Murphy's Law

Below is a summarised small list of real experiences which have occurred to offshore boaties. We’ve placed them here so you can think about how you’d handle them in the comfort of your lounge room, rather than facing the situation on the water.

These things have happened, as well as a few thousand others not mentioned! (We’ve left out the good things about boating, you’ll discover them yourself).

  • Engine breaks down when crossing a bar
  • Engine breaks down in water too deep to drop anchor
  • Boat breaks down when out of radio range
  • Boat swamped off shore
  • Boat run over by passing ship
  • Boat capsized off-shore
  • Boat capsized in bar
  • Boat swamped in bar
  • Gear dropped overboard
  • Transom & engine fall off boat (boat sunk)
  • Sharks gnawing on boat
  • Running out of fuel
  • Bad visibility down to 100m
  • Wind springs up causing huge seas
  • Swell comes up and closes bar
  • Stings/bites cause skipper incapacitation
  • Encounter a broken down vessel
  • Tow a vessel through a bar
  • Divers below and the unmanned boat drifts away
  • Boat swamped and sunk whilst divers below
  • Boat stolen whilst divers below
  • Anchor gets stuck on a reef
  • Loss of anchor (drifting in heavy seas)
  • Seasickness
  • Injury on board
  • Fire on board
  • Person overboard
  • Hitting a turtle
  • Gear malfunction
  • Beached on a reef
  • Temporarily unsure of position (lost)
  • ‘Oft heard quote in the boating fraternity’: “Ah, the joys of boating”

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