A Return And A Scary Happening

[tjg1677]

This is not a recent happening but i thought it was worth a mention. I had a long absence from the broads, nearly 20 years, booked my first return visit in sept 2013 on the pacific princess. The people at pacific are lovely and their boats well turned out, i assured the owners that i was a fairly proficient handler and all should be ok -  those words were deemed to return and bite me hard.......

We were returning south on about the fifth night, low water was about 6-7am the following day, so we overnighted at yarmouth ys.  the chaps in charge moored us up and warned us to keep the ropes slack as it was a full moon and high spring tide. This we duly did.  about twoish the next morning i was awoken by a crash, then promptly fell out of bed.

Apparently the tide was well above prediction, in fact afterwards many said it was the highest seen for a long time. You have probably guessed by now what happened, the boat had risen well above quay level and the rather thick stbd rubbing strake had hung up on the wooden facings fitted to the bank piles. The boat was over by about 30 or so degrees, much further and it could have been nasty. It was all a bit circumstancial why it happened i.e. extrodinarily high tide, plus a wind had picked up pinning us to the bank but happen it did. All i can remember was panicking, shouting in a very loud voice for everyone to get out whilst legging it at top speed ashore. Now heres the scary bit, apparently and dont ask me how, as she was stuck fast, I managed to push her off the pilings and nearly followed in the process. One almighty splash later and she is bobbing back in the water. My brother had made it up top by this time and saw what happened, he was at a loss to explain how i managed to move a firmly wedged heavy boat on my own but i did and dont even remember doing it, was the boat ready to go of its own accord or was it panic fuelled adrenalin, we will never know. Its not the first time something like this has happened, when in the forces and covering the firemans strike in 1979, we were called to an rta and found someone underneath the car trapped and bleeding badly. Again i dont remember doing it but i am told i lifted the back of the car up about 18 ins and the guy was dragged out.

Ooops i digress, back to yarmouth. Well in the process of getting her off the pilings, about 12_18 ins of the wooden rubbing strake was ripped off  just leaving bits of steel facing and a couple of bolts just hanging in the void. We sailed as planned, got over breydon, and moored at st olaves. You can imagine how sheepish and embarrased i felt when i rang pacific when they opened and explained that the boat was damaged and how badly so. The yard came out and after a couple of hours hacking, sawing and removing loose debris, we were underway again, shocked, shaken and much wiser.

We moored for the night in beccles and the tide was so high none of us could get aboard on returning from ashore, it was too high! So it must have been fairly bad.

Like i said, not a holiday blog but an incident that i thought and hope you found interesting.

 

Has anything like this happened to anyone else?  i have seen boats hung up by overly tight ropes a few times but not a part of the hull fast on something.

Trev

[Gracie]

Hi Trev

That must have been so scary especially at GY Yacht Station, to be honest as much as we love the Broads we will not moor there. We were left dangling at Stracey Arms once because of too tight ropes, that was bad and embarrassing enough, no damage done thank goodness, just a load of people being woke from their sleep from  our ropes being loosened and the boat making a bit of a splash, seems a whole lot louder at 3am We got up and cruised off a tad early that morning I can tell you lol

Grace

[Hockham Admiral]

Trev, Hi.

That hasn't happened to us before (probably more luck than judgement) but it does go to show that you should always put at least a couple of loops around the post before the two half hitches or whatever you use. That way if your mooring rope does tighten you'll still be able to undo it.     

[SwanR]

Wow, sounds very scary. I think that would have put a lot of people off ever going back on a boat again!

[Hylander]

It happened to us in a Hampton boat many moons ago.      Moored down South on the Waveney on an informal mooring, well one with quay heading which looked very healthy when we moored.     I woke up in the night and tried to get out of bed as the alarms were ringing.   It was a struggle as the bed was at such a degree.     I managed to struggle out and hubby struggling behind me too.    He went out into the dark and rainy night and  realised the tide had gone down and we were firmly stuck on the side.   I think he got us off with the boat mop handle.    Next thing I remember was a big splash and the alarms stopped.  2 in the morning and I drank the biggest Brandy I have ever drunk, swore blind that was it I was never ever coming back to these darn Broads again.   Of course we have never been away since.    

After that declaration we bought our own boat which as you all know is now sold and we are hiring again.   Gosh it does shake you up and why does it always happen in the dead of night.        We have moored with our own boat in the same spot and survived.   What I do now is look at the way the tide is going and wait up for high tide and then know the fenders are well placed and no problems.

You live and learn.    Thank goodness the boat was not damaged in anyway.

I should imagine it happening in Gt Yarmouth would be double frightening.

