This incident was hardly a disaster, but it certainly could have been! More of a mystery really. It happened aboard GRAYLING, the 1915 sardine carrier we had the honor of rebuilding back in 1997. GRAYLING’s owner had generously given me permission to use the boat wheneverhe was not in Maine, and one afternoon, after the crew had gone home, I decided I would nip off on a little overnight cruise down Eggemoggin Reach.
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arthur paine says:
I just don’t get it. What stopped the anchor and rode from just keeping going on retrieveal, and distorting the anchor roller until the circuit overloaded and the breaker finally did what breakers are supposed to do? Or was it that when you went into the pilothouse and “tripped the circuit breaker”, you tripped it from its off position to on again?
I agree, that was one terrifically told yarn! As your yarns so often turn out to be.
Doug Hylan says:
I never turned off the breaker until after the second episode. Perhaps there was a temperature overload sensor in the windlass motor that finally turned it off. Or perhaps the current going through the leaky foot switch was enough to dry out the moisture. GRAYLING has a very stout anchor roller arrangement at the stemhead, and the windlass had a clutch that probably slipped a bit — there was no sign of movement or damage at the roller or windlass mounts. Luck was certainly with me that day!
Corky Clark says:
Hello Doug. if you’re reading!
Wonderful yarn and happy to still have Grayling with us.
Get that new go-fast done soon so we can have her in FL.
Big fun we had on Deliverance here two years ago!
Keep abuildin:
Charles Zimmermann says:
I have a certain anxiety about everything electronic. I try to buy only high quality electronics, but I nevertheless worry that someday there will be a short circuit or a contact that fails or a contact that was never designed to last very long because the manufacturer was hoping that in five years I would buy the newer model. The new electronics is on a classic wooden boat that was built to last forever. I am afraid that the only solution is a thorough inspection every five years of all things electrical.
David Tew says:
I too had a hallucinatory experience with Dinty Moore beef stew once.
Cheryl Strohmeier says:
What a great story! I would have been spooked out of my mind too! Good lesson learned!
MARK DORSEY says:
murphy loves boats, and like santa he is everywhere at once