Sounds like the keystone cops learn to sail... Not to be mean...but
this made my day... hysterical.

On 2006-04-09 23:33:31 -0400, "
said:

The Saga of the Wayward Laser

David OHara

It was s'posed to be a quiet fun day at the yacht club where my 9
year old Katie could fish from the dock and my 15 year old son could
rig and sail the club's 14' Laser sailboat. The Laser had not been
rigged or sailed for years and I had bought many new parts so Nick and
his friend Austin were excited about this. After awhile we got her
rigged and they took off. With the wind blowing from the NE, I thought
they would take forever to tack windward down the E-W running canal so
I began fishing with Katie. After about 20 minutes, I looked up and
the Laser was nowhere in sight down the canal so I went upstairs on the
back deck of the club and saw them most of the way down the canal
toward where it turns to go out to open water.
I ran all the way down the docks so I could yell to them to not go far
from shore and try not to go into open water and then went back to
fishing with Katie. About a half hour later, I suddenly realized I was
expecting too much from my son who is always tempted to do adventurous
things but exhibits little judgment. I suddenly decided that I should
get aboard my 28' sailboat "Ragtime" and go tow them back as I
thought they would have trouble even if they had just gone down one of
the other canals, after all, the wind was clocking around to the east.
Motoring past the other canal entrances we saw no sign of their sail
but as we turned into the small bay formed by Walker Creek we saw their
sail at least ¼ mile off the beach and far into the shallows. The
sail was billowing uselessly and they were clearly drifting to the SW.
Our channel hugs the beach going to the west and after ¼ mile it
turns 90 degrees and goes straight south for a half mile before it is
deep enough to sail. It was obvious that eventually they would drift
over the channel so I went to intercept them.
Eventually, they did drift across the channel and I made several
failed attempts to toss a rope. It was blowing about 18 knots so I had
to steer and throw at the same time. Finally, they were about to drift
all the way across and into shallows that are miles wide where I could
not rescue them with Ragtime so I decided to cut them off from the
shallow water. They were still in the channel so this was perfectly
reasonable. It would be reasonable most other places except that
around here channel markers do not indicate deep water; they indicate
that somebody at some time had gone there and not gone aground,
probably years ago before many hurricanes. As Austin finally caught
the rope, I went aground. Going aground is a normal thing for me and
usually I simply put the engine in reverse and power off but I had wait
for them to tie the rope to the mast so by this time I was hard
aground. No amount of forward or reverse power or heeling the boat
would get us off. I even got into the water which was waist deep to
try to push her off but with the wind it was no-go. I got the boys
aboard Ragtime and began to wait.
I called my wife with the cell phone and with the terrible signal at
Shell Point I finally got her to look up the time of high tide, about
1:00 am in the morning and it was only 5:00 pm. Looking at an oyster
on a piling through the binocs I could see that the tide was still
falling just a little so it would be at least 3 hours before we could
float off. Also with the bincos I could see a power boat in the
distance coming in from the open gulf so I had Nick rig a rope to the
bow cleat to be ready to throw.
The two guys on the powerboat were willing to try to pull us off but
insisted on using two of my jib sheets tied together for length; I have
no idea why they needed such length. I was never able to really get
the idea to them to pull perpendicular to my boats axis toward deep
water so Ragtime would pivot on her keel and instead they tried to pull
her straight ahead which failed. By this time, Randy Armstrong, a
former sailor had arrived with his powerboat and agreed to try and he
did know to pull the right way and soon we were free.
I called my wife to tell here we were on our way in. We continued to
tow the LASER with sail up flopping uselessly and harmlessly in the
breeze because we would have to take down the mast to take the sail off
(the mast goes through a sleeve). As we were going around the point
into Walker Creek where it is very shallow, I hear a CRASH...SPLASH
from behind and momentarily didn't want to look behind. When I did,
I saw that the mainsheet of the LASER had jammed and a sudden gust had
caught her sideways and sent her over. Of course, the wind was rapidly
pushing us towards shallow water so I had to continue pulling the Laser
till I was beyond the shallows. Unfortunately, this caused the Laser
daggerboard to separate and begin floating toward shallow water so I
turned to head it off before it could reach the shallows.
Unfortunately, the tide by now was very low and I felt Ragtime hit
bottom again so I instinctively put her in reverse........BIG MISTAKE.
I forgot the Laser was still drifting down on us with her sail and
rigging in the water. A loud CLUNK reminded me and I quickly put
Ragtime in neutral but looking over the transom I could see the Laser
mast and sail beneath my rudder.
MY GOD, What to do? I had Nick drop the anchor so we couldn't drift
any further into the shallows and stood on the boarding ladder to
think. Eventually, I stepped off into waist deep water onto a hard
sand bottom so at least I had good footing. Slowly I took apart the
Laser rigging, boom and mast which all went onto Ragtime's deck
revealing that the Laser sail was wrapped round my prop. It was
actually easy to get it off but there is a hole in the sail. I tied
the Laser mainsheet to the bow eye of the Laser and the other end to my
stern cleat (I couldn't do this earlier cuz I didn't want the boys
going onto the Laser bow in the chop). I managed to push Ragtime into
deep water and Nick hauled the anchor. We motored in more and suddenly
hit bottom again. For those of you not familiar with the Shell Point
"channels", this is normal at low tide. I had to power over this
shoal spot but the Laser tiller decided to snag a piling but I'd had
enough so gave Ragtime power and pulled free even though it looked like
the tiller snapped off.
A little further along, another SPLASH and I turned, shocked to see
the Laser upside down. I have no idea how this happened but decided to
tow her in the rest of the way like this and she towed far better
upside down than right-side up. Several people on their boats looked
puzzled as we motored down our canal but I wouldn't say anything.
As we came into our slip, the boys decided to redeem themselves by
being helpful with the two boat hooks. Normally, I just step over onto
the dock and stop Ragtime from ramming the dock with residual inertia
but the boys had both decided to be helpful by pushing off from the
dock just as I stepped over. It was only superhuman strength from
anger and frustration that enabled me to pull her toward the dock with
the toes on one foot so I didn't fall in.
I had the boys pull the Laser up onto the dock while I tied up
Ragtime. Amazingly, I found the tiller intact. They were to carry the
Laser about 100' down the dock to an empty spot on the dinghy dock.
Suddenly I hear Nick curse and a crash. Nick carrying the bow had
managed to trip over a cleat with the Laser falling onto his leg. By
this time, I couldn't find any sympathy even if he had broken a leg
(he was ok) but I did tell them to put the Laser into the first spot
they came to which was not correct. I was afraid to do any more for
fear of more disasters which is why it is now in the wrong place.
We got in the car and I had the boys search the point for the
daggerboard which they found.

Final Toll:

1 old jib sheet cut when the first powerboater couldn't untie it.
1 20 year old Laser sail with a hole in it
Dings on my prop from hitting the Laser mast
Contents of my wallet soaking wet ( I always forget to remove I first)
After 20 yrs of sailing, I had to ask to be towed off a shoal.

My thanks to Randy Armstrong and his friend and the other powerboat.

David OHara
"Ragtime"