School of hard knocks

[MurrayM]

Care to share any lessons you've learned the hard way?

Mine came recently on day two of our summer holiday when our dinghy tow rope got wrapped up in the prop. The towing harness has floats, but the line to the dinghy didn't and wasn't floating line.

There was a bight in the rope, which held the dinghy close to Badger's stern which I'd always remembered to clip into the boom while moving slowly or setting the anchor, but for whatever reason, I forgot this time.

We tried cutting it; nope. We tried spinning the shaft by hand to loosen it up; nope. I tried to dive on it, but couldn't take a deep breath after my chest hit the cold water.

There were a couple good things however...the new radio put in just before we left worked much better than the old one did, and we'd just anchored when I noticed the rope slide under the stern so my wife could go into neutral right away.

First Pan Pan...never had to call the Coast Guard before. They managed to contact a commercial diver in Klemtu later that afternoon, and he had the prop cleared in about 2 minutes. Took him longer to suit up.

The lesson is; I'd thought to myself a few times, "You know, you should have a floating line to the dinghy" but put the idea way down on the to-do list.

Listen to that inner voice.

 

[Wxx3]

Murray,
I'm curious, when you turned the shaft by hand, did you have the snagged line in hand? And did you try to turn the shaft in both directions?

I still have a non functioning bow thruster since 2 years ago.
I had noticed my anchor buoy line had fallen in the water.
I meant to retrieve it, but forgot of course.
Then a I'm having to make a U turn in a tight canal, the bow thruster stops working as the boat for half way thru the 180°
Of course the boat now directly astern of Dauntless was a restaurant barge.
Backing and filling got me around, just.

It taught me never to depend on the bow thruster.

 

[MurrayM]

Yes, we had the line in hand and could feel it shortening and lengthening as the shaft was turned, but could only turn it a few revolutions either way.

If we were out of radio contact way up some mountain lined inlet, there may have been a way. We could have brought the stern close to shore with a stern line at low tide, then work at clearing the prop in waist deep water as the tide came up.

Being safely anchored at the time sure helped, and hiring the diver was the safest thing to do.

 

[MurrayM]

...
Of course the boat now directly astern of Dauntless was a restaurant barge...

Our pucker factor was bad enough without witnesses

 

[menzies]

The feeling of a 70,000 boat crabbing astern in a marina on one engine with absolutely no controls is not one I EVER want to experience again!

First Damage! | AtAnchor.com

 

[Blissboat]

Sometimes boating feels like a major university of hard knocks, with high tuition and lots of incidental fees.

 

[Jeff F]

Yes, we had the line in hand and could feel it shortening and lengthening as the shaft was turned, but could only turn it a few revolutions either way.

If we were out of radio contact way up some mountain lined inlet, there may have been a way. We could have brought the stern close to shore with a stern line at low tide, then work at clearing the prop in waist deep water as the tide came up.

Being safely anchored at the time sure helped, and hiring the diver was the safest thing to do.

I had the exact same thing happen to me, but fortunately I was anchoring in four feet of warm water and a sandy bottom. Took me a while to clear the rope from the water. I'm not sure I could have done it in cold deep water or waves. It was a relatively cheap lesson

 

[O C Diver]

Was thinking about putting a bicycle on the boat before leaving on the Great Loop, and didn't. Decided I needed one but didn't want to spend a bunch of money as I thought it would be on the upper deck rusting all summer. Bought a returned mountain bike from Walmart for $50. It's junk! Brakes need to be readjusted before each use. Going down hill is a death defying act. The seat is painful and really painful on a bump. Have decided to buy a folding bike and won't spend a dime on this one. Every time I hit a bump I'm reminded of how bad being cheap is.

Ted

 

[Hawgwash]

Listen to that inner voice.

Running at night in familiar waters, something just didn't look right. I wrinkled my brow, thought about it, but carried on.

The further I went the more unfamiliar it became until I stopped, got out the chart, reoriented and realized I missed a turn and was in a bay instead of a channel.

I went back and cast a light.
Sure enough there was the beacon with a non-functioning light.
Could have been deadly.
Should have listened to my gut.

 

[Group9]

Running at night in familiar waters, something just didn't look right. I wrinkled my brow, thought about it, but carried on.

