A crashing start – a sailor confesses everything

Many years ago I spent a week on one of Her Majesty’s destroyers.

Arrived at the dock in a tight space, the captain maintained the speed, almost until the last minute.

He explained that he feared the strong onshore wind would drift him onto the moored ship he had to cross while squeezing into his space.

It was a tricky maneuver and his daring seamanship left an indelible impression on me – unfortunately.

About a year later, my wife and I embarked on our honeymoon by bareboat in the Ionian Sea.

After a few uneventful days, we approached a tricky port for a forward mooring.

Due to depth constraints, this required approaching closely to the stone jetty, then making a quick 90° turn to the right while dropping the stern anchor to apply the brakes and hopefully in stopping cleanly.

Because there was a very strong offshore wind, it would have been a tricky maneuver – even for a very experienced sailor.

Continued below…

I was no such thing.

I remembered the shrewd maneuver performed by Her Majesty’s best and her advice to maintain speed to avoid drifting onto other boats.

Undaunted by other considerations (and anxious to impress my new wife), I duly took the plunge.

Just at the right moment, I swung the boat around to point towards the pier, threw the stern anchor over the back and held the warp, waiting for the anchor to bite.

Nothing happened.

We continued unchecked towards the pier. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights, I watched my impending doom unfold.

The thought of putting the engine in reverse never occurred to me. The accident was spectacular.

An extremely loud bang, the boat came to an instant stop and the mast briefly leaned forward alarmingly before returning to upright. Luckily everything held up.

We two very shaken, very amateur boaters tied up and inspected the bow.

A huge V-shaped gash in the upper, probably nearly an inch deep, was a stark testament to our high-speed arrival.

I tried to convince myself that the charter company wouldn’t notice this little flaw when we returned the boat. Surprisingly, no repair bill followed.

Ever since I crawled to the moorings like a turtle on sleeping pills.

Oh, and we’ve been married for over 37 years now, that’s how long it took me to admit!

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Good reading A startling start – a sailor confesses everything?

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