Confession

Since we are confessing, I pulled a bone-headed stunt last year. One windy day with a boat full of guests, I backed Boomarang out of her slip, port rudder and prop walk as usual. Shifted to forward, gave it a good dose of power while turning the wheel to starboard to line up with the fairway. The boat moved forward but turned sharply back to port, right at my neighbor's transom. Hard astern and the stern swung to port. Now stopped, with the wind pinning us against the transoms of two boats, guests fending us off, I discovered the A/P was engaged. No steering at all. The rudder was turned to port the whole time.

The following month I installed a bow thruster and made sure I double-checked the status of the A/P before moving the gear lever.

To this day, I don't think any of my guests believe my explaination . . . . . they are convinced I was just being a wingnut.

Never say never, but I don't think I will be repeating that little maneouver again any time soon.

I applaud you, Baker! Most pilots I know would have blamed it on the FO!

Reminds me of a joke....

One of Baker's blonde beauties was enjoying one of his flights on a 747. It was a beautiful flight for the first hour. Then Baker came on the intercom explaining that they lost an engine but not to worry as they still had 3 more engines. As a result, they would be an 30 minutes late to their destination.

A short while later another engine failed and Baker came on the PA announcing their situation and explaining that they'd now be an hour late. No worries, though....we still have 2 more engines.

Later in the flight, Baker regretfully announced that they had lost their 3rd engine and would now be 2 hrs late to their destination.

With this PA call, John's blonde beauty exclaimed to the passenger seated next to her, "If we lose another engine, we'll be up here all day!!!"

FlyWright said:

With this PA call, John's blonde beauty exclaimed to the passenger seated next to her, "If we lose another engine, we'll be up here all day!!!"

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Hahaha, nice.

Speaking of one engined induced embarrassing situations... The last time I was in Kingston, Ontario, I went to start up and leave for my next port, only to find that my port engine wouldn't start. I knew I had a fuel problem, probably a filter issue. I decided that I was going to leave on one engine, as I only had 20 miles to run to the next port, where I knew I could get ahold of a couple of new filters. (Or at least be a bit closer to the nearest towboat US location when the other engine quit...)

To escape my slip, I needed to make a 90* turn to starboard. The wind was coming in from my starboard beam.
I learned the hard way that my boat does NOT like turning to starboard into the wind with only the starboard screw turning. I made a real mess of it. I almost clipped a dock and two boats. No damage done, except to my pride. I now carry plenty of extra fuel filters.

Another confession. We refueled at Baileys in White Bay Sydney, of course closing down both engines, which were running normally. Refueling complete, I restarted, but the port engine would not fire up. We depart the fuel wharf heading back to the mooring, doing fine on one engine. We`d been running for about 20 minutes, I was discussing with the Admiral what could have happened, Admiral points to the pull cable knobs,they are right in front of me at the helm, says the the port one is still pulled up. Uh oh. Push down knob, cable retracts, hit starter, engine starts. All`s well that ends well.

This might have been my distraction??? And the ego never really took a hit....no one noticed...

Our next topic, taking selfies while driving large boats on plane...upside down...no clue why that turned out that way....

Confessions? I resealed my steering helm on the fly bridge and checked that the rudder was turning with my imputs. It was 98 degrees that day and I simply left it as is to go and cool off. Came back the next week and moved the boat out of the slip to dock at my camp. You guessed it-steering backwards. No damage, but a real nail biter until I realized what I had done.LOL

But seriously, the overall structure of my post was loosely based on our threat and error management model and our FSAP(Flight Safety Action Program) program which is one of self disclosure.
There are always threats. In this case, the current, the wind, and whatever distracted me right in the middle of starting the engines,etc. We use strategies to mitigate those threats...checklists,etc. Errors can still happen after our mitigation strategies and if they are left unchecked(unprepared), they can lead to an UAS....unsafe aircraft state(boat in this case). This is where I was in the model. If a UAS is left unrepaired, then consequences occur. Luckily, I repaired and recovered and returned to a normal safe state. Part of the "healing" process is determining the threats that caused it and finding ways to mitigate those threats in the future.

And that is where the outline of this post came from.

Baker said:

This might have been my distraction??? And the ego never really took a hit....no one noticed......

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Dang brother!
Ok, now I understand

Giggitoni said:

Hang a little sign on the throttle that says, "Did you start the engine. If so, then you remembered to open the throughull". Kill two birds with one stone.

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How 'bout a couple of these:

Baker said:

This might have been my distraction??? And the ego never really took a hit....no one noticed...

Our next topic, taking selfies while driving large boats on plane...upside down...no clue why that turned out that way....

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Baker

That will do it every time the upside down blond your excused this time

Baker said:

Our next topic, taking selfies while driving large boats on plane...upside down...no clue why that turned out that way....

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Maybe that's a position that you normally find yourself in!

Baker said:

This might have been my distraction??? And the ego never really took a hit....no one noticed...

Our next topic, taking selfies while driving large boats on plane...upside down...no clue why that turned out that way....

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Oh..I assumed you took that while in Australia.

What is the old saying about pride and the fall?

timjet said:

No worries John, when I was going into CHS last year, as I got close to the marina I turned the wheel and nothing happen. Current was pretty strong and I didn't have much time. So as I started to panic I finally remembered I forgot to turn the auto-pilot off.

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Haven't all with hydraulic steering already done this?

Cat Daddy said:

I am amazed you could get a boat the size of yours in there. I came by Saturday about 2:00 as the storm chased us off the Bay and it was packed. I certainly know what you mean by being on stage.
By the way, where is Turtle Club & Sam's? I'm looking for dining options.

