Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Life is what happens when you are busy making plans

I should be doing this blog in Elizabeth City. I should be taking pictures of the town and telling you how wonderful it is. Instead I am having to explain the whys and wherfores of this.
What you see is line usually used to hold a polystyrene buoy to a crab pot, but instead it wound up on my prop shaft when I motored over it.
That little line attached to that buoy next to my rudder can stop a great big 20,000lb boat like mine dead in it's tracks. It involves calling the cavalry, which in this case is Sea Tow and going for a swim. Meet Kevin........
Talk about a class act! I can't say enough good things about Kevin and Sea Tow. I got stuck in the middle of nowhere, here in Alligator Creek, and Kevin arrived shortly after I got disabled to save my bacon. He was very careful about towing me back to protection of the shoreline, out of the wind.
And it was blowing 20 knots with a 3 foot short chop, so nothing to sneeze about. I could have tried to swim down to my prop and cut the line without getting a tow, but the boat was hobby-horsing and could have knocked me out while under it. When I got back to shore, I was so glad to see "Rode Trip" still anchored and they were so helpful getting my boat back and running again. Here is the swimming part in calm waters, courtesy of Stephanie while Brian is helping me cut the line wound tight about the prop.
I am so grateful to have come through this event unscathed. It opened my eyes to how dependant we are on the generosity of our friends. I am humbled by this experience.







2 comments:

  1. Yes indeed! A bit sobering really. And you're not even out on the open seas...

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  2. If I ever have to go over the side to swim and fix the prop in the open ocean, I will be waiting a long time for calm waters! Spare the thought.

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