PSA: I think the 'always cut the line' rule for a fouled prop is too quick sometimes.

We were doing a hull clean in San Diego Bay last month, and my umbilical got caught in a boat's prop. Everyone on deck was yelling to cut it. I took a second, saw the line was just looped once, and managed to back the prop off by hand while my tender kept slack. If I'd cut it, we'd have lost a $2,000 umbilical and the whole day's pay. Sometimes you have a few seconds to think before you act. Has anyone else had a fouling where cutting wasn't the only answer?

3 comments

3 Comments

ellis.victor2mo ago

Man, this is everywhere. The whole "safety first, zero thought" rule gets applied to everything now. Like at work, we have to shut down a whole machine if one sensor blinks, even when you can see the jam is just a loose wrapper. Or my car's computer freaks out and says "service immediately" over a loose gas cap. Sometimes the best tool is just taking a breath and looking at the problem.

fisher.mason1mo ago

Right? It's like we've handed over all the common sense to a bunch of paranoid toddlers with the power to shut everything down. My buddy's truck wouldn't start because the sensor thought the brake pedal wasn't pushed, but the actual problem was a dead battery in his key fob. So now we need a computer degree just to figure out why a machine won't run. But hey, at least we're safe from a loose wrapper.

paige_martin2mo ago

Wait, your car really does that over a loose gas cap?