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Collision: Bad News and Good News

6K views 37 replies 20 participants last post by  smackdaddy 
#1 ·
Yes, my boat was hit and holed (above the water) while moored. That's bad news. I got a call from the town this morning telling me that she'd been hit. Not good for your stomach. And they also told me that the other boater had taped it over. That means a hole right? No one would tape a scratch. I hurried down to find a hole the size of my head in the starboard bow.
There's good news?
Yes: no one was hurt; the boat doesn't leak; the other guy was good enough to leave a note and notify the town; and, he has insurance.
On the news this morning a guy on LI killed his whole family. Yesterday a cop in Westchester and his family were killed in a fire. Last week a family of seven was killed in the Bronx driving off an overpass.
I think I'm having a good week.
 
#2 ·
As Phil Rizzutto used to say: "Holy Cow!"

You sound like you're being pretty philosophical about this; I would be hopping mad (not that it would accomplish anything).
I know your boat is a woody so to repair this sounds like a lot of scarfing in of new wood.

I'm sorry to hear about this.
 
#3 ·
Congratulations to you on having a very good perspective on the incident. You are right that we tend to take much of our good fortune for granted. I have a sister who does grant administration for a foundation, and she tells me of people in the third world with REAL problems - like getting clean water to drink and enough food to eat. Those kind of problems make damage to your yacht a little less crushing. That said, I sympathize with you on the damage. Maybe you can use the repairs as an opportunity to upgrade or get some other work done, so it's not a total loss. Good luck to you.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for your kind words and sympathy. It could have been much worse. Many people would have panicked and fled the accident without notice. Many small boats have no insurance. My last boat might have been sunk by this hit. At worst I can do the repair myself, though I've already started contacting yards and boat carpenters.
 
#5 ·
Wonderful perspective. You must have felt a twinge when you got the call. Club we sail out of has an annual Easter Seals sail to take out those that are challenged and less fortunate. About 50 boats, box lunches, local dignitaries, etc. All for a great cause. Sail on:D
 
#7 ·
Hi John,

Sorry to hear that Wandering Start was damaged. You have a great attitude.

My boat is still in the Columbia yard I have had zero time to work on her. Hopefully I'll be in next weekend.

Good luck with the repairs and let me know if I can help in any way.

Barry
 
#8 ·
Glad you're both stand up guys. You took it very well and best of luck in fixing your Baby.

I've seen several people over the past couple of years hit people's boats and keep right on going.

Last Sunday I watched this gas guzzling pig of a motor boat gas up and coming back in took him over two hours to get his boat back in the slip (wicked current, prop walk), hitting pilings and the dock 3-4 times and then hitting at least 2 boats that I saw. I'll find out Saturday if he notified the other boat owners. If not, I turn his butt in.
 
#12 ·
Great attitude, WS, not sure I'd be capable (al least immediately) of feeling the same.. Terrific, though, that the offender was honorable enough to do (all) the right things.
 
#13 ·
Yes, JonB, it was a motorboat.
The story is that they dropped a peice of gear overboard, made a quick turn to recover it, and didn't clear WS right after.
Thanks Barry, I'll see you in the water. Maybe we'll get out on WS after I patch the hole. (Not really confident in the tape)
I did feel a little sick on my way down there.
Thank you all for your support.
I had a boatbuilder look at it today.
The splinters make great props for this story at the bar.
 
#14 ·
Yes, JonB, it was a motorboat.
The story is that they dropped a peice of gear overboard, made a quick turn to recover it, and didn't clear WS right after.
It seems like it always is. The only times I've ever heard of a sailboat doing the damage is during races.

Maybe things would be better out there if the price of fuel went up some more.:)
 
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#16 ·
Good for you.. Any news on arrangements for proper repair?
 
#17 · (Edited)
I missed the entire 2011 season because my neighbor across the fairway passed out on Mem Day from heatstroke and rammed his SeaRay 34 into Catalyst... luckily a glancing blow on the port bow (it just missed being a full head-on) so no holes in the hull, but 4 holes in deck where stanchion bases punched through, bow pulpit bent/ruined, and furler foil bent, 1 bow chock and port running light destroyed & holes in deck to repair there, rub rail, &c. (~$7,500) ....

