most embarressing sailing moment??

[Frank]

Its been a lil dull lately.......how about posting one of your 'not so fine' sailing moments??

[Lynx]

I was sailing up the Fl coast and turned to go under a draw bridge and the motor would not start. No problem as this bridge was down wind. I then turned to the nearest harbor. A 90 degree turn. Now I was close hauled and had to go through another draw bridge under sail. I made it through it but the wind shifted on the other side and I did not have enough speed to tack and the shore was too close. The bridge closed behind me and I was blown into the bridge. I was in a 16 footer, 1200 pound boat and I only needed about 8 inches to clear. I got on the rail and healed the boat over so much, so fast that I put the boat's rail into the water and had to jump off into the water. The boat sprung up, still hung up under the bridge but halfway through it. I pulled myself on-board. Learned my lesson and gently healed the boat over enough to clear the bridge and was blown back under the bridge. A power boat gave me a tow to the marina. No harm done to the boat. That was over 15 years ago and not my present boat.

I did make it on the radio as the bridge to the beach was shut down for about 30 min's on the weekend.

[Captain Smollett]

I think I've posted this before, or at least bits and pieces of it.  The first time I ever singlehanding my boat, I had a great time.  So, the next time, I went out a bit over-confident.  I got humbled.

The wind was 20-25 kts sustained and it was my plan to take my 18 footer out under reefed main alone.  Two older, very experienced SJ 21 sailors went out just ahead of me, so I figured, "If they can do it, so can I."  I bent on the jib, just in case and was making preps at the dock before heading out.

"Hey is that your sailbag?" I hear.  I looked up to see George, a previous America's Cup sailor with 10,000's of miles under keel, pointing out to the middle of the cove.  Yes, it was my sail bag.  I left it unsecured on the deck after hanking on the jib.

Fired up the ob and motored to it.  No problem -  Just a little wounded pride.

Back at the dock, I finished getting the boat ready.  I motored out into the chop, way underpowered so I could not steer well.  The waves were pushing me every which way.  Luckily, I narrowly avoided a private dock, and finally figured out to throttle UP to get enough power to keep the bow pointed up.  The boat rode much better.

With reefed main up, I killed the engine.  All I did was drift to leeward, get near the lee shore fire up the ob, motor back upwind and try again.  I could NOT sail the boat for anything.  Al and George were both standing ashore watching, and all the time Fred and Ray on their SJ 21 were sailing to weather in this garbage - further adding to my humiliation.

Finally, I had had enough, so I dropped the sail and began to motor back in.  Fred and Ray and come in by this time, so the docks were full of experienced sailors, two of which had just proven one COULD sail in those conditions.  My approach was to be between two docks, one to windward and one to leeward.  I wanted to approach the lee side of the windward dock, tie off, get the truck, retrieve and get out of there.

About three boat lengths from the dock, a line wrapped around my prop and the ob died.  As I drifted, the breeze pushed off the bow, turning me ddw - straight into the lee dock.  CRASH - that's the sound of the bow of the boat hitting a dock at a 90 degree angle.  Oh man.

Somewhere in all of this I cut my knee, so with blood dripping down my leg, I went to get my truck.  Al was kind and telling me things like "well, at least you went out there."  I backed the trailer into the water and began the retrieval - Al was helping.  Boat on the trailer, I began to pull out when Al started yelling "STOP STOP STOP."

I forgot to raise the rudder, and it was dragging on the concrete ramp.

What a mess.  If I did anything right that day, it was in making the decision to stop while the stopping was good.  I learned a lot, though, and count that day as a MAJOR part of my learning to sail.  Never again have I been that out of control - even in conditions worse than that.

Of course, as an embarrassing story, I COULD have told the one about dumping the boat off the trailer ONTO the ramp in front of a bunch of power boating rednecks - they thought it just about right for a sailor.

Thus proving you ALWAYS have an audience when you screw up.

[pura vida]

This is not exactly sailing but years ago I was in love with a boat. Not my boat you understand but another boat on the dock. One day I paid the price for my infidelity. It was just after lunch and I was enjoying the hops of my labor, strolling down the dock. My attention was fixed on the object of my desire, so fixed that I couldn't understand why my arm hurt and I was surrounded by water. I had walked off the dock and the most embarrassing part was that I wasn't even drunk yet. 