 

 

 

 

 

[ranworthbreeze]

I remember many years ago seeing a picture of a yacht  totally suspended by its ropes on the Yarmouth Harbour wall.

Regards

Alan 

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, ranworthbreeze said:

I remember many years ago seeing a picture of a yacht  totally suspended by its ropes on the Yarmouth Harbour wall.

Regards

Alan 

That reminds me of a rum old character, an eel fisherman, and his 'bit on the side', Joan. We knew him as 'Deafy' and Joan as Joan, a popular pair amongst the local community. Deafy was no youngster whilst Joan must have been thirty years his junior, both were partial to a bit of hanky-panky between casting and hauling their eel pods. As was the way back then Deafy's boat was a cut down ex trawler's lifeboat, with no cabin, we all knew what was going on! Cheering him on had no effect, Deafy was deaf, so other tactics were considered.

Deafy was moored alongside in Lowestoft Harbour, the tide was in, we crept up and shortened his lines to tight. Undetected we backed off and waited a couple of hours for the tide to drop, leaving Deafy and Joan suspended several feet above the water.  Perhaps Deafy & Joan had wondered why their boat didn't rock as it usually did but nevertheless we got away with it. Knives ready, at the count of three, his lines were cut, the old lifeboat dropping back into the harbour on a pretty even keel and a cloud of spray.

Joan squealed, Deafy cussed and yours truly learned a few ripe expressions to add to his vocabulary. Joan, by the way, was a friend at art college, we never did let on to her friends but we had some good laughs about her nocturnal fishing trips in later years, when her husband was not about!

[grendel]

I had a rubbing strake hook up at the wherry on Oulton, fortunately we spotted it just after it had happened and with a bit of swearing I pushed her off, the fenders had gone in between the indentations in the steel pilings, so didnt hold her off as far as they should.

about an hour later we heard a lot of revving of engines and swearing as another boat 3 boats down had had the same happen, except the tide had gone down a lot more, and she was well and truly hooked up with the stern and prop partly out of the water, they did get her off, but there was quite a struggle.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Grendel,

We see this a lot when stern moored at Beccles yacht station, definately a place for loose lines and active use of well placed mud weight.

Regards

Alan

[JennyMorgan]

The way a great number of boats moor stern-to renders the mudweight near useless, especially those just dropped after the stern ropes have been made fast. In a nutshell if the string to the mudweight is slack then it's not doing its job. 

[LondonRascal]

This happened to me in April when on Brinks Belmore outside the Ferry House at Surlingham - side on mooring at the front of the Pub.

I woke up and did not think anything was wrong, until I went to get out of my berth (starboard side) but found doing so an 'up hill' task and once up I realised the cabin curtains on the port side were hanging at a strange angle - ah I thought the boat is held up on the quay followed by a few seconds thought that all the plans I had would be out of the window as the tide would be several hours away from returning. Damn!

I would have to go and see what was going on but first I needed the Loo!

I stumbled to the heads and stood there the best I could and went about my business and then as I went to leave my weight on the starboard side of the boat was too much for the rubbing strake to hold - it caused the boat to slip off the quay - with me now part of some kind of theme park ride inside the heads (I could not see what was happening) but felt a sudden sensation of dropping - an enormous splash saw me heading for the sink trying to hold on as the boat swayed one way and the other. Then silence.

I came out the heads, and stepped into the aft well and looked over the side of the boat - no witnesses, a frosty morning and some mist rising and no apparent damage. Another lucky escape.

This has been the second time such has happened to me.

The previous time was at Beccles on Brinks Royale.  I had gone to have a nap and was drifting off hearing the splash of wash as boats came and left the Yacht Station.  Some time later I woke, a boat passed but the sound of the water hitting the boat was very different and the boat did not move.  I was up and out the back of the boat in a flash and the swim platform was on the quay.  The tide had not long begun to fall, so fortunately it was not beyond rescue.  On with the engine and a good blip of forward gear the boat was back into the wet stuff.

 

[JennyMorgan]

Stern-to mooring is not the easiest of manouvres, especially if there is a beam wind,  so I thought I'd remind folk on how to do it.

Is that the famous blue boat-shed fender being retrieved? 

 

[vanessan]

2 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Hi Grendel,

We see this a lot when stern moored at Beccles yacht station, definately a place for loose lines and active use of well placed mud weight.

Regards

Alan

Beccles does seem to catch some people out. We saw a hire boat earlier this year caught up on one corner. The people from the boat alongside seemed to be a bit concerned as the tide was still rising. I think they woke the crew in time to avoid any major problem!

[tjg1677]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes it was very scary and in fact nearly put me off the broads for life, i was shaking quite badly afterwards. I now have a very wary respect for gyys and probably do subconsciously avoid mooring there, certainly overnight.

