T&T: Leaving the helm (was GPS error)

[John Baker]

Thanks Rich, for your opinion and your tact.  I truly enjoyed our post.  My boat at the time did 6.5 knots and since I have about as much hair on my head as a watermelon, a shower at such a critical time takes approx 2-3 minutes as does the aforementioned emergency number 2 thing.  And like I had said, the risks were basically known and taken into account.  There are always gonna be some unknown risks(contingencies) and if we want to give those risks too much weight, we may as well sit at our computers at home and discuss boating instead of actually taking the boat out of the slip and getting out on the water.  Or even worse, build a bomb shelter and put all of our investments into green cash and bring it down there with us(the green cash thing may not be such a bad idea with the way this market is going but I was kinda kiddin').  Anyway, my reason for mentioning my little mistake was just to emphasize that even though you are AT the helm does not mean you are performing as
 a vigilant watchstander.  That stupid laptop maybe more of an insidious danger than actually leaving the helm unattended.
  Another story when the boat was not even under way.....yet:
  We go to this little bayou where you can nose the boat onto the land while still having a decent amount of water under your keel.  So you nose up, and the tie the boat up to the trees as you see fit to your desired attitude to the bank.  Generally, the tide does change a bit over night and you usually require a little effort to get unstuck.  Well everyone had finally departed and I was the last to leave.  I untied the boat when that dastardly call to nature came calling once again.  I figgered we were pretty well stuck to that bank so no reason to tie up again(the previous times I had been here it had always taken a lot of throttle work to get unstuck...kedging was not uncommon in the sailboats).  Now since we( I say we...as in me and the boat...and maybe a mouse in my pocket) were not underway I saw no reason to rush.  SO as I was sitting there enjoying the oneness of my boat and I, I heard this scraping noise across the cabintop.  I manage to stand up enough to peer
 outside the head porthole to notice that we had become unearthed and had drifted across the bayou and into the overhanging brush on the other side of the bayou.  I look upstream to notice a shrimpboat patiently waiting for me to get outta the way as I am sure he probably witnessed the dirfting maneuver occur right in front of him.  
  The moral of the story: even though you think you are not underway does not mean that you aren't underway.
   
  We(in this case "we" actually means 2 humans and the boat) are headed down to Port Aransas from G-bay area this weekend....Wish us luck!!!!  And my current boat does 16kt cruise with no AP So beware if you are anywhere between Galveston and Port A!!!!
   
  Trawler on,
  John

       
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