[oded kishony]

Quite a story Capt Smollett,

Did you ever figure out why your boat wouldn't sail in those conditions? Was it because you didn't have a head sail up?

Oded

[Captain Smollett]

Did you ever figure out why your boat wouldn't sail in those conditions? Was it because you didn't have a head sail up?

Short between the tiller and the cockpit.   ;D

On a different day, I went out in similar conditions, maybe just a touch less wind, with reefed main - and had a great time.  I had the jib up for a while but was a little overpowered in the puffs, so I dropped it.  I could have driven on with the jib, but felt no reason to push things that hard.

So, the problem that first time was not no headsail.  It was clearly me.  Perhaps I was just too intimidated that first time to settle down and find the proper trim.  Once I started having problems, I was defeated.

[oded kishony]

On my previous boat, an O'day 23, when the wind got too much I would drop the main. She seemed to get along on jib alone fairly well. I suppose the only way to know how well an unfamiliar boat handles heavy air is to experiment. Any guidlines or rules of thumb on what is most likely to work?

Oded

[Captain Smollett]

On my previous boat, an O'day 23, when the wind got too much I would drop the main. She seemed to get along on jib alone fairly well. I suppose the only way to know how well an unfamiliar boat handles heavy air is to experiment. Any guidlines or rules of thumb on what is most likely to work?

Oded

Veering OT just a bit, but I have found jib only works well downwind; when sailing up, though my boat does point "ok" with jib only, I really need the CE aft to be able to tack, and the boat just feels more balanced.  I know a CD Typhoon sailor that drilled dropping the main/raising the jib (and vice versa) in winds above 25 kts for this reason.  He'd go upwind with main (reefed) and down with jib.

So, if I am really "working to weather" in >20 kts, reefed main + jib or reefed main only (depending on how hard I want to push and if I have extra 'ballast' aboard); broad reaching or running, let the jib pull me down.

I'm talking about my 18 footer here...I have not had the A-30 long enough to experiment; but, I anticipate that my tactics will be similar.

This is just what I've found works well on MY boat.  If yours handles/balanced differently, that's the trim/sailplan to use.

[Frank]

I was on my first 'group cruise' ever a couple of years back.After joining in with a bunch of small boat trailer sailors on the web and reading about their Chesapeake cruise, I was invited to join in. I had never met these guys before and had only minimal interaction on their site.After arriving at the pre-arranged launch ramp,we all met up,set up our boats,launched and once settled in, we were off to dinner to discuss the upcoming week.That first day was a good sail and we made our anchorage by early evening.The next morning I was up early and thought I'd go for a short sail before the others were ready.After hoisting the main, I noticed the pin at the tack had come out. Being on a small boat I simply pointed up to luff and reached forward to re-insert it. Not enough time...tacked the boat around and tried again (note:we were anchored in a small bay) Once more I missed so I came about again to try. Slightly frustrated at this taking longer than I thought...I stayed at it this time until it was finally back in....only seconds before ramming Rick's Monty 15 that was out of site behind the mainsail  :o. OOPS !! Nice way to introduce yourself to a new group of friends !! I felt like a total 'dork'... "don't try this at home kids..I'm a trained professional"   :(  Luckily nothing was damaged..other than my pride and Rick has turned out to be a 'best sailing bud' with 3 cruises in together now and another planned for Lake Champlain in august...SOOooo...sometimes you litterally run into new friends  ;D

[Godot]

I've had my fair share of minor mishaps that caused a slight reddening of the face.  My most embarrassing moment that comes to mind, however, was on my first sail in my current boat.  The wind was 30kn+ and I was having a bear of a time bringing the boat from the old owners dock up the 50 miles or so to my new slip.  All day and into the night I tacked back and forth across the Chesapeake making no progress to windward, changing sails, trimming, retrimming, going this way or that, having the anchor break loose, having the motor fail, trying to find shelter or something.  I found I couldn't find a hidey hole I could get into without sailing a little to weather.  And I was getting real, real, tired and more than a little scared.  So  I called for help.  The coast guard helped me contact TowBoatUS.  After talking with them awhile they informed me that to get towed someplace was going to cost something like $2400 as it was nighttime, officially winter (although is was a HOT April day) and I was no where near anyplace useful.  The high price tag shocked my numb brain into temporary sanity and I managed to find a place of relatively shallow, if very exposed, water to throw an anchor out in so I could get some rest.  In the morning everything was fine.

