Chain of events
*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 find PBO’s contact details on page 5.coax it back to life: we were in danger of
colliding with the ferry within seconds.
I quickly cut the anchor’s retaining tie and
booted it off the front, followed by 30m of
chain and 15m of warp, and said a little
prayer. The samson post creaked, the boat
lurched round and thankfully stopped,
approximately 25m from the ferry. The
engine, rested and refuelled, now restarted
and was barely a match for the water
sucking against us, but we only needed to
glide sideways a few metres to clear the ferry
and be carried into the waiting harbour.
I succeeded in sweating the boat forwards,
having the hawser and about 10m of chain
aboard, using the engine at full throttle and
a hastily-rigged pulley system to give
purchase. However, now the system was
pulling the bow down into our own pillow
wave rather than raising the anchor!
I then tried contacting the ferry crew, who
didn’t seem to know how close we were: if
they moved off, that would remove the
immediate threat. I pushed the transmit
button – and watched the battery life drain
out in an instant. As soon as the button
went down, the ship went dark. I passed out
the big torch to light us up, but this also died
instantly: fortunately, I had spare torches.
Guess what happened to the handheld’s new
batteries, after it had somehow switched on
in the grab bag? Again, luckily, I had spares.
LESSONS LEARNED
1
Don’t ignore your gut feelings: the
outboard plate bothered me, as did the
battery indicator, as did the decision to
push on beyond Christchurch.2
On a single battery system with no
easy power generation, it is essential
to know how much power you have
in reserve.3
Accept that the cheapest solution
exposes you to additional risks.
After this I replaced the searchlight,
battery charger (for the generator),
the solar regulator, the handheld VHF
(swapped for one which charges onits mount) and the outboard bracket.4
Having the anchor easy to deploy
can save your skin.5
Had the crew been properly trained on
Mayday procedure etc they could have
put the call out much more quickly.6
Having the handheld radio, spare
batteries and spare torches to hand in
the grab bag was a great help.7
Don’t push your luck to breaking point:
I learned a lot about appreciating a
good passage rather than the longest one.I couldn’t raise the ferry, but the coastguard
heard my calls and enquired about our
situation. Within a couple of minutes a RIB
came alongside, and we were handed a line
to attach to our prepared bridle: the RIB
pulled us slowly away from the ferry. After
several attempts to free the anchor the
bolt croppers were brought out, and my
penance to Neptune was to lose a brand-
new anchor and 20m of chain.Go-ey the engine had done us proud, but
it was too much for the bracket, which gave
way when the crew tried to raise the engine
and was held on by the supplemental lines
we had added. Our rescuer kindly took us
all the way into the marina, and after a
debrief with the coastguard officer we
staggered off for a stiff drink and spent
a couple of days upgrading the various
bits which had failed us.