UNDERWAYjune/july 2016cruisingworld.com20
Women UnderwayRegistration for the
National Women’s
Sailing Conference in
Marblehead, Mas-
sachusetts, is open.
The event takes place
Saturday, June 4 and
includes on-the-water
and shoreside work-
shops in sail repair,
racecourse strategies,
diesel- engine mainte-
nance and more. Find
details and photos
from last year’s event
at cruising world .com/
1606women.Summer SailsticeKick off the summer
right by spreading
your love of sailing!
Summer Sailstice is
the annual celebra-
tion of sail that takes
place the weekend
closest to the summer
solstice. This year
the event is held June
18 and 19. When you
register (for free!) on
the website (summer-
sailstice.com) and de-
clare your participa-
tion in the event, you
will be registered to
win one of hundreds
of prizes, including
a one-week charter
from Sunsail.
As a participant, you
can create an event,
join an event near you,
or simply participate
with your own individ-
ual sailing plans.
Sailors worldwide
are challenged to hoist
their sails, making sure
their slice of sailing is
available for everyone
to see. Learn more at
summersailstice.com.T
he small but fi ercely
proud Isle of Man lies off
the west coast of Britain
in the Irish Sea. My partner,
Larry, and I had made our way
there after a brief stop in Dublin.
A miserable weather forecast
convinced us that it would be
best if we tied up Traversay III,
our Waterline 43, in the innerharbor in the middle of Douglas,
the island’s main town. The inner
harbor can be accessed only at
high tide, and a sill is raised up to
keep the water from fl owing out
during low tide. A traffi c bridge
over the sill is raised to allow
boats to pass during high tide.
We wedged ourselves into the
only available spot, right next tothe bridge abutment. A few days
went by very pleasantly, with
some nice meals ashore and stops
to see the castle, the Morgan
car rally and other local sights.
When the time came to leave,
Larry planned to spring the bow
out and use the infl ow of water
just before the high tide to turn
our bow off the bridge and send
us farther into the harbor. We
could then circle inside the har-
bor while the bridge opened and
approach it at 90 degrees.
Unfortunately, we didn’t realize
that there had been a lot of rain-
fall previous to our arrival. The
fl ow of the overburdened river
into the harbor more than off -
set the infl ow of the high tide.
I nstead of turning out, the bow
resisted all eff orts to maneuver
away from the bridge. Our steel
boat proceeded toward the sta-
tionary boats on the other side,
and we were in danger of rammingthem. The bridge operator saw us
moving and opened the bridge,
perhaps thinking that we’d go
through sideways. This didn’t
help, as the length of our boat is
longer than the bridge opening
was wide. We now had the un-
enviable choice of ramming the
other boats or hitting the bridge.
Larry decided that making a
controlled “fl ight” into the bridge
would do the least damage.
So that is what he managed to
do. As the port bow sat against
the bridge abutment, the cur-
rent pivoted the stern around to
point to seaward. The damage
amounted to a little missing paint
and a permanent scratch on our
metal toerail. With a full load of
car passengers watching us, we
made an inglorious exit — back-
ward — under the bridge. As we
turned around to depart, the
harbor master had the temerity
to radio us and ask, “Have you
damaged my bridge?”
— Mary Anne UnrauOUR UNFORTUNATE
ENCOUNTER WITH A
BRIDGE
Traversay III (top) tied up just inside the inner harbor in Doug-
las, Isle of Man. A sill is raised to keep the water from fl owing out
of the inner harbor during low tide (above).We now had the
unenviable choice of
ramming the other
boats or hitting the
bridge.MARY ANNE UNRAU