Rafe

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Turtle Club is on NASA Pkwy just past Lakewood YC. There's a boat broker in the same parking lot. Are you talking about Sam's Boat? That's in the building behind where the WM on NASA Pkwy used to be.

Cat Daddy said:

I am amazed you could get a boat the size of yours in there. I came by Saturday about 2:00 as the storm chased us off the Bay and it was packed. I certainly know what you mean by being on stage.
By the way, where is Turtle Club & Sam's? I'm looking for dining options.

Rafe

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I would not consider the Turtle Club a fine dining establishment by any stretch. In fact, on most days, they do not even serve food. Only on Wed. and Thurs. Wed. is Steak Night where you pay about $8 and cook your steak(provided you by the Turtle) and have all the trimmings provided. Thursday is Pork Chop Night. The owner prides himself in his ability to make a good chop and it shows. I would recommend it. Otherwise the Turtle is a smoky bar. It is floating so we call it the "Turtle Boat". But I haven't been in a while and sadly, it is past its peak.

Baker said:

I would not consider the Turtle Club a fine dining establishment by any stretch. In fact, on most days, they do not even serve food. Only on Wed. and Thurs. Wed. is Steak Night where you pay about $8 and cook your steak(provided you by the Turtle) and have all the trimmings provided. Thursday is Pork Chop Night. The owner prides himself in his ability to make a good chop and it shows. I would recommend it. Otherwise the Turtle is a smoky bar. It is floating so we call it the "Turtle Boat". But I haven't been in a while and sadly, it is past its peak.

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Dang Baker, sounds like my kinda place.

CPseudonym said:

Dang Baker, sounds like my kinda place.

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We have had many a good times there over the years. It is still a lot of fun on certain nights...like Xmas Boat Parade. Also they do some free bar food and half price beer During the Texans games. Kinda hard to beat if you are sitting around looking for a place to watch some football.

Thanks, that description of Turtle Club seems to describe a building w/ Cabo above the door.

Rafe

Cat Daddy said:

Thanks, that description of Turtle Club seems to describe a building w/ Cabo above the door.

Rafe

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Cabo is across the way. Cabo is "relatively" new and a place I always forget about when talking about places accessible by water. Cabo actually has pretty decent food. It will be rocking and crowded on a weekend night...and the crowd is farely young...20-40s. Again, this is not a place that people go to...to dine. It is a night club. But I will admit, food is above average and if you are out during the day on the boat and looking for a place for a decent meal by boat, not a bad choice. And they do have daily specials. I just don't go there enough to know them. No fault of theirs...fault of mine.

Baker said:

What could I do to prevent this in the future??? Maybe a conscious "exercising" of the throttles and note a response on the tachs??? Dunno.

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Someone may have mentioned this but I'm not going to read through it all. On larger boats we always shift each engine through both fwd and reverse gears to make sure that they are not only running but shifting properly before we untie. I always check my thrusters as well.

It's a good habit to get in no matter what size boat you run.

Cat Daddy said:

Thanks, that description of Turtle Club seems to describe a building w/ Cabo above the door.

Rafe

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We lived across the street for a couple of years and the Turtle Club always looked like it should be condemned and torn down. This was back in '06 or '07. I didn't realize they were still in business.

We like Boondoggles, a little further down the road. Good burgers and pizzas.

I guess this thread is creeping somewhat.

I have never owned a twin screw boat so I always use a spring line to "get off" in tight quarters or in adverse wind or current, even single handed. If I ever got a twin screw boat, I would, in all likelihood, continue doing so partially out of habit but partially b/c it is such a controlled way to maneuver.

Baker said:

What could I do to prevent this in the future??? Maybe a conscious "exercising" of the throttles and note a response on the tachs??? Dunno.

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Just look at the tachs. That's all.

Thanks Bob, I finally found these places on google maps.

bayview said:

What is the old saying about pride and the fall?

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Or: "Confession - good for the soul, less so for the reputation."

BruceK said:

Or: "Confession - good for the soul, less so for the reputation."

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Wifey B: I thought it was going to be something naughty. Darn.

Having the boat not respond as it normally does is always a shock.

It occurred to me recently after repowering with a new RH rotating engine. I still had a LH prop, and thought, - no problem; I'll just operate the shifter in reverse for a test run.

Almost was a big problem when I had to make a quick manoeuvre in the lock.

AusCan said:

Having the boat not respond as it normally does is always a shock.

It occurred to me recently after repowering with a new RH rotating engine. I still had a LH prop, and thought, - no problem; I'll just operate the shifter in reverse for a test run.

Almost was a big problem when I had to make a quick manoeuvre in the lock.

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30 years or so ago there was a runabout sold on a lake I frequented. The family was so excited. They immediately hit the water. The dealer decided to call and ask how it was going. The buyer said, "Oh absolutely wonderful. We love the boat. It did take a bit to get use to the steering but everything perfect." The dealer asked, "Get use to the steering?" to hear this shocking response, "Yes, that it turns the opposite, you turn it right to go left and left to go right." The dealer immediately knew it had been rigged backwards and told him not to use it anymore like that, to stop immediately where they were. He said he'd send a ride for them and a tow for the boat. The buyer adamantly refused, insisting they didn't want to miss any boating and that he'd bring it in that night, but they were having too much fun. Again the dealer emphasized it was unsafe and should not be driven anymore.

Well, I'm sure the rest comes as no big surprise. About an hour later, the boat was going under a bridge in a heavily trafficked area. He made a quick turn to center himself, but then right was left and left was right and into the bridge he turned. Fortunately no one seriously hurt, but boat sank in about 120'.

Fortunately for the dealer he had told him to not use it any more and the owner made that clear as well, taking full blame himself. Had the dealer never made the phone call he did to check on things, then it would have been his liability.