The further I went the more unfamiliar it became until I stopped, got out the chart, reoriented and realized I missed a turn and was in a bay instead of a channel.

I went back and cast a light.
Sure enough there was the beacon with a non-functioning light.
Could have been deadly.
Should have listened to my gut.

We had that same close call a few weeks ago. Entering an unfamiliar harbor at night, and watching an unlit day marker slide by two feet from us, was a real adrenaline jolt!

 

[Gabe n Em]

"don't approach the dock any faster than you want to hit it"

 

[GFC]

I got a crab pot line caught in my props once while anchored at Sucia Island in the San Juan Islands. Stoopid me, I used a floating line to run down to the pot rather than a weighted line. As we swung in the wind/current the line got wrapped around one prop and the shaft.


With margarita in hand I lay down on the swim platform and looked the situation over. Ummm, time for another margarita before jumping into the water.


Whilst drinking that next margarita I got an idea. I used the boat hook to grab the line below the prop. Once I got it in hand I let loose the bitter end of the line and slowly but surely was able to pull the line through the prop/shaft until it came free.


Ahhh, mystical powers of a well mixed margarita!

 

[AusCan]

I thought I might revive your thread, Murray.

I've had my share of learning on the go. Here's a few lessons I won't forget.

A mate and I set off for a 5 day cruise after waiting out some bad weather. The winds finally dropped right off after several days of 30+ knots.

First lesson - it takes another day or two for the seas to die down after a storm. To make it worse the calm winds made the steadying sails useless, so we had a big swell on the beam creating a rolly journey.

A few mechanical issues held us up and we drifted in deep water while making repairs, with the boat rolling wildly. Lesson 2 learned - stow things very securely.
Much of the contents of the boat ended up dumped in a big pile.

We finally made it to the intended first day destination at about 10pm. - An outlying marina which used to be the launching point for the ferry to Kangaroo Island.

We negotiated the entrance, past the breakwater in the darkness, turning towards the bright lights of the marina. The spotlight couldn't be found in the mess mess down below, but my buddy was on the bow keeping an eye out.

Suddenly he yells "Look out! Turn hard starboard!" I start to turn and immediately see a pylon about 3 feet away from the helm window on the starboard side. I correct the steering to port and miss the steel pylon by inches. Meanwhile my buddy is freaking out about the near miss on the port side. Big sigh of relief.

The next morning in the daylight we have a better look. It turns out we passed through the old ferry berthing pylons. There were 6 heavy steel poles (2 foot diameter) about 12 feet apart from each other. Each pair had a steel crossbar connecting them about 6 feet above water level. It was all painted black with no lighting and not marked on the charts. Almost impossible to see when looking into the bright marina lights directly ahead.

We just got very lucky and happened to slip between the pylons that were not connected by a crossbar. It could have been very ugly.

Another lesson learned. Always be 100% prepared when making landfall.

 

[caltexflanc]

School of Hard Knocks?.... naw everything has been easy-peasy..

Ok so I do have a graduate degree and wrote a theses on newly discovered OS* advances.


*Operator Stupidity

 

[jleonard]

I think I have a master's degree!

 

[boathealer]

We were coming off the Neuse River in NC heading down into Adams Creek just after dark (poor planning). I saw some lights moving relative to the house lights in the background and determined that there was a tug/tow coming out of the Creek.

It was easy to determine that we would miss him based on the direction the lights were traveling as we approached the channel. There was also a constant spotlight from the tug trained on our boat, occasionally moving temporarily port and starboard.

As we got closer, the all of the tug's moving lights also became closer, but I still had plenty of margin ---- as I KNEW which direction he was going.

As we got close to crossing his bow, I thought I'd better give him a courtesy call on the radio just in case - so I called and calmly told him I would pass him to his port side as that was what I determined our present course would take us. I even started turning slightly more to starboard to increase the margin.

A very urgent and alarmed reply came back - "CAPTAIN, YOU DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!!" ---- and before the last syllable even came across the radio, a HUGE bow wake from a barge came by the STARBOARD side of our boat less than 100ft away at 10+ knots!!!!

YIKES!

2 lessons learned:

1. The North end of Adams Creek has a "Z" shape to the proper channel. Most locals don't follow it as the depths nearby are no problem. However, commercial vessels or other boats may be constrained to using a channel other than what you think you "know"! The progress through the "Z" shaped channel made the tug's lights appear that it was going in a different direction than it really was from our perspective.
   
