Whats the proper thing to do here?
 

Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.

wrote in message ups.com...
Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.


Claim the chunk of transom hit you about the head and shoulders
as it flew by and sue his idiotic butt for damages and pain and
suffering.

CN

Learn from it.

First of all, the fact that you had to shut him up should have been a
tip off. Letting someone engage in a potentially dangerous and
unnecessary act is a poor way to make the noise stop. If he was
competent to tow you off, he should have been able to figure out the
situation.

Second, always brief any operation. Discuss exactly what you are
going to do and how. One of you could have been seriously hurt or
even killed here.

I'd now stay as far away as you can. This could be the kind of jamoke
who now comes back to sue you.

--

Roger Long



wrote in message
ups.com...
Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I
foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear
me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at
all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.


This would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Best advice is to leave well enough alone. This guy clearly isn't too
bright.

Good lesson for next time... don't accept help just because someone shows up
offering it. Have an action plan. Make sure everyone gets it. Have a knife
ready. Stay the heck away from the line after it's under load.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

In article . com,
says...
Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.




Personally I don't think stupidity deserves compensation.

--
Mike G.
Heirloom Woods

www.heirloom-woods.net

Having been around ropes 'n such for years, I have a healthy respect
for things under tension so I got back in the cockpit before he even
got under way. His attempt to use inertia was totally unexpected as I
expected a gentle tug. His boat seemde to be an older one of
indiscernable brand but had a wooden transom and an old 2 cycle engine.
Must not have been too much of a loss. I'll probably see him at the
bar near here and find out what he does about it.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.


I expect to hear:

Oops...my bad.

*JimH* wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.


I expect to hear:

Oops...my bad.

Truth is, I did sorta know this guy many years ago. At that time, I
had a problem with my old Yanmar 1gm engine and he was described as the
local inboard mechanic. This was at a time when there were really no
local mechanics working on diesels and he said he could diagnose my
problem (wouldnt reach high rpm). While I lounged int he cockpit, he
climbed into the locker to measure compression, seemed reasonable to
me. He told me to push the starter button which I did for a few
strokes and then there was a loud "POP" from the locker followed by
cursing. Turns out he had decided to make a fiting for an automotive
compression guage allowing it to be held in the same position as the
injector. The POP was the guage bursting cuz he hadn't thought of the
much higher compression of the diesel. I did pay him for his effort
then and even though I knew diesels have really high compression, I was
so impressed by his attempt at weird engineering that in a way I had to
admire his effort. I didnt know his poor judgement was a pattern...
Later, a mechanic simply pointed an infrared thermometer at my exhaust
and declared it was partially clogged, problem solved, amazing.
I s'pose I was just too relaxed about his offer to help this time.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I foolishly
agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow cleats,
before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot hear me
yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he seems to
stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in a
beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.


I hope you were kind enough to resist bursting out laughing.


--
Peter Aitken

Should I offer him any compensation at all?

NO!


I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.

OK!

In article . com,
wrote:

Ran aground, couldnt power off, tide rising so I'm ok, just settin
reading the paper waitin. 20' power boat comes by, offers help, I
explain bout the tide, he insists his boat can pull me off. I
foolishly agree just to shut him up. Tie a 1/2" nylon line to my bow
cleats, before I can say anything, he gets a running start and cannot
hear me yelling for him to stop. He takes off, line goes taut, he
seems to stop dead as part of his transom tears off and then flies in
a beautiful arc over my bow to splash in the water behind me, bummer.
Instead of sinking, he manages to beach his boat about 50' away and
walks back to his truck. Should I offer him any compensation at all?
I did offer to give him some fiberglass cloth and resin.

Even though we later find out that you sorta knew him, he received the
compensation he deserved. And it was relatively benign. Wood can be
fixed fairly easily.

True, you should have discussed what you wanted beforehand, but I'm not
sure he would have listened.

I think I'd buy him a beer if you meet again, though. His heart was in
the right place.

Powerboaters really don't understand how much pulling power a sailboat
has in that situation, figuring that their 100 hp will work better than
your 15 from a standing start.

As I went for another beer, I got to thinking: Probably the best thing
he could have done was to "wake" you from the "shallow" side at just
below planing speed as you power and/or kedge off. (It's moe efffective
to heel the boat with a halyard, but I wouldn't trust him to do it.)

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/