Your scariest boating moment ever ?

Knowing this is reaaally way far back, and already mentioned in another thread, I'd thought I'd share this anyways, since were discussing it.

My great great grandpa was an officer on a Clipper sailing from Hamburg to Asia somewhere. On a particularly hard trip, when he was the only one left who knew the boat and they were desperately short on crew, he too was flushed overboard in a storm. Contrary to common practise of the day - to continue sailing to save the ship, they had to tack around to fish him up. Luckily he could swim, and he managed to stay floating for three full hours, until they eventually managed to fish him up. With a Clipper. In a storm...

 

I know someone that happened too, without the dying part of course.

He was a steam turbine mechanic on a Navy ammunition ship and as part of the fire drills they would sometimes disconnect the pull station for the CO2 flood system so crew could get the experience of actually pulling the lever, as it were. This time he was in the engine room when a communications foul-up occurred and someone pulled the lever on a live system. He made it out, but not by much.

He said it took nearly all the carbon dioxide in the Pacific fleet to recharge the system so they could go back in service.

 

I usd to have a book , I think it was called the Ocean Almanac ?. It was a huge collection of marine trivia and included a chapter of the greatest sea stories of all time. Some of the stories of survival were truly remakable. The sea Heros like Howard Blackburn or the man who was swallowed by the whale,or the polar survival tales from the arctic sealers. If you come across the book, buy it. Another great sea story read is anything by the author Farely Mowat.

 

2004 Hurricane Ivan. Did everything right, still got a direct hit by a cat. 4 storm. Shortly after the eye passed, a dragging commercial vessel collided with me, took out two of the three anchors, and put my boat on a lee shore against a rocky cliff. The boat seemed to be breaking up as darkness fell and was forced to take the inflatable out to sea until conditions allowed me to come ashore. Severe injuries to all three crew. Bad night! Eventually salvaged and rebuilt the boat and still cruise on her today.

 

Ouch....

 

July 2006, I had just relaunched my 25m modern Classic ketch after major, 12month refit.

I had anchored the day before in 15m 100mt off shore with a 95kg CQR and a list of jobs incl. check shaft alignment to begin next morning.
Next morning I was well into my list, when I let go the shaft coupling bolts to check clearances.
About 15mins later, still in the ER I could hear shouting from the beach, nothing unusual in that so ignored it. Then I heard my yachts name called, I shot up on deck to see the beach with rocks 10mt off my beam. While I was below the wind had got up, my pick dragged, I was about to go aground with my shaft coupling loose.
I had 2 bolts in, engine started and motoring in reverse off that beach in less than 5mins, fastest turn around I've ever done but I saved my yacht

 

One of the quickest ways to take a boat down is having those bolts work loose - all but one. The resulting flailing shaft makes holes that are difficult to overcome with dunnage, mattresses, lifejackets, etc. I have been near to boats that have not done the maintenance and had this happen three times. Once, we were able to save the boat, with buckets, and two portable gas-powered pumps.
Split washers have no place here as they sometimes crack and fall out. Nylocs should not be reused. Of course, the twin-engine boats that went down didn't need to keep the same level of care as others - they had another engine to get home on!
Scary situations I have been in are all because of mistakes I have made. When we get to the point, it is ALL human error, is it not?
Number one: Young and having fun and knowing everything, surfing a boat, the swell picked up and grew. And grew. Soon, I was perched on the behemouth doing, I don't know, 35, 40 knts in the 18 knt boat. No time to reach for the throttle and back off - I was steering! and being carried directly towards the south jetty on Gray's Harbor Bar. If I tried to steer any direction other than the natural flow, I would tumble, pitchpole or be crushed broadside by the follower, and enter the book. Eventually, In time, the wave's grasp let me go. I slid back and let the next slam down dead on the stern and angled away from the rocky shoal at the end of the jetty. Why boats need freeing ports, not just drains for rainwater.
Number two: At the peak of a twenty-five foot tide, right at the top. I had been in the spot thousands of time before but a lapse of attention and I was trying to get in out of the swell to launch a skiff for a beach drop-off. There was only one rock I knew I had to watch out for but, too late, I noticed I wasn't aware of the exact location - It was under the high water and I had come off a large swell directly on it. So there I was, higher than the highest tide for a month, securely planted on a pinnicle with twenty-five feet of water beginning to leave. I tried backing, HARD, and the rock had penetrated into the fiberglass and was holding me firm - all I could do was rock back but not escape. I ran all the way around the boat to see the lay of the rock and there was nothing but sand all the way around and I could see it was at least thirty feet to the bottom - I could hear the tide sucking the bay dry! I was still ninety feet from the beach, maybe, so I told my four passenger to get up front - NOW - and hammered it. We came completely out of the water (I have a full keel and it acted like a ramp), I mean completely, then at full throttle heading straight for the beach, which was rocky. Coming down with a splash that drenched the guys forward, I instinctually layed hard over (I had no time to plan!) and did a little brodie and headed out of the danger zone, checked all compartments - including the one in my shorts. Everything was dry. Established a fifteen minute compartment watch on the two hour ride home, had a trailor there waiting for me and did a small repair. The delam didn't extend more than a few inches from the impalement and I was off and running for the year. The following winter, I installed a steel shoe and feel much better about poking around shallows since.
Number three: Passengers having seizures, heart attacks, rupturing esophagi, falling down and hitting heads.
Number four: The only boat for miles, save one. It's afire and drifting towards a six foot rip. Boom (propane bottle)! The windows blew out and it was fully engulfed with the disciplinary principal from Service High School and a woman (I don't think it was his wife). Of course we were at full snort heading over there, and the way I saw it, the explosion had already happened! We had perhaps one minute to get them from his stricken boat to ours - but I had a boatload of passengers I did not want to put at risk. Again, I told them to get up forward and not to come back until I gave the word. No wind, I swung around stern to swell and backed directly into the boat as my deckhand tried to help the lady across. She didn't know the danger she was in as she was in a survival suit and didn't yet feel the flames lapping at her ***! Her, "benefactor" (boyfriend?) was in a stupor and rather than throwing her onto my boat, was trying to zip up her survival suit! It was now hot enough that the zipper melted off in his hand when he pulled. My deckhand, savvy enough through a lifetime of fishing, reached into the fire, grabbed her by the hair, and jerked her aboard. I looked over my shoulder and two more passengers were helping throw the male passenger onto my boat. They were in fire doing this. All were burned. All recovered. We didn't get a thank-you from the guy - nothing. As we pulled away, we got a few half-assed pics but were really rushing these people to a waiting ambulance in Seldovia. Plus, a fully engulfed boat is hot - I could hardly get far enough away!
Number five: Weather, weather, a leak or broken part here or there, and weather. I have had rips pucker me so tight, I know I have had to pick vinyl from between my cheeks at day's end.

 

Number four gets my vote- wow.