2. Know your tug/barge/tow lighting signals. All of them. Especially those that indicate what is being pushed or pulled and at what distance.

 

[Halfcircle]

It seems to me that reading the TF is about twice as interesting as reading the latest best seller.
When I consider the adventures I have had none of them compare to my boating adventures...misadventures...

 

[BruceK]

This happened to someone I know.
They tied off fore and aft to posts, and went to dinner.
Between the piles,hidden underwater, were old decayed shortened posts. The tide dropped, the hidden posts met the hull and came through it with predictable results.

 

[sbu22]

MurrayM - writing up several of my dumb **s expeiences now. Glad you initiated this. I think quite a few of us will benefit.

 

[Fletcher500]

Thanks for posting, we all learn from it.

People that never had any issues, don't leave the dock much.

Caltex, your photo wins best picture.

 

[MurrayM]

Ahhh, Caltex - sobering photo! There but for the grace of good luck, go I.

Here's a tip for the group; try to enter an unknown marina near slack tide.

The first summer we owned our boat we took a trip up to Prince Rupert from our home port of Kitimat. Crazy big trip, thinking about it now, because of how little we actually knew with less than one years experience. When we pulled into Prince Rupert we called ahead and found a slip available at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club.

Badger doesn't have a rudder indicator and I hadn't yet tied a knot on the wheel to help indicate when the rudder was straight. I was in sensory input overload coming into a new marina for the first time, so didn't notice we were "crabbing" (moving straight down the fairway but angled into a current).

Marina staff were there to help dock, but as soon as I made the turn for the slip Badger spun sideways and got pinned by the current against the bows of a couple gnarly old commercial fishing boats sporting Northill anchors.

Northill anchors look really imposing pasted against your starboard windows

The marina staff and a nearby boater leapt to our aid, but there was nothing they could do. I took a wild guess, spun the wheel, and gunned it. Luckily, that got us off the other boats and into the middle of the fairway for a shameful retreat out of there.

It took about 15 minutes of hovering outside the marina before I could work up any spit in my mouth, then we came in for a second try which went smoothly. Badger didn't even get a scratch

Never, ever, ever again will we enter a new marina unless it's near slack! (Should add that tides around here can be over 20 feet, so currents can be strong).

 

[caltexflanc]

It's a long story, but better take a close look at that picture and see if you can figure one of the instigators of the sequence of unfortunate events. A friend of mine already has won grand prize, I showed him that photo and he guessed virtually exactly what happened.

 

[MurrayM]

It's a long story, but better take a close look at that picture and see if you can figure one of the instigators of the sequence of unfortunate events. A friend of mine already has won grand prize, I showed him that photo and he guessed virtually exactly what happened.

I’ll take a stab at it.

There was a fender tied to the rail, or a fender was used to fend off a piling....but that turned out to be the pivot point and all the forces were focused on that spot?

 

[AusCan]

Here's another one of my @#&$ ups which occurred in the dark.

About 25 years ago I had a little 16 foot plywood runabout with an 80 horse outboard.
My brother-in-law, Terry, and another mate launched her at the boat ramp at about 5:00am one morning to get to my snapper fishing spot by high tide by 6am if all went well. The Port River was like glass in the calm conditions. Terry took the helm to give me a chance to play with my recently purchased handheld gps. Modern technology at its finest.

We were about half way to our destination on a wide and deep section of the industrial part of the river, and I was still working out the settings on my new toy. We were on the plane at about 20 knots. It crossed my mind that this might be a little fast since there was no hint of daylight yet. I was showing my mate the speed on the gps when suddenly.. CRASH!- we came to a sudden halt and the 3 of us were thrown into the bulkhead. I picked myself up and checked to see if we were all alive and if the boat was afloat. Our 3 bodies were banged up pretty good but luckily no serious injuries. We had water over the bow but it didn't seem as if we were taking on any more water.

WTF happened? What/who did we hit? A boat, a buoy, a whale, a tsunami? Terry eventually was able to talk after copping the helm wheel in the chest. He says that there was just a 6 foot wall of water out of nowhere without any warning.

I checked the water all around us. No sign of another boat anywhere. There was hardly a ripple after the effect of our initial collision died down. We had no explanation as we checked the boat for damage and re-stowed our gear.

