We were on our home
mooring last weekend in an unnamed cove in Narragansett Bay. We watched as these drunken or possibly high, sketchy-looking characters stalled the
outboard on their
inflatable and drifted through the anchorage trying to start it. A third character hollered over and paddled (literally with his hands) out to help, and got into a heated argument trying to coax one guy out so he could climb aboard and start "his"
motor. The displaced guy then drifted off, hollering to the passing launch for help, and calling him nasty names. He eventually drifted alongside a neighboring
boat where he started yelling "Ahoy!" (which presumably is what you holler to get someone's attention) for the guy to come out. The
boat owner - an older
liveaboard I was told - came out and the
dinghy guy boarded his boat and demanded that he "save" him. the boat owner demanded the guy get off his boat immediately and it got quite heated.
I finally called the Harbormaster to intervene, only to get the "leave a message and I'll return your call". I decided the cops should get involved since it sounded like things could get violent. I called the local number, only to get transferred to the Harbormaster's voicemail. I then hung up and called 911, got transferred back to the local police, and then told that technically the
mooring field was in the next town. They transferred me to the next town who took my report and told me they had had multiple calls and uniforms were on their way. It took another 25-30 minutes before the launch transported 3 officers out to the scene where they took the perp ashore, and questioned the other 2 lads. Shortly thereafter, I took the pup ashore and saw about 10 officers and 5 squad cars in the parking lot with the perp in cuffs on the ground where he seemed to be burying himself deeper in doo by shouting insults and racial slurs at the LEO's and an EMT who was there to help. When I talked to the launch driver he said that after the cops arrived they stood around for 10 minutes arguing about who was going to go out there in the launch.
The takeaway for me was:
1. Not all folks in even the best
anchorages are good "yachting" types. All sorts of nefarious types with bad intent can float through at any time.
2. Although we're in a marina mooring area, we're pretty much on our own if we're boarded by do-badders.
3. The Harbormaster is a parttime, token position and takes no responsibility for
events that happen "not on his watch".