Well ! Finally the boat hit the water, I had friends visiting for a week in April & we decided that other than the obligatory shopping, meals out, Days on the Xbox etc. we would have a trip out on the boat, It was nothing to do with fishing you understand (erm! erm!) it was a social sort of ride for the wives, "mind you! I have to admit that there was 3 or 4 rods aboard, a whole box of tackle and a few quids worth of bait!! Anyhow, it was arranged & we decided that on the day we would leave early in the morning & make a day of it. On the morning, my mates wife decided that she wanted to go into town for some new shoes, so while the ladies were gone we quickly (cos you know when women go shoe shopping they won`t be long!) got everything onboard the boat & made sure that she was secure on the trailer, she was then hitched up & towed out to the green at the front of the bungalow, we then sat & had a cuppa, some sandwiches & were watching Jeremy Kyle on TV, it never entered our minds that the women were taking a little longer than we thought they would (Do you believe that?) When they finally arrived home we were out of the door like a shot & heading for the boatyard & slip. We arrived at Davis`s and parked up then went to the office to pay our slipping fee, we were then told that we wouldn`t be getting out for a while as there wasn`t any water on the slip, It was at this point that both myself & Richard were thinking of all the places we could shove a new pair of shoes!! We reversed the boat onto the slip in the hope that as the incoming tide rose it would lift the boat off the trailer, 3 hours later & with a lot of swearing, attempts to bump it off etc it was finally heaved off the trailer & into the shallow water. I parked the car & trailer & made my way back to the pontoon where the women were stood looking at the gently swaying, tied up boat as if it was a wild stallion, ignoring their obvious iffy looks at my baby I jumped aboard & started the engine, After months of standing on the trailer in the yard, the engine fired after two turns, I was well pleased & turned round smiling at the women who still looked like they were going to bolt for the car. After I had made sure everything was stowed safely & the engine had been given time to warm up I said "C`mon then, get in" the women gingerly stepped over the rails & very quickly settled themselves in the wheelhouse, Richard took care of the lines & I eased the boat away from the pontoon and headed her down the narrow channel & around towards cobbs quay & the boat channel that would take us out into Poole harbour proper. We had not gone that far, in fact, we hadn`t even reached the main channel or even the town bridge before I had one women in tears & another screaming because the boat actually rolled & bobbed a bit instead of holding solid to the water like a car did to the road, in all the confusion & trying to calm the women I sort of strayed a bit so I wasn`t at the right hand side of the channel, I was outside it, & as the water was still a bit shallow "Yes you`ve guessed it" "BANG!!!" What the hell was that ! I exclaimed no more than slightly annoyed, Even though I knew I would never know what was the culprit that caused the bang & shuddered the boat, I knew that whatever it was, was very hard & very unkind to my prop. After a few quick manouvers & checks for incoming water we were satisfied that there wasn`t any real damage & carried on (mind you! it did make the women go quiet LOL) We went under the town bridge and finally hit the main shipping channel which I crossed quickly and settled the boat on a course that would take us down the boat channel that runs just outside the main channel buoys, The women had, by now & with a lot of reassuring that we were not going to capsize & all go to a watery grave, quietened down a bit & were starting to take notice of the places we passed such as Brownsea island, It was when we passed the chain ferry & cleared the mouth of the harbour that the screaming started again & as we passed the hook sands the women decided that the moderate conditions were more akin to the perfect storm & even though I didn`t look like George clooney I was going to be going the same place he was in the film & I was taking them with me. (WOMEN!!!!) After a split second of visions passing through my mind of me hurling them overboard and laughing with glee at their shocked faces disapearing downwards in the murky water, it was decided to spin the boat around & head back into the harbour. We re-entered the harbour & as we were passing the island myself & richard decided that we would anchor up & wet a line, We did just that, we also ignored the complaints of the women that every boat that passed was making waves and rocking the boat too much, we also didn`t catch any whackers, in fact we didn`t have a bite. So after an hour & a half or so of dangling our bits over the side & laughing at the women in payment for the shoe shop fiasco we decided that it was time to up anchor & head back to the slip as the gates were to be closed at 5 o`clock. When we got back to the slip we realised that even though it was now high water there still wasn`t an awful lot of depth on the slip & so after we dropped the women off on the pontoon I left Richard to drive the boat onto the trailer & I went to get the car & trailer & backed it down the slip. It was not an easy job getting the bu%#er back on the trailer but after a couple of attempts then one almighty rush at the trailer by Richard we finally got her back onto the bunks, pulled her up the slip & started to secure her to the trailer, It was then that we seen the result of the "BANG!!" I had one blade on the prop that was chewed along the edge & another that had a good inch & a half bent over at 90 degree, What a fiasco!! & certainly a day that had some lessons in it about what not to do. Wether it was the excitment of getting the boat into the water after owning her for nearly a year or just plain stupidness I had made lots of mistakes that I really should have known better about, I didn`t check the tides, or the weather, I didn`t check out the slip, I didn`t check all my instruments, I didnt do a radio check, I didn`t inform anyone of our departure or numbers onboard, I didn`t even keep my eye on my GPS which would have clearly shown I was outside the channel when I damaged my prop, & I didn`t wear my life jacket or see to it that anyone else onboard wore thiers, One good thing that came out of this trip was that I will certainly remember it & my mistakes & in remembering I won`t make the same ones again & the next time I go out I`l make sure that a lot of prep goes on before I leave home.