In the Wheelhouse

A month and a half....really? A month and a half since my last post to my blog...sheesh, that's embarrassing. I have been a bit busy, but not that busy. Just lazy, I guess. I've been sending many of my photos to the official Safe/Sea Facebook Queen, Meg, to post on the Safe/Sea Facebook Page, so I guess that could be my excuse.

"It kinda seemed like I was blogging, really, it did."

Anyway, the season is just screaming by, like a Safe/Sea towboat being chased by a nasty thunderstorm. The caseload is right about where is should be looking at the past several years' history. There's been a few minor salvage jobs, but a ton of fish trap collisions and foulings down at Black Point, just south of Narragansett Town Beach. Those particular traps have moved farther out from the shore and have been snaring many unsuspecting boaters. If you're heading through the area, be sure you check your chart closely and stay outside the fish trap areas that are marked with purple dashed lines; the only sure way to stay out of trouble is to avoid the designated fish trap areas entirely!

Below are some photos since my last post, including a boating related, but not work related one. Contrary to what you might think, I'm a recreational boater as well as a professional boat driver....

Over the past month, I've been towing in great weather...

...towing in foggy weather...

...towing at sunset...

...towing at night...

...towing in Point Judith (image from the Salty Brine Beach webcam)...

...and speaking of webcams, here's one of my favorite shots from our new webcam at the Block Island Boat Basin. Sunsets on that camera are frequently spectacular.

I've also been training the next generation of Safe/Sea Captains, as my son, Will, got his RI State Boating Card this year and is now legal to solo a boat with more than 10hp. Well done, Willie!

And, finally, I've been racing the J22 purchased with a couple of friends this spring in the Wickford Yacht Club's Wednesday Night Series. I'm flying the spinnaker below, and Will is getting ready to help douse the chute.

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May is a strange month in the marine assistance business. It's like Forrest Gump's Box of Chocolates, you just never know what you're going to get.

This year, we got a beautiful month of mostly sunshine and minimal rain (once the great inundation was over), leading to many boats in the water and (purportedly) ready-to-go for Memorial Day Weekend. As a result, we were very busy, completing over 30 operations over the three days. That number is right about average for a normal summer weekend, but higher than normal for a Memorial Day Weekend. Following are a few snaps from my travels over the past holiday weekend.

A little zoom-zoom Saturday morning for this center console, going from Sandy Pt. Prudence Island to the Weaver Cove Ramp.

Entering Wickford Harbor with a 30' Tollycraft on the hip late in the day.

This Irwin 37 ran out of fuel, and then ran aground trying to sail to the fuel dock. Murphy never lets you get away with running out of fuel. ;-)

Anchor made some new friends, too. This young lady needed a tow from Gaspee Point into Edgewood Yacht Club, and gave Anchor a back scratch for a tip!

My weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Haines Park ramp, and these folks were kind enough to provide the excuse I needed.

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Suffice to say that anyone who's been paying attention to the Rhode Island Boating scene this week is sick of seeing the horrid story of last Saturday night's debacle at Despair Island replayed over and over, so I'm going to gloss right over Sunday's main job and continue on with the more routine aspects of my week of boat driving. If anybody has any question they want to ask about the accident recovery job, leave me a comment, and I'll try to answer it, but please don't ask about the accident itself because I wasn't there, and I don't know exactly what happened.

Rumor has it that the striper action continues in the Upper Bay, north of Conimicut, and our job log bears that fact out. A full 40% of our cases originated north of Conimicut Light this week, and I delivered no less than 3 customers back to the India Point Ramp myself. It's been a busy early season for us so far. In fact, our number of jobs hasn't been this high this early since 2006.

Here's one of my India Point runs from earlier this week. I like it up there, as it's almost always a mill pond.

The Proline below was fishing just off Rocky Point and she needed to go back to Haines Park. Unfortunately, I was on my way back from another India Point run, and I was driving our smaller single-engine boat, the Safe/Sea Titan, and thus couldn't high-speed this job. Oh well, it wasn't far anyway...

As a final note this week, it looks like a busy weekend coming up, as the boating weather looks pretty darn good. One of our boats will be at the boating safety extravaganza at Brewer Cove Haven Marina on Saturday as long as it's not needed on the bay to tow customers, so stop by and see us if you're in the area. Also, there's a big dinghy racing regatta off Wickford happening Saturday and Sunday, so keep your eyes peeled for a bunch of single and double handed in the lower West Passage. Otherwise, have a great boating weekend and here's hoping you just wave at us as we pass by!

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... rarely work out when you're a rescue boat Captain. Last night, I had this morning's schedule all figured out. Capt. Phil was the first Captain on duty, so I figured I would be all set to take in my daughter's home soccer game at Ocean State Soccer, which was scheduled for 1000 just about a mile from where our towboats are docked.

But I hadn't counted on Capt. Phil being visited by the Projectile Vomiting Fairy overnight. Plan A was down the tubes, oh well, that's the way it goes. After all, it's still very early in the season, the wind is blowin' stink, and it's still unlikely I'll get a call out.