He was highly embarrassed, but at least his boat was fixed in a few weeks, mine wasn't til mid -November.

at least I now know my deck core at the bow under the stanchions is in better shape than in years (Coosa composite pads installed) & w/ new backing plates the bow pulpit's an improvement too, and I have 2 new running lights with clear lenses (LED bulbs to come I think) and new rub rail.

And they sure don't make them like they used to, the bow on the P26 is very stout, not a mark or sign of any damage on the hull itself.
Still sucks, but yes, worse things could happen (my neighbor's lucky he didn't injure his daughter, who was on the bow of the SeaRay).

Good luck getting yours fixed & on the way again,
Jon
 
#19 · (Edited)
Done it and Seen it

WE HIT SOMEONE:

The wife and I decided to sail off our mooring one day. So figured a good direction with the wind and the location of my neighbors and backed the main to turn the boat. Had the boom close to full forward and the boat was turning nicely so I let go and off we went with my my wife was steering. I putzt around cleaning some dried bird crap on the deck and she calmly says I think we are good to hit that boat. I look up and say just turn up more your not even close to being close hauled, to which she responds she his all the way turned. I come back and realized the boom hasn't made it across centerline and realize the the top of the sail for some reason is wrap on the rigging. The sails like a sideways spinnaker, I frantically try to shake it out and then I realize there is too much load in it. Now I try to release the sheet, but it is knotted up and won't release. I have about 5 seconds to to think of something. Too little time to get the motor going. Well it is going to happen.

Luckily it is max beam to max beam and a glancing blow. Just a little rub rail impact (under 2 kts). I have been on race boats that have hit harder. Called the harbormaster, told them about the incident, and they said they would contact the owner on our behalf. The owner called us and left a message, we returned the call to the owner and explained the situation and that we would take care of any damage. He was very understanding. We talked again on the launch ride the next w/e and he said no issues with his boat, and if we didn't tell he wouldn't have noticed. Thought we were straight up for saying something.

WATCHED A HIT:

Two days ago, I watched a 45+ ft. Mega stink pot, plow into a floating dock that had a 20 ft I/O Ski/speedboat attached to it. It was launched only a few minutes earlier. Guy hit it at about 6 kts and with such force that the entire dock spun about 90 deg. I think the 45+ ft boat clipped the mooring chain of the floating dock. Guy backed up or something to free himself, then looked at the dock and didn't see any apparent damage, and left the marina.

About 20 people saw this thing happen. I decided to walk up to the yard boss and say something. Yard boss said he saw it, but he thought he hit the dock only. I said he may have, but the dock is attached to the other boat and that was jerked around pretty hard. He called the other dock master (neighboring marina) and they went out to look at it. Guy hit the dock so hard that it ripped out a dock cleat. Damage to the docked boat was not fully known until it was hauled for peek. At least the offending boat was known as 20 people got it's name and hailing port.

What pissed me off was that boat the hit the dock had no intention of reporting it.
 
#20 ·
Some of you would crap your pants if you raced with me. Two Wednesdays ago, we wiggled our way through the non-spin division to take the lead. You could have stepped right from my boat, to your choice of 4 other boats.

Several of my crew are newbies and the look on their face was priceless.
 
#21 ·
That's one of the reasons why I don't race. Racers generally seem to think that ordinary prudent seamanship and the rules of the road don't apply to them because "we're racing".

Courts have ruled differently.
 
#27 ·
Awesome news... and just in time for summer. Very glad to hear that, esp the 'no insurance hassle'.

Must feel great!
 
#29 ·
My old slip was kind of tight and I was constantly afraid I'd be "that guy" that smacked and damaged a boat across the fairway if I made a slight mistake or the wind got a hold of us. It took a lot of enjoyment out of my boat time since we were never sure how a docking was going to go. We actually did once contact the anchor/bowroller of the powerboat across the way, but did no damage to either boat thankfully.

After 2 seasons I changed marina's to one that while subject to more cross wind, has wide open approaches so, bailing out if things start to unravel is much easier.

Just confessing that sometimes sailboats do hit powerboats.
 
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