Waiting behind some guys about to recover their 19ft Phantom with a monster outboard on the back, I was amused to see that the tow vehicle was a Ford Fiesta. For those of you who don't know what that is, imagine a shopping trolley with a 975cc engine - small car believe me!! See the image.
<br />Apart from having a seriously underpowered vehicle, the second mistake was blindingly obvious but with expensive consequences, read on...<br /><br />The spring tides here in Jersey can rise 36ft from spring low water to spring high. These guys had launched at high, on the old lifeboat slip (which is like a ski-jump and just as slippery!!) and were recovering the boat at spring low. After much wheel spinning, bouncing on the trailer and tyre smoke, there was an almighty bang and everything stopped<br />I had to give the helm to a friend and fetch my Landrover to retrieve a Fiesta with blown clutch, bare front tyres and a completely disheartened owner. Luckily the trailer they had was braked, so it just sat on the slip while I hauled the car out the way, then went back for the boat/trailer. By this time 4 other boats had queued up waiting to recover, some skippers just shaking their heads and others grinning ear to ear...
