runaway boat

[Karletto]

runaway boat bwaahahahahah

[nolatom]

Explanation?

Boats stuck in full reverse are hazardous?

Yes they are.

Is there a question on the floor? Otherwise, on to other things..

[Karletto]

it's hilarious but when you see the guy on bow fence ready to save his boat it makes you think

[Gary1]

I don't see the humor, I guess.

The idiot in the boat should have had a clue on how to shut down his engine manually, for starters. Which begs the question: Do you know which lever/solenoid/etc. you have to pull to shut your engine down? Or he should have pulled it into neutral and left the engine to run free. Sure, it would blow the engine, but in the long run, that would be cheaper than plowing into a dozen other boats.

Second thing. He's going in a circle. Why? The helmsman wasn't strong enough to turn the wheel? Rudder quadrant/shaft broken? More likely the former. Or he/she was too panicked to do anything.

In any event, I don't see anything funny about that.

Or about this one: YouTube - sailboat crashes into pier

Looking at the waves, those two idiots in their Lasers should have been thinking about taking a knife to the sail, since that idiotic rig can't be lowered. Getting under a pier like that is a good way to get dead.

Yeah, I'm grumpy this morning. Jacksonville is starting to feel like Portland, Oregon. Rain, rain, rain, and more rain, and now Faye is dumping even more rain. I haven't seen my shadow in so long, I 'm not sure I still have one.

[Joesaila]

Nice to 'Monday morning quarterback' it.? No humor in that. I hope he was able to shut it down! We only got to see a small time laps and don't really know what was going on. It must have been really tough for the person on board. Calling him an 'idiot' was inappropriate.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Gary1

I don't see the humor, I guess.

The idiot in the boat should have had a clue on how to shut down his engine manually, for starters. Which begs the question: Do you know which lever/solenoid/etc. you have to pull to shut your engine down? Or he should have pulled it into neutral and left the engine to run free. Sure, it would blow the engine, but in the long run, that would be cheaper than plowing into a dozen other boats.

Yes, he should, but many people don't have a clue... they've got a boat, but no clue.

Second thing. He's going in a circle. Why? The helmsman wasn't strong enough to turn the wheel? Rudder quadrant/shaft broken? More likely the former. Or he/she was too panicked to do anything.

Most rudders are very difficult to deal with in reverse, especially at higher speeds since they aren't balanced, and the water moving past them will generally throw the helm to one side or the other. Often, at high speeds in reverse, the forces are strong enough to break the steering system.

[Gary1]

Dog,

I agree that most sailboats don't like to go in reverse. Their rudders are like barn doors that want to jam over one way or another, and they're hard to move once in that position. But the fact remains you should be able to move it.

As to engine kill systems, if a person is smart, they have a FireBoy or some other system in their engine room, and these can be fired manually with the flip of a switch, flooding the engine compartment with fire suppressing gas which will choke an engine and shut off the fuel in just a second or two. If they don't have a fire suppression system, they're already borrowing trouble.

There is absolutely nothing like a fire at sea to ruin your whole day.

Anyway, I'm not quite as grumpy this morning--but I still don't see any humor in that boat rocketing around backwards in a packed harbor. I hope, for the record, that someone got the owner/helmsman/captain and sprayed him liberally with a can of Texas Whupass when the incident was over.

[sailingdog]

Gary-

I don't see the humor in it either and fully agree a large can of Whupass should be opened and used... but some people just don't have any clue and no prospects of getting one.

Anyway, I'm not quite as grumpy this morning--but I still don't see any humor in that boat rocketing around backwards in a packed harbor. I hope, for the record, that someone got the owner/helmsman/captain and sprayed him liberally with a can of Texas Whupass when the incident was over.

[chucklesR]

It's only funny if no one, and nothing is hurt.
Then, in hindsight it can be hilarious.

At the very least a fuel shutoff would be appropriate. He was not suffering from a run away engine due to oil in the fuel (no smoke).

Heck, a rope in the prop would have stopped him, again, hindsight and armchair quarterbacking...

Going below and shoving a rag in the air intake or tripping the compression lever after first ripping off the engine cover and getting to the normally encased engine takes more fortitude than most people can muster while the boat is going full speed backwards in a crowded harbor.

Boats with no emergency shut off in the cockpit are just poorly designed, I can say that because I can get to my diesel in exactly 2 seconds from my helm station.

[SVDistantStar]

This wasnt a matter of a person being onboard and not able to shut off the motor, but the dumbass falling overboard. He fell overboard and no one was aboard to shut the motor off.

Taken from youtube site.
This incident takes place in the harbour of Egersund, Norway summer 06. A guy tries to take out his sailboat, but fumbles and falls overboard. His boat, however, continues at full revs astern, goes into a spin .. and misses other boats between the two piers by less than a meter. The boat continues 4 full turns (still without crashing!) before we get our video camera ready to shoot. Note the owner (now being pulled out of the water) trying to jump back onboard again on the 5th turn, and the two guys in a dingy performing a Mc Gyver style rescue operation. Enjoy.