Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 - A day that will live in infamy, to borrow a phrase...the day dawned rainy, cold and windy. Gusts to 40mph, Coming right out of the west. The cresting wavelets on the river were nearly big enough to surf. I was at work around 9:30 when my wife called. "The jib sail came unwound a bit and is flapping like mad". I cautioned her about going out on the slippery and windy boat to tie it back and said I'd get it when I got home that afternoon. About 40 minutes later, she called with panic in her voice. "The boat broke loose and is drifting up the river!" I got home as quickly as I could, and went to the back yard to survey the damage.

The combination of the slightly unfurled sail and 40mph wind had torn the boat right off the dock, taking two of the four cleats with it. She moved up river about 40 feet and smashed in to the neighbor's dock, ripping a 20 foot section away. The boat and dock piece then blew upriver to the next neighbor, where the pair became lodged against his dock. About half a dozen of my neighbors were up there so I quickly went up and got a sit-rep. The boat was wedged bow-first into the concrete rip-rap bulkhead, keeled over about 20 degees by the relentless wind and rain. The neighbor's dock section was also pushed against the second dock.

My wife had been trying to reach the towboat service, but was having trouble getting connected. Since it took about three hours for a boat to arrive, and even then the tow boat was shorter than the sailboat and the Captain decided against doing anything, so he left after abour 45 minutes of inactivity. I still don't understand why they send a 20 pontoon boat all the way across the Delaware, knowing they had to tow a 27' sailboat.

Meanwhile, the lot of us were trying to figure out what to do. The wind and rain would not let up. We thought about trying to start her up and get her out in the river, but the tiller had been broken off about 3 inches from the base plates. Finally, with the help of a few sturdy come-alongs, plenty of stout rope and a lot of heaving, we got the boat pulled away enough to slip the loose dock piece out of the way, and then got the boat moved around and tied securely to the second neighbors dock and some local trees.

One of the fellows helping out was the operator of the marina about 500 yards up the river, and the next day, he came down and towed the boat there, pulled her out of the water and set her on stands. The sail was still flapping terribly, and the sheets had gotten so tangled up that it was impossible to get it back around the roller furler. He ended up cutting the sail off.

Luckily, it could have been far worse, I suppose. The hull was not damaged, the keel and prop shaft are fine. There are some long but not deep scratches along the port side hull from where it kept rubbing against the broken dock piece for about six  hours, and the bow is worn down a bit, but other than that she weathered the incident well. Not even a broken porthole. I went up to the marina the next weekend, winterized and cleaned, and brought the cushions home. I didn't even want to think about getting the fiberglass repaired yet.

Update: June 2009 - In late April I started repairing the docks so I could put them back in the water. We needed several section of 2x6 pressure treted wood to replace that which had been splintered, and several pieces of hardware, including new sections of stand-off pole. I also went to 1/2" aircraft cable for the cross-ties. In early June, I de-winterised her, and after sitting through the winter, the little A4 started up on the second try. I rigged a temporary tiller and brought her down the river with no trouble. I still have to buy a new sail and tiller, and do something about the scratches I was quoted over $5,000 by one guy and said, "Forget it, I'll do it myself."

Wedged against the broken dock piece of our neighbor, and hard up against the bulkhead.	She was caught here for better than six hours.	Here you can see the neighbor's dock she took with her upriver. Note the broken tiller.
Finally tied up safely
One section of my dock was pushed six feet up onto the rip-rap		One of the two cleats pulled right out of the dock
A support pole broke right out of the 2x6 PT	The steel anchors were bent	One of the three 2" cast iron pipes
June 2009
The bow, scarred up	The worst port-side scratches	Not-too-much-the-worse-for-wear
		Upriver, first neighbors dock and then the 2nd neighbor where we both ended up