Dumbest Move Ever Seen

larfffffffff

 

http://www.sailingbreezes.com/Sailing_Breezes_Current/Articles/May07/harness.htm

 

double post

 

How come I've never seen this in a James Bond movie? That would make a great movie scene.

Thanks for all the great stories, a nice way to end the day.

 

Dumbest move...

Good article SamSam and timely advice on the 'length' of safety lines. But rest assured I would always stress to my students (many gong on to a career at sea) that the length of line should allow you 'working' space - but NOT be long enough to trail overboard. A couple of yards (metres) in a dinghy would be fine. Any lengthier vessel and they should ensure sturdy 'clip rails' or anchor points near the work space.

 

I would have liked one, no matter what the length, the time my Sailfish dumped me and then sailed away. When your car rolls down the hill on its own is one thing, when your boat takes off without you is another.

 

I never make the same mistake twice but I am real good of thinking up new ones all the time.

Many yeras ago when my children were little I decided to take them and a couple of their freinds up the river for a cruise.

I launched from area up river where there is or was a mud bank which was hard from the sun.

There was no jetty so I put the kids in the boat first and then proceded to back the boat into the water.

After the boat was about half way in my daughter, sarcastically (I don't know where she gets it from), syas "Dad, is the water suposed to be inside the boat or outside?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because there's water coming inside." she said.

Yep forgot the bungs.

I had a 17ft fibreglass boat and only a small 4 cylinder sedan. The car pulls the boat out quite easy, except if it has got a load of water in it.

So I had to inch it up gradually, wait for the water to drain, and then inch it a bit more until the boat was light enough to pull it out.

 

An aquaintance of mine was doing quite well in his new business so he bought himself a brand new plastic boat about 6 metres long.

Same old story new boat no experience, took it down to the ramp to take some friends out.

Gets to the area where you prepare your boat to back into the water and completely disconnects his boat from the trailer.

Backs his boat down the the ramp hits the ramp and as he goes down his boat decides to take off by itself. Rams the outboard into the concrete ramp and rips it completely off the back of the boat. You know what these plastic boats are like these days. Mega damage.

Luckily it was insured.

Poida

 

And finally, this was related to me by my workmate who came to work Monday morning with this story.

Him and his Dad went fishing on the weekend and there's this husband and wife launching their new boat.

They were having a bit of bother getting it launched so my mate and his dad gave them a hand. They did a bit of a check to make sure they had all the safety gear, yep all there all brand new, except they didn't have an anchor.

They guided this couple out of the marina and they went on their way.

When my mate got back to the ramp there's the guy sitting next to his boat looking a bit down. They sort of said hi, as they docked, my mate went up to get his car to retreive the boat and the bloke was still sitting there.

They thought they'd better check to see if there was a problem.

Apparently there was, things didn't go smoothly, when they got back she told her husband he was a complete dick head and buying the boat was the stupidest thing they could have done, stormed off got in their car and pissed off home complete with the trailer.

So there he was waiting for his brother to go to his place to get the trailer so he could go and pick him up.

Poida

 

Great Line!! Laughing, but in sympathy, 'cause I, too, have a daughter.

 

Now when I WAS a sea cadet (luckily not in Inverness, there again if I had been I'd probably have a nice job in the middle of the Sahara as a camel driver by now rather than going to sea!) Being a naughtical sort of chappie I took the 27 montague whaler out for a sail with a group of us - me as der driver! (holy cow! theres a mistake!) Anyway away we sails having lots of fun! parks up at the end of the day and trots off home, intending to go out the next day!

down to the boat we goes the next day and finds that as we take the boat out there is no way we can get the drop keel up, so we has a fun time nearly tipping the boat over a few times!!! but being boys thinks no more of it!

So off I goes to join the Navy having put the boat back on the mooring, comes back some few months later and the Instructors are really hopping mad with me, I'd left and there was no way anybody could get the drop keel up! Why?

Dead simple really - it was a drying mooring!!! Boat settles on keel and the weight of the boat bends the bloody thing at right angles! Had to cut the bugger out!

Whoops one embarassed Walrus!!! (lucky really I didn't sink the bloody boat)

 

In my own defense, let me state at the outset of this story that I was only
4 1/2 years old when I pulled this stunt.

