Saving Old Seagulls

I finally got out on the river today (with my wife) in our Mirror dinghy, under Seagull power (eventually).

Having modified & reinforced the transom of 'Egg Foo Young', as she has now been re-named, we put to sea just before slack water at high tide.

My wife has only ever been in the dinghy once before and is not yet accustomed to the vagaries of sailing. She was some what apprehensive about it all but offered to accompany me on our initial voyage. Having got said boat into the water, persuaded wife to get aboad and sit forward, I climbed abroad and immediately we got pulled by the tide over to the floating pontoon hmm not good, esp as I was trying repeatedly to start the engine....... Reminder for next time 'prime the carb'!!!

All of a sudden the little beasty burst into life and away we went, gentle experimentation with with throttle found the best pace and we buzzed merrily down river until my wife dropped the Painter overboard and we had a few heart stopping seconds until she recovered it - having to disentangle that on our first trip would have been a nightmare!

We carried on then for a little while longer and I decided we had come far enough for a first trip and pushed the helm over, we cut a gentle swaith in the water against the waves and almost came to a stop?? Having checked the tide times I assumed we would be on slack water but instead we were still fighting our way against it, anyway a gentle increase in revs got us going again and we returned to TSC a short while later, where I totally miss judged the distance to the slipway against tide and we ended up having to paddle in! Oh well at least nobody saw us lol.

We had a great time and my wife is convinced we should have a rib rather than a dinghy - maybe I'll encourage her to buy one for her self, I'm happy with my Mirror & Seagull thank you very much

Regards to all,

Linden.

Sounds like a good trip.

The first few outings can be a little tense, but I am sure your wife will grow to love your Seagull

Get her interested in fishing that always helps.

H-A

cant be as bad as the outing i had nearly 3 weeks or so ago.
kids off from school at half term, i take a week off as well.
my mate comes along as well.
(my mate is 23 stone?? A BIG LAD)
my 2 boys know what to do with the ropes when we pull up to the jetty.
my mate on the other hand, rope in hand, miss judged the edge of the boat whilst getting ready to jump off.
ended up in the drink. thankfully the water in the lake we were on at the time came up to his shoulders.
took 3 people and myself to drag him in! (eventually) onto a jetty covered in swan poop (smelly and slippery)

lesson learned.
give a full and thorough briefing to all bodies onboard what is expected of them in the way of help.
we were all wearing life jackets, but even with something to grab hold of, 23 stone is one hell of a lump, even with wet clothes!

he did see the funny side of things a bit later on.

jon

Local "organized"sea fishing competion last week end . 5 boats went out .Only one with all wearing lifejackets (mine) of the others - a total of 12 people only one (a child) had a lifejacket. It's a Scottish thing. Plus no one had scales to weigh the catch. Luckily I had my small , cheap , made in China , electronic scales in my bag.

skyetoyman wrote:12 people only one (a child) had a lifejacket. It's a Scottish thing.

please could you explain this "its a Scottish thing"

Perhaps I should have said Macho. I do get a bit anal when it comes to lifejackets and the senseless loss of life. I was even more annoyed that the competition was supposedly organized by our community council . Sadly this corner of Skye has not improved in the last 25 years. Yes more vistors are happily wearing them and for the price of a bottle of whisky for a good secondhand modern lifejacket so should everyone.

I certainly think nobody should set out on the open sea without a lifejacket and other basic safety gear, like a hand held VHF, a few flares and the knowledge to use that gear.