Crash, boom, bang...ouch

[mrsrobinson]

Went thru my normal docking routine yesterday coming back to home port from a trip. Slip is to the port, I go bow to the entrance to the slip then spin her to my starboard to back in. Never failed, until...

A big gust of wind from the starboard side coupled with a strong outgoing tide pushed my stern into the anchor on my neighbors boat, knocking out the port aft Bimini pole. I tried to push off but then a 2nd neighbors boat anchor jammed under the rail mid ship. I was, stuck. GF was trying to help but I was yelling at her to not put herself between the boat and the other boats anchors.

Right about then 2 dock mates came out of nowhere, jumped on my boat and helped me push off while I was running the controls. One was the marina owner, embarrassing. Nobody was injured, feelings were hurt though. The canvas broke lose from the pole and the pole was bent. I tried to repair both but could not (the zipper had broke and the connecting rod was too bent to bend back). Luckily the "canvas guy" was in the marina office, he came out, did some quick repairs and will do the right repairs this week.

This gust came out of nowhere, all flags around me were flat as I was coming in. So it happens to the experienced as well as the novice boaters.

 

[Scott215]

Glad everyone is doing good. Close call . I hate wind when dock at certain ramps

 

[Angus]

Went thru my normal docking routine yesterday coming back to home port from a trip. Slip is to the port, I go bow to the entrance to the slip then spin her to my starboard to back in. Never failed, until...

A big gust of wind from the starboard side coupled with a strong outgoing tide pushed my stern into the anchor on my neighbors boat, knocking out the starboard aft Bimini pole. I tried to push off but then a 2nd neighbors boat anchor jammed under the rail mid ship. I was, stuck. GF was trying to help but I was yelling at her to not put herself between the boat and the other boats anchors.

Right about then 2 dock mates came out of nowhere, jumped on my boat and helped me push off while I was running the controls. One was the marina owner, embarrassing. Nobody was injured, feelings were hurt though. The canvas broke lose from the pole and the pole was bent. I tried to repair both but could not (the zipper had broke and the connecting rod was too bent to bend back). Luckily the "canvas guy" was in the marina office, he came out, did some quick repairs and will do the right repairs this week.

This gust came out of nowhere, all flags around me were flat as I was coming in.

Wind can be anyones enemy at any time!

 

[Golfman25]

Well, since there are no pictures, it didn't happen.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Well, since there are no pictures, it didn't happen.

Haha, too late, I am home, but yeah, I should have snapped a couple. I was too focused getting the Bimini zipper zipped up around the Bimini pole so another wind gust this week would not do more damage to the pole/canvas, until I could get a permanent repair. Man did I cringe when I heard the crash; in my mind there was gelcoat scratches, crack, damage, etc. And man do I now hate my neighbors big arse anchor I was so excited when I was able to push off his anchor, then more wind and the boat swung into another boats anchor, ugh.

 

[douglee25]

Sorry to hear. Glad no one was hurt. Same thing happened several years ago to me, although their anchor just bumped my side. To avoid this now I make sure I'm of sufficient distance away from boats regardless of wind. It just makes it a little more difficult to back in because you've created more distance between your stern and the slip entrance.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Sorry to hear. Glad no one was hurt. Same thing happened several years ago to me, although their anchor just bumped my side. To avoid this now I make sure I'm of sufficient distance away from boats regardless of wind. It just makes it a little more difficult to back in because you've created more distance between your stern and the slip entrance.

Agreed, this is exactly what I will be doing now.

At 12 secs in you see the boat on my starboard side, that's the anchor that got stuck under the rail (the 2nd hit). The boat to it's starboard side was the first hard bump that took out the Bimini pole on the aft/stern (where the blue flag is).

Luckily no damage to their anchors/boats.

 

[FootballFan]

You were smart to realize that someone could get hurt trying to push off after the situation occurred.

Guessing a lot of injuries occur in the middle of a snafu, someone puts themselves in a dangerous situation.

boats can be repaired.

 

[Maybe A Dancer]

Hope no one calls Morgan & Morgan . . . . .

BEST !

RWS

 

[Pirate Lady]

Happened to me couple weeks ago. Caught the frame for the camper canvas on a guy’s anchor, but ripped the 2 screws out of the fiberglass, no damage to the frame. 2 oversized screws and all is good again.
Sailors love that wind, but they nuts anyway.

 

[Blueone]

When you hit your car with your boat with a dock full of neighbors on a Sunday afternoon ….. then you can post how embarrassed you were

 

[mrsrobinson]

When you hit your car with your boat with a dock full of neighbors on a Sunday afternoon ….. then you can post how embarrassed you were

Oh yeah, I forgot about this, I feel better now.

@Pirate Lady frame on mine as well, but no ripped screws. Slight fixable bend in the frame and the zipper broke where the canvas wraps around the frame.

 

[daddyox]

After docking my 320 probably 700 times with only 1 real mishap 15 years ago, my heart pounds every single time I dock. Glad you yelled at the GF…definitely need to keep everyone safe as priority 1.
Sorry for the damage though.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Well, I think I got a little to relaxed with docking. What gets me is I always check flags for wind, and all flags, including mine, were flat, no wind. Oh well. I think the strong out going tide added to the push onto the other 2 boats' anchors.