

"still strapped securely in place"

Don't trailer straps go OVER the boat -- especially a 22 footer? So . . . wouldn't that be a little obvious?

Color me . . . skeptical.

Brooke

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 01/08/2005 : 08:56:09

I first heard this story as a BLONDE joke a few years ago. Veracity doubtful , but funny anyway.
Val on the hard DAGNABIT

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 01/08/2005 : 09:54:27

Hmmm...It sounds like an [url="http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/isabella.htm"]urban legend[/url]!

Edited by - on

MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 01/09/2005 : 11:42:06

OK, I don't know about the trailer story, but this is true.
My cousin was raising the mast of his sailboat and forgot to attach the back stay. The mast went up and over hitting the top of his van.

Edited by - on

Scotd
Navigator

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USA
136 Posts

Response Posted - 01/10/2005 : 11:27:37

We tell the same story but we use a jet ski instead.

Edited by - on

Capt. Kurt
Navigator

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185 Posts

Response Posted - 01/20/2005 : 16:50:04

I admit to forgetting to pull in my fenders once... embarrasing when you sail around with your funders hanging in the wind! :)

I don't think I'm the only one thats done that before though...

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 01/20/2005 : 16:56:30

Edited by - on

oldsalt
Admiral

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USA
578 Posts

Response Posted - 01/20/2005 : 17:18:31

I once backed out of my slip with a long spring line still attached to my portside bow cleat and it took me a lot longer than I'd like to admit to figure out what was wrong.

Edited by - on

Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 01/20/2005 : 18:34:34

My two claims to nautical infamy:

1. Backed out of the slip but forgot to unplug the shorepower cord. Boiiiinnngggg!

2. Coming back to the marina one evening after anchoring in a cove, I forgot to pull the anchor up. It snagged the power cables running under the marina and I couldn't figure out why the bow kept swinging to the right when I had the wheel cranked all the way left. (In my disoriented state, I envisioned that the dam across the lake had somehow come open and it was sucking the water out of the lake, pulling my boat toward it.) I gave her full power, she still wouldn't turn to the left. When my wife went forward with a paddle (although I don't know what she could have done to help), she discovered the anchor line descending quite tautly into the water. Like, DUH. I believe that incident led to the premature demise of that particular outboard.

Steve

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2005 : 01:34:14

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Capt. Kurt
 embarrasing when you sail around with your funders hanging in the wind! :)

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Almost as embarrasing as buying 60' of the wrong diameter Sta-Set yachtbraid to go with your new self-tailing "wenches".

Other embarrasing sailing bloopers I've comitted:
1. Spent 1/2 hour once trying to start a balky outboard, only to eventually remember that the gas tank had been removed the previous weekend for refilling and was not even on the boat, let alone connected to the motor

2. Attempted to retrieve swing keel C-22's and -25's onto the trailer having forgotten to crank up the keel (I bet most of you with swingers have done this at least once, eh?)
3. Corollary to #2 above: raised and trimmed sails on a nice breezy day having forgotten to lower the keel (you find out real fast what "righting moment" is, when you don't have any!).

Edited by - on

bnpirate
1st Mate

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33 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2005 : 03:24:48

I once tossed the anchor ovre the side, gently letting the chain out. only to notice the nylon rode was no longer attached to the chain as the last of it slid though my fingers

Edited by - on

MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2005 : 01:07:24

God is this a great country, or what.....

Edited by - on

gambrose
Deckhand

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USA
20 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2005 : 09:22:59

Okay, one more, and honestly this one is true. Our group of five boats: C25, Pearson 26, Cape Dory 26, and Com Pac 27 on a coastal cruise in Maine stayed in Camden Harbor for an evening. Camden is a picturesque Maine town and it's shops and stores come right down and around the town pier. We, of course were closest in to the village...a beautiful slip location. Also, highy visible. In the morning, as we were all departing from finger piers our friend to starboard was very close in to a megayacht. There were also lots of classic schooners, very large sailing vessels and motor yachts...all very tightly spaced. It was pretty hard for him to see around the hugh megayacht he was adjacent to, so thinking of possible boat traffic he gave a few very long and very loud blasts on his air horn from the cockpit of his 26 foot boat as he went in reverse. Of course lots of eyes swiveled his way as he began his manuvering.

Not only was he still attached to the dock by bow line but his girlfriend was still pretty far away on the dock and nowhere near the dockline. Yep, It was a great moment!

Edited by - on

John P
Captain

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USA
324 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2005 : 07:54:28

I just love to resurrect old threads.

Once upon a time, years ago, I was in my early 20' and driving the family boat (17' Glastron, 140 HP I/O) home and come across a friend, piloting his motor boat very slowly across the lake. As I got closer, I saw that he had lines tied to the port fore and aft deck cleats, the lines went down into the water (straight down). As I got closer he waved at me to stay away, so I manuevered to the starboard side of him and saw again, two lines going straight down into the water. We were getting closer to shore in about 30 feet of water when I could finally see what was going on. He was towing his boat lift across the lake! Apparently, he wanted to tow the lift behind him by floating the lift on big blue plastic kegs, but the lift was too heavy and ended up about 10' submerged, so he just floated over top and tied up to it and went on the mile long journey across the lake.

