Most embarrassing moment

That's a great story, thanks for sharing it! Sometimes its the little things that come back to bite you in the butt.

_________________
06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

I'm sure y'all are tired of "old timer" stories, but that bridge tale reminds me of the time Davey Rodgers got caught under the Macarthur draw bridge at Miami Yacht Club. To get to the racing area we had to pass under a draw bridge. They would open it every 10 minutes or so and everyone had to make a mad dash to get through before it closed. Usually you had about 2 minutes.

Of course when the wind was on the nose and the tide against you it was pretty tough. Davey got stuck underneath when the bridge came down. It is an open girder, mesh deck bridge so there was just enough clearance to trap the mast of his 14 without breaking it.

I think they made him wait until the next traffic cycle to let him out, whereby he finally got loose without any major damage.

_________________
Jack Woehrle
Wave #100
H20 #287 "Tallahassee Lassie" (down in FLA)

Having my brand new tiger out for the second regatta i had to leave it in a friend's boat yard. for a week after the race. after racing i put my cover on the baot and trailered it to the yard. While backing the boat in (by hand ) i hit a drum with a spike sticking out. Punched a hole in the cover and the glas on the hull. Bieng out of town the next few weeks my boat got taken to the repair shop and fixed.
Just remember stupid doesn't stop when the boats on the trailer. I nearly cried when that happened. But thanks to a great repair shop and a hobie dealer who picked my boat up and took it to be repaired while i was gone i didn.t mis a regatta. Thanks Craig and Jeremy. Surf City Cats saved my boat and maybe my marriage that time.

_________________
Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

On the 16 with an uninitiated crew member and all-around wise-guy, we shoved off from a lakeside beach with a prevailing side shore wind. Upwind and immediately next to us was the neighbor's huge concrete and steel dock sticking about 30 yards out from the shore with a large boathouse at the end. The dock and boathouse combined with the large shore-side trees act as a nice wind shadow for easy landing and shoving off. I had the main sheeted in fairly tight for power out of the wind shadow, then the crew spotted girls sunning themselves at the end of the pier, so he got on his knees and turned to wave and flirt with them. He did this just as we left the wind shadow with the wind blowing about 18 mph, and the boat shot off like it was from a slingshot causing the crew to instantly fall overboard, and, in the same moment, with his 180 lbs. ballast suddenly gone the boat capsized.

Of course, to protect our wounded pride, we quickly went on the offensive and blamed the girls for deliberate distraction with mischief as we mumbled to ourselves about women and boats being bad luck.

Hey Jack (Mugrace72),

Was the mast sticking all the way up through the draw bridge? Did cars have to swerve to avoid it?

I used to live in Lake Worth, so I am familiar with those little draw bridges.

Corey

No, it was below the deck grate but between the lower truss girders, just enough so that he could not tip the boat and get it out.

_________________
Jack Woehrle
Wave #100
H20 #287 "Tallahassee Lassie" (down in FLA)

alright, not embarrassing but I have to share, cause it is damn cool.

About a mile out of santa cruz, 20-25knts, 5-8ft swells (I swear by on my 16) my crew and I are close hauled, double trapped and getting air time off of swells. We come up to a 35 footer limping back in (headsail down, double reefed main) with 5 people on board. We get about 10 ft from them(I'm a show off ) and all at once they say "WOW!!!". Ecstatic we went after another wave and... TANKED IT!!!!

Alright maybe that is embarrassing

I once got caught crewing on a Nacra.

The owner skipper was a new member at the club and asked for help, but there is still no excuse...