Losing control of the situation and entering a low grade panic was, frankly, the most embarrassing thing to happen to me in quite a while (certainly the most embarrassing thing I'm willing to admit to).  I bought the BoatUS towing packing shortly thereafter, but in truth I'm glad I didn't have it that night.  I didn't really need help, and the high price tag encouraged me to get back to the business of taking care of myself and quite possibly avoiding a very nasty and potentially dangerous tow.

[Fortis]

Two slight embarrasing stories...the rest were all ADVENTURES (Something you survive in order to brag about).

On teling someone that the boat they had just purchased sight unseen through the 'net was "not as bad as all that" after he had had a very disappointing first impression.

On the ride out in my dinghy I commented favourably about the lines, the way that the make of boat was almost never prone to osmosis and was solidly and well built in both hull and deck, about the fact that the mast and boom seemed okay, even if we found that the standing rigging would need replacing, etc...

I was really doing my best, because this thing was a heart-sinking dog to look upon. Streaks of who knows what running down the hull from every scupper in the rotted-to-heck wooden toe-rails, windows that looked like whited-out cataracts fromt he sun fading and crazing that would mean that you could inadvertently push your finger straight through them....This thing was a bit dire!

Anyway, we tight the dinghy painter to a cracked and crooked staunchion (there were not enough horn cleats on deck) and clamber aboard. I spend 45 minutes doing a boat check. All the halyards, tracks, what could jokingly be reffered to as winches and other fittings. We bail out the bilges as step one so that the last thing on the check can be seeing how much water has seeped back in. Anyway...I lead him through a pretty thorough check-list of his new vessel and point out all the good stuff as well as stuff that needs replacing (with notes on where to get the bits cheap and a sort of ball-park price list). He begins to look a little less glum, and the possibility of sailing this mooring-minder across the BAY to his marina begin to seem possible (as long as the dinghy stays with us as an emergency escape!!!).

At last we get to the little 5hp outboard hanging off the transom. Oh dear. To short a shaft, too small a prop, and my doubts of getting this thing started are not aided by the fact that the lift-latches for the coling are both brocken so that you need to get under the stubs with a screw driver and then grab with a pair of pliers to lift them and open the motor.
The internals looks surprisingly good....But it does not start. Oh well, we can sail off the mooring and I know the detination marina enough to know we can either sail in, sail in and nudge for detail using the dinghy, or give a yell on the radio once we are in the area and see if someone wants to come out and lend a hand.

Not much water has seeped into the bilges since we bailed....
Check time available, plenty of daylight.

Winds, still light and useful (10-12kt), and lookign to stay that way.

"Okay, we go."

I watch him smile with a new and fragile confidence in his boat. We make things ready, The launch off the mooring has to be fairly no-nonsense as there is a sand bar not far behind us, so getting out of irons and moving is pretty critical.
The main (sorry, miserable remains of a main) is hoisted and I tell him to go forwards and throw off the mooring line when I tell him. He hears the first part.

I am just getting last minute things sorted like trimming the main sheet so that we can get moving as soon as the line is thrown when I feel the boat's motion change. I look up to see he has thrown off the line and is coming back to the cockpit. Oh well, don't make a huge fuss. Just get on with it....

I finish trimming the main to something liek what I think it will need to be when I bring the nose of the now backward-travelling boat around and step over to the tiller. I take it in hand, push to starboard....and have it snap off in my hand, leaving about a half inch stubb sticking out of the tiller stock.
I am holding the broken tiller and looking at it a bit stupidly, and then look up to see the guy who had just conjured confidence in hsi new boat looking a little pale and uncertain.

"What we need now, and I mean really now, is a big shifter or pipe wrench" I say.

"I have a leatherman here" he replies, not very optimistically.

And we feel the first thud of the keel into the sand bar.


We eventually used the dinghy to kedge out the anchor, and then to use the anchor rode to tie onto the mooring loop, and gradually worked the boat back onto its mooring...But that was about six hours of work including waiting for the tide to change.
We eventually moved his boat two weeks later, but his heart was no longer in it and he got rid of it.


I'll write the other one, some other time.

[MikeTurner]

Hm... hard to pick just one...

I'd just purchased a Catalina 25 and had it delivered to the Washington Sailing Marina south of Washington, DC.  My girlfriend and I chose a beautiful late summer day to take her on a quick shakedown cruise in the marina basin, just off Washington Reagan National Airport.

