Start / Finish Time: 12:50 / 17:09
Daily time / distance: 8.2 NM / 4:19
Crew: Nevil, Robert, Luke, Mum & Dad.

Before setting off today we inflated the new dingy with the intent of going ashore at Langøy. I actually unrolled it, put the floor boards in and left Dad and the boys to pump it up. What I hadn’t realised was that the painter supplied was only looped through the D-ring not actually tied on so I didn’t realise that Dad had tied the knot….

As we came out of the yacht harbour there were several very large cruise liners in the main basin in Stavanger so we took a little motor to have a look. As we went on our way a pair of the old steamers came out and rushed past us indecently close and fast. Shortly thereafter Luke noticed that the dinghy had come loose so we about turned to retrieve it. We got hold of it with the boat hook and I went down into the dinghy to secure the line. Unfortunately the line was too short and whilst I was waiting for Dad to untie it from the rail to give me slack the two steamers, having gone round some other islands, came shooting past only a few meters away. Their wash tossed us about and ended up with the dinghy going underneath the bathing platform and being sliced open by the kedge anchor roller; to say I was furious was an understatement, the language was blue! We retrieved the dinghy onto the foredeck and motored on up to Langøy, where we picked up the crab pot with five large edible crabs in it. Unable to get ashore (the quay was already rafted two deep) we anchored again for lunch and some fishing before making our way back home once more.

Not the most successful of trips (although I have subsequently repaired the gash) but what did I learn? Ultimately everything is my responsibility as skipper; I should have checked the knot, whether I thought it had been factory tied or not. On going back for the recovery I should not have been in such a hurry to get it sorted. I should have made sure the line was prepared ready to retie to the dingy before approaching it and I probably shouldn’t have gone into the dinghy myself since although I was harnessed on, if I had gone in it would have been a much greater problem.