[Rhodes22-list] Whoops! And a recovery!

[The Rhodes 22 Email List]

Had a great sail yesterday. Singlehanded, 10-12 kts..... Sailing under full
jib (150), and about 2/3 main on Long Island's Great South Bay. Screaming
along, rails near but not buried in the water, PFD on... Having a great
time. Suddenly my jib gets funky, something's wrong, it's flapping but I
didn't do anything to explain that. Checked all rigging, everything tight,
then I saw it. I had simply tied an overhand knot on each side of the
grommet of my sail, in my jib sheet and under strong wind it had pulled
through. Oh well, fix it later, time to go in. So I furled my sails and
started my motor. About 1000 or so feet from the channel entrance to my
marina I heard this horrible sound, like when I'm mowing the lawn and I hit
something, and suddenly silence! No motor, no seatow, no sails up...drifting
toward the outer bulkhead of my marina. Figured I could maybe walk the boat
around the bulkhead into the marina but problems prevailed... Water was
choppy and rough. I was downwind of the entrance. Thought to raise sails but
there was that jib sheet issue. Decided to go for it. Pushed away from
bulkhead and drifting toward a swimming area at a beach beside my marina, I
went forward to resolve the jib sheet issue. Standing on the pitching bow
deck and holding on....realized there was no stopper knot in the sheet,
almost lost it but after a few attempts at recovering it, succeeded in
grabbing the flailing sheet and sail, and getting me, and it, back to the
cockpit safely and in time to set the sail and sail away from the beach
before catastrophic embarrassment from invading the swimmers zone. Now to
make headway up wind I had time to think through my approach and utilize
some of my sailing skill to enter my marina and slip, under sail. Well, I
did it flawlessly! Sailed right into my slip! A few turns 
and some tight spaces but accomplished it on my first attempt. What a
relief!

Well, now the motor...turns out I had had some work done recently, requiring
the gearbox be rebuilt. Dry seals. It's a 6hp, 4 stroke '05 Mercury. Turns
out one of the bolts securing the lower unit had come loose and as it
dropped out, impacted the prop, jamming in place! Well, replacing the bolt
and testing the outboard showed all was well. A big bullet avoided. Getting
the prop redone and will be good to go for another adventure on the Great
South in a few days. Here' the good part....I had planned to go out the day
before, Sunday,with my wife, but when we got there it was blowing 15+, so I
opted to skip that sail. I can only imagine what could have been if we had
gone out then. Big chop, lots of traffic, a panicking wife, and seasick
maybe....oh boy!

Such is the life of a boater, sailor.... What more could you ask for?
At least now I know I can sail into my marina!

Chris Greco



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Chris Greco
Long Island, NY
Great South Bay
1987 Rhodes 22,  Blue Hawaii
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