Bad Luck

[bastonjock]

im beginning to think that i should give up sailing,ive had a lot of bad luck this year.

This weekend i decided that id go sailing,i shut my workshop on thursday and my wife drove me down to my boat.I made the preparations for what i hoped would be a 120mile sail,i wanted to go sailing and forget about the credit crunch and all the rest of the financial doom and gloom.

The forecast was a bit iffy with a Strong winds warning but what the hull i decided to go,much to me joy,the winds were coming from the South West so i would be in the lee of the wind,the sail went well the weather was good it was enjoyable with the wind either directly astern or off the aft quarter,i run the engine when i have a following sea,i find that motorsailing is easier.

I was averaging 5.3 knots and had covered some 40nm,i was going past a new outer harbour project,it was the only place with rocks for miles,then i felt the helm wheel slip,i moved it a little and a couple of soft clunks which i felt more than heard,my steering had gone,i was 80-100 yds off of rocks and at the entrance to a harbour where the currents flow accross and the tide flows out of the harbour mouth,I dropped the mainsail,i had the jib furled i weighed up the situation,i was heading for those rocks,,i slipped the engine into reverse,then forward and somehow managed to get het pointing away from the rocks and out to sea,i put about 1/2 mile between myself and those rocks.I looked at the radio and i felt really embarraced having to call up the coastguard,anyhow they told me to drop anchor in a shipping lane and await rescue.

Out it came from Gorlesron,the RNLI,s finest a rescue boat that dwarfed my 26x,a guy jumped on board and started doing his stuff,the coxwains judgement was that the forward cleats would not take the pounding,so they rigged a bowser size rope running from the winch on the starboard side all around the outside to the winch on the port side,line attached and off we went,my 26x slid all over the place,so we rigged a sea anchor and hung it off my stern and off we went,this was a much better solution,as the lifeboat turned into the harbour we slewed over and the bowser sliped,it was pulling accross my furler,i shouted a few warnings but to no avail,the next part happened very quickly,my X heeld over to 90 degress,the bowse then swept the deck,i grabbed the binnacle to steadymyself.the lifeboat man jumped on the side and sea,i was more worried about the mast coming down on my head anyhow,the whole mast and rigging collapsed and folded up,in an instance,i was looking around for danger such as rigging lines about to take my head off,the boat righted itself and boy what a mess,the shroulds had folded and the mast was bent in half and lying horizonatlly accross the deck,rigging lay everywhere and the insides were beyond description.

Another line was attched after some emergency clearing work,i think thats when i lost the boom, i was towed into Great yarmouth and given a free berth at the town quay,i lost quite a bit of stuff over the side,it took a while to tidy up the accomodation area.

The following morning,i decided to make my way up river in search of a slipway,i found one a couple of miles up river,the owner of the boat yard was most helpfull and thats where my boat is now,ill go down next weekend to retrieve her on the trailer.

i will contact my insurance company tommorrow

[tangentair]

Great luck - you lived to tell us.
I feel feel for your experience and hope that time and memory work to heal the pain. Still, do not overlook the gift horse. After rereading your post I am sure it would be a great submission to Sail Magazine's VOICE OF EXPERIENCE (I quote from the page)
If it happened to you, and you learned something from it, you are a candidate to write a Voice of Experience piece. These stories generally run about 1,800 words and focus upon a particular situation, an evolving set of events, and consequences. A sidebar of 250-350 words, included in the total wordcount, presents the lessons learned as "Hindsight."
But it may be to soon to relive the pain.
Nevertheless, I am really glad to hear that what happen only damaged "things" and you are safe.

[bastonjock]

thanks tangent,ill let my dissapointment at the material loss settle first,im compeletely unscathed,not a scratch,it could have been much worse,if my steering had gone a few minutes earlier then i would have been in big poo poo

I look back at the situation and give myself a slap on the back for dealing with it all in a calm manner,i dropped the mainsail with urgency but not with pannic,if i had dropped the anchor so close to the rocks,it would have held me off but made the rescue a lot more dangerous,if the steering had not given me a little bit of turn to get away from the dangerous rocks then who knows what would have happenned

i may well write to that magazine ,once its settled a bit

[bscott]

OUCH. Well the coxwain mate was half right, the bow horn cleets are a little weak but he should have wraped the tow line around the mast base instead of the winches. The mast should be used under all anchoring conditions as a back up for the bow cleets.

Bob

[March]

Wow, sorry to hear about your troubles, but you're right--all the damage was done above the deck. It would have been much worse if you had landed on the rocks, not to mention if you had incurred any physical harm.

So the steering cable snapped, do you think? Or the steering itself?

Wonder why the coxswain didn't use the the ear at the bow--the one used for pulling the boat on the trailer. Seems solid enough and can be reached with relative ease, with a rope threaded through it.

Hope you'll be able to fix your Mac for the next season--don't give up

[Québec 1]

Thank you for posting this experience. As an ex HMC navy guy( with my coxswain certificate..proudly displayed in my boat)I now know what to tell the CG coxswain when in this situation. Tie off to the the ear at the bow--the one used for pulling the boat on the trailer as mentioned earlier ...and set up a sea anchor off the stern.
I really appreciate Mac guys like you who make these kind of posts. I find that regular sailors are so afraid to ruin their reputations that they try to cover up their bad experiences. Your posting can only help us when God help us we are in such a situation.