Sailed across the basin and promptly ran aground on a falling tide.  Cranked up the outboard, cranked up the retractable keel and tried to spin around to deeper water - but when the tide goes out there, it goes OUT, quick - and we were hard aground (well, a-mud), with a 12-hour wait, until after midnight, for the tide to come back in.

The marina manager came over in a skiff and carried our anchor out to deep water, so when the tide came in, we could kedge off.  He even made another run out to bring us some snacks and water to supplement the two bottles of water we had on board (hey, it was supposed to be a "three hour cruise," right?).

So we spent the next 12 hours alone on the boat.  Well, not exactly alone.  The airport police were very nice, came around the permeter road every couple of hours to check on us.  Along about 7pm a car pulled up on the perimeter road; the driver got out and shouted to us that he'd just finished dinner in the marina restaurant (which overlooks the basin) and wanted to check on us - we were quite the topic of discussion in the bar that evening!

For reasons that to this day I don't understand, weeds kept piling up on the outboard - we took turns skinny-dipping over the stern to keep it clear so that, once we finally floated off, we could get it running.

About 10PM, we could feel the boat beginning to stir.  By close to midnight it seemed like we were close to floating.  I went back over the stern, and the weight change was just enough to float the boat.  With my girlfriend hauling in the anchor and me pushing, we made our way to deep water; I climbed back aboard, we got the outboard running, and we made our way back to the slip.

Of course, it's like falling off a horse - the next weekend we took the boat out again, and had a terrific first...er, second, sail.

About six months later, we got engaged - figured that, if we could spend 12 hours aground without killing each other, we could handle marriage.  It's going on ten years now...

This was kind of embarrassing at the time, but sure makes a good story now - we tell it a lot.  Owned that boat for a little over a year until we were transferred to California, where we bought a Catalina 30.  A few adventures in that boat, too - perhaps another post, another day!

[s/v Faith]

Mike,

  You just earned your first grog for that one.   ;D

Couple (similar).

  Was out sailing on a beautiful Friday afternoon on the New River, NC.  The base owns both sides of the majority of that river, so it is mostly natural for much of it's length.

  There was a band playing near one of the General's headquarters (right on the water).  I sailed in close, to listen to the music, and see if I could figure out what was going on.

  It was a retirement ceremony, with many many guests.  I sailed in close, thinking of how great Faith must be looking from the large grassy hillside where several hundred people were milling about (the ceremony had apparently just ended).

  Of course, it was not enough so I cheated in close.  I had sailed that area many times (outside the marker) and figured I would be ok as long as I watched the numbers.

  I was exactly even with the HQ building, with everyone watching.... when the boat stopped like I had hit a brick wall.

I let go the jib, hauled in and dropped the main... and threw my stern anchor over.  I had my brush in hand as I had planned to give her a rubdown before the race on Saturday... so I just jumped in and started scrubbing like that was EXACTLY what I planned.

  I wonder to this day how many figured it out.   ;D

[SV Wind Dancer]

In the 1980's was living on the hook on a little swing keel sailboat.  While in the Tampa Bay area I went out one night visiting the watering holes and met a brave bonny lass who came home with me, only to find my dinghy stolen and no way to carry her to the boat.  Somewhat determined I dove in the water, swam out to the sailboat and untied from the mooring, and putting two fingers thru the tow eye, towed ~Last Laugh~ by sidestroke power to my princess waiting at the dinghy dock. Voila! *But*, the really embarrassing part...awaking late the next AM, to get her ashore (still no dinghy) I had to perform the exact same spectacle...with onshore onlookers indulging ribald wit. 

[Oldrig]

Wind Dancer, I think you've got the prize so far.

Mine doesn't come close, but here goes:

When I was in junior high school, my best friend's family bought an International 210, a deep-keeled, double-ended racing sloop that was popular on the North Shore of Boston. Instead of keeping their boat in Marblehead or some other racing town, Mike's family decided to moor their boat in the Charles River basin between Boston and Cambridge.

One day Mike and I were sailing (he was at the helm), when we got too close to the Boston shore and ran aground. I hopped overboard and tried unsuccessfully to push us off. Soon a launch from one of the college racing teams that practice in the basin came by and offered to pull us off.

"Get aboard," said the launch driver (or maybe the coach), "and I'll toss you a line."

