A close shave

A near thing today. A light off shore breeze, a mainsheet rigged with a twist, a trolley wheel sunk in the soft sand, me with a head of cotton wool. As a result of this chain of small things, Ozzie nearly went sailing by himself. Next stop Portarlington about 16 nautical miles away.

[@игорьникитин-п5л]

..и без мотора и без седока...славно!

[@SailingCailin]

Reminds me of my doggy crew. They just sit back and watch me make mistakes, presumably snickering. 👍🐕🐕⛵

[@garyhardy3810]

😆 probably just as well they can't talk.

[@jimray937]

Brilliant. A boat that doesn't need crew. You were lucky there.

[@garyhardy3810]

Lucky alright. After the sandbar the water gets deeper quickly, a few more feet and i would have slowed down, while the boat was accelerating. The independent boat will be closely watched in future.

[@mwallace2922]

Awesome save. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@garyhardy3810]

Too close for me. I will be much much much more careful launching with Oz in the boat in future.

[@okuboheavyindustries5758]

Wow, it really took off quickly! Ozzie is quite the skipper! Glad you able to catch-up before he got himself into too much trouble!

[@garyhardy3810]

Thanks Darren. Yes, the Skerry really picks up speed fast. I am not going to let that happen again!

[@joyliansailing8096]

Thanks for sharing! Glad you were able to catch her.

[@garyhardy3810]

Thankyou! Ozzie was wondering if that was supposed to happen. We were all glad to be reunited. I will have to watch the boat's independent streak from now on though.

[@gerardpetervandrempt6335]

"Bow" " Wow" to Ozzie The Sea Dog I say.

[@garyhardy3810]

Thanks Gerard. Ozzie says thankyou and would it be OK if he has a break from sailing for a while...

[@CaptMarkSVAlcina]

What a wonderful balance yacht, need I say any more.

[@garyhardy3810]

Indeed. Sails in about 1 cm of water too. Pity about the captain but you can’t have everything.

[@lindamarceline]

Nice and so humble.:)

[@garyhardy3810]

🙂 Thankyou. I must be getting too big for my boots, the universe seems to be sending me many lessons in humility lately.

[@chrisstockman904]

I've always suspected he had a hankering to be skipper one day. Nice save Gary.

[@garyhardy3810]

🙂 Thanks Chris. I was glad I was wearing my dry suit, I would have got wet and cold otherwise. Oz is so trusting, I would never forgive myself if something happened to him because I stuffed up. I will be much more careful launching in future.

[@robstevens5503]

Always good to squeeze an Arthur Ransome allusion in, even if it was nearly a bad situation!

[@garyhardy3810]

🙂 Indeed, I am a founding member of the silly old Coots Club. Thanks for noticing the allusion.

[@squallyheiferadventures]

That boat was ready to get going. You were taking too long. 😂

[@garyhardy3810]

🙂 yep, that's what it looks like alright. I will have to get quicker so it doesn't decide to take off by itself again.

[@DinghyCruisingKingfisher]

Wow, glad you sorted that out!

[@garyhardy3810]

You bet!!! It is so easy to get distracted and miss things. When you are sailing by yourself I rekonyou need to be about 10 times more careful. It was a good sail after the inauspicious beginning.

[@khiemtran6272]

Oh no! Poor Ozzie!

[@garyhardy3810]

I am very glad I got to the boat in time. Poor Ozzie indeed. He is on the lookout for a more reliable owner.

[@khiemtran6272]

@@garyhardy3810 it did seem to take off very fast, although I guess it was also the camera angle. One of my friends tried chasing his boat and couldn't catch it and needed someone in a RIB to chase it.

[@garyhardy3810]

@@khiemtran6272 it really could have been a bad situation. My mobile and vhf were in waterproof bag tied onto the boat. If I hadn't got to the boat I would have had to find someone to make a call. A cold day, not many fishing boats out. I found, when we got sailing, that I had run the mainsheet through the blocks in a sort of twist, figure eight, so there was sufficient friction in the system to prevent the main flapping. I am resolved to be much more careful in future!

[@sailingseriously2035]

Sorry….But I had to laugh. 🤣

[@CaptMarkSVAlcina]

I was going to say the same thing

[@garyhardy3810]

Oh well, fair enough too....

[@damoog5985]

That was hilarious!🤣

[@garyhardy3810]

Not quite so hilarious at the time. I am mighty glad I got to the boat before it was out of reach. Lucky the water is shallow there for a way out.

[@damoog5985]

@@garyhardy3810 yes sorry, I didn't mean to sound so callous - definitely glad for the happy ending. Otherwise if ozzie had got to Indented Head, I'd have turned him round and sent him back.

[@garyhardy3810]

@@damoog5985 no worries. He was definitely headed your way. Might have taken him a while to get there though.

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

Aw that’s superb! Absolutely adorable :) poor wee Ozzie! Love your short stories.

[@garyhardy3810]

Thanks Holly. This one was definitely not in the script! Ozzie is excused from sailing for a while till his owner demonstrates a bit more reliability.

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

@@garyhardy3810 poor Ozzie. I reckon he’d be straight back on board, given half a chance!

[@AusMarineRobotics]

That was one of the best sailing dinghy videos I have seen for a while. Well done Gary and Ozzie the stunt dog - thanks for posting. 80 views and 16 likes suggests it wasn't just me who watched it twice!

[@garyhardy3810]

Thankyou! It was lucky I had the camera running to catch the mini drama. Ozzie wants to retire as stunt dog, he wasn't too keen on yesterday's solo trip.