LadyInBed
regular
Reged: 02/09/2001
Posts: 3829
Loc: Zumerzet
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Not a breath of wind, so motoring back from St PP to Poole the prop was fouled by a large heavy duty plastic bag.
Had to don wetsuit and snorkeling gear and go under to clear it.
I am also a diver so it was no problem. What do others do if they are not equipped for DIY?
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Beating is sailing for twice the distance at half the speed and three times the discomfort.
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Robih
regular
Reged: 29/11/2002
Posts: 1258
Loc: Hampshire
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we had to wait for the sea breeze to sail inshore and then get the dive team out - doing DIY diving this coming winter!
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emnick
regular
Reged: 30/09/2003
Posts: 176
Loc: Essex
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We pick up about 30 meters of poly prop fishing net. We were about 35 miles out from Nab twr. 04:45 no wind & poor vis. took just over 4 hours to clear, I had gogles and a syphon tube which improvised as a snokle. A bread knife was used. At one point I was trying to ask the crew member to do something but could not get words out. I was working from dingy half submerged. If going across again I will carry a wet/dry suit. Not Fun!!
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MarkJohnson12345
regular
Reged: 23/12/2004
Posts: 715
Loc: Wales UK
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Sounds horrendous. We rely on a prop cutter which certainly works a couple of times a year. Have never seen whats its cutting though.
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Mark Johnson
www.markjohnsonafloat.org.uk
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alandee
regular
Reged: 23/05/2006
Posts: 247
Loc: Home: Dorset. Boat: France.
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On our way to the Med for the summer on the day of the Round-the-Island race we were about 22 miles south of St Catherines point off the I.O.W. when we picked up a sustantial amount of fishing net (three different types), fishing line and lumps of wood etc which was hidden in a lump of weed that had been held under the water by the weight of it all. The engine stopped dead with a loud thud.The Rope Cutter chewed through all the fishing line and rope but not the heavy polypropylene net. "Her in training" was given her next task of trying on her new wet suit and testing it for an hour with a variety of sharp things kept for such an eventuallity. 90% of the net was removed but the last piece was having none of it! My first pan-pan to the Solent Coast Guard produced the life boat which arrived within the hour complete with in-house film crew. They were very impressed with our large and varied collection of fishing tackle which was now begining to consume our boat like some monster from the deep. The wash produced by the lifeboat turned our 36 footer into a bucking bronco and how we all laughed when the remaining piece of net about a meter square complete with a hole in the middle the size of our prop floated out to receive its 15 minutes of fame on the lifeboats video! Well, to late to carry on to Le Havre we headed back to Northerny Marina only to meet up with a power boat crew who had picked up an identical piece of netting in a similar position which had taken out their stern drive. A few days later we were walking past the fishing boats in Cherbourg when we noticed a couple of lads "tidying up" the end of an almost identical net and dropping the remnants over the side into the harbour. C'est la vie!!
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rovin_turtle
new user
Reged: 06/10/2004
Posts: 5
Loc: Sussex, UK
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We have just returned from a months trip around the Dartmouth area( only went for a two week break ). On the way out we collected a large lump of the finest strand sea weed in the inlet grid under the hull of our 25 year old 37 foot yacht. Even putting the foot pump from the inflatable into the inlet pipe and pumping away, hoping it was just a plastic bag, did no good, it didnt blow this fine stuff out. We were lucky to be near a swinging mooring and so were able to stop and deal with the stuff relatively quickly. After tossing a coin to see who was going into the water my Fiance passed me the goggles and the too small wet suit, donated by a smaller sized sibling. I decided to dive in and clear it. I would advise anyone with snorkle kit and flippers to aquire a weight belt to help them get under the boat as it is near impossible to stay in the right place long enough to do any good as I and the many passing boats wondering what a pair of green flippers were doing by the side of our boat, can testify. Dont forget proper tools like the trusty old wire coat hanger tool that came in usefull again . Still we were on our way again and would still make the tide.
We used the inside passage at Portland and were pleased to miss the pots as they are generally well marked but were amazed that all the way from Needles to Dartmouth the pots in the water were exactly on the course that that most yachts would take to avoid the gun ranges etc, in Lyme bay last Monday we lost our steering for a short while as a lump of net? or something large fouled the rudder half way across the bay beyond the point of half way just as the as the wind started to blow 35 knots from a managable 21, with gales blowing in Plymouth area, but luckly it cleared itself, a situation we didnt speak about until we were safe in port for fear of putting the wind up each other. But dispite the effort of keeping a good watch we still managed to hit a submerged pot off St Albans head 3 miles out that was covered in green slime and impossible to see in good time, again we breathed a sigh of relief that we were not caught. Still, the predicted NW wind 3-4 turned East then died altogether 11/2 hours after leaving Weymouth so we packed the head sail in and spent the rest of the 12 hour trip motoring home with no wind. It seemed a bit ironic as we had been holed up for over a week in Dorset looking forward to a good sail home. But who says you have to enjoy what you do on Holiday?!
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