Following his instructions, I reached into a pile of flotsam at the water's edge and picked up a large board.

"No, I mean get back into the boat," he said, in a tone of voice that said a lot more than his words.

--Joe

[ThistleCap]

Holidays are what you make of them.  The Thanksgiving I remember most fondly was the one we were going to celebrate with Thanksgiving dinner on board anchored in a quiet cove.  We hauled the turkey and all the fixings down to the boat, started the engine and backed out our winter slip.  The wind had been out of the north for several days, which empties the Chesapeake Bay.  We went only about 50 feet past the slip when we ran hard aground----on a falling tide.  Only then did we discover that a hard knoll of a shoal had been building inside the marina.  The tide kept dropping until we were at 45-deg.  Counter tops had become useless for handling the food, but with PFD's and pillows, we got everything chocked on an even keel, carved the turkey, popped the wine, and settled back for a cool, but relaxing afternoon.  We had Thanksgiving dinner, relaxed and read and played games with the kids.  By the time we had enough water to get back into the slip, the river was bathed with the light of a full autumn moon.  It was as far from the Thanksgiving diner we had imagined as we could get, but one of our favorites.

[River Wytch]

i KNOW that i must have some embarrassing moments but as a "newbie",i don't even know what 85% of them would be, just yet . . .
i must've been alot of fun to watch at times my first few weeks with the boat though . . .
my first attempts at docking myself at the town docks must've been a riot . . .
i would pull up to the dock and jump off backwards and bring her to stop, looking like some idiotwas  trying to stop a runaway stagecoach by grabbing the reins . . .
it wasn't pretty to watch . . .

in our little harbor at catskill point, there's the town moorings (free),the town docks (also free),and guido's resturant with it's creekside dining and there's also a park by the docks where there's alway's people hanging out on a nice summer night . . .
last fourth of july weekend they had fireworks displays going on at just about every town/village along the river and it also being the 400th anniversary of henry hudson's voyage up the river there was a much larger crowd of people than usual around for the event . . .

i invited someone to come down and meet me and we'd go out there and anchor where we would be able to see all the fireworks from coxsackie down to saugerties . . .
before we left,i decided to check my nav lights and noticed that my steaming light was out,there's way too many half-wits in bayliners on the river and i wanted to make sure i'd be at least noticed. . .
thing was,i had no clue as to how to get up there to change it . . .
truck drivers with sailboats probably aren't a good thing and i think i can now prove it . . .
now remember,there's quite a few hundred people around at this point . . .
first i made myself a sling out of a nylon ratchet strap,that got hooked to the jib halyard . . .
take the other end of the halyard over by the winch so barbara could winch me up the mast and i can change the light bulb . . .
this didn't work as barbara didn't have enough strength in her arms to turn the winch . . .
i know we've got some people watching now . .

plan "b"
i have an idea,i'm going tie the jib halyard to a dock cleat,loosen up the dock lines enough so barbara could put the yamaha in reverse and pull me up that way . . .
well . . .
it almost worked . . .
every time i got close to the spreader,my weight would pull the boat forward  and i'd go down and the bow would try to climb up and over the dock . . .
we tried this at least ten times before i decided i needed a four bladed prop in order to do this right and left without the steaming light . . .
i wish there was a video of this . . .
i wish even more there was a video of this with someone else doing it . . .

dennis

[Mario G]

Just after getting back into sailing after 30 years getting out to the lake 45 plus miles away every weekend were the boat stayed stored on the hard during the week. I felt like a 5 yr old at Christmas.   Around the 5th Friday I just couldn't wait any more and headed out to the lake just after lunch time.  Had my sail bag, (clothes and food) in the truck so off I went. Get to the lake, hook up the boat and get it launched and tied to the dock. park the truck and jump aboard to install the sails likke I have done the 4 times prior with one problem....NO SAILS... I took them home from the last outting to clean them and forgot to grab them from the spare bedroom. 
So standing on deck with alot of powerboaters there launching at the ramp feeling a little dumb, wondering if I should just put the boat back on the trailer and put it back in the corral or make the 2 hour drive round trip to get the sails. 

I'm sure my face was much redder then my hair as I walked up to the marina office to explain that I was going need to leave my boat tied to the back side of the launch dock to get my sails. It didn't help much that the office person yelled out the window to the Dock master that my boat would be ther a few hours because I forgot my sails.