From: jfh@cs.brown.edu (John F. Hughes)
Subject: Re: Loud Boats (Was: Re: Novice boaters)
Keywords: Sails, mufflers, wetsuits, whipped cream, fire trucks...
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 17:11:03 GMT

In article <28SEP199208550339@erich.triumf.ca> bennett@erich.triumf.ca (P.Bennett) writes:
>Yes, I can make mistakes under power too, but at least I have some "brakes"
>(full power astern), and don't have to tack in very narrow channels.

You only have brakes when your engine and transmission both work. 


>When the original poster in this thread spoke of sailing into his mooring, I
>assumed (because we only have marinas here) that he meant sailing into a marina
>berth, which I consider to be improper if power is available (at least on my
>boat - 30').  

Notions of "proper" certainly change over time. I respectfully disagree with
Peter here, and feel that one's duty, in getting one's boat to some place, be
it mooring or slip or anywhere else, is to be in control of it. If I can
control my boat under sail better than I can under power, I should be under
sail, right? 

Des Sleightholme tells a remarkable story about someone who berthed a Brixham
Trawler (70 feet? 80 feet?) by sailing it into its slip, which terminated in a
stone quay, and hitting the bowsprit (intentionally) against the quay. The
bowsprit on a Brixham Trawler is held in its extended position by a heel rope,
and the traditional method for berthing was to hit the quay with the bowsprit
and pay out the heel rope so that the bowsprit retracted, with the heel
rope/bowsprit combination gradually taking away the boat's momentum. 
   This is what the fellow did, much to the amazement (and horror) of the 
folks watching. The club that owned the boat told him *never* to do it again, 
but he evidently earned a certain amount of respect by having been able to do
it. Despite this attitude, this method of slowing down was quite common in 
the heyday of the trawlers. 

   What's this have to do with sailing up to a berth? I'm not really certain.
I think that if we start to outlaw good seamanship, we deserve whatever we 
get, which I believe will be lots of people who don't know how to handle 
their boats in tricky situations. The fellow who hit my boat 2 weeks after I
bought it was in a nice easy-to-handle motorboat--a Boston Whaler. He had
a small sailboat alongside, and didn't realize how much it would affect his
ability to turn. Basically, it was lack of experience and overconfidence in
a mechanical device that led to the collision: he felt sure that if he
turned the wheel and applied power, the boat would turn. He was wrong, and
my topsides bear the scar (which was minor. Otherwise I'd have had to kill him
:-( ). By contrast, no boat under sail has ever hit any boat I've owned.

   Actually, this raises an intersting question: we have one story of a
sailboat under power damaging someone at a marina. Has anyone got any stories 
of sailboats under sail damaging them at marinas or moorings? Of course, there
are likely to be fewer of these, because so few people sail around moorings
these days, but I'm interested to see if there are *any*. If not, then
there's some (not very conclusive) evidence that it's not such a risky
business after all.

-John

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