"Tilman" Holed

While launching solo at a crowded triple boat ramp I was feeling  flustered by the entire situation. I just wanted to get away from the hustle and tension and set sail. I rushed back from parking my land rover and trailer to find my Mirror dinghy TILMAN wallowing with 6" of water on the inside of the boat. I immediately assumed some fool in a power boat had upset her and jammed her under the wharf while flooding her with wash.

Otherwise she looked finest as quick as I could I bailed her out and set off the day was hot, but the stiff awareness was a tonic. I hardened the sheets and we chuffed off heading north avoiding the holiday traffic and racing yachts and dinghies (Her on Nationals), but rather than serenity I found that this watermaking thing was persisting. My mind screaming for peace, I discarded the issue as just the water draining from the (unplugged) buoyancy tanks and made a note to bung them up before sailing next time.

But despite my desperation for a,few hours sailing, I now realised the bilgewater level was indeed rising significantly and was making TILMAN sluggish through the water (now a 1 1/2' chop and 20 knots on the nose). I bailed as much as a dinghy sailor can under these conditions, but it was hopeless and I really needed to find a sheltered spot to heave to and bail out.

The site of an empty bilge was heartening, well. it would have been. As soon as I bailed, more water was flooding in and I suspected that when TILMAN  rammed the wharf she may have split a seam. (In hindsight this was the first dawning of reality.) I needed to get back to the ramp and check her from below. but even then my mind was searching for simpler explanations, and I discovered the possibility that the automatic bailed may be leaking. I worked it one way then the other, but found no appreciable impact on the water level either way and in fact saw little chips of plywood mixed with the water. alarm bells should have gone off "I'm holed and sinking", but no, my state of denial was in firm control and I wrote it off as bits of detritus being flushed from the buoyancy tanks.

Fortunately aired in the tanks would not allow them to become flooded too much, and apart from being wet and sluggish I never felt like I was in immediate danger. I negotiated my way to the wharf and with head In the bow section I finally saw first hand, water flowing freely through a 1 1/2" hole.