Muse 10

Consequential damage: an insurance term, is an incident that is the result of a preceding one. Often it’s more extreme than the original insult. For example, a leaky through-hull leads to the boat sinking.

On June 1st, 2022  we left the safety of our slip on Hilton Head Island heading for the coast of Maine. We planned a summer of cruising in the waters we had sailed in years past, stopping along the way North to visit with friends.

The first issue came the second night at sea. We were running the engine at about 0300 to top off the batteries while offshore around Wrightsville Beach, NC. We had run the engine for about 20 minutes when it began to sputter and then died. I went to the engine area and checked the vacuum gauge on the fuel line to see if we had a fuel restriction issue. We did. We were bouncing a bit and we threw up some sediment – the stuff you don’t see too much when sailing in the bays. We had reasonably new fuel, I regularly add an enzymatic biocide and lubricity enhancer to my fuel. I have seen this problem on other offshore passages. I checked the Racor separator/filter for water and slime. It wasn’t bad but I noticed the bowl wasn’t full of fuel. I manually re-primed the engine and she started back up. We ran the engine again later and all went well.

We stopped in Beaufort, NC with no trouble till we were leaving the slip and I couldn’t get full power. We made it to mid-channel past the marina and I dropped the hook to work on it again.

Of course, it was a Saturday and we could most likely not find a mechanic till Monday. I re-primed and restarted the engine. We continued on to Oriental, NC. I replaced the Racor and spin-on/on engine filters. When I restarted the vacuum gauge was about 3-5 and held there for some testing. I thought I had found the issue and it was resolved.  On Sunday morning we had a stiff wind from on the nose as we headed N through Pamlico Sound on a long fetch. After another bout of pounding in short choppy 4’ waves, the engine died again. It’s a sailboat so we turned the boat 180 and started sailing back to Oriental. We made it back into the Oriental breakwater and I dropped the hook. After inspection, it was the same problem. I decided the problem was somewhere between the fuel tank and the Racor, so I used the spare fuel line hose I had on board and bypassed it using only the 2micron spin-on filter to get us to the “Free dock” where I could do a closer inspection.

I restarted the engine. It faithfully restarted with the new fuel path. I then headed into the town dock with lots of spurious wind in the harbor. I tried to dock but was blown off and went around for a second try. Karen (my wife and sailing partner) was standing outside the lifelines holding on to a shroud and mid-ship line. When the boat came to a stop alongside the dock (lee side) she would step back onto the dock and tie us to a piling or cleat.

I pulled the boat up to the dock very slowly and she stepped off the boat extending a straight leg to the dock to tie her up at the beam initially to secure her close to the dock.  We have done this maneuver hundreds of times during our sailing career. We each have about 40,000 offshore miles.

This time was different. As soon as she landed she screamed out in pain quickly laying down on the dock. She tied the boat off to a cleat hidden on the back of the piling. These were very short pilings. They just went to about level with the toe rail.

The rest of the crew came to her aid quickly as she writhed in pain coming from her knee. As she was about to pass out from the pain she said “I have dislocated my knee”. We called 911 and they quickly took her to the New Bern, NC hospital. In the ER we found out she had broken the “Tibial Plateau”, a classic spiral fracture that would need to be surgically reduced with metal screws and a plate. After 10 days and two surgeries, she was on the mend and still is.

There is a myriad of lessons here to be learned.

1. When is an issue fixed?
2. Should I have called for help to dock the boat?
3. Should I have anchored out and worked on the engine more?
4. Should we have dis-embarked the boat in a different way?
5. Should we have put a large loop out and thrown it over the pilings – then snugged it up?
   The pilings were just at toe rail height. The line could have slipped off the top. We were not making much way and we would have been blown into the steel fishing boat some 10’ on our lee.
6. The corner piling was higher than the rest. I could have put down a “marriage saver”. It’s a loop between the stern cleat and the beam cleat that you throw over the piling. It slows the boat and should stop it before the end of the dock. If you stay in forward the boat will turn toward the dock while you disembark. We use it with students when teaching ASA classes.

I’ve replayed this incident many times in my mind.

The boat was going dead slow – less than .5 kt. We were moving just enough to slide alongside the dock and not get blown off. This was a procedure we have executed many times without incident. The engine was not giving us an issue at the time. I could have set the anchor and worked on the engine in the harbor.

I could have waited to head North until the wind changed and lowered the chop.

I could have asked her to park the boat and I would step off by switching positions.

In my current analysis, I think it’s probably a combination of things.

Karen’s bones are getting a little more brittle with age. She had her bone density checked but didn’t have the results at the time and we’ve since found out that she has some Osteopenia (low-grade Osteoporosis). Combined with twisting the foot as she stepped backward on the dock and about a 30” drop from the toe-rail to the dock, we come up with the consequential and significant damage to my dear wife and partner.

I realize that sharing this info might bring on some scrutiny that might not seem welcome. I have always tried to learn and grow from my mistakes. So, any constructive input is welcome.

Here is what I’m doing now:

1. Taking care of my wife.
2. Preparing to return to our boat in NC
3. Preparing to polish my fuel with a new system
   Temporary at first then a permanent fixture
4. Upgrading my fuel filtering system
5. Buying an inflatable step fender to deploy in the future
   To lessen the distance for short legs to the dock
6. I disassembled the Racor and inspected it. The 10micron removable filter was not really dirty/slimy in a way I would have expected. I did find some hard crusty green particles under the float ball in the separation turbine during the inspection.
7. Providing Karen additional training in docking so I can share in the tie-up fun
8. I ordered a “Plastimo 2 Step Fender Ladder” to assist in boarding and disembarkation.
   

I often quote one of my father’s golf sayings – in sailing never more true than here.
“You drive for show and putt for dough”. Many issues in handling boats are won or lost in the close game.