My wife and I were crew for a
delivery. "The captain" was an acquaintance of mine, and had agreed to move the
boat for his best friend, who lives in
Oregon.
Before we flew in to the boat, I asked for, and received, assurance that the following worked: heads (x2), faucets (x3),
stove,
generator. I also confirmed that the one working
engine ran (the other was seized). We got to the boat, and none of those things worked except the non-seized
engine.
When we eventually pulled out of the slip, it was clear he could not maneuver the vessel. In every
docking evolution, he hit something. He never looked behind him, at any time, in any mode of operation, including while maneuvering in close quarters.
At 79, his eyesight was so bad that he could not see the next daymark, nor could he see white crab pot buoys at 40 yards. He could not hold an expected course (in a powerboat) to within 10
degrees. And his judgment was absolutely horrendous. I could go on with several pages of examples of that last assertion, but suffice it to say we got off the boat, for
safety reasons and concern over his lack of good judgement.
A mutual friend kept me updated on the progress of the journey. The owner flew in to help with the move, and the boat was briefly iced in at
anchor in Virginia during this past December's second cold snap. While waiting for thaw, they decided to go ashore, over the ice. The owner argued with his friend for an hour on whether to rig a
safety line from the boat to shore. "Captain" said it wasn't necessary. Owner rigged it anyway. Sure enough, "captain" breaks through and goes in. The owner was only able to affect
rescue because of the line so strenuously argued against. After an ER visit, the journey eventually continued.
Several days later, with the owner gone and other crew aboard, *captain" put 150+ gallons of
diesel into the two gasoline
tanks.
And oh yeah, we still haven't been paid.