The other boat's paint rubbed along the gunnel rubber.
Well, I made it through the weekend without further mishap. No broken bones, no more bruising. Maybe the reign of accident proneness is over. It’s all a matter of getting used to a different circumstance, getting into the swing of things. Really, how much boating experience have I had over the past decade....let me see, none, so I think I’m adapting well.
I can’t say the same for our boat. She had a spot of trouble that I’m still obsessing over. Someone rammed her. Scraped along her side like a peeler on a carrot, removing paint, leaving lots of scratches and two ten inch long gouges under the gunnel. In turn, their boat left paint smudges along the rub rail so like Cinderella's lost slipper, it's a bit of a telltale calling-card if we can find the boat to match the paint.
A damaged boat is bad enough, but they also boarded her sometime during the night or early morning. A thief, a modern day pirate, on the water. They rolled up and rammed her and then looked for something to steal. Ruffed her up a bit by throwing her cushions around and going into the cockpit locker, leaving her defiled and disrespected.
Catalyst came with a problem with her port aft locker. The hinge part didn't meet with the loop thingy to be able to put on a padlock but that was rectified yesterday so we won’t be vulnerable again. We think they hoped it was like a lot of other boats that have an entry, a through and through, to the main cabin from the cockpit. Fortunately ours doesn’t unless you want to crawl over the large Westerbeke engine. I would imagine they were looking for alcohol and at that point we were dry so they barked up the mast!
Pirates! They’ve been around since Natal Day, drunks partying all around our harbour, drinking and shouting arrr...and acting like asses, flying skull and crossbones flags like it’s something to celebrate and firing off cannons all evening long to scare the heck out of anyone near. I don’t get it, why would anyone want to glorify and emulate a pirate? A dirty, cold blooded scoundrel, that would kill you for a pence and take what you have without conscience. I guess the Mahone Bay Pirate Festival lost its appeal for me when one guy whipped it out and peed off one of the loud party boats in full view of anyone sitting leisurely in their cockpit around them. I'm not a prude, I'm not offended by a penis, but it is disrespectful and disgraceful for visitors who moor in our marina with children on board to have to see it. I have no problem with people having fun but one of them messed with our boat so the gloves are off....
The damage to the boat is fixable. We'll have to buy a special product to fill the gouges, then sand for a flawless finish that blends with the side, followed by wet sanding to smooth it like glass, then tape off, prime and paint the entire sheer. I planned to do this in the spring before launching anyway but I’ll have to live with it until then and that’s the pain. I’ll be reminded of her injury every time I row to her and then again when we leave. My lovely sea cottage beaten and bruised. She's supposed to be the place where we can stop and smell the seaweed, not have to deal with the seedy side of life.
Knowing someone was aboard uninvited, with intent to steal our possessions is unsettling but I'm trying to dwell on the positive that they weren't successful and treat it as a lesson to learn from. It’s basically a cottage like any other, just because it’s on the water doesn’t make it any less exposed to theft. The locker is now padlocked; hubby worked at it all evening yesterday. It looked like a small job but it never is, and probably the reason it hadn’t been addressed by the previous owners. The correction was a finicky fit with several tries but now it’s secured in case anyone else has pilfering ideas.
All the signs had been there but we talked ourselves out of them. When we approached the boat we noticed the step fender was down. Oops on my part we thought, as that is the last thing I do after I step into the tender. Then we noticed the lifeline gate was unhitched, oops on me again, I must be falling down on the job, literally and figuratively. Then we noticed a cockpit cushion was off the rear seat and thrown on top of the one on the opposite side. No wind could do that. I'd fallen down the companionway the evening before and was a little distracted with my aches but to be that careless, three times in a row?
Then we noticed the wishbone was swaying back and forth more than usual. Gregg found the prevent; a fitting to hold the wishbone steady had broken off and was allowing everything to flop back and forth as the boat rolled in the wakes and waves. He figures the jolt of being hit by the renegade boat snapped it. Something else to fix.
We reported the incident to the harbour crew and we were told that no one else had complained about their boats being boarded but then some sit on the moorings for weeks without the owners coming out to check on them. There is a wharf surveillance camera that didn’t quite reach where our boat is moored but they were going to check the tapes to see if there was a boat headed that way or coming from that area that matches the paint smudges left behind. I hope they catch whoever did this; our lovely marina doesn’t need a dark spot on its great reputation to take away from the peace of mind of the owners who trust their boats are safe.
