I’ve seen engines fail on yachts.
I watched one sailor use lines only to manoeuver his 30ft+ vessel safely around a tight marina.
I’ve seen another drop sail and use a long oar from the stern to deftly scull a 28ft vessel against a 3 knot current into a marina and berth.
I am yet to see any of these skills utilised by motorboat users.
Boaty McShitfaced?
Never underestimate my ability to run a sailboat aground 20 feet from the slip!
He is being groomed as a cruise ship Capt.
I love it. When my brother was in high school, he and his best friend John made a vow to recite Ted Knight’s yacht christening speech at each others weddings. Fast forward ten years to my brother’s wedding day. It’s time for the best man to give a speech so they hand the microphone to John. He says some wonderful things about my brother and his new bride; shares stories that warm the heart, etc. Then he closes with “It’s easy to grin when your ship comes in and you’ve got the stock market beat. But the man worthwhile is the man who can smile when his shorts are too tight in the seat.”
Another truism: if you’ve never run aground, you’ve either not been sailing for very long, or you’re a liar.
I’ve been aboard a boat that had the prop shaft fall out while under way, had the resultant hole in the boat plugged by a potato. Found out about it when a guest came up the companionway asking if the floorboards [cabin sole, properly, but she was no sailor] were supposed to be floating.
I’ve heard old mariners claim carrots and potatos (along with odd shaped wooden wedges and damp fabric) are legit contingencies when you need to quickly hammer things into through-hull cavities!
There are courses one is required to take and pass prior to registering as crew for most distance or offshore races, including a “safety at sea seminar” where various kinds of maritime emergencies are reproduced with USCG purpose-designed ‘disaster engines’ with firehose inputs and a variety of places for it to emerge. You’d be surprised what even a t-shirt can do, but best practices include carrying a set of wooden cones, etc.
That’s awesome. I know it might be gilding the lily, but did he finish up with Smails’s needy and self-congratulatory laugh?
Ted’s performance is brilliant. No-one else could deliver “Spauldinggetyourfootofftheboat!” with the ready-to-be-irritated timing and tone like he did.
Does the three strikes rule apply to rich white people? I just know this fool is going to strike again. Probably with a motor vehicle next time. I did not see a Trump 2020 flag?
Canal boats are almost the opposite. They’re so long, but so low-powered that:
Which is handy, because there’s plenty of pubs that back onto the Avon and Kennet, so puttering around while gradually getting drunk is the norm.
I think we all know the answer to that.
So, sort of like three strikes, but with a trail of bodies instead of shoplifted packs cigarette.
Or for dinghy sailors, if you’ve never capsized, you aren’t trying.
That’s half the fun of a dinghy!
Or hedge clippers. I wonder what the estimated damage was? How much to replace a mooring? The boats damaged; I’m figuring at least 6 figures.
It’s okay, daddy will pay. Or more likely promise to pay until the cops leave the scene, then do a Trump.
Many ways to crash boats exist.
After an uncomfortable family weekend at the Salton Sea aka Redneck Riviera, we were returning to L.A. in my Cherokee stepdad’s pickup-camper towing his 22-foot motor cruiser. A gust of wind in two-mile-deep Whitewater Pass caught the trailered boat and flipped it off the highway, almost into the Cabazon dinosaurs. Boat did not survive but the rest of us were okay though stepdad was most perturbed. He should have tied it down better, hey?
Actually, yes, he did!