Your actions in this situation seem to me to be as good or better than I can think of. sorry for the boat but look at it this way..maybe this will give you the opportunity to put an M mast on you X at a relatively minor cost...depending on your insurance company....

Good luck
Q1

[opie]

Please let us know why a line around the engine could not have steered the Mac. I would guess that a line wrapped around tight and knotted, and then a line tied off on either side could give you a rudimentary steering method by pulling on the port or starboard side of the engine. Or could you lift the helm seat, lock the speed at 2000 rpm and hug the engine with your arms and twist it right or left to steer. Or get a oar or staff and duct-tape it to one side of the engine as a type of tiller control. I mean, if the engine was working and the shifter was working but only the steering cable was broke, was not there a way, such as above, to steer the boat? Don't mean to second guess what you did. I have never been in such a pickle and don't know what I would have done..... But, I will study the responses here and figure out what to do. I go thru a jetty near rocks each time I go to the ocean to sail.

[socalmacer]

I've read where "towed" boats have been lost with all their crew/s as a result of a tow from the coasties! I guess you faired a little better than that bunch. After reading those stories and yours, I think if I'm ever in the same situation, I'll insist on riding in the boat my tax dollars bought rather than my 26X Best of luck in your repair effort and let us know if you decide to improve anything this time around.

[R Rae]

B'jock,

I can't help but think that the lines coming from the winches (or the mast , as mentioned above) should ultimately have been somehow tied into the bow padeye to help keep the nose up. But what do I know in a situation like you describe........

In any event, in my book you get two gold stars, first for surviving at least physically unscathed, and secondly, having the fortitude and willingness to share this frightening experience with all of us.

Well done, matey!

R

[waternwaves]

the coxwain should have known better.....

two major boo boos........too high and too far back....

tow from the bow eye........you can tow over 10 kts........with ballast if there is the horsepower to pull ya 2 inches of centerboard down, and it tows straight as an arrow......

I know........

[bastonjock]

The area where it happened is not a good place,local sailors acknowledged that the mouth of the river is a bumpy ride,there is a tidal stream that runs accross the mouth with speeds of up to 3.5 knots,then there is a tidal current that comes down the river at speeds up to 8 knots,on top of that there is a wind farm about 300 yards away to my north west,those large rotating blades are not an inviting place,add to that a following sea and the odd 4-5 foot surf,i wanted to put as much distance between myself and the areas of danger.I deliberated on lashing my boat hook to the engine and using it as an emergency tiller,i considered the conditions above and decided that the best move was to ask for help

the lifeboatman who jumped on board asked me if there was a strong point at the bow,i pointed at the towing eye but told hin that i thought that the cleats were stronger,anyhow the coxwain ordered the rope placed on the winches.After the drogue was deployed the mac sailed quite straight,it was when he lifeboat had to make the turn to enter the harbour that the rope started to pull at an angle,then it slipped and i dont know if a wave or surf added to the situation as i was too buisy yelling out a warning that the mast will go if the furler breaks.

anyhow no one was injured,now to contact the insurers

[mike uk]

Really sorry to hear about your bad luck, but well done for handling things! I guess you get yourself up, dust yourself down and move forward. I'm sure you will

On the question of the tow in heavy seas, I would be doubtful about using the bow cleats and I'm not sure the bow eye is any better. For the benefit of anyone towing in future, what do people think about using the winches (or the mast base) and passing the line through the bow roller and lashing it tightly round to help prevent the line sweeping across the deck?

Mike

[Oskar 26M]

I too was sad to hear about your bad luck bastonjock, and was both relieved to read that your person was unscathed, and impressed with the way you handed the situation.
On my there is a fairly hefty looking cleat in the anchor locker. It is much more solid-looking than the two cleats on the bow and I've presumed its been designed to withstand a fair bit of force from the anchor rode.. now I am wondering if it could handle a tow situation similar to yours.
All the brsdt for the future and I hope your recent bad luck doesn't cause you to give up on sailing your MAc, Your contributions to this forum are highly valued and would be sadly missed if you decide to "retire".

[bscott]

I should have been more specific about using the mast base for anchoring/towing. It should be used to back-up the bow eye or the cleets. I have broken a bow eye on a mooring and since always tie the bitter end to the mast. Also, most CG boats have a higher stern than the height of the Mac bow so it should not force the bow to dig in.

[delevi]

Man o man! So sorry to hear about this. Can't believe the whole rig came down. Glad to hear you're OK. I can partly relate in that many times I go out, there is one sort of incident or another with the boat. Don't give up sailing. It isn't you or your luck. It's the Mac. I don't want to come off as a basher, but speaking from personal experience, I'm getting sick and tired of stuff breaking and having to take the time and money to fix it. My boat is going up for sale in the next few months. Once it sells, I will be in the market for much larger, heavier keel boat.

Leon