Trev

[Wussername]

18 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Stern-to mooring is not the easiest of manouvres, especially if there is a beam wind,  so I thought I'd remind folk on how to do it.

Is that the famous blue boat-shed fender being retrieved? 

 

One couldn't fail to notice that salty old sea dog Vaughan nonchalantly picking up the stern mooring rope and putting a turn round the post. No pulling, no tugging, just letting the event unroll itself. I got the distinct impression that Vaughan gave up heave and shout a long time ago. There seemed to be the suggestion that the boat was in forward gear, possibly because of the windy conditions at the time, however, it was the wind and the helm that was allowed to do the work.

Andrew

[JennyMorgan]

7 hours ago, tjg1677 said:

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes it was very scary and in fact nearly put me off the broads for life, i was shaking quite badly afterwards. I now have a very wary respect for gyys and probably do subconsciously avoid mooring there, certainly overnight.

Trev

I don't avoid it subconsciously avoid it, I just do!

It doesn't always happen but I just love it when I slide past the yacht-station and the tide is absolutely slack, just so satisfying! I actually like slumming it and having the odd day out in Gt Yarmouth, the Sea Front, the Harbour, Regent Street, great, love it but Yarmouth from the river is not the most attractive of the town's assets; Reckon the town's tourist board would do well to take a river trip and look at Yarmouth as the tourist must see it. Marina Keys is a disgrace, a wasted asset. Come on, Yarmouth, we don't expect you to pull your drawers up, at least not before the end of the week, but pulling your socks up would be a good start.

[tjg1677]

6 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

. Marina Keys is a disgrace,

how very true, you would think something would have been done with that by now, its a real horror show but could be made into something great.

[BroadAmbition]

The last time it flooded, it did £millions worth of improvements

Griff

[ranworthbreeze]

2 hours ago, tjg1677 said:

how very true, you would think something would have been done with that by now, its a real horror show but could be made into something great.

Hi Trev,

Marina Keys, I can not understand why this site has not been converted to an off river marina, if it was it would solve most of the problems with mooring at Yarmouth.

Regards

Alan

[JennyMorgan]

9 hours ago, Wussername said:

One couldn't fail to notice that salty old sea dog Vaughan nonchalantly picking up the stern mooring rope and putting a turn round the post. No pulling, no tugging, just letting the event unroll itself. I got the distinct impression that Vaughan gave up heave and shout a long time ago. There seemed to be the suggestion that the boat was in forward gear, possibly because of the windy conditions at the time, however, it was the wind and the helm that was allowed to do the work.

Andrew

Blast me, bor, last time I saw Vaughan he was a doddy little fella with a full head of brown hair!

[JennyMorgan]

15 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Hi Trev,

Marina Keys, I can not understand why this site has not been converted to an off river marina, if it was it would solve most of the problems with mooring at Yarmouth.

Regards

Alan

That would be money well spent, in my opinion,

[Vaughan]

44 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Blast me, bor, last time I saw Vaughan he was a doddy little fella with a full head of brown hair!

That wore a wholly long while ago, wunt it? At least I still have some hair!

That's why that move is known as "bringing her up with a round turn". She was still in ahead but only on tick-over, so I was able to stop her from going out into the broad again, while the rest of the manoeuvre was gently sorted out.

As Andrew says : Let the boat do the work!

[Broads01]

I've never moored at Great Yarmouth Yacht Station, even though I've passed through it perhaps 20 times. I always think there's hundreds of prettier places to stop, so why bother? I've moored overnight at Berney and Burgh Castle many times however so I've experienced high tidal rise and fall.

My similar scary experience sounds a lot like those already reported on this thread. We were at Coldham Hall, Brundall stern on overnight in 2012 aboard Jamaica from Richardsons. We were awoken around 4am by the sound of trickling water. The stern of the boat was lower than the bows and stuck firm. In my sleepy state I put 2 and 2 together and made 5 and convinced myself the boat was sinking. I phoned Richardsons emergency number in a panic but got no reply. After a few minutes it dawned on me that we weren't sinking but rather the stern was stuck under the quayside on a rising tide. Fortunately I was able to free it, the stern jumped up and the trickling water sound stopped. Presumably the sound had been where the exhaust vent or some such outlet had been dragged down to the surface of the river. A guy from Richardsons called me back and I had to apologise for waking him up due to a false alarm. With hindsight I'd tied the stern ropes far too tight of course.

[Wussername]

3 hours ago, Vaughan said:

That wore a wholly long while ago, wunt it? At least I still have some hair!

That you do. A luvley hed a hair. Why the hell did you buy a wig with a hole in it?