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 Whalen at play.....?Moderators: Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | |
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Ric |
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Plankowner Posts: 9165 Location: Upper lefthand corner of the map. | Subject: Whalen at play.....? ...always loved this one!  | ||
| Flapper |
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Master and Commander Posts: 1107 Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: Not funny, Ric! Let's go back in time to my first boat, an Islander 28 something like this one...  So on our first real sail after taking delivery from my brother, I'm with my wife (a non-sailor at the time) and explaining every task and evolution as we went. It helps to explain that the stock rigging for the mainsheet was a two block purchase on the boom, with the bitter end led through a block on a traveler-car on the cabin top, to an upside-down jam cleat attached to the car. You adjusted the sheet as desired, then then pulled up on the sheet to set it in the jam-cleat. So everything is going great and there's a nice breeze on the bay on a sunny day, as we approach San Francisco and I decide to set sails and turn off the diesel, explaining each task to Soni as I go, and having her handle things in the cockpit if I was out on deck. As we passed under the Bay Bridge heading for Angel Island, the wind stiffened and I went up to the mast to tighten the main halyard. Mission accomplished, I moved back along the cabin top with one hand on the boom to keep balance and just started say "Now here's what we do, should we have a man-overboard while sailing..." intending to show her how to start the diesel, etc. And I stepped on the main sheet just where it led out of the jam cleat and the boom released, and I went somersaulting over the starboard lifelines and into a very cold bay! We had gone through a man overboard evolution while motoring, so Soni knew to throw me the lifesaver and as the boat drifted down wind in circles with the mail flopping from one extreme to the other banging into the shroud sat either extreme, I suddenly realized that the lifesaver was not physically attacked to the boat! Now Soni is freaking out and the boat is getting too far away for any shouted instructions to be heard. Thankfully, another boater saw what was going on and came to fish me out. The skipper threw me a line and watched in amazement as the other end came off his boat as I hauled it in - it wasn't attached anywhere on his boat! They were a couple like us (wifie knew nothing about sailing) and the skipper was more of a neophyte than I. He said "Oh my God, I'm sorry! I'll get you another line!" which he did. As they haul me to the boat I realized they had no boarding ladder like my boat did, so the problem now was how to get aboard - I'd been in the 55 or 60 degree water for a half hour by now, wearing just shorts and a T-shirt, and trying to get any foot purchase on a wet fiberglass hull was impossible. So he cleated one end of the resuce line and took the other end to a capstan. As he winched me up the side the line tightened around my chest until I shouted, "That's enough! Or I won't be able to breath!" By then I was high enough up the side to get a knee over the rail, and with the last of my strength and both of them hauling on my belt tumbled into the cockpit. They wrapped me in towels and a blanket as they motored me back to my flailing boat and sobbing spouse, and thanking them profusely and promising them a dinner sometime in the future, I made the jump back to my own boat. Needless to say, it wasn't long before I had installed a MOB buoy, a LifeSling MOB recovery system, rerigged the main sheet to a newly-installed capstan, and made a few more safety improvements! | ||
| Ralph Luther |
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| Subject: RE: Not funny, Ric! Ahhh yes Bob, moments to remember and they last a life time. Good onya  | |||
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