Oooh, I love searching through this forum. I hope people don't mind if I bump this thread.
One time, last year in the summer, I was participating in a regatta for Optimists. If you don't know dinghies this is what optis look like(my face blurred out for obvious reasons)(Yes i know I look small but at that time I hadn't hit my growth spurt):
Anyway, while our coach was towing us to the regatta, we were on a downwind. Essentially, the wind blows directly into your back. This is the slowest way of sailing, but the easiest. However, the wind gods were not on our side that day, and decided to make it almost dead(no wind). So, our coach decided to tow us in to make the process faster. The club that was hosting the regatta had a massive sandbank, and because of this they marked out a specific area in which you could pass through. Straying anywhere outside of this area would be a lot of money for the motorboat driver who had the misfortune to go in. Anyway, as we were approaching the sandbank, a large rental boat started approaching this entrance from the boat docks(we were going to the dinghy ramps). The driver of the boat, to put it nicely, was an absolute and total ignoramus. My coach, still towing us, on a downwind(the wind picked up a little, not too much so that we would be flying, but enough that the coach would have to keep going if he wanted us to stay on the towline), was yelling at the guy to stop, as my coach had right of way. There were two girls on the deck of the boat, and they looked slightly amused. However, my coach hit the sandbank, and, because he was driving the club's fastest boat available to him(For towing boats), he dropped the towlines and pulled up the motor to prevent damage to the prop(sand on propellers is nasty stuff). However, we were still on a towline, and now headed straight for the rental. Because this boat is meant for 8-15 year olds, most people at this level(I was still a beginner racer) would be 9 to 12 maybe. However, me being 14 at the time and having to yell at two 10 year olds to untie their towlines ASAP was very stressful. Anyway, the kid who was at the front(the towlines were looped through each other so the one at the front had to undo the rest) was taking absolutely ages, and because we were on a towline, in order to turn to irons(head to wind), all of us would have to do it together. But, the kid at the front was incompetent, and we were fast approaching the boat(the wind also picked up, which didn't help). Then BANG! We hit the rental. At this point the two bikini girls on deck were frantically running around and yelling at the guy, as well as telling us "it's ok, it's ok, you'll be alright". Meanwhile the guy is starting to get stuck. He hit the sandbank at around the time my coach was yelling at him, and now he was starting to get really stuck. This guy was trying frantically to get out, and was at full engine power. Nevermind that there were two kids in tiny boats quite literally a meter away from the frothing, spinning metal blade in turbulent water. It was at this time that the wind was starting to become quite the annoyance, and with me attempting to be at the ready to free the next person as well as steering, I was having some great trouble as my boom(the thing that holds the sail sideways), was about to violently come over to my side.
After roughly 5 minutes, the guy at the front FINALLY undid the knot, and we were free. The rest of the day proceeded as it should have, we got to the ramp, took the boats out, packed them to be ready for the regatta next day, and rocketed back to our club. All in all that took 1 hour. When we were leaving, we saw that the rental boat was also leaving. It took an hour as well as an excavator that was handily in the area to get that guy out of there.
Moral of the story? Don't be a jerk and be courteous around sandbanks.