G-Daddy
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- May 3, 2002
- Messages
- 197
My family and I were fishing Sunday afternoon and heard a call on VHF channel 16, Breaker 19. That was followed by a few seconds of silence and then another call, Is this the Coast Guard? After no response for another few seconds we heard, Mayday, Mayday, I need the Coast Guard. Shortly after this last call a voice came on the radio and said it was the United States Coast Guard Eastern Shore Virginia Office and requested the nature of the callers distress. The caller responded that they had lost all power and their motor would not start, adding that the only power left was the battery thats providing power for this CB. The Coast Guard operator told the caller to shift to channel 22. I thought it would be interesting to listen to so I shifted channels to eavesdrop. Next came a request for identification and description of the vessel to which the caller made a rambling reply about a 21 foot Bayliner Trophy with a white top and a bimini with the name Sea Dove. When asked for a location they said they were in Mosquito Creek and they just passed the bridge and could see the big satellite dish on the right. The Coast Guard operator then requested an exact location. The answer came back, All I have is a compass and its between 30 and 60. The Coast Guard operator told them to stay on channel 22 and they would have the local Coast Guard Station contact them. We were preparing to go back in by that time and we had some chuckles. My daughter said she didnt know there was anyone in the world more clueless than her, but that caller was the one person who was. This was not really a SHT, just the frantic ramblings of an inexperienced boater.<br /><br />We put our rods away and I was beginning to prepare for startup to head back to the dock when we drifted past an anchored 21 foot Trophy. The folks on board yelled out that they were disabled. I asked if they were the boat contacting the Coast Guard and they said yes. I asked if they had a line and they said yes. I told them that I would tow them back to the dock (we were headed to the same place) and that they should contact the Coast Guard and tell them that I would give them a tow.<br /><br />Now my boat is a 17-footer about half the weight of the boat I was towing. That may have been the first SHT. My daughter made the observation that it was like a pickup towing a Kenworth.<br /><br />We were making about 5 mph in a 3 mph current so the headway was extremely slow. We finally got back to Mosquito Creek did I mention they were in Cockle Creek when we started the tow (that they didnt know where they were does qualify as a SHT)? As we were coming in a number of boats passed us giving us a wide berth and making very little wake. As we passed under the bridge we built up a several boat backlog and about the third boat by after clearing the bridge was a 25 footer rigged for offshore. This idiot passed by about 8 feet off my starboard and threw about a 3 foot wake. That was definitely a SHT. The rocking from the wake caused the line to snap and the bayliner started drifting back towards the bridge pier. I got turned around and my daughter grabbed the broken end of the line. We secured it to my bow cleat and I could back enough to keep the boat from crashing into the bridge pier. It started to swing into the pier from the current, but we were able to back away just fast enough that the stern cleared the pier by mere inches. It took an agonizingly long time to get far enough from the bridge so that I could safely turn and secure the boat into a towing position.<br /><br />We were making a sharp turn to port in a very narrow channel and I was hugging the outside of the turn with the boat in tow on the inside of the turn when a go-fast boat decided they needed to pass. There was only about 12 feet between my starboard and the bank, but he squeezed through another SHT.<br /><br />Then when we got to the dock we pushed them off so someone on the dock could take their line and walk them down to the recovery ramp. Some redneck on the dock started yelling that they were pulled up to a walkway and not to dock their boat there yes another SHT. When my daughter told them they had no power, the observer shut up. When they got to the recovery ramp the boater in front had his boat on the trailer, but felt it important to go on a several-minute rant about proper use of marine radio, thus tying up the ramp unnecessarily long - more SHT action.<br /><br />All things considered we had a lot of entertainment for a Sunday afternoon and something we can talk about for years to come.
LOL