Butter fingers lands new skipper in the drink

I have never dropped anything unintentionally over the side of a boat before, however we have been out on Blue Scherzo 3 times so far and….……

The first trip out we took Blue Scherzo down to Hardway on the Friday night. We couldn't go very far because we had an important dinner to go to on the Saturday evening. Plan A was to leave Hardway for home at 13:00. At about 11:30 I thought about putting some of the gear in the car so we could get back to the mooring in Spider lake. Standing outside the cockpit I decided to put Mary's car keys in my shorts pocket for safekeeping. I dropped them in my pocket forgetting the large hole…. PLOP…… OOOPs!

So one of the first purchases we made for Blue Scherzo was a Sea Searcher magnet. £25 for a magnet! I couldn't believe it! And I had to pay extra for the line!

Now it was neaps and nearly low tide so the keys couldn't have gone far…. Could they? It took me about an hour to find the keys under the watchful eye of passers by… and Mary! Still all's well that ends well. Keys retrieved and we weren't so late that a bit of Raby driving couldn't get us there, all be it a little late.

The second day out was our maiden cruise. David Groves came to keep a watchful eye on us. We ended up at the Folly (East and West Cowes full on the last Saturday in September! Lucky it wasn't August!) Now you know what its like. We were sandwiched in like sardines and, over a swift half with David were discussing where the depth gauge was calibrated from. "What we need is a line with a weight on it. Then we can measure the depth and compare it with the echo sounder". Hmm!!! "I know I have the Sea Searcher. The only problem is that it will sink into the mud". After a little more grinding of the little grey cells I had a bright idea. "I have a tennon saw with me. We can use that". "Won't the saw come off the magnet?" asks David. "Not a hope" say I. "The magnet is REALLY strong". From the bow, much to the interest of the assembled watching crews relaxing after a hard days sail, we put the saw on the magnet and lowered it over the side. When the line went slack and having measured where the water came to, we drew it up again. Guess what! No saw, much to the amusement and delight of the assembled throng (well it was pretty funny). We withdrew to the saloon post haste!

Day three. We wanted to pop into East Cowes. Quite why we actually WANTED to go to East Cowes escapes me now, however it IS what we wanted to do. So fenders over the side and lines in hand we prepared to come along side. The crew were eagerly on the outside of the guardrail waiting for me to get close enough to the pontoon. Mary had bought some new shoes, which were rubber soled, especially for use on the boat. The only problem was they were NOT rubber. We found this out as Mary got ready to step off a wet deck. As she slipped off the side she grabbed the shrouds and hung on for grim death. She didn't actually go in for a swim but it was very close!

The moral of the story is…If you are coming on Blue scherzo don't bring anything valuable which can go in the drink as my experience so far hasn't exactly been exemplary! Happy sailing and remember HOLD ON TIGHT :-)

Gerry & Mary Raby: Blue Scherzo

PS Sea Searcher Magnet for hire. £3.00 per go!

PPS Mary says thanks to David for saving me from getting wet