By KARLBEGRICH —

»
¥v

Panic time- there’s
a hole in the boat

How many of you boaters have lost, at least
once during your happy boating career, complete
control of your vessel, your crew, your mind and
acted totally contrary to a normal nautical being?

Come on, up with your hand.

To make you feel better, I
shall try to describe a panic
strickencrew that I happened
to be part of during my
recent sail in the Bahamas.
Some of you might be able to
relate to it. I shall be as

-educational as possible, but

for understandable reasons I"
shall not name boat nor
skipper.

Six novice sailors crowded
the cockpit of the 40’ sloop, ©
while the skipper and his two
reliable crew members
prepared for an exciting day
sail.

We left the dock in proper
fashion. Skilled hands on the
engine throttle - bowline first
- bow pushed out - stern line
next. Within minutes all
lines were coiled and
‘stowed, and the vessel was
half way out of the harbour.

The charter guests were
impressed. These guys knew
what they were doing.

The ocean looked
peaceful. Hardly a ripple on
the water. It promised to be
another hot tropical day.

Crew and guests leaned back

and relaxed. One couple
pulled out a backgammon
set and settled on the for-
deck; the rest went below to
get a feel for their temporary
home, but mainly to check
on the booze and food

supply.

Something didn’t
right to me. I

look
can’t

remember whether it was the
skipper’s expression or the
markers ahead of us. Even’
though we were a couple of

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26’

1974 new engine
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"vas. & Weekends 922-5502
Dominion Yacht Sales

adivishon of .
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miles offshore, I knew about
the shallow water around us.
4

Catamarans and trimarans
don’t worry too much about
running aground with their
two to three foot draft, but
this boat dragged a five foot

keel along with it. Special-

markers indicate a hazar-
dous area, but they are miles
apart. I didn’t bother to have
a look at the chart, since the

‘owner and crew boasted

local knowledge.

The light sails pushed us at
a surprising five knots, even
though I could hardly feel a
breeze. My uneasy feéling
haunted me. What about
currents? These markers
looked awfully close!

‘I was just about to make a
smart remark to the skipper,
when a sudden jerk threw
me off balance. A grinding
noise from far below, a
desperate scream from the
cockpit — silence. ;

The boat was. hard
aground. Seconds later
panic broke loose among the
charter guests. Evérybody
tried to rush on deck at the
same time and pushed the
main hatch out of its frame
work. Their wide eyes, pale
faces stared at\the skipper
for immediate help. But he
had his hand clutched
around the helm and stared
with disbelief at the markers.
I just waited for him to say.
“Come on, this can't happen
to me.” The guests needed
assurance. Right now!

“Hey listen,

we ran

aground - no sweat - we'll be

.

Learn to Sail

ss.

in just 10 Easy
3 hour classes

North Shore
Sailing School Ltd.

1601 Grenville $t.,
- Vancouver =.
wader north ond of bridge - right off
Booch Ave. at Boater's Vilage
Tol. 649-0840

LARSON F.G. Runabout

hra,

with trailer *8475

' when

off in a couple of minutes.” I
mustn’t have sounded very
convincing, arid it certainly
didn’t help when someone
screamed. “Water, my God -
there is water in the boat.
We're sinking!!” The skipper
had finally. finished his
daydream - and rushed to
the _fordeck, where the
liferaft was secured.

I couldn’t believe it. He
pulled frantically on the
mount, while yelling at his
crew. “Get the lifejacket,
dammit.”

I pulled the skipper away
from the liferaft. “Let’s have

-a look down below first.

Come on!” and I. added -
almost whispered - “How
can we sink when we are
aground!” That must have
‘made sense to him. We
rushed below to -check the
water level. I couldn't un-
derstand why there would be
“a leak of such a size that it
filled the bilge in Jess than a
minute. ; ‘

You should have seen the
long face of the skipper
he ripped the
floorhatch open and stared
at a fairly dry bilge. A hardly.
noticeable stream -of water
ran down the huil and
collected in the hump -
that’s all. But nevertheless,
the well of this water had to

‘ be found. Guess what. When

I opened the door that lead
to the head, all I could say
was. “Ob no, I should have
known.”

