One night we came out of Hell Gate at the top of the East River and I
naturally crossed so as to go down the river hugging the shore of Manhattan
(i.e., I always get off to the right of the lane, even if I don¹t see any
traffic). I no sooner got established in that position than I looked
backand upat the big, black bow of a freighter that had started down the
river just as I crossed in front of her. She sounded the horn, but it
wouldn¹t have been the reason I got out of the wayor not. Note that she had
just started out going down the river, with a good current flowing, and
therefore could not have had much rudder yet. Painted black, we never saw
her until she was just yards away.
--Dave S. (Demitri)
On 6/24/08 4:06 PM, "Philip J Agur" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Why not California is on fire anyway and we¹ve been asked to curtail outdoor
> activities.
>
> We were sailing down river from Portland on the second day of a C22 National
> Cruise in early nineties late in a June afternoon. The first night we spent
> back inside Martin Island at 45°56¹43.40² 122°47¹31.61²W. It¹s a great place
> to tuck in. Our second night was to be at Cathlamet.
>
> While along side Gull Island (46°11¹09.80²N 123°09¹04.05²W) on a northerly
> tact I noticed some sag in the luff. Being alone on deck I brought her head to
> wind (about due west) grabbed a winch handle and went to work. After a couple
> of cranks I glanced up to see my results and found the bow of a dark gray
> Toyota car transporter coming out a long afternoon shadow against the cliff.
> Moments before the entire ship had been invisible in the late afternoon
> shadows. About then I was dead in the water and he was head on a football
> field away.
>
> Stream of expletives deleted about sail power, I threw myself at the transom
> lowered the motor bracket, lowered the motor, pump pump, choke, pull (one pull
> only), smacked her into gear, and grabbed full throttle while taking her hard
> over to head south.
>
> Only then did they sound a horn. When I looked up again I could see 4 or 5
> orange suited seaman running to the bow as they crossed my stern. I don¹t know
> if they weren¹t standing a proper watch or if they had projected I¹d be clear
> right up to the point where I luffed right on their nose.
>
> The moral is the aux better work when you need it. Another that I developed
> later is even when you are casually sailing you should be navigating well
> enough to know if you are in or out of the shipping lanes and act accordingly
> with respect to watches.
>
> The later is more of a 5 blast on SF Bay thing, seeing that the shipping lanes
> bend 20-30 degrees under the gate you have to know if that incoming container
> ship doing 30 knots is about to turn and bear down on you. It¹s humorous to
> watch how many times the boat about to be in trouble is completely oblivious
> the horns are for him. Because of the relatively narrow lanes, swift tides,
> and classic high winds the shipping traffic cannot veer or even slow without
> disaster until they are almost under the Bay Bridge.
>
> Phil Agur s/v Wing Tip
> <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm>
> Secretary, Call Sign WCW3485
> IC27/270A MMSI 366901790
> www.catalina27.org <http://www.catalina27.org> Vessel Doc# 1039809
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of tim ford
> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:58 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Main halyard-OT-OT-OT
>
> >>And of course my infamous close call on the Columbia River
>
> I dont suppose there's any chance of you refreshing our memories on
> that? I'm trapped at
> a desk and could use a good yarn about now...
>
> tf
>
>
