*Send us your boating experience story and if it’s published you’ll receive the original Dick Everitt-signed
watercolour which is printed with the article. You’ll fi nd PBO’s contact details on page 5.increased to a crescendo when I felt a
violent thump, heard a crunch and a crack
and felt a sharp lurch as the boat hit us,
almost knocking me off my seat. I shot up
the companionway steps to see a workboat
motoring away, speed unchecked, with the
man in the wheelhouse calling back to us
that he would sort it.
It was a fusion of comedies – Captain
Mainwaring appearing on deck, fl ushed,
spectacles and cap askew, spluttering,
spitting feathers and shouting words
such as ‘Stupid boy!’ as Basil Fawlty’s
favourite builder motored away from
him. And yes, he really did say ‘A lick
of paint and it’ll be fi ne.’
I met the skipper at the slipway. His
steering had failed, but he had motored
down the fairway at his usual brisk pace
under jury steering, all but blind. The
with Dublin but could do
little to assist otherwise.
With sobriety in mind I
went to the Garda, who
weren’t much help either:
so, having had little joy,
I rang an Irish friend of
mine at home. He made
a few calls of his own
and rang me back
recommending I call the
Marine Survey Offi ce in
Dublin as they control
licensing of all Irish
commercial vessels.
I did so, and they sent
an inspector the day
after we left, but I don’t
know the outcome.
Finally I sat down,
spoke to my insurance
company and made
some contemporaneous
notes. It had been a
busy afternoon.Fit to sail home
The boat had received a
sizeable thwack, but the
damage was not as great
as we initially feared –
damage to several areas
on our topsides, a bent
stanchion and a strained
guardwire. We were
relieved when a local
surveyor, Fergus O’Kelly,
checked over the boat
and pronounced us fi t
to sail home.
We were enjoying our
sail to Holyhead when
the southerly wind
increased and brought in
rain. We put in two reefs
and sailed on without
any further problems
until close in to North
Stack, where we were
well beaten up by
strong down-gusts from
Holyhead Mountain –
but that’s normal for
North Stack. The next day we sailed
an hour-and-a-half before low water
Holyhead for Carmel Head and had a
straightforward passage back to Conwy
in the sunshine.
It was a short but action-packed cruise,
we have since made good the damage and
been reimbursed. Before the collision I was
unimpressed with the stumpy emergency
tiller Jeanneau had provided; it was cheap,
poorly galvanised and delivered minimal
leverage so it was almost useless. Does that
sound at all familiar? Using some basic
physics I’ve since re-engineered the tiller
to produce something that is compact,
light, usable and effective. But that’s
another story.Send us
your real-life
experience- and win a
painting of
your boat!*
skipper, rather short of limb, was straining
on tiptoe to see ahead through the bridge
window and the taller crew had his head
down, managing the jury rudder on the
skipper’s instructions, and couldn’t see
past the bridge either. Meeting his mate in
a narrow fairway he had not slowed down,
but veered off to starboard and rammed us
on our hammerhead mooring. I came on
board and verifi ed that their wheel was
out of action before testing the jury
steering, which was next to useless – a
short lever with 30° of play in either
direction before anything happened.
The marina staff saw the incident and
directed me to the harbour master, who
took the details to register a vessel contactA short cruise to Ireland