Quote:
Originally Posted by jacktheflyer
On the other side of the coin, I was moored just off a busy ferry jetty showing my boat off to a friend when when this dirty great big ferry nosed up to me, the skipper came out of the wheelhouse to let me know there was a severe storm warning had just been broadcast if I wanted to seek better shelter.
There are some good people.
Scrubby
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Yes, on the other side:
I have had a few encounters with Tugs on
ICW from Tex to Fl and I have to say they were all friendly. A Tug with a tow once pulled me off a bar at the entrance to San Antonio Bay going North. Was my first day sail by myself in the 80's. I had a Cat with 2'
draft and thought I could go anywhere. Later on that same sail, my
engine went out South or
Morgan city, La. A Tug with tow tied me along side and took me all the way into
Morgan City and also fed me with his crew and let me steer the tug. That probably wasn't a good idea with my past rep.
Later on in that same year, I decided if I'm going to learn to sail, I need to get out into the Gulf, so I sailed about a 100 miles due South of Galveston, Tex. At first there was no
wind and I bobbed around amongst the
oil rigs for three days and didn't get any sleep. Then a Norther hit and I flew South in a rain storm until I tripped over a ice chest I dumbly left in the
cockpit. I hyper extended my left knee and cracked some bones in there and broke my left ankle. A few hours later the
wind stopped and I bobbed some more sitting there with a splint I had configured with blades from my
wind vane. I used a dingy paddle for a crutch. I still hadn't slept and I was beginning to hear voices, and I had broken bones and another Norther was coming. I decided to put out my para-anchor and get some rest. First time I deployed it but it seemed to go well and I slept for about 12 hours. When I awoke it was calm, the sea as flat as glass but my leg was swollen from the knee to foot so decided I better get back into a port. I went to pull in the
sea anchor and the line was going straight down. I had forgotten to put a float on the end of chute. It took me an a hour or more to pull up the 12' wide bowl of
water. Still in the
learning curve and a long curve it had been.
I begin sailing toward Port Arthur,
Texas and had good wind out of the SE for about 2 hours and then it stopped again. I was back inside the rigs, my little
outboard was out of gas and it was getting dark. About the time I saw a tug/workboat type coming toward me from one of the rigs. He said he had been watching me and wondered if I was in trouble. I told him what happened and that I needed to see a doctor. He threw me a line and towed me into Port Arthur and then took me to the hospital. The hospital wasn't as kind since I didn't have
insurance and didn't live there. They x-rayed put a
fiberglass cast on leg and foot and billed me $1,500...I told them $700. was all I had, so they took that and sent me on my way. The Tug
captain took me back to his boat and I stayed there and slept and ate with his crew for two days.
I know there are probably bad guys out there but I think most of them are pleasant sort of folks.