A reader question:
Hello Ms. Aldrich. Thank you for your terrific blog. Here are a couple of additional photos of the wreck you featured--in case you or your readers might be interested. Would any of your readers like to share their nautical mishaps or near mishaps? I bet there are some good stories out there. Thank you again!
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| Photos by Reader; Used with Permission. |
We've been sailing for more than forty years. We almost ran out of beer once, but other than that we haven't had any problems.
ReplyDeleteThere are 2 types of sailors: 1) those that have run aground and 2) those that are obfuscating.
DeleteCollege: sailing from Deer Isle to Bucks Harbor(Machias area). We misjudged the tides near the Jonesport-Beals Island bridge--the tide was a bit too high---we had to force the boat to heel so our mast wouldn't rip off. The weather was wild, to boot. We all got on the port side of the boat and she heeled nicely and we barely made it under the bridge. I remember the backside of my hair touching the water and staring at the bridge/mast; good times, very fun day.
ReplyDelete(Cape Dory).
I thought Deer Isle and Buck's Harbor were on the Blue Hill Peninsula in the Penobscot Bay. Buck's Harbor is near Brooklin. Yes?
DeleteWe were sailing in the Sound for a couple of weeks in August of 1991 and had taken a slip at Great Salt Pond on Block Island, when... Hurricane Bob hit! Coast Guard came at night and pounded on the hatchways of all boats at the dock and told us to move out into the pond. We anchored the boat and then dinghied ashore and got the last room at the Surf Hotel just as they were installing plywood over all the windows. The eye of the storm passed right over the island- most of the boats in the pond were either sunk or tossed up on the rocks. My brothers boat was on the rocks the next morning, rigging and life rails gone, and had to be craned off and towed back to Connecticut. This happened on his 40th birthday. Sad at the time, but sort of thrilling in retrospect.
ReplyDeleteWell, you did ask! 1974 summer, I was six and living near NYC with my family of Londoners. My parents' friends invited us out on their boat for the day. It began well, we left Newhaven, I believe, and headed out I'm not sure where, and it was tons of fun at first, I remember something like a sandbar and splashing around in the shallow water with my younger sister. Large chocolate-chip cookies were consumed too. The day passed, the seemingly epic thunderstorm/squall approached and then things weren't so fun anymore. Sea-sickness, the adults looking downright concerned but calm and quiet. My mother was reading the current bestseller, Jaws, at the time. We headed back of course, but the engine cut out and the captain, Kurt, a German salty type, radioed for help. I don't recall if we were towed in, I guess so? I remember returning home very late, and feeling like I was still being tossed around on that boat for most of that night. The boat owners, now in their 80s, still remember that day, so it must have been something! Fast forward to the mid-90s, back in Blighty. A good friend and I were in Holyhead, Wales, waiting to board a car ferry to Dublin to visit friends on New Year's Eve in County Clare. Ever since my 'traumatic childhood experience', I'd never felt completely happy or that relaxed on boats. All the ferries in port were delayed due to gales, and our ship was still stuck in Dublin. But another ferry took us and I'll never forget the Captain's loudspeaker announcement, (in the usual British Beaufort Scale speak), "Well, it's force 9 right now, we're waiting until it's force 8 and then we'll leave." Needless to say, that was not what I wanted to hear, and was absolutely horrified. The journey, on this huge ferry, was a roller-coaster ride, women were lying on the floor in the bathroom, luckily I'd taken a Dramamine. Nobody was allowed outside on deck. I noticed the staff on the ferry happily chatting away with one another and didn't seem worried that they were about to die, so I might have relaxed a tiny bit. I wanted to kiss the Irish ground when we got off, and the return trip was foggy so the Irish Sea was pond-like, thank goodness. I love to swim, love the ocean, but I'll only do lake trips on my husband's small boat, although he takes it offshore sometimes.
ReplyDeleteNot positive but that boat looks like an Island Packet 420. Sorry to see that.
ReplyDeleteI was taught boating/seamanship on the ocean, but today do most on lakes. It has always amused me how sloppy lake boating (often) is, compared to ocean boating, I think because the penalty/risk for mishaps is so much lower. I've had several minor incidents but nothing worth posting about.
That said, when I was about 12 years old I remember seeing a boat (~25 foot powerboat) that had come off its mooring in Maine, washed ashore, and come to rest on the rocks ~6-8 feet above the water by the receding tide. I remember hearing that a crew of men were going to meet at the next high tide (in the middle of the night) to get it back into the water. All I know is the boat had returned to its mooring by the next morning apparently no worse for wear. :-)
Agreed about lake vs ocean sailing, and I think you hit the reason on the head!
DeleteWe came to sailing a little later in life in 1980 when I was about 30 and my wife was 25. We lived in Southern California, close to Marina del Rey and a friend of mine, who lived on his boat, got me pumped up about sailing. I went with him and a couple friends out of Oxnard to cruise to the Channel Islands one weekend. IIRC, we were on an Olson 30. I was shown a few things on how sailing worked but didn't crew as the three of them were all experienced and it was a pretty breezy day. Short of it is, my wife and I joined a sailing club in the Marina and after some training and testing, were certified to to day sailing. Most of the boats were Newport 28s.
