unforeseen cost of owning a rib

[603doug]

Divorce, lost of friends, whiplash, lost gear (cell phone,glasses,countless hats, etc) Probably all of you who have owned one for awhile know this
I must of missed the memo

1. Wife threatens divorce or worse(take my rib away) if we go over 15 knots on dead clam seas
2. Friends all want to go diving, most shore dive, do not realize boat diving in the northern Atlantic offshore is different than the Caribbean (waves, colder ride on the way back) try to explain the faster you can go the less bumps, so on occasion you launch the boat and everyone thinks you are an a@@hole. The sound of the prop coming out of the water is Cool.
3. Get back to shore, start whine about backs, knees, lose work because of chiropractic's appointments etc.
4. So my $500 cell phone flew out of the boat on one of the launching off a wave I did not cry about it (tried the one helping the economy with the wife, did not work, last time she and i went out the phone fell out of its holder and she said she explained how i should lash it to the console, I must of been counting seals did not remember the conversation)
5. My #1 dive partner lost his glasses, we did not lose a knot. He told his wife he needed new ones any way, they were scratched. 3 weeks later she let him replace them. He now duct tape them to his head.

So owning a RIB is expensive (gas cost ain't shit) it is worth every moment

[Richard B]

Doug, I like your attitude!

Originally Posted by 603doug

The sound of the prop coming out of the water is Cool.

Yeah Mon!

[Tims Osprey]

I must of lost 3 or 4 mobile phones while out on the waves, most off the time though i just brake them because of leaving them in my shorts pocket while launching or retrieving. My single biggest loss came off Bude beach when a friend and I managed to capsize a small 12ft rib, i don't mind admitting some of the crazy irresponsible things that i used to do back then because thankfully i have moved on a bit from that, have done RYA powerboat level 2 and i am thinking about doing my instructors course.
We managed to launch off bude beach in 4-5ft breaking waves, a feat in its self now i have learned, but it quickly became apparent to me that this aint good! especially after getting some 200 yards out the waves were getting bigger. So after flying over dozens of 6-7 ft waves and finding plenty of air, the waves were now 7-8ft and getting bigger and breaking more frequently, we managed to get over a few waves that were between 7-9ft and then in front i spotted a huge wave coming in, must of been 10ft+ its amazing how we managed to get so far over big breaking waves. I thought to myself for a split second i need to turn around but i didn't have time after recovering from a previous wave and our best chance of getting over this was to face it head on so thats what i did and bang the wave had no mercy and flipped us over bow to stern, We were then being bashed about in the surf but we didn't panic and swam to the upside down boat and started to swim back to shore, well half swim half surf really. We were met by two surf dude life guards about 100 metres from the shore that helped us through the surf with the boat, once we were back on the shore they helped us turn the boat back over as well, what a great job are life guards do on are beaches. I thought that we were in for a right telling off but they shuck are hands and said in that ozzy way of dealing with things, yow dude extreme sports! one thing i did learn that day was to respect the sea.
lost a whole heap of kit though: 2 Abu 7500 fishing reels and rods, 2 lots of snorkeling equipment, fishing gear, a nice camera and more, all in all i think about £800 pounds not to mention nearly losing the boat.