Famous last words. Just before 0900, my iPhone goes ding, and it's off to the gap between Patience and Prudence for a 20' O'Day that needs to get back to Allen Harbor. Here's the view as I was exiting Wickford. The wind was WNW at a solid 20 knots. No big deal, but it would be very uncomfortable on that 20 footer during the tow.

After hugging the western shore of Quonset and Davisville to around Calf Pasture Point, I shot across toward Prudence into some rather nasty chop (the tide had been coming in all morning to that point, against the wind). I was really starting to think this guy was going to get soaked and pounded on the way home.

Much to my surprise upon arrival at The Gap, my customer turned out to be an O'Day powerboat. I'd never encountered one of those before, and she had a very low freeboard, particularly at the bow. Having just been banged around pretty well in the 35 foot Safe/Sea Newport, I figured these guys would be much better off riding on the towboat instead of getting drowned in spray and bounced from gunwale to gunwale. Anchor the Dog was pleased with a couple of new temporary shipmates, and off we went. Here's the O'Day following along nicely while her skipper, Capt. Ed, took a shot of her through my salt-streaked rear window.

As it turned out, the spray was flying, but the ride was pretty smooth for the O'Day, as my 35 footer smoothed out the chop for the casualty trailing behind. It was nice to chat with Ed and his mate, who, as it turned out, was a passenger on the Intrepid 36 we salvaged after a collision with a buoy last June. Here's the link to my post about that incident.

http://www.safesea.com/_blog/In_the_Wheelhouse/post/An_Interesting_Wednesday_Morning/

The trip passed uneventfully, and we were secure at around 1030 in Allen Harbor. I missed the soccer game, but made a couple new friends, so it's all good. Below is a pleased Capt. Ed after tying up at the Allen Harbor Ramp. Let's hope you don't need to see me professionally again this year, ok Ed?

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That's the beauty and curse of the Marine Assistance Industry. You just never know when odd jobs are going to come in. I certainly wasn't expecting a member to need a tow from the Hurricane Barrier to Bullock's Cove last night about 1900, especially considering it was about 45 degrees and a Tuesday night. luckily, I had just finished dinner with the family and saddled up promptly. It's a bit blurry, but I kinda like the Providence skyline with the I-Way Bridge in the background.

My pilothouse heaters worked flawlessly, and I was warm and toasty while I zoom-zoomed around the bay.

This morning dawned cold, gray and choppy, so I was even more surprised when I got a text around 0900 that Capt. Phil was headed to Newport for a jumpstart on a 44' Sea Ray. It was one of them new-fangled ones, where everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) is electronic or electronically controlled. Despite his best efforts, Capt. Phil was unsuccessful getting the engines to fire, and suspects the problem lies somewhere in the electronic solenoid "override" box below. Hmmmm.... taking one look at that thing, I'm with him!

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Thanks to Capt. Andy, who has kicked-off the 2010 towing season this morning at 0730 with this 30' Pearson going from Allen Harbor to New England Boatworks! There's been a few launch jobs earlier this month, but this is the first tow we've done this year.

It's been a needed few months off from the blogosphere for me, but The Daily Breeze and The Salty Barrister have stood in admirably during my hiatus. I'm going to make this blog a little more of a collaborative effort this season, using some jobs from Phil, Andy, and Doug to spice things up a bit and keep the posts coming on a more frequent basis.

It's been a good winter at Safe/Sea, as we're fully moved into our new digs at 683 Boston Neck Road, which is just south of Wickford on Rt. 1A. We're in the strip mall just north of Hamilton Elementary School, if anybody wants to stop by and say "hi" this spring.

The Safe/Sea Newport is in the water and ready for action, the Safe/Sea Titan has a new coat of paint and will be launched soon, and we're ready to get back at it!

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Seeing as school had already started before the Labor Day Weekend this year, it was slightly less busy on the water than usual. However, the weather was fantastic... sunny, warm and calm. Following is a picture from each day of my weekend.

I had the Point Judith duty on Saturday. This long-time member was 27 nautical miles southeast of the Point needing a jumpstart after fishing for most of the day. Jobs like this are when I *really* appreciate the extra-calm weather. Twenty-four miles out, twenty-four miles back, and about 3 minutes to get him going. I ended up with 4 jobs around the Point that day.

Sunday found me zipping around upper Narragansett Bay, doing mostly high-speed work. Bullock's Cove was the destination of choice this day, as I was in and out of there at least 3 times. Another beautiful calm day, ideal for getting stuff done in a hurry.

I finished the weekend as the morning boat again, and again found myself in the upper Bay doing mostly short jobs. There were a couple early on, and then a nice family in a sailboat going back to (where else?) Bullock's Cove. It's amazing how jobs clump together sometimes. I hadn't spent a whole lot of time going there this season, but then get at least 5 jobs ending there in one weekend. Anyway, these folks were very friendly, and had a great weekend in Dutch Harbor.

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