October and Halloween are just over the horizon and we thought it might be fun and even educational to share our spookiest sailing and boating stories next month.
Surely you’ll never forget that scariest or most stressful moment on the water. Was it wind and waves, an unresponsive outboard, tidal currents, or maybe some other ghastly combination of circumstances that sent you into the spiral?
Share your story to terrify, entertain and maybe even educate. Please send your stories to josh@smallcraftadvisor.com in the simple format below and look for them to be published throughout the month of October. —Eds
Example:
Name: Josh Colvin
Where: San Francisco Bay near the Golden Gate Bridge
What kind of boat: We were in our old Fantasie 19 bilge-keeler
What happened: Many years ago we did a several-day cruise in the SF Bay. Conditions were fair so we’d planned to sail out under the Golden Gate—just to poke our nose out into the Pacific—then quickly return and head for harbor.
Conditions deteriorated as we approached the bridge so we decided to bail out. But as we came about we were rounded up hard and turned back out to seas on the strong ebb. Each time we attempted to retreat we were spun around and sent back toward the towering bridge.
Eventually I decided to go to the trusty outboard so we could motor out of trouble, but in all of the bouncing the outboard failed to respond to my increasingly angry pulls.
I puzzled nervously over what to do next before deciding maybe we were over-canvassed. I made the decision to go forward and reduce sail—handing the helm to Anika who was, not surprisingly, a little reluctant. As I furiously rolled the furling mainsail we crashed along under the giant concrete bridge supports near the rocky shore, in and out of the shadows, with the sounds of traffic roaring overhead.
Once we’d cleared the bridge and hit the mouth of the Pacific I said a little prayer and attempted to tack once more. Mercifully we were able to hold our course and very slowly make progress against the increasing ebb. Eventually we managed to crawl our way into gusty Richardson Bay and reach the marina. We slept well that night.
Lessons Learned: Anticipate conditions deteriorating and plan accordingly. Pay attention to tidal currents. •SCA•
We’ve turned off the comments below this article to encourage you to send us your stories so we can share them as part of the feature next month. Hope to hear from you! —Eds