Yesterday, I was approaching my mooring buoy and had already lowered my genoa and depowered my main sail. When I was about 40 feet away from they buoy, I had just enough drift to make my final turn into the wind and come to a complete stop with the buoy on my port side for an easy solo retrieval.
I then had a powerboat towing two rafts with four boys come between my sailboat and the buoy. To add insult to injury, the powerboat came to a complete stop!
Here I was, with almost no steering ability and at less than one knot. The powerboat was on my port side and the four kids were on my starboard side, and they had quit moving. The father on the powerboat was screaming at me for not giving way, but there was nothing that I could do!
Thankfully, the four boys realize what was happening and started to yell at their father to MOVE!
Once I grabbed the buoy and secured all of my sails, I lost track of where that powerboat had docked. However, if I ever see him or his boys again, I will give them some free sailing lessons. I want to teach them just how stupid and dangerous their stunt was and why a sailboat has almost no control in that type of situation.
Anyway, yesterday was some amazing sailing and I had a wonderful time. The temperature was around 95 F and I could not find a position that would keep me out of the Sun, so I ended up baking my brain for about six hours.
Right of way?
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CaptainScott
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The world is full of that kind of folk. Sorry to hear of the difficult situation but I'm pleased you did not have a chance to do anything about it.
Sometime just letting it go is best!!
If the mans kids saw the error of his ways and he did not care then that is enough statement in itself that he is not worth your frustrations!
Sounds like otherwise you had a great time! Any grand photos you can share??
Scott
Sometime just letting it go is best!!
If the mans kids saw the error of his ways and he did not care then that is enough statement in itself that he is not worth your frustrations!
Sounds like otherwise you had a great time! Any grand photos you can share??
Scott
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shunt1
Oh, I was not angry and would love to take them sailing some time. When you have a powerboat, everything is easy. This sounded like a perfect time to teach and learn some history of sailing.
Besides, the worst that could have happen, was to have their tow ropes wrap around my keel and they would have to dive down to untangle everything. Nobody was in danger.
After loosing my mast and having the top of my boat ripped off last year, I finally got it back on the water last Sunday. Lots of hard work, but thanks to the lessons I have learned on this website, my C-22 is now better than the original.
Of course, Monday we had a major thunderstorm with tornado warnings and I had full SCUBA equipment ready for an emergency recovery if anything went wrong. 60 mph winds and rain so strong it was difficult to even see my boat. Twenty feet under the water, things are calm and that was my best chance to recover my boat if the horrible happened once again.
The rest of this week has been hot but fantastic sailing. I love hearing the "hum" on a close reach and knowing that my boat is performing almost perfectly.
Besides, the worst that could have happen, was to have their tow ropes wrap around my keel and they would have to dive down to untangle everything. Nobody was in danger.
After loosing my mast and having the top of my boat ripped off last year, I finally got it back on the water last Sunday. Lots of hard work, but thanks to the lessons I have learned on this website, my C-22 is now better than the original.
Of course, Monday we had a major thunderstorm with tornado warnings and I had full SCUBA equipment ready for an emergency recovery if anything went wrong. 60 mph winds and rain so strong it was difficult to even see my boat. Twenty feet under the water, things are calm and that was my best chance to recover my boat if the horrible happened once again.
The rest of this week has been hot but fantastic sailing. I love hearing the "hum" on a close reach and knowing that my boat is performing almost perfectly.