bertram31.com

The bad news is that on the way back from Watch Hill, RI on Saturday pm, in the dark, I nailed the Stonington Point nav mark, which is a jr version of a red nun. Its made of metal, is painted green and red, and I didn't see it at all. The brand new paint job has its first scratch and then some.

The good news is that I think had I hit that bouy like I did in any other boat, I would have been swimming. We were doing a solid 23 knots, as I thought I had cleared the channel. It was not a direct hit on the bow but a glancing blow off the side, but still enough to take out 9 plus inches of chine.

Alchemy went to Block Island on Sunday, if that tells you how bad the damage truly was.

So another couple weeks more, and she'll head up to Skip's in Newport and he will fix her good as new. She's insured, so we have that going for us. And she's a Bertram 31, a frickin' brick of a boat. As he put it on Sunday, just a hangnail.

Hangnails hurt though and my pride is bruised.

Such is life, it does happen.

Enjoy the day and watch out at night!

Dug

Never go faster than you can see.

I see a FLIR in your future.

Mike,

I see a FLIR this winter, no doubt. I spend more time running at night than I want to. I think it prudent.

Dug-
I'm sorry to hear of your incident.
I mugged a red jr. nun - But it was daytime - going 4 knots - immediately inside Ft. Adams - on a rented sailboat. It turns out you can compound that red paint off manually while trading water alongside the boat at its mooring. I thought this was best done in the dark.... so I'll paraphrase UV and say, "buff at night".
Murdered my pride time and time again don't much mention the bruises anymore.
Enjoy!
Stephan

Dug,
You have to train that dog to spot channel markers in the dark, a FLIR set up or get some new glasses. Glad nobody got hurt, just your pride.
Pete Fallon

Dug:

23 knots? Nobody got hurt? That is a side swipe. Shake it off and off we go! ;)

Those are nothing but good news. You've learned and nobody got hurt.

David

Dug...

We all have done similar things. Three weeks ago I was leaving the channel that leads from our basin to the ICW, and sideswiped a piling marking the edge of tha channel. The worst part was that I had 11 other people on board. A few seconds lapse in attention and boom. Talk about being embarassed.

If you think you had a problem, consider what a good friend did.

He had built his own 28' trimaran, and he and his new wife were going to start their honeymoon by sailing it about 20 miles to another town where they had a room reserved. They departed his slip and were waving goodbye to about two dozen friends who had come to see them off. Not paying attention he drifted to the edge of the channel and promptly ran into a lighted buoy. The problem was that he hit it so the buoy became wedged between one of the outer hulls and the main hull. They were firmly stuck. Luckily he had a piece of 2x4 lumber that he used to pry them off. He should have taken this as a warning.. they divorced two years later!

Dug,

Sorry to hear sounds like made out ok minus a couple bruises. I was on a friends SeaSport a number of years ago, one of the west coast boats with a pilot house, we put a hole the size of a soccer ball in the hull when we hit a buoy. Right at the water line. Up on plane it was out of the water but at idle it was submerged. Pretty scary situation that we laugh about now.

Pete