My most embarassing overboard:

I once owned a 30' sailboat with a lot of brightwork. I was a purist then,
no Cetol, I applied coat upon coat of varnish. The yacht was a thing of
real beauty! I would sometimes stop at the marina after work, change
clothes in the boat, and apply varnish. One such day I was working on a
large area of teak and applied masking tape. It took quite a bit of time to
apply the tape and I wasn't finished so I left it on for a couple of days.
One evening rain was forecast so I stopped by the boat to remove the tape
even though I wasn't finished. I had taped completely over a ventilation
cover and when I pulled the tape off all the wasps in the world came out at
me and boy were they angry! I jumped toward the dock, clearing the
lifelines with one foot but not the other. I went overboard. Luckily the
dock was almost empty but I was glad to have help getting out of the
non-floating dock.

The most embarassing I've seen:

While applying a coat of varnish one evening when the boat was in a
different marina, with floating docks I stopped work to watch the Island
Packet across from me come in. This boat was owned by two ladies and let me
tell you their handling that boat was a thing to behold. The were really
good. This day they came in from a day on the water and had a couple of
guys aboard with them. As they approached the slip one of the guys got onto
the bow, grabbed a dockline, and stood there. They boat was already
alongside the dock and stopped, the captain had done her usual great job,
but this guy jumped off the bow holding the bowline, balanced a couple of
seconds with one foot firmly planted in the center of the dock, arms
flailing all about, and then went head first into the empty slip on the
other side of the pier.

If the wasps were after you, wouldn't you want to jump in anyway?
--
Scott Vernon
Plowville PA __/)__/)__


"someone" wrote in message
. ..
My most embarassing overboard:

I once owned a 30' sailboat with a lot of brightwork. I was a purist
then,
no Cetol, I applied coat upon coat of varnish. The yacht was a thing of
real beauty! I would sometimes stop at the marina after work, change
clothes in the boat, and apply varnish. One such day I was working on a
large area of teak and applied masking tape. It took quite a bit of time
to
apply the tape and I wasn't finished so I left it on for a couple of days.
One evening rain was forecast so I stopped by the boat to remove the tape
even though I wasn't finished. I had taped completely over a ventilation
cover and when I pulled the tape off all the wasps in the world came out
at
me and boy were they angry! I jumped toward the dock, clearing the
lifelines with one foot but not the other. I went overboard. Luckily the
dock was almost empty but I was glad to have help getting out of the
non-floating dock.

The most embarassing I've seen:

While applying a coat of varnish one evening when the boat was in a
different marina, with floating docks I stopped work to watch the Island
Packet across from me come in. This boat was owned by two ladies and let
me
tell you their handling that boat was a thing to behold. The were really
good. This day they came in from a day on the water and had a couple of
guys aboard with them. As they approached the slip one of the guys got
onto
the bow, grabbed a dockline, and stood there. They boat was already
alongside the dock and stopped, the captain had done her usual great job,
but this guy jumped off the bow holding the bowline, balanced a couple of
seconds with one foot firmly planted in the center of the dock, arms
flailing all about, and then went head first into the empty slip on the
other side of the pier.

Mine was with my Windrider trimaran... I was removing the mast
after my send ever sail on it. The mast isn't particularly heavy, but
it was awkward. I got it out then took a step back. The mast
swayed, so I took another step back. It swayed more. So, yet
another step, except this was a rather long one off the dock.
Fortunately, the water was only 3' deep. Also fortunately, I
didn't hit the rocks. The good news: no damage to me or the
mast, one very beautiful woman helped me out of the water
and gave me her phone number, and a couple of other people
got the mast out of the water. The bad news: I lost her #$%#$%
number.

"Bobsprit" wrote in message
...
BB brings up a funny topic...what is your most embarassing moment falling
off
the boat. What's the best you've seen?

I was on a small tender next to my Catalina 27, stepped onto the bow and
prepared to step up onto the boat. The tender slowly slipped backward
until I
was a "bridge" leaning between the tender and the edge of the Catalina. My
friend said, "make a decision." Too late.
Last year I watched a guy on a Cruiser 320 powerboat come neatly into his
slip.
He slipped in his own cockpit, tumbled down the step to the swim platform
and
rolled right off the platform into the water in one perfect motion. His
son
thoughtfully shut down the twins and, running to help, fell off in exactly
the
same fashion. It was as if they'd choreographed the whole thing!

RB