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Always carry tools when sailing


Drew

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Here is a small contribution to the boating and cruising yarns.

I grew up in a small coastal town (now a tourist mecca) called Caloundra, north of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. My father owned and operated two coastal cargo vessels, so we pretty much grew up on and in the water. Us kids had a 12 foot gaff rigged dinghy that we learned to sail in and had many adventures sailing the local waterway called the Pumicestone Passage.

During one summer school break our dad decided to take us for a camping trip about 15 miles south along the passage. The dinghy had a dagger board and a fixed (not hinged) rudder. At one point we were tearing along on a broad reach when we suddenly saw shallow water ahead. One of us got the centreboard up just in time but soon after the rudder hit bottom, just as dad was trying to go about without taking my head off with the boom and without a centreboard.

The dinghy hit bottom and jibed with such force that the wooden boom crutch snapped at the same instant as the pintles pulled most of the way out of the transom. It was on for young and old at that moment!

We managed not to capsize, so out came the oars and we headed for a likely looking camping spot on Bribie Island (go to Google maps).

Bribe Island is mangrove and mosquito infested, think Florida, but in the old days people ran cattle and horses on the island, so we headed bush looking for an old fence. You see, my dad was the sort of guy who went nowhere on a trip without a knife, a pair of pliers, and a couple of screwdrivers.

When we finally found the remains of an old fence we snipped off a couple of feet of otherwise useless wire and then I watched my father do magic.

First, he cut a piece of wire in the shape of an old fashioned brace and bit. Then using the pliers he hammered the end against a rock until it was flattened and then cut a point. With this he drilled holes through the broken boom crutch and wired it to the mast.

Next he cut some sticks to size and plugged the holes that the pintle screws had been in. Fortunately they had not come fully out, so we still had screws and pintles. He then drilled pilot holes in the wooden plugs and drove the screws back in place.

After a night sleeping around a campfire burning old cow dung to keep the mozzies away we packed up and sailed home with a lovely breeze which by now had swung around to the south east.

So lesson learned, go nowhere without the basic tools, and be prepared to adapt what is on hand.

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