Tales from the Dockside
by John Klemesrud

Twenty Sloops Escape

One time all 20 of those sloops out on the chain had their sails up. Their booms were tied in some so that they wouldn't bang into each other ... that means all the sails were full of wind and the boats would cruise forward if it wasn't for the anchored chain they were tied to. It was a very windy day. I was out there jumping from boat to boat on a routine cleanup/inspection in preparation for a busy day of rentals. I jumped off the last boat on to the dock when the chain broke right behind me. EVERY ONE OF THE BOATS WENT FLYING FORWARD! The other end of the chain was still anchored, so it was like giant arm of sailboats swinging at high-speed by the dock. When they crossed the angle of the wind's direction, every sail flipped to the opposite side of its boat. Like playing giant dominoes with sailboats! Then they sailed into the corner and got into a tangled-up mess of boats bumping into each other. I went out there and started dropping sails one by one. The owner came down with a new piece of chain, and told me to stop dropping sails. He was going to just tow them all back into place. He started towing from the broken end of chain which had a rope he had tied to it. I could see that the force of about 15 sails was too much for the rope and the motorboat. The rope snapped, luckily no one got hit, and he decided to let me continue dropping sails before trying again. All of the boats were put back into place without damage. I've always wondered what it would have been like if the chain broke one step earlier ... when I was still on the end boat. I would have had one wild ride!

Docking the Victory

I was sailing the 21' Victory one late afternoon with a friend. There was a steady south wind. The boat needed to be docked just south of the ramp that goes down to the dock. To access that place on the dock I had to sail straight downwind behind the extra sloops on the anchored chain. This was a narrow passage between boats and rocks on the shore. I hadn't done it before because south winds are somewhat rare. So I sailed down to this dead-end before the ramp, whipped the boat around into the wind while barely missing the rocks and coming inches away from the other boats. I kept the boat pointed straight into the wind until it stopped. Then as we slowly started to drift back downwind, I used the tiller to guide a perfect reverse parallel parking ... docking. I hadn't planned on the backwards drift, but it worked out nicely.

Rescue at the Hilton

At the end of the day at the Vacation Village dock, I got word that a boat from the Hilton dock was stranded and they had no way of retrieving it. The boats there were owned by the same people, and the stranded boat was the last working motorboat of the few that they had. At Vacation Village one of the "chase boats" was out of commission. Even though the other had a broken throttle cable, it was the best bet. I finished closing at Vacation Village and set out for the Hilton at the far eastern part of Mission Bay. I took off the engine cover and lodged a wooden paddle against the internal throttle lever so that I could stand up enough to see over the bow. Seeing where I was going was a good thing, but I still couldn't reach the steering wheel. When I would start to get off-course, I would have to disengage the throttle which brought me to a halt. Then I'd adjust the steering wheel and reengage the throttle hoping that I didn't over-adjust the course correction. Basically, the throttle could be full-on or full-off. This was an interesting way to travel around Vacation Island and Fiesta Island. Then the real challenge came when I had to use this method of maneuvering the boat as I approached the stranded boat at shore and towed it to the Hilton dock. Docking was a special challenge as well. I'd release the throttle, run to the front to put it in reverse and turn the wheel, run to the back to hit the throttle for a second, and jump back up to see if I was on-course and not going too fast. As I made adjustments, I also had to keep an eye on the rental I was towing. By the time I got the Hilton closed up, it was getting dark, but not to worry: I was now equipped with a trusty six inch flashlight. So with the paddle in one hand, the flashlight in the other, my neck stretched up to see over the bow, and my eyes peeled for the lights of other boats, I traversed my irregular circuit back around the islands to the VV dock. It was nice that the owner was waiting there to make sure I was safe. All motorboats were quickly repaired after that day.

Searching the Fog

It was a busy weekend; there were lots of boats out. A fog came in quickly and it was surprisingly thick. There must have been about 15 boats still out and we knew it would be hard for the renters to find their way back. I set out in the "chase boat" going a little slower than usual. At first I couldn't find any boats. Not knowing when I might be getting dangerously close to something, I kept my eyes peeled. After a quick turn away from the beach at the north end of the bay and little guess-work, I found my first glimmer of orange and white sails. It wasn't long before I had found five boats. The people were grateful for the help. All the boats were tied to each other and I pulled what seemed like a Disneyland train ride back to the dock. Bringing them in extra slow, it was good to see a lot of help dockside. Fortunately, most of the other renters had made it back on their own. We closed rather early and the fog hadn't caused as many difficulties as I had imagined.

Fix on the Fly

I remember a day when a new employee didn't tie some of the mainsails to the end of their booms properly. A sloop had just left the dock when its sail became disconnected. They were drifting toward the rocks. I jumped in a motorboat and came up behind them. I tied to their stern and took control of the tiller with my feet as I held the end of the sail in my fist. I offered jib instructions as I retied the sail. After maneuvering away from the rocks, I offered another suggestion or two and pushed off from their stern. Just another day at the dock.

The Beach Run

Sometimes sailboats would get too close to the beach just north of the dock. Whenever I saw a sailboat stuck in the sand, I knew it was time to flip off my shoes. Once I knew all nearby customers were taken care of, I would run up the ramp, jump over the railing, go through the bushes and on to the beach. Moving all the sailboat passengers to one side would tilt the boat and free the keel from the sand. I'd offer a few sailing tips and push them off. Rescuing sailboat renters was always more fun than the motorboat and paddleboat renting routines.

The Launching
To bring a sailboat up on the dock for repair, we brought the boat along side the dock where there was a hoist that would bring the boat up on its side. You would pull a rope that was tied to the top of a mast that was attached to a swivel at the edge of the dock. Once the boat was on its side you could take its mask off and bring a cart next to the boat. Then you could tilt the boat up-side-down on the cart and wheel it around. When the repair was complete, you would reverse the process to get the boat back in the water. The final step was untying the rope that held the hoist/mast to the dock. As the weight of the boat came down into the water you could keep hold of the rope, get pulled up off the dock, swing out past the boat, and fly off into the water. This was the best way to get cooled off on a hot summer day.

Other Memories

• Fellow employees putting mayonnaise in the new guy's sunscreen bottle

• Sean and Timothy hosing off the bottom of a boat on the dock wearing goggles, gloves and hoods ... holding the hose together (as if it needed two people) and seriously yelling like it's some kind of nuclear waste operation

• Stealing hors d'oeuvres from the patio bar

• Drunken customers crashing a pontoon barge into the dock at full speed singing the theme to Gilligan's Island

• Climbing to the top of a mast to rig a halyard, and putting a pirate flag on top of the shack

• Sailing separate boats with Rick and throwing a Frisbee from boat to boat, also getting in the water and holding onto a boat that was rigged to sail itself

• Sailing a Catamaran with Stuart Stratton and almost tipping over as we turned into the wind like doing a wheelie and smacked down at a dead stop

• Knocking down sailboarders by blocking their wind while sailing and sailboarding with Torbjorn

• While picnicking on the island, sailing across to get lunch at Jack-in-the-Box to keep an island parking place and avoid long lines of traffic across the bridge

• Timothy's homemade blue and white uniform shorts

• Teaching new employees to sail who would begin sailing instructor duties that same day