I hate being angry with myself - goodbye anchor

[magnawake]

Last month I replaced the 250 of 3/8 chain on the boat I run. So after loading the new chain in the locker I removed the end shackle from the old one, get distracted by a phone call, and attach the new chain to the 6' line tied to the bottoms of the locker.

Then I decide to run the chain thru to make sure there are no kinks.

Yes you guessed it... End of the chain runs out of the hawsepipe thru the windlass and in the drink! I had reattached the line to the old chain! Glad i did a test in the slip!

It was only 12' deep but I saw a diver across the fairway so I asked him if I could just swim across and pick the end for me. He said "no problem that will be $150". When I asked if he was joking he brings it down to $100. I thanked him, got my snorkeling gear and fetched my own chain... $100 for 2 minutes? I don't think so!

Dang Pascal !! Guess I should feel gratefull. We have a diver that cleans most of the hulls here in Southport (Deep Point). Heck if he's already here, he will gladly swim over and recover something easy for free. If he has to spend a great deal of time looking and looking, he'll charge a small fee, but usually he'll check your prop or running gear at no charge. Thats the difference between someone out to make a buck and someone who just likes his job. I should say he stays booked up too. I guess we are lucky to have him.

[madhatter1]

I have found over time that the more the value of what hits the water the more distict the "bloop" sound will be. No real good stories here, just the normal phones, pagers, & fill caps.

Edit: I do have a good one. Just before we left for the Keys on our first trip ever I pulled the plugs on the dink to let the water out. dropped 1 and it made a very distincive "Bloop". With no time to replace my diver actually found it. $50 well spent.

[Pascal]

Pete

Most divers do that here too... I ve had guys that were working on a nearby boat clear a line or something, it's always "don't worry about it". They know they'll get a couple of twenties plus some business in the future

[RT46]

Im usually good for dropping one or two cell phones from my shirt pocket when bending over on the boat, it always seem to bounce once on the deck or dock before splashing into the water.

I now only wear shirts that have button pockets.

The button didnt help last winter when i slipped in the water. (that is a whole different story)

[dcate]

I can attest to the fact that those adjustable, aluminum, long-poled brush handles they sell at West Marine to wash your boat with sink really fast....even with the wooden brush attached.

[Passages]

My worse "ker-plunk, spash" was years ago when I went fishing in Long Island Sound. I just bought a nice new rod with a fine Penn Reel. The rod was in a holder on the gunnel. Just below the rod holder was a hinged storage cover.

Get to the fishing hole, open the cover which caught the rod just right and launched my new rig over the side into the deep. I see it happen in slow motion and just sat my butt down on the cockpit deck and shook my head in disbelief.

[jim rosenthal]

Let's see... nice Ray Ban sunglasses- gone........... TMobile cell phone- gone.......small Fortress anchor- still in Eastern Bay attached to a snapped anchor rode (I had a diver friend search for that one as I hit the MOB button as soon as it happened, but he never found it). ChannelLock Hatteras screwdriver- gone.............

And that's just the stuff I remember.

I think MikeP gets the prize here. I remember when the radar went overboard, but I wasn't there to see it. That does pretty much bear the bell away, I would say. It's hard to top that.

I do remember that when my cell phone went overboard, out of my shirt pocket, the first thing we did was dial it from my girlfriend's phone to see if we could hear it ring down there- it was only about four feet of water. Guess what? We couldn't.

[Avenger]

So far I've been lucky rather than good.

Dropped my sunglasses at the dock once. I could see them but couldn't get them in a net so I ended up taking a quick and cold swim in October to get them back. Lucky.

One memorable oops was while underway trying to remove the lens from the dome light above the helm that was full of water and dripping on me. One of the tiny screws went bouncing off the bridge and as I watched it ricochet off the eyebrow I just automatically asssued it was going overboard but then it ended up on the foredeck stopped by the toe rail. Lucky.

I haven't lost an anchor (yet) but I did manage to pretzel one fairly well once. I always get a chuckle out of the picture:



Sort of lucky.

A friend who's a diver walked into the shop one day and handed me a new gaff that he found on a wreck. Lucky for me.

And there was that poor guy in the Sea-Ray at an airshow whose anchor ended up in the shallows when the tide went out and he had to leave. He was trying to pull it out with power when I finally suggested he try an alternate approach before he hurt someone. He ended up cutting the anchor off and had no sooner gone when one of the guys I was rafted with swam out and got a free anchor. Lucky for him.

So thanks everybody who's dropping free stuff overboard.

[lumina]

Hi All,

I can attest to the fact that Bimini panels sink really fast....Searay next to us dropped both side curtains overboard on a windy day......they flew quite far really before sinking like a rock.

[q240z]

Speaking of items going overboard defying the laws of physics, I had a heck of a time removing a cleat from my Connie. I suspect somebody used 5200 to bed it. With the bolts out, I tried reefing on a securely fastened spring line in all different directions--from straight up to completely sideways--and she wouldn't budge. It wasn't until I removed the spring line and inadvertently tapped it with my bare foot while sitting down that it sprang free and went chasing Neptune.

Ditto for a Danforth anchor in a roller pulpit. It was nestled in its home, lying completely slack along the pulpit. All I did was remove the shackle and WHOOSH..kersplash!

The thing is, there's that brief moment after these things take flight when time stands still and they defy gravity JUST LONG ENOUGH to make you think you could lunge and save them from the deep. Don't be fooled. That's just mermaid magic trying to lure us into the deep. But don't ask how I know that...