Letters
“A New Boat - A New Lesson Learned”
I had just bought another sailboat after a 10 year absence
from sailing, a Gulf 32 pilothouse with almost all the goodies, radar, chart plotter, forced air furnace, autopilot, etc. However on a Sunday afternoon, after I spent a day scrubbing and cleaning the exterior, I was sitting in the cockpit, beer in hand, and noticed there were no gauges at the engine “panel” in the cockpit, only idiot lights and a buzzer for low oil pressure and high water temperature. I opened the huge portside cockpit locker and looked at the space behind the panel. Hey, perhaps I can add some gauges of my own. I climbed into the locker to see what the layout could be on the back of the panel. After a few moments WHAM! The locker lid caught a gust of wind and fell closed. I tried to push the lid up but no luck. I immediately realized the hasp had connected into place and I was trapped inside in the darkness. I managed to wedge up the opposite corner with a bilge
pump handle to get a little air, daylight and the opportunity to yell, “Help! Help! Help!” After a few minutes I thought carefully of my situation; late Sunday afternoon, other boaters gone home, no other recent activity on my dock, night-time marina security patrol still many hours away, and now one too many beers in my bladder. To break open the locker lid seemed to be difficult, if not impossible, it was well built and strong. The headline prospects were not appealing – “Man Breaks Out Of Own Boat.” “Help! Help! Help!” I took time to tidy the locker, coil
some mooring lines, tidy up the second anchor and rode, studied the electrical panel some more. Damn, my cell phone was on the salon table, and I
was going to be late for the dinner invitation with friends. “Help! Help! Help!” The prospect of spending the night or longer in the locker was looming, and it would be chilly. Even if I did find the ability to break open the locker, could I claim the repairs on insurance – no, that would be too embarrassing. “Help! Help! Help!” I kept yelling every few minutes, feeling more and more stupid. After an hour and a half I heard a voice calling out, “Where are you?” “Inside the port locker,” I replied. I was let out in a
moment and gratefully thanked my rescuer. “I’ve done the same thing,” he replied, which I found hard to believe. The next day my first task was to turn the hasp upside
down so it could not fall in a locked position ever again. I was fortunate that time, and with minor embarrassment and a good laugh, I have had no qualms telling my fellow boating friends just to make sure it doesn’t happen to them. Fasten the lid, change the hasp, whatever it takes.
Roger Huyghe
S/V Twilight
Swantown Marina
marina@portolympia.com
Swantown Boatworks
boatworks@portolympia.com Radio: VHF Ch-65A
www.portolympia.com
48° NORTH, APRIL 2010 PAGE 11
It’s Time for a Watermaker
THE SYSTEM
Watermakers
THE SOLUTION
Spectra Newport 400 Mk II
THE SPECIFICS
• Low power consumption • Ultra Quiet
• One-touch operation • Worldwide Service • Automatic 5-day flush
info@emharbor.com www.emharbor.com
The Port of Olympia Invites You
to Swantown
• On Olympia’s East Bay
• Full-service marina & boatyard
• Near Farmers Market & downtown
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