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I have posted one bonehead move on this forum already but I see some of us are taking a second shot at proving just how much of an idiot we can be. If this were a contest I would win easily. I have enough stupid stunts to my credit that I could post one a week and never run out. In fact if I only posted one a week my new mistakes might just keep up and I could go forever. That is if I lived that long and none of my mistakes were fatal.
Let me set the stage this way. I did my first trans-Atlantic in a 22 foot Sea Sprite in 1974 when I was 21. The Sea Sprite is not very heavy — compared to your weight — and the boat will change trim as you move forward and aft. For self-steering I didn’t use a windvane but instead I would balance things and trim everything and then sit or stand where I was going to be for a while and do the final trimming. Otherwise, the boat would wander after I moved. If I were going below to sleep I would do the final trimming while standing just aft of the cabin bulkhead because my center of gravity would be in that spot when I was lying down in my bunk. The boat was balanced enough that I could do this and sail without any type of windvane system.
Her sensitivity to weight was a lifesaver on my first trans-Atlantic. I started out sailing when I was 13 without a harness and tether to the boat. That became my habit. One day, some 500 or so miles out to sea on that first crossing I had the boat sailing herself and I was in the cockpit. I decided to get a picture and walked to the stern. While framing the shot, I lost my balance and fell overboard. Thrashing about and cussing my stupidity, I was hit in the head by something solid and, as any drowning man would, I grabbed at it and came up with a handful of line. I hung on for dear life and was slowly dragged in the water. When I came up I was surprised to see that I had hold of a genoa sheet on someone’s boat. I was hollering for them to get on deck and help, but no one showed up. Being on the lee side and the boat not having much freeboard I was able to get onboard. As I lay on the deck and caught my breath, I realized I was on my own boat and the genoa was backwinded and the boat was slowly sailing to the west, towards Canada while hove to.
The change of trim when I fell off was enough to upset the balance of the boat and the genoa became backwinded so the boat turned around and ran over me. I don’t think that would happen again if I fell off my boat another million times so I now wear a harness and when offshore stay attached to the boat even if I am on a boat with crew. Just a word to the wise: stay on the boat.
All the best,
Robert Gainer
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