[Rhodes22-list] Whoops! And a recovery!

[The Rhodes 22 Email List]

We sail to add excitement to our lives.  Well done.

Joe

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 24, 2014, at 1:06 PM, The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> -----
> Chris Greco
> Long Island, NY
> Great South Bay
> 1987 Rhodes 22,  Blue Hawaii
> --
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