Dinghy Ahoy!

SV Azure Wind's dinghy 

We’re now into the seventh and last month of this wonderful adventure here in the Virgin Islands.  We are starting to think ahead about returning to our New Mexico home.  But, the stories just don’t stop.  So….

This one is about dinghies and it feels like a scene from a World War II Navy movie starring the likes of Phil Silvers, Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, and Jack Lemon….

A couple of definitions.  The dinghy is the small boat that goes with the large boat so you can get ashore.  It can be hard-shelled (wood or fiberglass), or inflatable (rubber tubes surrounding some kind of floor).  You use an outboard engine or, if you’re a purist, oars to propel the boat.  We’re not purists.  And most dinghy owners take the same position.  Now if you have a larger big boat, then you want to have a larger dinghy with a larger outboard engine.  These are called Tenders.  Then there are the super-yachts who have fiberglass tenders with an inboard engine.  They often are hidden on top of the yacht or in a little garage area off the stern of the boat!

A boat with its dinghy...

A yacht with its tender...

A mega yacht with its mega tender - on the high deck just left of the flag

We have a dinghy.  It came with the boat and has a 15 horse powered engine.  Both work well enough that we have no complaints.  And, Marney is the Dinghy Captain.  She has the T-Shirt to prove it.  

And she has taken to her role rather admiral-ly (er, admirably).  The only time I run the engine is when she doesn’t want to.  The only time I start the engine is when it has given her enough fits to ask for a bit of help.  So, as dinghy captain, when it was time to do the haulout for our keel replacement, Marney took the lead in scrubbing the bottom of the dinghy.  And a great job she did!

In the yard, on the hard, about to scrub the dinghy

Last week, it was the dinghy’s painter that needed cleaning.  The painter is the rope you use to tie the dinghy to your boat, or a dock, or the laundromat.    And, it has not been cleaned since we bought Azure Wind a year ago.  The painter gets dirty, especially the part that lays in the water a lot.  It’s not just soggy, but it collects stains from the floating memorabilia of the ocean  (think: oil, seaweed, food grunge). 

So, Marney took the painter off the dinghy.  She could do this because our boat has two davits.  These are the crane-like devices on the stern that have a set of pulleys, so you can lift your dinghy out of the water when you’re sailing.   We put the dinghy on our davits so Marney could clean the painter.  And a great job she did!  Put the rope in a bucket with laundry detergent, let it sit for a couple of hours, then scrubbed it clean and left it to dry. 

Afterwards, she re-attached the painter by tying a bowline knot.  Now, the bowline is one of the best sailing knots ever.  It will never come loose on its own, but when you need to untie it, it comes quickly undone by pulling on the right part of the knot.  You have to do it right, if it’s going to hold!  We practise tying bowlines when we’re bored, or a little tipsy.  Kinda fun, actually.  Anyway, Marney tied the bowline and that was that.

Now, it gets interesting…

The next morning, I decide that we should tow the dinghy from St. Johns to the west end of Tortola.  We were ending a lovely six days in the US and needed to check into the BVI.  While we motored the one mile, we would be able to watch the painter, bowline knot and dinghy to make sure the knot was holding.  So, I lowered the dinghy back into the water, detached it from the davit lines, got out and did a quick wrap with the painter onto a cleat.  Thinking all was well, I went to the bow to get the boat ready to move.  Marney was still below.

Five minutes later, I return to the stern.  Looking for the dinghy.  It wasn’t there!  I started scanning the horizon and the doggone thing had floated off and was about one hundred yards astern and heading past a wonderful snorkeling reef and into the main part of Drake Channel.  I yelled, and will not print the exact verbiage.  Let’s leave it as:  I yelled. 

As Marney appeared, I had my T-shirt off and was diving into the water.  I swam furiously trying to reach the you-know-what.  After about twenty hard strokes, I’m starting to slow down.  I look back and there’s Marney, the dinghy captain, about to jump into the water.  She has her snorkel fins on.  And she’s got the key to start the engine.  The Dinghy Captain T-shirt stays on as she leaps into the water.  Moments later, she passes me and then I see off in the distance, help from strangers.

Two fellows, drinking their coffee in their cockpit notice the commotion.  They motored their skiff (sorry, I’m tired of writing the word dinghy) and reached ours about the time Marney did.  Me?  I’m treading water halfway between them and our boat…

So, all ended up OK.

And I know it’s my fault.  Too many things on my mind, not paying attention, same old, same old.

However, I would argue that it’s Marney’s fault because:  she didn’t give enough proper instruction to her crew about tying off the painter…and…because

She’s the Dinghy Captain and it’s always the captain’s fault!

And she has the T-Shirt to prove it.

Me?  I’m just so glad we helped those two strangers “make their day”.  They clearly needed a “good Samaritan” boost and we provided one for them!

Fair Winds

Calm Seas

Dave

Newly employed night guard to prevent further mishaps!