Note, my gripes were that the YC people were not following their own charter/bylaws, not that I wanted to get around them. But I digress because I've stated these things before in the thread multiple times.
I have my keys now; moorage is paid, my partners' wife endured a lot of rudness and stupidness (ie. "I wont give out keys until I know the check has arrived..." "Well the check was mailed a week ago, have you checked if it is there?" "No, I havent checked if it has arrived". "When can you check?" "I dont know I am too busy to check if it has arrived" "But you wont give me the keys until the check arrives, and it should have arrived, can you check?" "No, call me back later") but one way or another I do have keys.
The plot thickens in this inflexibility for another reason. Another boater didnt get his keys and his plight totally illustrates the reason for a little bit of flexibility when dealing with things on the
water.
Small town. Man's brand new home has a major fire, a lot of damage. He is living in a
hotel with his
family. YC wants new fresh copies of
insurance (you have to provide it upon becoming a
member so it definitely was handed over at one point). Guy can't provide it because his house was mostly consumed in a fire (and you can imagine his life is likely consumed in dealing with the fallout of a major house fire and living out of a hotel). They wont give him his key. Long time
member - local resident so not an associate like me - moorage and dues all paid in full. No key, no way.
Well man is trying to sort himself out and goes down to check on his boat but can only do so from the distance of the public docks. Notices his boat is still there floating but cant access the docks so can't see much more than the big picture. Figures all is OK, leaves and goes home.
3 hours later.. His boat sinks. Not just a little, it was entirely filled with
water and listed to 90 degrees. Only thing that kept it from going straight to the bottom was a bunch of helpful members tying it up tight to the docks on all sides and trying to
lift it up. Apparently a scupper or something malfunctioned in cold
weather and she took on a slow but serious leak. If he could have checked on his boat in person, he likely would have noticed that the
cabin and
engine compartment were filled with water, and that there were four to six inches of water on the
deck ( whaler ). Boat is a wreck now, spent a whole day submerged until
marine services could use a
winch on a tug to hoist it up enough to drain it with a huge sump
pump. Had to be towed to a boat launch and fired on a
trailer. The whole
cabin was literally underwater,
VHF, sounder, nav
equipment,
radar, everything. Talk about a crappy month for that guy.
Should he have provided them with another copy of his proof of
insurance? Sure. Should he be withheld his key when everyone at the yacht club knows of his tragic house fire, and prevented from checking on his boat over that? No.
There are times when a little flexibility goes a long way. My situation pales in comparison to his. I was just withheld my key due to someone not paying for their slip because I happen to be a half owner of the boat. I was concerned that I would need to check on the boat as I'm running a
heater and dehumidifier on there and if something happened like a slow leak or excess
condensation building up in the
bilge because the dehumidifier bucket filled that something might catch fire. Hence me ranting about not getting my key, for that reason as well as the principle of it all.
On the water nearly anything can happen. If your car is in impound, its extraordinarily unlikely that it is going to suddenly be buried in a sink-hole. If your boat is floating, there's a million things that can can happen that need attention; from slow
leaks sinking it or destroying the
engine, to
fuel leaks that could cost thousands in fines and harm the
environment.
When i was sitting there on my boat after offering to help, I thought to myself that wouldnt it be just annoying if the poor guy who's boat sank sank because he couldn't get his key and check on his boat, but I wrote it off as too unlikely that the very situation I was telling this YC president could happen actually happened. When They raised the boat and I went over to help and hand
pump and weight the bow so the sump pump could keep pumping, I found out that yes, he was withheld his key for a dumb reason too.
Really tragic for him. Just an annoyance for me.
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