Once again I had a SIGHHHHHH moment. It would be great to get through one day without a story to tell. I would appreciate a bit of mundaneness, a day so irritatingly boring I’ll then appreciate all the drama our life seems to produce.
I can’t say the same for our boat. She had a spot of trouble that I’m still obsessing over. Someone rammed her. Scraped along her side like a peeler on a carrot, removing paint, leaving lots of scratches and two ten inch long gouges under the gunnel. In turn, their boat left paint smudges along the rub rail so like Cinderella's lost slipper, it's a bit of a telltale calling-card if we can find the boat to match the paint.
A damaged boat is bad enough, but they also boarded her sometime during the night or early morning. A thief, a modern day pirate, on the water. They rolled up and rammed her and then looked for something to steal. Ruffed her up a bit by throwing her cushions around and going into the cockpit locker, leaving her defiled and disrespected.
Catalyst came with a problem with her port aft locker. The hinge part didn't meet with the loop thingy to be able to put on a padlock but that was rectified yesterday so we won’t be vulnerable again. We think they hoped it was like a lot of other boats that have an entry, a through and through, to the main cabin from the cockpit. Fortunately ours doesn’t unless you want to crawl over the large Westerbeke engine. I would imagine they were looking for alcohol and at that point we were dry so they barked up the mast!
Pirates! They’ve been around since Natal Day, drunks partying all around our harbour, drinking and shouting arrr...and acting like asses, flying skull and crossbones flags like it’s something to celebrate and firing off cannons all evening long to scare the heck out of anyone near. I don’t get it, why would anyone want to glorify and emulate a pirate? A dirty, cold blooded scoundrel, that would kill you for a pence and take what you have without conscience. I guess the Mahone Bay Pirate Festival lost its appeal for me when one guy whipped it out and peed off one of the loud party boats in full view of anyone sitting leisurely in their cockpit around them. I'm not a prude, I'm not offended by a penis, but it is disrespectful and disgraceful for visitors who moor in our marina with children on board to have to see it. I have no problem with people having fun but one of them messed with our boat so the gloves are off....
The damage to the boat is fixable. We'll have to buy a special product to fill the gouges, then sand for a flawless finish that blends with the side, followed by wet sanding to smooth it like glass, then tape off, prime and paint the entire sheer. I planned to do this in the spring before launching anyway but I’ll have to live with it until then and that’s the pain. I’ll be reminded of her injury every time I row to her and then again when we leave. My lovely sea cottage beaten and bruised. She's supposed to be the place where we can stop and smell the seaweed, not have to deal with the seedy side of life.
Knowing someone was aboard uninvited, with intent to steal our possessions is unsettling but I'm trying to dwell on the positive that they weren't successful and treat it as a lesson to learn from. It’s basically a cottage like any other, just because it’s on the water doesn’t make it any less exposed to theft. The locker is now padlocked; hubby worked at it all evening yesterday. It looked like a small job but it never is, and probably the reason it hadn’t been addressed by the previous owners. The correction was a finicky fit with several tries but now it’s secured in case anyone else has pilfering ideas.
All the signs had been there but we talked ourselves out of them. When we approached the boat we noticed the step fender was down. Oops on my part we thought, as that is the last thing I do after I step into the tender. Then we noticed the lifeline gate was unhitched, oops on me again, I must be falling down on the job, literally and figuratively. Then we noticed a cockpit cushion was off the rear seat and thrown on top of the one on the opposite side. No wind could do that. I'd fallen down the companionway the evening before and was a little distracted with my aches but to be that careless, three times in a row?
Then we noticed the wishbone was swaying back and forth more than usual. Gregg found the prevent; a fitting to hold the wishbone steady had broken off and was allowing everything to flop back and forth as the boat rolled in the wakes and waves. He figures the jolt of being hit by the renegade boat snapped it. Something else to fix.
We reported the incident to the harbour crew and we were told that no one else had complained about their boats being boarded but then some sit on the moorings for weeks without the owners coming out to check on them. There is a wharf surveillance camera that didn’t quite reach where our boat is moored but they were going to check the tapes to see if there was a boat headed that way or coming from that area that matches the paint smudges left behind. I hope they catch whoever did this; our lovely marina doesn’t need a dark spot on its great reputation to take away from the peace of mind of the owners who trust their boats are safe.
Once again I had a SIGHHHHHH moment. It would be great to get through one day without a story to tell. I would appreciate a bit of mundaneness, a day so irritatingly boring I’ll then appreciate all the drama our life seems to produce.
Scratches, rubs and gouges in the navy sheer stripe.
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