As the sun began to rise, I looked up the river a bit and saw the launching platform for the Australian Submarine Corporation, and remembered reading that the trials were underway for the newly built Collins class submarines. Hmmmm. Suddenly I had visions of a submariner yelling DIVE! DIVE! as we approached at 20 knots in the darkness.

I still don't know for sure if that was the cause of the wake, but I can't think of another explanation.

 

[AKDoug]

Hauling shrimp pots, my stern is set up with a plate the two down riggers mount on and my line hauler mounts onto one of the down rigger bases. I have been in the habit (last several years) of just removing one rigger, and using the base to mount the hauler. I dropped the pots, and as the stern swung I tried to flip the pot line over the rod I left in the rigger.

Of course instead I managed to flip a $450 rod and reel into 450' of water... It shot out of the rod holder built into the rigger like a roman candle. All I could do was laugh! I knew better than to have gear out while working pots but I had been getting away with it. It's funny how expensive lessons are long remembered

 

[cardude01]

I recently finished a short 3 day cruise to relocate the boat from a hurricane hole inland to a marina on the west coast of FL. We went offshore at the Boca Grande Inlet and my Garmin chart seemed all off from the markers. I got confused and almost went over the shoal on the north side of the inlet. I was following the stupid chart instead of the markers.

It was blowing 24k out of the north by the time we got to the Jupiter inlet around dusk, and not being familiar with Jupiter I was nervous. We had no problems but afterward when anchored my friend commented what a "nervous" captain I seem to be when coming up on inlets, bridges, other boats, etc.

I guess I do get twitchy when coming up on things that can wreck my boat. I usually cruise alone so I didn't realize how "nervous" I seem to others. [emoji23]

 

[k9medic]

My worst story so far comes from the "crossroads" area in Stuart.

We had just finished a long crossing from Green Turtle Cat to Stuart and ha just fueled up. On our way out, I turned the wrong way and found myself headed up the ICW rather than towards the OWW.

In a moment of frustration I whipped the boat around and decided to jump op on plane to make up for some lost time as the sun was quickly setting.

In my haste I missed one of the red markers (in hindsight, the marker was missing) and wound up cutting a large corner off the channel. In mere moments we went from 16kts to dead stopped.

After making sure everybody was okay I quickly realized that what damage was done, was done so I powered the boat off the shoal.

We limped back to the marina and to my surprise, we were able to call a diver. The diver happened to be at the local park and saw the entire event. He said that we were the 4th boat that week to do the same thing.

The diver came out the next morning and pulled the "taco'ed" props. He had them fixed and back on the next day!

 

[saltcod]

I put new anchor chain on Selkie last year. Before ordering the chain, I consulted the windlass manufacturer's website and deduced that the old chain and the gypsy were 3/8 BBB. The boat was out of the water for maintenance so I just backed my truck up to it, pulled the old chain off and hand-bombed the new chain into the locker. Easy Peasy. The following week we took the boat north and anchored in a bay we had not visited before. I wasn't happy with the way we were anchored so I decided on a re-do. I stepped on the footswitch for the windlass and the chain bounced out of the gypsy. Uh-oh. Tried it a few times with no success. Ever tried to pull in 200' of 3/8 chain by hand? It took my wife and I about an hour. Both of us had to pull at the same time or we couldn't budge it. We eventually got the anchor up, but no way was I putting it back down again. We ran over to Shoal Bay and tied up for the weekend.
Once we were back home I contacted the windlass company to figure out the problem. Turns out that model of windlass always come with a gypsy for 3/8 BBB chain, except for that one time when they used a different gypsy manufactured to spec for a certain type of chain. It only cost $800 U.S. to get the correct gypsy. Lesson, I should have bought a foot of new chain and tried in on the old gypsy. In any event, I would have had to change the gypsy as the type of chain it was made for is no longer available. At least we wouldn't have had to lift the anchor by hand though!

 

[sbu22]

Thanks to MurrayM for starting this thread.

Several years ago. Proud new owner of an old but sturdy boat. My son gifts me with a new radar/chartplotter. Not that I needed a big navigation package. My “cruising grounds” are coastal and areas that I have been sailing for years.

