magna 6882
Guru
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2020
- Messages
- 720
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Intrepid
- Vessel Make
- North Pacific/ NP-45 Hull 10
Thought i would share a story with my forum friends.This happened is desolation while trying to set up a stern tie. WE had three boats and my boat was chosen for the main tie boat. We were i a cove with 14 knots at the pot side. I have large front and rear thrust-er. We dropped anchor and i back up to the tagline.I have rear camera so i can see the line and progress.
In the middle of the s**t show we lost one of the thrusters .the boat close close enough to canyon wall to require pike polls to hold the boat off the rock.We bailed and went to another site.
In looking back at what happened it was discovered a large current at the starboard side which at the time a didnt know. My intend was to control with wind push but in reality it was the current.Being a helicopter pilot i am trained to just use the inputs to make it happen.
In hindsight i was just naturally holding the boat steady but it was against the current and the wind was irrelevant. I ended up depleting the two battery banks. Now i had to hold the boat steady with the single engine and get out of there.
I didnt feel i was on the thrusters that much but my wife told me i was running them flat out at some points.
I was so focused on holding the boat steady that i wasn't aware of power consumption.Once we got stable i saw leaves floating by like
i was i a river.
I learned to do a better assessment of the area and try to be more aware of other systems. I just have one hand on the joysticks and it comes naturally to maneuver without really thinking.My wife thinks i was treating like a colective on a helicopter and placing it where it needed to be.Shes a good observer since she flys also.I didnt think i was using that much.She said they were throwing water 10ft.
No damage fortunately and learned a lot in 15 minutes
In the middle of the s**t show we lost one of the thrusters .the boat close close enough to canyon wall to require pike polls to hold the boat off the rock.We bailed and went to another site.
In looking back at what happened it was discovered a large current at the starboard side which at the time a didnt know. My intend was to control with wind push but in reality it was the current.Being a helicopter pilot i am trained to just use the inputs to make it happen.
In hindsight i was just naturally holding the boat steady but it was against the current and the wind was irrelevant. I ended up depleting the two battery banks. Now i had to hold the boat steady with the single engine and get out of there.
I didnt feel i was on the thrusters that much but my wife told me i was running them flat out at some points.
I was so focused on holding the boat steady that i wasn't aware of power consumption.Once we got stable i saw leaves floating by like
i was i a river.
I learned to do a better assessment of the area and try to be more aware of other systems. I just have one hand on the joysticks and it comes naturally to maneuver without really thinking.My wife thinks i was treating like a colective on a helicopter and placing it where it needed to be.Shes a good observer since she flys also.I didnt think i was using that much.She said they were throwing water 10ft.
No damage fortunately and learned a lot in 15 minutes