An Embarrassing Story

[Bill]

Last Saturday was the fourth monthly Inter Island Yacht Club Regatta. This time, the regatta was in the South Bay. The boat bottom had been scrubbed Thursday and the crew (Steve and Ebb) were hyped and ready for an exciting day.

It was already windy at 11:00 AM. Early for the South Bay – usually, the wind shows there about an hour after the scheduled 12:30 PM start. When we arrived in the starting area, the race committee boat had not yet established the starting line. While waiting, we removed the outboard engine from the well and handed it to Ebb to stow in the companionway between the main and fore cabins.

Meanwhile, we were bouncing around in the wind trying to set the sail trim when Steve yelled, “buoy!” I looked up and there it was. Big and Red and about 12 feet away. Dead ahead. At about 3 knots.

Ebb reports that the noise below when we hit sounded like an explosion!

The boat rolled off the buoy to leeward and headed off to starboard. I think I was in charge? We did an assessment of the damage and found a small bulge on the inner side of the bow that was weeping a bit, but no other punctures. Some nasty scrapes on the port side and the bow pulpit was a little messed up.

Not really knowing if anything else might be awry, we decided to call it a day and sailed cautiously back to the Estuary and the slip.

Once at the slip, closer examination showed that the bow pulpit had pulled up, leaving cracks around the forward base plates. That was it, other than what we found originally.

A trip today to the yacht yard turned up a $2k estimate to repair it all.

Here are the damage photos:

[Bill]

The starboard foot on the pulpit:

[Bill]

And the port foot . . .

[Bill]

Then there's the pulpit istelf . . .

[Bill]

The yard said they would not have a good handle on the damage to the deck around the pulpit bases until the removed the pulpit. It could be minor, or . .

The yard is backed up a bit and they will not get to work on the boat until sometime next week. I can't wait . .

[commanderpete]

Sorry, but a buoy to leeward has the right of way. You were overtaking too. Wouldn't win that protest hearing.

Of course, I've never hit a buoy.......except that one time.......

Doesn't look too awful, aside from the pulpit.

Gotta be ebb's fault somehow

[Ed Ekers]

Mr. Bill, Well stuff happens. You mention the yard being backed up. I assume you are speaking about Svens. If I can offer a little insight I would suggest you give Nelsons a try. A number of people I know that have used Svens lately have been very disappointed. The estimates have been way off, the time line dragged on for ever and the quality of work has been somewhat shabby. You might want to talk to Scott about his experience.

On the other hand I hear nothing but good stuff about Nelsons. Their estimate might be a bit higher but it is honest and they have always done good work. ……ed