Don't ask how I know. . . .
When training our new cat students, we always remind them to:
1. Remember to take the cat trax off the boat once the boat is in the water. Cats don't sail very fast with this added attraction.
2. When you remove the cat trax, be gentle, and don't let the lines (ropes) catch in the ring-dings for the shrouds. Funny how the mast falls over on the first tack if there are no clevis pins at the end of the shrouds.
3. Make every effort to ensure that the plugs are in, and firm. It can take a looooong time to drain a H18 3/4 full of water. I had to do this at the launch site of the Lac des Chesnes SC, and missed the first race of the FrostBite series awhile back.
4. When upgrading from a H16 to a H18, it helps if you recall that the bigger boat has things called daggerboards, and that they should be raised, especially as you're coming in to the beach. Amazing how quickly a H18 can stop when you are least expecting it.
5. Always wear adequate footwear. Out on the H16 with my buddy Tim, strong NW winds coming down the river, 3' to 4' of chop, we would tackup and run back, me hiked out standing on the back corner of the Hobie. On the 3rd run, we hit a wave and I lost my footing and took that 'unexpected journey to the bow', in full view of the gang on the deck of the Clubhouse. Of course, we pitchpoled, Tim yelling at me non-stop to get my body out of the way of the mast. No worries, we were up and tacking in less than 90 seconds. Wind really helps right the boat, as does the cheering of one's fellow sailors.
6. Always try and hold onto the boat. Sailing with a student at the helm of an H18, a puff comes up, and she was slow in releasing the mainsheet. The boat tipped up on one hull, AND SHE SLID RIGHT OFF. I had no chance on my own, and over we went. It got worse, she did not stay/could not stay with the boat. Lucky a passing yacht took her on board, and then other Club members came to help me right the H18. Always embarrasing to tip in front of a keelie. Needless to say, she did not complete the course.
7. Take your wife sailing on a H16 (first H16 outing in about 5 years), and not only lose it in a puff, but pitchpole the poor boat and then get the mast stuck in the mud. There was at least one boat (sail or power) from every club on the Ottawa River, and I am supposed to be a Cat Instructor! Humility can be a very good thing, sometimes.

Warm today, minus 2C, can't wait for Spring.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

My most embarassing sailing moment was on a Hunter 170--the Hobie embarassment is yet to come, I am sure.

Sailing a Hunter 170 is embarassment enough in and of itself--they're such ugly boats--but this one time... well it happened to be worse...

I had taught at a summer camp teaching kids how to sail for the past three years. We had zumas and sunfish--nothing fancy or fast, and the 170 which, as the counselor, was my boat. In those three years, I never flipped the boat. Not once.

This past summer, the camp asked me to instruct there again, but I couldn't. I offered to at least help train their new guy. So I went up one day and began to do just that. I had him out on the 170, giving him the refresher course in sailing (he was less than the ideal candidate for the job, perhaps) and turned the tiller over to him, after making sure he knew what he could do to control heel/capsize. Hike, head-up, sheet-out... so he takes over and does well, for about 5 minutes. Suddenly, we're slammed by a gust. He doesn't hike, head, or sheet and we're on our side before i know it. By this point, I've already tossed a leg over the side. I get over with the other leg, and I'm clinging to the gunwale, searching with my legs for the board. I can't find it and I flop into the drink--I was too far aft. I reach for the board as soon as I can from the water, but I can't reach! I'm there in the water, kicking like mad, clawing my way up the side of the boat, as the board gets further and further from me. And so, the boat is turtled... I'm pretty mad at this point--capsizing hadn't even crossed my mind. My cell phone? wallet? all in my pockets. I believe my words were exactly, "eh, we won't be getting wet." Right...

I swim under the 170 to put the board down... er... up... and see that it is snapped off at the hinge point. Great... I climb on the bottom... top... grab the board, and stick it into the slot. I get the new skipper up there and we both lean out. Absolutly nothing happens. Not even a bit of a list.

There's a guy sailing around in a small boat with his wife who offers me a hand. I ask for a ride back to shore. The guy could hardly make his way up wind, and being grateful for the ride and having just been retrieved off a capsized boat, I don't feel it's my place to correct his methods. I finally make it back to the camp, and enlist the assistance of another, and a motor boat. We go back out to the boat. I have to tie a rope to the mast, about at the top of the shrouds, and get both of our weight on the board as well before the boat comes over... I manage to wedge the board such that it stays in place and I sail, shamefully, back to the dock.

Suffice to say I never have said and never plan on saying "we won't get wet" again.

_________________
A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for.

Webb '10

Okay, second time sailing my h14. I can only estimate that the wind was blowing about 20 sustained. I sail around 2 ft seas crashing along my merry way and having a blast. the inevitable happens, she flips. I remember sliding down the tramp saying, "oh no!" Well I have seen my share of youtube videos about how to right a cat, even a turtle cat. It works I have the boat up in about five with no small effort on my part. the mainsheet was still cleated which is what put me in the water to begin with. Flop and it's back over. All this with a concerned shore observer asking if I need help. Eventually the mast and boom and god knows what else fill with water and I simply lack the strength to beat the turtle. Ah the last saving grace when all else is lost: a single oar. I decide that effort spent holding myself inches above the water would be better spent rowing my upside down cat to the shallows. Halfway thru this endeavor the fire dept arrives on their rescue boat (also a hobie (are you really that gullible)). With them comes the local news chopper! What on earth are these people doing all day, sitting on the front porch listening to a police scanner, scoff. Lucky for me there was a stabbing homicide on the freeway (lucky?) so i received no air time. The FD boat pulled me most of the way to shore I swam the rest and pulled the boat in from their with their borrowed rope. I sat awhile on the random mud beach that is so common in the puget sound and then shoved off going crosswind with the mainsheet totally slack thru 3.5 ft waves. Good fun.

