Monday, June 15, 2009

Bung-holeo!

Beavis and Butthead spring to mind after yesterday's little problem...

I felt like a rock star when I met Markla at the club. The boat was rigged and I was told to get changed because I had first sail! yay! Conditions looked a bit on the light side but with the stiffer wand linkages it would be a good test day. Also the club were running short course practice races so there were rescue boats and plenty of other dinghy's around (this would later prove to be embarrassing).

Anyway, long story short, the boat was very sluggish and after the second capsize over the transom I realised the bungs had been left out. Markla had also realised this from shore and sent one of the rescue boats out with a spare. Managed to get back into shore, empty the boat (which took forever) then send Markla out for the rest of the arvo. It was a bit of a dud day due to flooding the boat, minimal wind and shifty and gusty wind to boot.

Atleast we both got some air time and didn't break anything, the new parts worked well. Lesson learnt, even wannabe rock stars need to check their bungs.

7 comments:

  1. Hint, next boat stick em in the deck where you can see them!

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  2. Yeah, noticed those on the assassin. No knee knocking issues?

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  3. nah I've never hit them, it's on the gunwhale inline with case. Gotta be on port side so when wand is up drains are down.

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  4. what about putting one in the aft locker area. if the aft compartment leaks, you can drain the boat into the locker, and sponge out from there.

    n4rkla managed to foil with a boat full o water! i am amazed it didn't break somewhere.

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  5. The leprechaun almost filled with water in one race of the worlds in Melbourne when the deck started to peal off. It took 4 or 5 guys just to pull the boat away from the water in its trolley. It took 15-20 minutes to drain out and that was with a big hole to let air back in. Now that was a sluggish boat!

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  6. And people wonder why my skiff is called "Bungholio", having a 'put in the bung' reminder written down the side in foot high letters is very helpful...

    http://www.javelins.org/javelinsoz/racing/australiannationals/ausnationals2003/images/perth2003_09a.jpg

    Bit much spray to see the name above :-(

    I think Beavis and Butthead may come in useful again when my Moth arrives in Dubai and needs a name probably "Bungholio II"

    Going to miss having a crew to wash the boat, help pull the trailer up the sand, drive me home after a few too many rums, chat to when things get boring between races and blame when things go wrong...

    Rob

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