Sailing Adventure

[Sea Hunt Video]

"You know about shrinkage, right?"

LOL

This is why, even in the relatively "bath water warm" waters of South Florida, when waters temps are at or below 75 degrees I wear a drysuit with "woolies". Toasty warm & no "shrinkage".

[Zeida]

Took me a little while, but I finally "got it" about shrinkage! At first I wondered if it would be the shaft that shrunk... and then...
no wonder Sea Hunt wears "woolies". Am I out of order here?

[Matt Cawthorne]

I have owned my boat for 18 years and been lucky enough to never have caught a line in my prop. On my way to Cape Breton, NS this summer the wind went light so we started the motor and an hour or so later there was a great vibration and slowing of the engine. I put the engine in neutral and then reverse for a second. No luck, still lots of vibration. My first solution was to shut off the engine and check out the engine compartment. With the engine in neutral I turned the prop shaft by hand and could feel some sort of uneven operation. What a bummer. The water was calm enough for a dive, but it was very cold. So cold that I could not breathe. The boys snuggled in close that afternoon. Luckily a crew member had rigged a line from stanchion to stanchion that draped about 2.5 feet above the water. I hauled myself out of the water long enough to breathe and then was able to dive and remove a wad of about 30 feet of 3/4 poly line off of the prop. Luckily it was reasonably easy to get free since, unlike a sheet, there was no tightening action.

One note of caution. I dove on the prop a few years ago to scrape barnacles. While I was coming back up for air a wake happened along and sent the boat pitching up and down a bit. Even with a minor amount of motion the boat clobbered me in the head hard enough that I was seeing stars and living with a nasty headache for quite a while. I would NEVER recommend diving to clear the prop in any kind of wave action. It is just too dangerous.

Matt

[Bob Ohler]

I figured some of you may remember this one from the old Seinfeld show.

Have a great day!

rbo

[Frank Vernet]

Zeida,

You would have to cross a really distant, perhaps even nonexistent, line for us to bang a gavel and proclaim you "out of line"

[Sea Hunt Video]

Am I out of order here?

Although Frank V. started this thread, I must respectfully disagree with his conclusion that "Ms. Zeida" did not cross the line nor was "out of order".

Zeida was (and is ) way out of order.

On a more somber note, and as Zeida can confirm, it has been raining non-stop 24/7 for the past 6 days in South Florida. My pool is flooded, the lawn is saturated, I cannot do my daily walk/run, etc. Sitting in a chair drinking Guinness is not the way I envisioned my October 2011 .

Frank, I admire your candor at describing your events with a jib sheet wrapped around your prop. During my caretaker status with S/V Tadpole I had many (numerous ) "events" that I was frankly embarrassed to share with this board. One involved a mis-routed jib sheet, a lee shore, a recalcitrant O/B with a clogged fuel jet and a lot of sailboats on public (not club) moorings. It took me about an hour to sort things out. For me, I quickly learned Rule No. 1 - drop an anchor and get stable.

Matt, although probably rarely necessary for "sailors like us", there are helmets made for cave divers that help to prevent injuries and provide a place to mount lights so you can see what you are looking at/working on.

http://www.quietdiver.com/18/my-cave-di ... elmet.html

[Frank Vernet]

Although Frank V. started this thread, I must respectfully disagree with his conclusion that "Ms. Zeida" did not cross the line nor was "out of order".

Perhaps, and to not single out a much beloved Board member, I should clarify and broaden my assertion. How about this:

It is very nearly impossible to cross the "Am I out of bounds?" line or "am I out of order?" where sailors are concerned.

Am I wrong here?

[drb9]

I haven't fouled my prop yet, but I would imagine I could lift the outboard out of the well and unwind things. Avoiding shrinkage.

[Neil Gordon]

Took me a little while, but I finally "got it" about shrinkage ... Am I out of order here?

On the Cape Dory message board, size does not matter.