A Minor Rescue

[Sam F]

Last weekend, my daughter, son-in-law and my son went for a pleasant sail on the Chesapeake. They sailed out of a public ramp at the Great Wicomico River’s mouth. The winds weren’t exciting (like my wife prefers), but good enough for some fine sailing. Tacking back in the afternoon, with slowly dying winds, they saw in the distance someone waving so they changed tack and headed on over to see what was up. A teenage boy on a PWC was standing on the “boat” and gesturing frantically. Once they were close enough to talk, the fellow said that his battery was dead and asked for a tow.
There being little wind for that sort of thing, they fired up the ol’ auxiliary Johnson and took him under tow. A PWC being towed in by a sailboat? Oh the humiliation! :D
Handily, it turned out he needed to go to the same ramp they were headed for anyway so the whole operation was taken care of in short order.
The boy’s father was waiting at the ramp starting to become anxious about his son. Once he was filled in, he said: “Darn it! Everything I have is junk!” (I suspect that was the cleaned up version. ;) ) Son-in-law said: “You aren’t the only one! I was supposed to have driven my Bronco and it broke down at my in-laws – that’s why I’m driving this crummy mini-van.”

All this confirms a few prejudices and solves a mystery:
Motors and machines in general aren’t to be trusted, but eventually the wind will blow.
PWC’s, even as machines, aren’t of much worth – presumably this one had no way to start it by hand. Perhaps the engine is too large for that?
And that’s why an old Bronco was sitting in my driveway and my van was gone! :D

[Gary E]

Originally posted by Sam F:

There being little wind for that sort of thing, they fired up the ol’ auxiliary Johnson and took him under tow.

Motors and machines in general aren’t to be trusted, but eventually the wind will blow. :D So you used a motor, why didn ya just wait for the wind ta blow?

Maintain mechanical equipment, it can last a long long time.

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

I'm glad you taught your children to be kind and alert while on the water. ;)
Great story. :cool:

[Sam F]

Originally posted by Gary E:
So you used a motor, why didn ya just wait for the wind ta blow?

Maintain mechanical equipment, it can last a long long time.Sure - and it can fail at any time too. The problem is that stuff fails. Complex stuff fails more often and can't be fixed on the spot either. Voice of sad experience speaking there...
Making a small boat with only one way to start the engine seems a bit odd though.

They could have sailed him in too. Had the old 1970's vintage outboard not started, they would have... but the wind had lessened considerably and the poor fellow had been out that quite long enough as it was.
Tacking in a light wind while towing what amounts to a sea anchor is no one's idea of fun either! :D

[Gary E]

yeah, look at what killed yesterdays space shot, a sensor probly not much more costly than the gas gage in your car...

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by Gary E:
yeah, look at what killed yesterdays space shot, a sensor probly not much more costly than the gas gage in your car...Given what they are measuring and how critical this part apparently is...I understand they have 4 of them in each tank just to make sure that they will never be without this information, I'd bet that this part is a LOT more expensive then the gas gage in your average car, or even the gas gage in a really fancy car...

[hikingchrs]

Don't all boats need to carry a paddle or oar?
Chris

[Gary E]

It might be, but so very often these items are right out of a catalog and due to the Mil Spec price inflation and the normal gov contracting procedure these often end up costing an arm and a leg. I know of what I speak, used to be a mil contactor. How do you think a toilet seat ends up costing 200 bux?

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by Gary E:
It might be, but so very often these items are right out of a catalog and due to the Mil Spec price inflation and the normal gov contracting procedure these often end up costing an arm and a leg. I know of what I speak, used to be a mil contactor. How do you think a toilet seat ends up costing 200 bux?This is going to turn into a political argument so let's leave it alone because this ain't the bilge...

[Tristan]

Call me overly cautious, but I have an auxillary motor on my little Diablo outboard. I also have oarlocks and oars. I am always amazed at folks who run miles offshore in outboards with no auxillary. The two times I was able to help someone involved showing them how to hop out of their small keel boat (into three feet of water) and use their halyards to heel their boat over and get their keel out of the sand so they could push her off to deeper water. Reminds me of what to do when your keel starts bumping in shallow water: 1. Fall off the wind a little and drive on, 2. It you're still bumping, get the crew forward to get her keel up, drive on. 3. If this doesn't work, heel her over and drive on. 4. Should you finally come hard aground after running off, piling the crew forward, and heeling her down, pray you're not aground at the exact moment of the highest spring tide of the year.

[George.]

Originally posted by Sam F:
A PWC being towed in by a sailboat? Oh the humiliation! :D
:D

I hope they towed him backwards...

:D

[Sam F]

Originally posted by hikingchrs:
Don't all boats need to carry a paddle or oar?
ChrisDidn't think of that. I wouldn't go anywhere with out an alternate means of propulsion - and once had 4! Yeah, that's over-kill but two are required aren't they?
I don't think I've ever seen anything like a paddle on a PWC - I usually avert my eyes ;) , but is there a compartment to stow something like that on them?

[Gary E]

Originally posted by Bruce Hooke:
[QUOTE]This is going to turn into a political argument so let's leave it alone because this ain't the bilge...Political?? you sure have an imaganation, where is one political word?
sheesh...

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by Gary E:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Bruce Hooke:
This is going to turn into a political argument so let's leave it alone because this ain't the bilge...Political?? you sure have an imaganation, where is one political word?
sheesh...</font>Ummm...it seems pretty obvious to me...there are clear implications in what you said about how efficient or inefficient the government is at buying and building stuff. If that is not political I'm not sure what is...

[Sam F]

Gentlemen - let's arrive at a compromise about the shuttle. Surely it is correct to say that a new fuel gauge will be more expensive than the one in my car (for the reasons already stated) - perhaps as expensive as the car itself (don't get too excited about that, ‘cause the car ain't worth much ;) )
However, proportional to the cost of the shuttle, that gauge is probably cheaper than the fuel gauge in my heap... er... fine auto :D .
Is it political? According to some theories – EVERYTHING is political. According to others – EVERYTHING is economic. So the jury is still out on that one. But the point here is neither political nor economic, but that the more complex a machine is, the more likely it is to break – which not many people will argue with, except those who’ve never had to work on the blasted things.
And I'm grateful that when out on the water, I have more than one way to get back home.
Which reminds me... Do PWC's really have only one method of propulsion and if so, how do they get away with that?

[Ian McColgin]

Most states have laws requiring that a PFD be worn on a skidumb. So the second means of propulsion is for the jerkskier to either hand paddle or hop in the water and push the fool thing.

Stoping to think about it, many vessels have but one means of propulsion. Like Grana in her last years when the engine was down. Or like lots of larger single screw motor boats. Or my kayak and dink.

Nice to make the tow and get the lad home.

Well done.