People do the Funniest Things

[Hightower]

I was down at Old Portsmouth tonight and walking past the Camber slipway in between Pubs when the sound of an outboard and lots of giggling, drew my attention to a RIB (looked like an Avon) full of people (4 young women and 3 young lads) as they came in to land on a pontoon.

I did mumble something to my friend about the fact that there wasn't a life jacket in sight.

The girls disembarked along with a few bits and bobs. Once all out, one of the lads, who had been holding the RIB against the pontoon decided to jump back in to the RIB. However instead of jumping on to the tube, he jumped straight in to the Sea....Was just the funniest sight and really topped what turned out to be a most enjoyable evening. To include catching some fish from the shore and winning on the fruit machines at Clarance Pier and even having the odd beer or three.

So what's the funniest boaty thing you've seen?

[Tim M]

I'd be interested to know which young person it was as I know a few down there and this could be a good drink bargaining story

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by Tim M

I'd be interested to know which young person it was as I know a few down there and this could be a good drink bargaining story

If you put the word about Tim and find out who it was, then perhaps I could be invited to the Pub too

[Nasher]

One of the funniest boaty thing I’ve seen also involved somebody taking an unexpected dip in the Camber Dock.

Mark Halliday(remember him? He’s still alive and well by the way, I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago) and myself had launched my boat at the Camber on the start day of the Round Britain Race.

One of the guys from ‘Mr Fullers Site’ was launching a small boat with huge engine on the back, and had left it tied to the trailer and attached to his Shogun whilst he ran the engine up and checked the timing under load.

It was an impressive, albeit anti-social, sight at 08:00hrs in the morning, with the sound of a 250+ BHP 2-Stroke ringing around the Camber whilst the boat was actually pushing the trailer and Shogun back up the slipway and producing a huge rooster tail.

It was so impressive that his teenage daughter decided to take a photo of the goings on with her phone.
She did the classic walking backwards to get everything in shot, and just walked backwards off the edge of the slipway into the oily, fishy Camber.
The best bit was she ended up completely underwater except for one hand just a few inches above the surface clasping her phone.

I expect one of the funnier things others have seen involved me, again at the Camber.

Having launched the boat in company with Nos, I’d run the car and trailer round to the car park and we were chatting at the top of the slipway when I realised the boat ignition keys I had in my hand still had the Transom bung attached to them.

Leaning over the back of the boat I couldn’t quite reach down far enough to screw it in, so ended up hanging over the back half underwater with Nos holding my ankles so I could reach. Of course I didn’t think until afterwards I could have just pulled the boat round stern on up the slip and knelt down in a foot of water to do it.

So there you have it, entertainment centre of the boaty world, the Camber Dock in Old Portsmouth.

Of course I won’t mention the classic Nos turning his SR4 into a submarine off Yarmouth, as he did win the Purple helmet of the decade for it at this/last years X-mas bash.

Our trips to Dartmouth over the years have produced a few.
Davybouys SR5.4 was parked up on it’s trailer at the campsite on a slight slope, when he climbed into it his weight just tipped the balance and it rolled backwards down the slope and parked itself in a hedge with Dave as a bemused passenger.

Or when Daves son pulled up the anchor and was rewarded with a large spider crab clinging to it like a dog humping a leg.

Another was two people and a very large dog transferring from an anchored RIB to the beach at Beesands one at a time in a one man kids blow up dingy attached to a rope that was about 10 feet too short to reach the shore. She made it almost all the way to shore then tipped over into the breakers and was so wet she may have well swum in.

You need a few beers and a campfire to sit around telling these.

Ah yes, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing next month during the annual pilgrimage to Dartmouth.

Nasher.

[Hightower]

So it goes to show you that the Camber's the place to be for some funny goings on.

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Hightower

So it goes to show you that the Camber's the place to be for some funny goings on.

Mmm, funny goings on in more ways than the ha ha funny.
I've heard that late in the evening the fishermen are very protective of some of the bags of shell fish unloaded off their boats straight into the backs of lorries

Nasher

[neilda]

A chum of mine knelt on the tube of his rib in the camber only to find it more spongy than he thought - he went in head first between his boat and the pontoon. His auto jacket brought him up under the pontoon, which could have been nasty.....

I came into the camber following my disastrous 'let's do a U turn whilst in mid air' experiment.

I suspect the chaps at KB have seen it all.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Nasher

One of the funniest boaty ...................
Nasher.

I'm sure I asked you what it was worth to hang on at the time

Here's a couple too-Biggles regularly falling in or falling over at Warsash-usually with an auto inflate lifejacket on.

Someone who shall remain nameless (because I promised I wouldn't name him) forgetting to pull the anchor up off the Needles when we were trolling for mackerel and wondering why the boat suddenly turned 180 degrees twice.

Oh, and ask me about the Dory, the dog and the aquaphobic in Poole at some point. It'd take me an hour to type it all out so it's definitely a campfire tale..

[Neil Harvey]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Oh, and ask me about the Dory, the dog and the aquaphobic in Poole at some point. It'd take me an hour to type it all out so it's definitely a campfire tale..

that's entertainment for saturday night sorted then

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by neil harvey

that's entertainment for saturday night sorted then

Well, 10 minutes of it.