this would never happen to YOU, right? 8)

[KnotMe]

a poorly tied knot fails and wackiness ensues.  the authorities get involved...

http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=34733&rid=11

[drjbrennan]

I'm not a sailor, but I hope if I was going aboard I would make sure of my seamans knots.

[Takler]

Absolutely right

[squarerigger]

Maybe there is more to the story - the boys were in a B & B, so why did they not stay aboard the vessel?  Was it a day-sailor or a cruising vessel?  If it was a day-sailor, why did they not have a view of the vessel?  If it was a cruiser, why had the knot slipped and why were they not aboard when this happened?  Were they trying to collect the insurance?     Why was the throttle on the outboard left wide open??  Was there any fuel left in the tank?  I also do not understand about the tides - if the vessel had been left on a mooring, would it not have swung with the tide, ebbing or flowing and, if so, why was the vessel not grounded at low tide?     There is more to this story, I feel sure!!

SR

[DerekSmith]

So they left the vessel with the outboard down and the throttle full open and went to a B & B ?

Faulty knot or no knot, who would do that?

I'm with SR here --  there has to be more to this than just a bit of bad knotmanship.

Derek

[turks head 54]

I agree with squarerigger. Why would the throttle be wide open? If it had been wide open they would have rammed something. Also why in the world would they be in a B&B if they had a ship to sleep on?? But then I could see them getting a little tired of a ships bunks.
   

turks head 54

This would NEVER happen to me! I'd check my mooring lines.

[squarerigger]

I've written to SailWorld.com to ask for follow-up information - I'll let you know how it turns out!   

SR

[Dan_Lehman]

The article said only "throttle open":  why add "full" & "wide" to this, and then express bewilderment?

 

[squarerigger]

You are right Dan.  Yes, the article said "...throttle open..." and not "full" or "wide" as I said - I misquoted - mea culpa.    

Nevertheless, why would one leave an outboard motor down where it can get fouled and corroded and why leave the throttle open after mooring the vessel?  Is that not bewildering?  It certainly smacks of poor seamanship to me.  If the throttle was open prior to mooring it, why would you not then throttle it down after mooring had been completed and raise the engine up, particularly if you went off to spend the night at a B & B?  Is that not bewildering?  It is to me.  Lastly, why would you depart from a vessel after mooring it (of course, we do not know for certain that they moored it, do we?) if you had not made it secure, checking your knots or your spliced connection?  Is that not bewildering?  It is to me.

We will perhaps be able to get more information from the magazine (although I doubt they will have any follow-up) but in the meantime it is bewilderment that had started the conversation on my part and I remain just as bewildered now as I was before.  I do not comprehend why a sailor would do things like these that are bewildering to a (reasonably) competent sailor.  Those are the reasons that I expressed bewilderment.  Does that explain why I express bewilderment?  I hope so.   

SR

[Dan_Lehman]

Those are the reasons that I expressed bewilderment.

A better reason would be the article in general:  it leaps from "owners" to "boys" in a B&B,
which to my mind at first sounds like children of some owners, but apparently is
the all of it.  And there's damn little reporting going on, seemingly they just fancied making
a joke.   Because all of the points raised above need raising w/an answer, and none of
that got done in the few blurbs.  What happened to those fundamental journalist questions?

I'm fresh from being involved re knots in a morbid matter (that might have reached your
attention, Lindsey, though "east coast, preferably" was in the request forwarded from UK->NAB),
and it's been eye-opening as to how different a picture of events gets painted by various
news reports!!  (Not surprisingly, a rather good accounting comes from the Wall Street
Journal--in part of the 4th Estate we are now fearful of losing to Mr. Murdoch's lesser standards.)

AND I have before me an article in Chesapeake Bay magazine ("Boating at its best")
in which six basic knots are presented, and yet step-1 of the Cleat hitch is botched--the line
is brought in to the near end of the cleat!!  One would hope that boaters and those working
magazines for boaters (would themselves mostly be ...) would recognize at least this
mistake, but, no, there it is.  (Unfortunately, I found these few old issues (2003?) and don't
have the immediate successors to see what letter to the editor might have said!)

--dl*
====