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March 30, 2004
Dinghies Take Vacations Too
I wouldn’t believe it if it didn’t happen to me, but I’ve heard other sailors say that dinks have a mind of their own, sometimes, coming and going without your permission. Since your dink is the only link to and from your boat to land, it is vital to any sailor, and a real deal killer for your sailing trip if the dink goes missing.
Having had a wonderful time at the opening night of the Georgetown Regatta, we returned to the beach where we had anchored the dink to take the 1-mile trip back to the boat anchored in the middle of Georgetown Harbor. Despite looking and looking, with other people joining the search, the dink could not be found. It was a starlit and fairly calm night, so where could it go? Announcements were made to the partying crowd at Volleyball Beach where the festivities were held, but no one had seen a missing dink. Finally, Doug from S/V Absolute, volunteered to take us back to the boat, where I spent a sleepless night trying to figure out how this could have happened, and how to continue this sailing/writing trip without a dink.
That night I was on the radio, letting all in the harbor know that a dink was missing, and again early in the morning, hailing all who might have seen the errant dink. Two other desperate sailors whose dinks had gone missing that night were also calling for help on the radio. When daylight lit the other side of the bay, I thought I could see a gray blob making its way out to sea through the binoculars. Could it be my dink? I called for help on the radio for anyone willing to go fetch the mystery blob. Collin on S/V Mandalay went to the rescue, and almost an hour later, he came back towing a flooded dink. The anchor was gone and the drain plug was missing, the weight of the water slowing the tow. After getting the water out, replacing the plug (had a spare one) we went back to the scene of the crime. Sure enough, the anchor was still on the beach with its lonely line stretched out over the sand. I still can’t explain what happened, but the dink came back slightly worse for wear and is now sporting two painters (tie lines) in case it gets any new ideas to go solo.
Adrift, Seven Miles from Port with Problems That Come in Three’s
As you will come to understand with sailing, things don’t always go as planned, and when problems occur, why is it that, as on land, they seem to happen in threes? Prospects for sailing to Long Island were great the morning we left Georgetown. It looked great and the forecast was perfect. Half way there, the wind began gusting to 25 knots from behind us. What started as an invigorating downwind sail turned violent when a sudden wind shift caused the boom (the thing that supports the main sail) to swing violently to the opposite side, breaking the boom pulley. This small occurrence made it temporarily impossible to control the boom and the boat heeled over precariously to starboard. We rounded up into the wind, turned on the motor, let down the main, and rolled in the Jib (the front sail) to see what had happened. Realizing the boom could not be controlled and would require a fix sometime later when we were safely at anchor, we let the jib back out and sailed on toward Long Island on one sail.
The wind took us easily toward Long Island and when we were about 7 miles from shore, I noticed that the steering was not responsive then became stuck in place! We rolled in the jib sail and turned on the motor to see if we could get some steerage and found that the prop was not turning either. Now we were without steering or propulsion. I immediately got on the radio to hail other boats in the area. Since the straits between Great Exuma and Long Island are only 15 ft. deep, we prepared to throw down an anchor and make some sense of all this. We also engaged the emergency tiller to see if the problem had something to do with the steering cable (the answer was no—the emergency tiller did not work either). So here we were, adrift in the late afternoon without steerage or propulsion and a broken boom. Fortunately, another sailboat answered our call for help and offered to give us a tow. After some interesting attempts to safely get a towline to the other sailboat in such conditions, we were on our way. Another sailboat who heard our distress call, kindly began calling some businesses on Long Island to see if anyone had a power boat that could come out and tow us. It was getting late and we were worried about coming into an unknown harbor under tow in the dark. The sailboat that was towing us, was having trouble keeping course. Fortunately, after extending the length of the tow line and using a bridle to keep both boats from yawing, we were making 4.5 knots under tow with an estimated arrival time right at sunset. Just as the sun was beginning to set, we arrived without the aid of the powerboat. With our tow aiming us into the anchorage in a gentle arch, the towline was released, and with several other sailors from the anchorage in their dinks standing by at-the-ready, we glided safely to a stop and set anchor. We were so happy that we weren’t stranded out on the blustery banks, and so grateful for Dan and Donna on White Pelican for their courageous assistance. The unknown men in their dinks waiting for us in the anchorage also supports the natural kinship within the sailing community who are always willing to lend a hand to people they don’t even know.
Epilogue
The Propeller Got the Shaft but the Rudder Saved the Day
The power and steerage problems were fixed the next day. It seems that the stainless steel bolt that secures the propeller shaft had snapped, causing the shaft to fall out and lodge the propeller into the rudder (immobilizing it). This problem was fixed the next day with a couple of new bolts—no permanent damage done.
The Boom Went Boom-but Spare Parts Come in Handy
This is another time when keeping spare parts, even if they are miscellaneous old ones, can save the day—particularly when a West Marine is hundreds of miles away! The boom problem was fixed by taking some spare parts from a broken block and making a new block from them. A stainless steel screw and bolt of just the right size was found from the inventory of extra hardware. With the drill plugged into the inverter, the pulley was replaced in the block to make a pretty good substitute for the broken part. The boom was back in action.