_________________
Tree nuts are not acceptable for hull buoyancy.

It's a blast, ain't it?!

Years ago my good friend Glenn Ross and I were competing in the New England 100 on my H18Magnum, which at that time was a Point to Point Distance Race w/ beach starts/finishes So we are trying to finish on the second day in New Bedford Mass and they had set the finish line from jetty to jetty w/ the beach recessed in the middle. We were in contention for a trophy so we were pushing hard ... as we come in on my H18Mag I'm trapped out off the wing and Glenn is sitting in front of me on the magnum wing .... so he gets up and goes to raise the leeward daggerboard ..... just then a killer gust comes through .... up ... up ... up the windward hull goes .... as I get launched into the sail Glenn scambles up the boat gains the wing and throws himself over the boat, clears the now vertical wing along w/ the upper hull and proceeds to fall headfirst down just missing the daggerboard he never got raised and bounces off the lowwer hull ..... now all this is caught on video by the camera filming the finishes from the jetty just 75' away. The wind is coming off of the beach at a 45 degree angle, I heard no horn so we haven't finished yet, and a I know that to right the boat we need to spin the mast into the wind. (In the video, you can hear me going NOOoooooo as the boat rises up and you can also hear the THUD as Glenn bounces of the hull) Surprisingly I discovered that the water was only waist deep when I put my feet down.... so we grab the boat and start to swing the mast into the wind to right her .... now the video shows we were only a couple of feet short of the finish line if that ..... w/ the boat still on her side the mast starts to swing towards the beach .... slowly she swings ......slowly ..... HONK!!!!!! You know how they say time slooows down ..... well it felt like it was forever ..... We finished the race w/ the boat still capsized on her starboard side .... in front of a crowd .... and it was all caught on video for the ages (I do have a copy courtesy of the race committee .... Glenn had some buised ribs that slowed him down for alittle while.)

We didn't lose any finishing places .... holding onto our finishing position by a few seconds ....

And we recieved a "Special Award" for the Best Finish (sic) of the race


Good Times

_________________
HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

OK - it starts w/my sailing partner leaving town, saying "The waves are high...I don't have time. Plz move the H-17 higher up the beach"

I reply, "Don't worry..I'm going out!"

I find a crew w/no experience. That's OK. Out we go in 20+kts w/4' - 8' shorebreakers staight on. We make it out...come about...we're flying for the beach. Except now the beach is non-existent.

Erosion makes it a 4' embankment. I come in hard and fast and stick the bows about 1' into the sand embankment with waves pounding on the rudders.

I had no choice. Take it out again and try landing where the beach is wider. Make it through another group of curling and dropping 6' waves...come about... capsize...turtle...28' mast pogo-sticks in 20' of water.

Make shore with the wishbone'd mast. No choice but to play in the shorebreak. Crew was in a swell when I was in the trough...I looked up at his feet.

It cost me $567 for the comtip...and my sailing partner ultimately didn't want to partner with me anymore. I learn quick..but I forget quicker.

Not exactly embarrassing...but certainly humorous:

Last weekend I went out, even though it was cold, foggy, and almost no wind. I was cold, so I put on my full wetsuit (picture and remember this).

I was moving so slow (2-5 mph winds) that people on the beach were strolling along faster than I was sailing.

I get down the channel and out on the ocean. Slowly, I float/sail past a bouy where a sea lion is sprawled out, napping. As I get close, he/she (how can you tell...nevermind?) wakes up, lifts it's head and looks at me.

It's eyes get huge, it yelps out this joyous howling bark, and then starts humping the buoy.

To him/her, I must have looked like a fellow sea lion with my own sailboat. How hot is that?

_________________

"HOBIE....
Say it LOUD and there's music playing...
Say it SOFT and it's almost like praying.....
I just sailed my WAVE out the Marina !"
West Coast Story