Things I have run into with my DS ....

Moderator: GreenLake

Things I have run into with my DS ....

Postby GreenLake » Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:24 am

... or vice versa.

My proudest moment: T-boning a dock at speed :o :shock: :roll:
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
GreenLake
 
Posts: 7136
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:54 am

dolphin

Postby dannyb9 » Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:11 am

we bumped a big dolphin recently- or it bumped us... we felt a dull thud and next a big dolphin came up nearby to check us out...i 'm pretty sure he had the right of way but i 'didnt see him coming' : 0
dannyb9
 
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:58 pm
Location: port royal sc

Postby K.C. Walker » Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:02 am

I had a close one last weekend. I was on a beam reach and planing nicely... then the breeze picked up. I was headed right towards a bunch of anchored boats. Of course, wanting to hold on to the ride as long as possible, I got in pretty close before tacking. Well, I'd been skimming over some pretty shallow sandy bottom and the centerboard was kicked up. So as I attempted my tack, I got head to the wind and didn't get around.

It's interesting how when sailing things seem to be going just fine and then all of a sudden it gets dicey. So now I realize I'm in a little closer than I should have been. I am drifting, faster than expected, right towards a really nice 45 foot sloop with a cockpit full of folks enjoying happy hour... and looking my way. It dawns on me that this is a really big target and it's going to be hard to miss. These sorts of maneuvers are always best done with an audience.

I drop the board, haul in the jib, the bow comes down, the tack becomes a jibe, the boom misses the folks in the cockpit, I apologize for the close call, and I am gone.
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002
K.C. Walker
 
Posts: 1335
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:50 pm
Location: North Stonington, Connecticut

Postby GreenLake » Fri Oct 14, 2011 12:01 pm

On the "vice versa" side, I've had things run into me....

The largest one, was one of these. 8)

[thumb=719]
No damage, other than to the confidence of some of the passengers (mine).

The smallest did the most damage. Amazing what an 80lbs 8 ft boat can do. This is what a DS looks like after it's been "gored" by an El Toro.

[thumb=1035] :shock:
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
GreenLake
 
Posts: 7136
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:54 am

Postby TIM WEBB » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:45 pm

OK, gotta fess up, as I guess I'm the one who goaded GL into starting this thread ... :D

Ran over my own whisker pole. It went OB during a major "blonde moment" on my part, and I had no idea if it would float or not. Immediately did an about face, and it was nowhere to be seen. Couple seconds later heard a dull thud from the CB area, and thought I either hit my own WP or a gator. Didn't see anything in the wake, so chalked it up to just plain stupidity and went my merry way sailing around the lake, bummed out but already dreaming up ideas about what my new and improved WP would look like ...

Lo and behold tho, when I got back to the dock 2 hours later, there it was, floating among the lilly pads. It does indeed float after all, and the wind had blown it to shore right there.

A kid who was fishing from the shore called out to me asking if it was something that had come off my boat, and I was forced to sheepishly admit that indeed it was. He waded in and grabbed it, and I thanked him for doing that for me. I asked him if he was fishing or catching, which is my same old tired line I say to everyone I see with a line in the water, and he said he was fishing, but hadn't caught anything yet, and was getting worried, because if he didn't catch anything, his family was not going to have any dinner that night!

I told him to keep fishing, and that I would be right back. Left the boat tied up to a tree, dropped the trailer off the hitch, went to the nearest place I could find (KFC), bought two of the biggest family sized meals that they had, and took it back. You should have seen the look of appreciation on that kid's face! I told him that he had been kind to me, so I wanted to be kind to him, and that seemed like a pretty foreign concept to him, but he thanked me and called me Sir and all that and took off. Before he left I told him that if he ever wanted to go on the boat, I would be happy to take him out, but I've never seen him again out there ...

I know, sounds crazy, but it's a true story folks. Up there at that lake where I sail, it's pretty "back-country", and there's a lot of folks who are just barely getting by ...
TIM WEBB
 
Posts: 1208
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 10:28 pm
Location: RIVERSIDE, CA

Postby jdubes » Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:10 am

Things I've run into. Lets see, I'm going to focus on one unintentional hit, because I hit marks and buoy's all the time trying to hold the lay line.

I once encountered some kids in a club 420 sailboat during a weekly PHRF race. I was doing my normal race routine, crossing the starting line to see the degree the wind was coming from off the windward mark, and timing the start. So now I was coming back down wind on a port tack, I crossed back over the starting line and then changed to a beam reach on a port tack back towards the committee boat. About 20 boat lengths ahead I saw the 420, they were attempting to cross in front me but failed. 20 boat lengths might seem like a lot, but for this night was wasn't.

A little background, typically our starting line has 3-4 waves on Wed Night due to shallowness of water. It was also blowing easily between 10-15 mph that day. I don't reef, i don't have any reef points. :D So based on this we had to hang it all out. The DS was a lot to manage, it's was a blast hanging over the rail getting wet.

They were attempting to cross in front of me but failed, and then decided to turn down. They were now coming directly for me on a broad reach. My goal now was to do anything to avoid a hit. I couldn't tack up wind because I would have tacked right into the committee boat, and I didn't want to stay above them, because I knew the waves would have pushed me down into their path. So I decided to turn down and try to get below them. I released my main to take some power out, but it wasn't quite enough, the boat was still overpowered and I couldn't turn down enough. As they went by their boom smacked my stay, I cringed, I thought for sure it was going to snap. Luckily it didn't. The look on their little faces was hilarious, I wish I had my camera handy. I asked if they were ok, and they gave a thumbs up. I race PHRF for fun, so when comes to situations like this, safety comes first.

All was well in my side for the race but I don't believe the 420 started. They capsized a few minutes before the race started and were towed home. The conditions were real tough if you weren't ready to hang it all out.
jdubes
 
Posts: 157
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:51 pm
Location: Rochester MA


Return to Miscellaneous

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests

cron