ReplyDeleteThe story is, one day, early in our experience, we sailed up the coast towards Santa Monica but, suddenly, were fogged in. I was completely turned around and started hearing breakers (not a good thing). I don't know if I remember the events that followed accurately but I called the coast guard on the radio and maybe heaved to and waited for them to find us. Dropped our sails and they towed us back towards the marina. Nothing bad happened and we were lucky. But our inexperience was to blame and with our $1000 insurance deductible we had been afraid of damaging the boat. When we motored back to the slip and went into the clubhouse to tell them what happened, the coast guard had already called them. They weren't happy and suggested more limited sailing or more training. We opted for the latter and never had an incident again. Haven't sailed but once in the last 40 years and do miss it. Living in Southern Idaho since 1994 sort of changed things.
Chris - thanks for sharing your experience.
DeleteStepped off the bow at Sopers Hole in Tortolla to tie down but missed the dock and hit my thigh followed by my torso and went into about 10-15 feet knocking the wind out of me. Ended up with cracked rib and left thigh so swollen I could barely walk. As I side stroked back to the transom, everyone was laughing not knowing I could barely breathe. When I pulled myself on board, the Captain looked like he was going to be sick. Everything worked out the rest of the week as I was placed on light duty.
ReplyDeleteMy dad stepped into space once too, his head just missed the concrete dock. I heard a splash and said "Daddy?" An arm came up out of the water, he was ok. He quit drinking, no more sipping Courvoisier on our sunset cruises.
ReplyDeleteRented a Laser on Pleasant Bay on the Cape. Tipped over a few times because of lack of skill in coming about. The last tip over, I knocked the rudder off and helplessly watched it float away. The motor boat from the rental business had to come across the bay and tow me back.
ReplyDeleteTop of the Chesapeake Bay, near where it splits and freight traffic heads East into the C&D canal; a friend and I are tacking back and forth into a southerly breeze; a 250+ ft "notch" barge (the pusher tug fits into a notch in the stern of the barge itself) is coming north, and I'm timing my final tack across so that I'll be well out of his way; of course the wind dies as I come through my last tack and we stop dead; I jump back to the stern and am cranking the motor - won't start; the bow of the barge is about 100 yds off, and I can see the crew on the bridge of the tug pointing at us, when I realize I forgot to toggle the ignition on; I do so, the motor springs to life and we high-tail it out of there.
ReplyDeleteI may or may not have wet my pants.
Quite frankly I am afraid of the water or have a heavy respect for it. Grew up fishing in the bays. Read my father's 1944 U.S.N Bluejackets Manual & Chapmans Piloting & Seamanship as a kid. So I knew how to navigate sans GPS ,Loran, etc. Started working in the oilfield offshore when I was 19 yrs old. Fast forward post college, I worked offshore on drilling rigs supervising operations, 24 hrs/day- 365 days/yr. It was governed by engineering, planning, logistics, & most important the weather. While working on a tender rig (comparable to a LST) with a 5 point mooring system adjacent the drilling rig platform.
ReplyDeleteWhen the weather & seas got bad, we cut loose 4 mooring lines & retained the bow line heading into the sea & wind. Well, the bow line popped & severed itself. Now we were adrift in the Gulf of Mexico & a hazard to other vessels & production platforms. Had a work boat tie up side saddle to us keep us out of trouble. Shore base dispatched a 350' anchor boat triple/props/engines & bow thruster with winches, cables, roller bar on stern, & crew. Pretty academic after that ,getting moored up again. We had excellent boat handlers out there. Wish I knew more Cajun French.
Actually# where us this boat I'm the picture? My father's boat ran aground in new Jersey when being moved by a friend of his to Maryland.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and mom bought cruising boats, starting small in the fifties when he'd finish out the hulls during the off season, then moved up to larger boats until they had a 37' sloop to take to Florida and back via the ICW. Each summer we'd go on long family cruises: from our Cape Cod home to the islands of Nantucket Sound, to Block Island, and eventually to Maine and back. The year I was fifteen, at the very beginning of the cruise, my dad gave me the helm as we sailed through Buzzards Bay toward the Cape Cod Canal. He went below to do a thorough check of the engine and alcohol stove. Meanwhile I wandered a bit off course and mistakenly started heading for a different nun buoy than the one he'd pointed me toward. Soon enough a dark brown patch of water appeared ahead. I steered to the side of it and looked down. It was a rockpile! I yelled "DAD!!!". He shot up from below and told me to steer offshore. We figured out how I'd gone wrong and he was awfully good about it. It could have ended our cruise right then and there but he never criticized. He said his was the ultimate responsibility and I've always remembered that.
ReplyDeleteMy grandad used to tell this story: He was single-handing his sloop in the Gulf of Maine. He set the mechanical auto-pilot toward a distant marker and went below to do repairs. Time goes by and … thud. He hit the buoy!
DeleteWe had a similar but less excusable incident. During a junior yacht club cruise we were sailing back from VInalhaven through the Fox Island Thorofare to Camden when we passed close by the Robinson Rock 'groaner', We forgot the Boston Whaler we were towing on a long line and it rammed the buoy... which gave out an extralong groan. The Whaler, indestructible as they all were , slewed around and freed itself. We fell out laughing thinking that the buoy, by it's 'response, had gotten the worst of the encounter.
DeleteMy brother and I were 14 and 12-ish and put our small 420 sailboat in at the Guilford, CT marina. We headed east towards Hammonasset and a strong wind turtled us. We broke the centerboard trying to right it, and drifted a few miles east mast down. Someone picked us up, righted the boat, and towed us back to Guilford. Our parents had a cow.
ReplyDeleteAlways been fortunate to arrive back in one piece!
ReplyDeleteToday (September 8th) is the 100th anniversary of the worst peacetime disaster in U.S. Navy history when seven destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 11 ran aground on rocksof Honda Point at what is now Vandenburg AFB in California.
ReplyDelete