How many times have I
discovered overflowing
heads. That must have been
my two hundred and fiftieth
case. The skipper had
forgotten his instruction
speech before departure and
one of the charter guests had
ignored the shut-off. valve
after flushing his personal
belongingsthrough the hull. ‘

. ion eae
24' 1979 Zeta Command Bridge
New beautiful finish full canvas.

*21,900

Set.
charter

*39,500

flaher, twin Creysier rigged for

three cylinder.

How do we get the boat
afloat? When we showed up
on deck to share the good
news with the rest of the <
gang, I couldn't believe what
I saw. The liferaft had ac-
tually been launched and the ~
last crew member was ready
to leap over the side. As
serious as the situation still
was I had to bite my lips not
to burst out laughing.

_ They had even managed
to pick up their belongings (I
never learned how and
when) and were clinging to
them for dear life.
“Everybody back on board!”
I don’t want to elaborate on
the following embarrasing
moment and on the words I
chose for the skipper for

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28' 1976 Century Spt. Fisher
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being a perfect example of
total incompetence. But we
all have our ‘moments’!

By the way, the boat freed
itself under engine power
and the liferaft was used as a-
playground during the wet
party the same evening at
the dock.

Sailing Lessons
Come out to sea with us .
in our 26’ Thunderbirds.

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Get your certificate from us.
Next course starts § P.M,
JUNES —

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SAILING SCHOOL (Est. 1065)
2540 Bellevue Ave.,
West Vancouver

926-2634

689-7371

28° 1979 Bayliner Bounty

Twin F.W.C. 470 Mercruisers.

asle price °41,900
wang : 2,

27°1976 Meteor
ltatan Motorsailer, new condition. diesel

Gun $37 00

28’ 1973 Fibretorm
Twin 1665 h.p. wall equipped, sale priced

*28,900

112° Farmie Charter Yacht 270,000 «= 40' Pacemaker Twin 74,500 94) Siverton, Loaded 30,600
108° Cuntom Stee! Yacht 278,000 38° North Sea Trawier, Loaded 60,600 2 Tolly Twin Maro 293 38,500
72° Twin Olosel Yacht 279,000 = 37" Alcan Houseboat, Twiny 4,800 25 Northwind 1072 : 32,600
61° Grentel-Bristol 209,000 37° Chie Connie CB 4,000 2% Carvey Marines, NEW 39,800
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60° Custom Guilt Commandar 229,009 94° Gull Trader Double Canin 69,000 27 Bayliner Victoria 24,900
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46° Gult Commander - Mint 178,000 20° Onman Express 12,000 24 fek-Buoy Express 12,000
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Free Moorage available to serious listings

Garth Rizzuto
Res: 921-7666

Tim Warner
Res: 987-3441

L

_ 1976 Double Eagle

- 20 ft. Hardtop.

Bow rail, power wiach, dval
wipers & batteries, forward cabin
hes V bunks, head, batch &
locking door. Depth sounder, CB
radio, 215 Watkashaw, fresh
water cooled with 280 Volvo cut

687-7086

684-2816
Dominion Yacht Sales
e division of
Domininn Vancouver Maters

Mercury
Outboards

Bd

iWare recurs |
| Sa a

>

~ODONNG
Ie oooan

=
3

IIIII

655.-
605.-
606,-
825.-
§26.-

. 075.-
20 . 005.-

20H.-P. L shaft ’
elec. used 2 hrs 695.-
1,190.-

2,390.,- i

UE

40 HP.
80 H.P
L shaft, elec.

RIVERSIDE |
MARINE

1341 Main St. North Van.
986-2822
Open Tues. - Sat, 9-5