I have heard of several people doing this or a variation thereof. Some simply raise the lift up, so the boat is more or less sitting on the lift where others tow behind or tow underneath. For every 4 tows that work, I hear of 1 that doesn't. Makes me think of how many boat lifts are on the bottom of the lake.

Edited by - on

Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2005 : 10:06:56

This story was on the hilarious show "Mythbusters" recently. If you've never seen the show, it features two guys with a background in movie special effects who test out losts of urban legends. They put a boat in the water with trailer attached to see how it would work. This was a stinkpotter, of course, but the point is the same. They found they could move the boat through the water, but it was pretty slow. Their conclusion was: possible (as opposed to confirmed or busted).

Brooke

Edited by - Brooke Willson on 12/19/2005 08:38:42

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3321 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2005 : 18:01:00

John - we have had to move our Hydro Hoist a couple of times. You just raise it up (sans boat!) and put a large plastic plug in the blowhole under the aft end of each pontoon and pound a wood plug into the tube where the air is pumped in. Now the air can't get out, the hoist won't sink and you can put a small outboard on it and drive it to wherever you wish to go...

Derek

Edited by - on

TRogers
1st Mate

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USA
90 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2005 : 19:47:59

Quote
"I once tossed the anchor ovre the side, gently letting the chain out. only to notice the nylon rode was no longer attached to the chain as the last of it slid though my fingers"

Hmm, maybe that's why they call it the "bitter end" cuz you are bitter when this happens?

Edited by - TRogers on 08/16/2005 19:49:39

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2005 : 22:57:04

My dockmate recently took a sizeable chunk out of the nearby Public Dock. Later he thanked me for carrying on -in front of his wife- as if this is an everyday occurence. I figure, that if he watches me more than a time or two, he'll be able to reciprocate.

Edited by - on

JaimeZX
1st Mate

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USA
34 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2005 : 02:27:42

Earlier this year I was on my H16 with a friend on the lake north of Abilene. The winds were probably a steady 15 and I saw my friend Stan on his Hunter 26 across the lake, (jib furled, main reefed), so I headed down on a broad reach. Trapped out, of course. My plan was to blow by Stan about 20 feet to leeward of him and wave. You know, the cool zooming maneuver you can do on a Catamaran.

As I got about 150 feet behind Stan I see him waving. I wave back.
As I got about 20 feet behind Stan I see something kind of in front of me.
Kind of like... fishing line. Of course I realize it's fishing line (and Stan is trolling) just as it passes under my bows. A moment later, as I am passing Stan just as I had originally planned, I hear the "whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" sound of a fishing rod spooling out very quickly, like when the fish runs.

I heave-to quickly and find that the fishing line has become tangled on my rudder hinge. I cannot untangle it. Now Stan is slowly moving past me. I holler "Stan! Hey sorry about that bro! Did I break your line?"
"No... broke the rod though."
"DOH!!!"
He wouldn't let me buy a new rod for him. As I was broad-reaching the other way back down the lake I look back and about 30 yards behind me the lure is skipping across the top of the water. LOLOL THAT was a funny sight!

Later when I got back to the beach I untangled the line and brought it to Stan who was also just pulling up to the dock. He was very happy to see his lure. Since he didn't want a new rod I bought him a case of beer instead.

It was embarassing. And funny. Another reinforcing of the age old "try to look cool in front of someone else and the opposite is bound to happen." :o

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 12/18/2005 : 21:32:42

So the guys at Myth busters on the Discovery Channel actually decided that they were going to check out this trailer on a boat legend. Its part of episode 30 that appeared in March of this year. I happened to see it during an all day marathon showing today. Long story short, they did it with a power boat; didn't even consider a sailboat for the program. It can be done, and according to some trailer mfg on the show, it was done to deliver a trailer to a guy who wanted a trailer, but had no way to get the trailer to his own personal boat ramp due to landscape situations. (they didn't go into details, but I am guessing he kept the boat on land and launched out of his back yard, but had no way to get the trailer to the actual launch area.)

Added later: ---------->Of course if I actually had taken the time to read the posts, I would have noted that Brooke already mentioned this….

Edited by - Champipple on 12/19/2005 11:19:04

jwilliams
Captain

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USA
357 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2005 : 00:20:10

Once while warping the boat at the dock by myself, swapping it end-for-end, I let go of both fore and aft lines by accident and watched Hey Jude slowly rotate out of reach into the fairway between our docks.

After a moment of panic imagining her running into another boat, I realized that the NW wind was pushing her right back to me. So as cool as I could look (I planned this!), as soon as she got close I moved her right back just as I intended.

Lesson learned: use longer lines!

Jim Williams
Hey Jude C25fk 2958
SF Bay

Edited by - on

John P
Captain

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USA
324 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2005 : 09:09:04

Jim, I have done that very same thing on a couple occasions.

Edited by - on

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