My mother was working as a nurse at a Girl Scout camp south of Cleveland, OH. The only other boy there was an 8 yr. old whose mom worked at another part of the camp where the older girls where at.

Like any good camp, this one had a lake. There was going to be a frog race and me and the other boy decided the best place to obtain one was in the dark, mysterious woods across the lake.

There was an approx. 8ft. long rowboat shaped plastic kiddie pool on hand. We dumped out the water and utilized it as a boat. I cannot recall if we used boards to paddle or our hands, but somehow we managed to get to the other side. Seemed like a mile but was probably more like 1000ft.

Night was already falling. Before finding our racing frog we came across a big rotted stump that had hundreds of tiny, I assume, baby frogs all over it. We finally found a big bullfrog, and figureing bigger was better, started back across the lake.

It was almost pitch dark by this time. A summer thunderstorm was brewing up. Of course the wind was blowing us right for the dam/spillway! It was going to be close. We were curious as to what all the lights moving up & down the far shore were. We just made it without going over the dam.

The lights were many frantic adults searching for us. I think they were so relieved to see us that we avoided any serious punishment.

Our big frog turned out to be an even bigger disappointment. A smaller more energetic one kicked his a... We considered executing him but pardoned him instead. His new home was on our side of the lake.

TGoz

 

These idiots didn't have the excuse of being 4 1/2 years old, although they acted like they were.

When I lived in New Jersey, the marina where I kept my boat was on a small creek which fed into the upper part of Barnegat Bay. Between us and the bay was a drawbridge with only about 12-14 ft (3.5 - 4m) clearance when closed.

One night we were staying aboard. The quiet was broken by the sound of the engines on a 60' Pacemaker moored at the end of a nearby pier. She pulled away at a high speed and headed upcreek, which seemed odd because the creek ended less than a mile upstream. Soon we heard the yacht returning, then turning around again, then again, for about half an hour. The noise and the waves from her wake had the whole marina awake by then. Someone had called the police and a small patrol boat showed up, hailing the yacht with orders to heave to for boarding. The idiots aboard panicked and went to full throttle to try to escape .... heading right at the bridge. CRAAAAAAAACK ... the flying bridge and upper part of the wheelhouse exploded into splinters, and the instant 60' open runabout headed out to the bay.

We found out later that the two imbeciles, who were lucky to be steering from the lower station, dove overboard. The marine police pulled off a tricky maneuver, getting alongside so one could do a risky boarding at full speed. They managed to stop the yacht, which was headed straight for another marina.

The yacht was rebuilt, and the two were caught. Their story of falling in the bay while fishing from shore didn't hold up very well. Apparently they lived nearby, had consumed large amounts of firewater that night, and decided that "borrowing" a fancy yacht for a moonlight cruise was a wonderful idea.

 

While in Fla. in 1991 I got to know some of the local fishermen, as my Canadian pal I was attending school with had longlined from the area. A group of the fishermens' friends (do not know if they fished also) were in a fast runabout, drunk, and ripping it up one night.

Impacted a concrete dock structure at 40+ knots. No one survived. All watery misadventures do not have a happy ending.

On another point. This is to the unnamed member who nailed me for points because of a post where I mentioned having some beers & being intoxicated. Yes I drink some, but, I do not drive, be it boat or car, after indulging. Sorry if you found my post disturbing. It was meant to be lighthearted and targeted no one but myself.

Sorry Berg, don't mean to be a party pooper again.

Take care all.

TGoz

 

I don't know the post you mean exactly, but bad luck Tim. I find it so odd that having a drink is considerd more antisocial than carrying a gun. Only in the US...

Anyway, a few years ago my wife and I went on holiday with my parents on their boat. The trip consisted of crossing the Channel and then sailing around the Belgium coast and then up the Dutch canals. We were in a lock waiting as the water level to dropped when there was an almighty commotion followed by a loud bang. After I realised I hadn't been shot I soon figured out that one of the other boats had actually tied up to the lock side and as the water level dropped the lines had become tighter and tighter. They couldn't undo them and eventually the mooring cleats just ripped out of the deck!