But – I have new stuff and intend to use it. Maybe I can go from New Orleans to Pensacola “on instruments.” So, with computer and at home, put together a route for a trip east. One of the first legs is through Lake Borgne (really a shallow inlet) via the GIWW. It’s well marked with a range and everything.
But, it’s also very nondescript for 30-40 miles.

As Auscan related above, I neglected to consider that the preceding days of 30-35k wind, even when it dropped to 25-30, creates a lot of short period wave action in wide, shallow waters. But, I had a schedule to meet and people to see.

This was supposed to be a trawler speed run of about 6-8 hours to Gulfport, then a nice relaxed dinner and on to Orange Beach the next day.

Well – first, the flood gate in the Great Wall (flood protection barrier to the southeast of NOLA) was down for maintenance. Lesson: check Notice to Mariners. Delayed 5-6 hours. Now we’re launching into Lake Borgne at near sunset.

Lake Borgne is pretty shallow, with a lot of abandoned structures. You really want to stay in the groove with even a 4’ draft. With significant beam seas, it was a cold wet ride. However, with my spiffy new electronics, I wasn’t skeered. More like another challenge. Loving that colored screen. Between the dark and the spray, I guess I had (who knows) 50-100 yards reliable visibility.

Later, in the dark, my brother hollers “which side you taking that channel marker on?” Out of the dark, closer than I care to recall, is the marker dead ahead. Hard to port, firewall the throttle for rudder authority, straighten out, and missed the piling by a couple of coats of paint. I KNEW I was going to hit it.

Lesson 1 – With the gear we have now – if you plot a from course channel marker to channel marker – the equipment will take you channel marker to channel marker, with good accuracy. Use the offset provision, or make your own.

Lesson 2 - Blind reliance on electronic navigation in crappy weather can kill your boat, especially if you’re a nub (like me). Use your eyes (as much as you can), throttle down, proceed with caution.

 

[AusCan]

Its great reading about the mistake of others. It means I won't have to make all of them myself.

Here's one of mine from earlier this year.
We were returning from Port Lincoln to Adelaide; about a 24 hour cruise we planned over 4 days. The first day we peeked our nose out, but the wind was still over 30 knots, so we only cruised about 4 hours to a protected anchorage.

The next day the wind was reduced to around 15-20 knots and the seas were lumpy but the steady sails stabilized us nicely and we made it abot 60 nm to another nice anchorage for the night.

The next run was a long 12 hour cruise, west across the bottom of the Yorke Peninisula. There were no safe harbours along this stretch. We waited for the morning weather update. 20-25 knot southeasterly winds with a 4 metre (13 foot) SW swell @ 15 - 20 second interval. Slightly worse than yesterday, but we decided to proceed under a fully reefed mainsail.
As we rounded the toe of the peninsula, the wind picked up to the predicted 25 knots but the sail plan worked well to steady the boat. The long interval swell wasn't a problem as long as we stayed well offshore, although we got hit with one solid wave that broke over the boat soaking me in the cockpit.

Just before sunset, we got to the heel of the peninsula, and neared the only possible anchorage in the area. We would have to head north through a narrow channel with shoals on either side.

I decided to drop the mainsail in the open water, while we still had a bit of daylight. My two companions weren't overly nimble on deck, so I asked Marty to head south directly into the wind while I dropped the mainsail at the mast.

While Marty begun turning into the wind, I went out on deck and prepared to drop the mainsail. We turned into the wind and kept turning, and turning and then THWACK, a huge gybe. Luckily I was at the base of the mast and there was no one else on deck. The boom swept across a 160 degree arc into the portside shroud cable. Fittings let go, lines parted, it didn't look good. I wrapped up the sail in my broken lazy jack lines and we turned and motored towards the anchorage.

As the the water depth reduced the swell increased in size and steepness. Usually I enjoy getting the boat to surf a bit and the boat handles it very well with its canoe stern.
This time it was a bit much. We managed to get in without completely broaching but I set a new speed record with the boat.

We all slept well that night and managed to temporarily patch up the rigging enough to get us home the next day.

1.Lots of lessons learned; The main one were:
2. Spend time to explain all aspect of a task to someone before expecting them to do it under pressure.
3. If you have sails, use a jybe preventer.
4.Ensure the itinerary is flexible. Be prepared to continue cruising if your planned anchorage is not easily accessible.