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[Nemo]

The Confessional was a great column in one of the yachting mags some years ago where sailors confessed in public to misdemeanors that befall most of us at some time or other. May I suggest we confess on here the silly mistakes we have made with the smaller type of vessel, in order to confirm to one and all that none of us is infallible to gaffes?

I will start off by confessing to what happened today at my local pond when I attached the launching strops to my Mantua 'BRUMA' on it's stand and proceeded to the pond edge where I deposited the said vessel on the surface. I then set the yacht in motion and mentioned to my friend that under full power she seemed very underpowered for some reason and was going nowhere! The yacht then gave a large lurch and from the stern surfaced my display- stand which had stuck to the hull of the boat when I picked it up!
In my favour, may I say that the stand is a bit small, light, and not easily noticed.

Now it's your turn to ''fess up', please. 
Bob.

[Colin Bishop]

Back in the 70's a clubmate's little Krabbencutter kit became stranded in the middle of the water we were using. At the time I was running a Vic Smeed design Bardic Ferry on single channel (all I could afford in those days).  I offered to circle the derelict towing a length of line in order to pull it in to the bank. Despite the uncertain control with the primitive radio I managed to head out around his boat and steer for the shore. Of course I had only one speed - flat out. The line caught the drifting boat beautifully, pulled it over and sank it!

He was very good about it.....

Colin

[dougal99]

Driven all the way to the pond, circa 15 miles, and left the RX battery on the bench 

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

On to the lake ready to launch one of my early boats.

Radio on

Boat switched on.

No controls got through.  Boat dead in the water. I managed to pull it back in and tampered around.  All seemed lit up but dead to the controls.  It wasn't until I got back home that I saw the bind plug was still in the receiver.   

ken
 

[TheLongBuild]

When I was younger, Much younger and had given up on planes as they always seemed to hit the ground we started to take up boat modelling, I built my first boat " Bobby " as did a friend , we would take these sailing on the Bridgewater Canal using our 35mhz sets  ( I was a kid and the Futaba gold cost be an arm and a leg) and was not aware we were not supposed to   .. That is not the Confession..When we went sailing we would take the recovery system , a kite line with a spark plug attached. On the occasion I had to use it I chucked it I thought over my friends boat, not aware I was standing on the string, on the way out the spark plug reached the length of string and smacked straight through the 1/4 balsa hull of his Bobby, luckily above the waterline, on the plus side it stayed in the boat and I was able to bring it back to the side.   

[Nemo]

Just as I thought! Thanks lads. Keep them coming! 

[Starspider]

IN the late 1970s couple of guys at our full size boar t club were racing marble heads, so after a couple of goes decided I would have a go, built the yacht. My bother in law and myself took it to local park lake to try it sailed great after a battery change b I law was sailing her when she sailed herself under  and very serene she looked. So we stripped off but could not raise her, the eventual rescue required wet suits and tying a life jacket round. Back on sure we discovered that the foredeck had peeled back, moral not all 5minute glues are waterproof 


Colin

[Klunk]

Took 4 boats and 4 txs to the lake not so long ago.......3 spektrum 7 1 x dx6 One after the s7 came up the dreaded battery back up error. All 3 dead. The dx 6 refused to bind to anything! All in all an expensive morning sailing. P's all the dx7 failed on 9.8v to 10.4v, all well charged. The dx6 main board had failed. The dx6 was 6 months old and it was only the 4 time it had been used.
And before you ask 1 x dx 7 was set up left stick throttle ratchet  for sailing 2 x dx7 left throttle sprung loaded for power boats. I had been bench testing a boat the night before and could not be bothered to rebind it to the correct radio.

[dave301bounty]

Excellent article,,well done for starting what could be a very good way of saying what you could,nt ..

[SailorGreg]

Driven all the way to the pond, circa 15 miles, and left the RX battery on the bench 

No, sorry, it doesn't count if everyone's done it.  (Everyone HAS done it, right?  Or is it just dougal and me? )

Of course, there was the time when a maiden voyage came to a premature and stranded end because I hadn't bothered to tighten the locking nut on my lovely new shiny Prop Shop propeller.  Couldn't figure out why I could hear the motor running but all motion had ceased.   

Greg

[Nemo]

First test sail with my newly refurbished 1/96 USS Missouri on a gusty evening on the lake. All went fine for about 5 mins and was feeling very pleased at the performance in front of an expanding crowd of onlookers. I decided, a high-speed sharp turn to port in a small bay would impress my viewers and let her rip and right on the apex of the 'hard-a-port', a heavy gust hit her and she lurched a bit, at which I throttled down but not before a much stronger gust and a wave caught her. First one dip, then another and over she went! Fortunately, air trapped in the hull left her floating upside down, but my 2 new 6v SLA batteries went to the bottom. Then I saw my 3 deck hatches floating around and remembered I had not secured them in my haste to get afloat.   It was time for the dinghy!  Moral - always check hatch fastenings. 

[Klunk]

5ft hms hood. Maiden voyage.  Forgot to tighten the deck fasteners. Not a major problem......but I had forgotten to secure the 6v 4.5amp battery. First turn she stayed upright but was obviously  listing. Stopped her dead in the water and she done a lovely slow stern down swallow dive to the bottom of the lake.

[Klunk]

Or painting a lifeboat when I felt something warm on my thigh. Thinking I had knocked over the paint can I looked down. Hmmmmm I painting orange and my leg is red. Yep had picked up I scalpel blade with the boat and cut my fingers and hand to ribbons and nor realised. Moral always put blades on the handle or in the sharps bin!

[Nemo]

5ft hms hood. Maiden voyage.  Forgot to tighten the deck fasteners. Not a major problem......but I had forgotten to secure the 6v 4.5amp battery. First turn she stayed upright but was obviously  listing. Stopped her dead in the water and she done a lovely slow stern down swallow dive to the bottom of the lake.

Sounds like a perfect 'pooping' to me! (I know what's coming now! ) Welcome to the club Klunk.

[grendel]

dropped a scalpel, felt it brush my leg on the way down, and thought phew, just got away with that one, an hour later I found my sock soaked in blood, amazingly where it had hit my leg was barely a mark, just a trail of blood.
Grendel