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wrote:
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.

Hmm... problem, trying to keep an eye on 2 kids at once.

... 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.

That shows you've been doing a good job with them. The Laser
will be a lot more exciting for them than the Minicup.
However 18 knots is a *lot* of wind for learning to sail
this boat. It's not surprising they had some trouble. I hope
this won't turn them off sailing.

Eventually, they did drift across the channel and I made several
failed attempts to toss a rope.

You should have come alongside to windward of them and
grabbed their mast. There are many things that can go wrong
trying to throw a tow rope, unless both parties are trained
it never works. For example, if he had caught the rop but
not been far enough forward on the Laser, the tension on the
tow rope would have either pulled him off the boat or pulled
the boat over (capsized).

In fact, it may have been easier to get the boats together
if he had simply capsized and waited for you. Capsizing is
no big deal in a Laser and it makes the boat hold still (for
a change).

..... 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.

No possibility to kedge off?

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

No tide table aboard the boat?

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.

Maybe they were worried about shallow water.

It's very very rare to encounter a random passing passing
motorboater who is skilled & capable of rendering
assistance. More likely they will damage your boat & shrug
before heading on their way again. And allowing them to
direct a towing attempt was not smart... the thing to do is
get them to come alongside where you can talk clearly and
explain in simple terms exactly what you want them to do.

The usual scenario is a lot of shouting back & forth in the
wind, with the result that neither party is sure what the
other is going to do... a mess.

.... 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.

Amazing how easy it is when you know how.

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).

And why didn't you do this? It would have been a PITA but
less so than what happened in the end. A small unballasted
dinghy with no person aboard for ballast will flip easily,
and a Laser is one of the least stable small racing-class boats.

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)

OUCH... I've done that. It hurts like hell and also makes
you feel really stupid.

Sounds like you were not familiar with some of the problems
of the seamanship of small tippy boats. Most sailing clubs
with junior programs & Lasers deal with this kind of thing
all the time, with no damage. It's just a question of
knowing what works.

.... I was afraid to do any more for
fear of more disasters which is why it is now in the wrong place.

It sounds like by that time, everything was turning into a
disaster. The worst kind of snowball effect. When events
start going wrong & cascading, you don't have time to think
thru each problems in succession.

I hope the boys aren't discouraged from sailing by this,
that would be the worst consequence. And that Laser probably
needed a new sail anyway.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King