May 12th up to the "DRIFTWOOD incident"

Pics

First boat "Driftwood" out of Camp LeJeune took the green on the port side

The Veritas towing Windchime, passing boats were all very nice

Tow Boat US to the rescue!!

Towing fast

The "rescue" of the Driftwood, good job Luna Maris

No good deed goes unpunished.



Alot has happened in the last three days. I will attempt to summize the information.

Wednesday we anchored in Carolina Beach NC. I don't like that stop because the shoreline is all stinkin private, which means young Edward has no where to "go". But we did sleep like logs. I should mention that the anchorage itself has been so overused that the bottom is all plowed up. What this meant to us was that Gary had to try to set, and reset and reset and reset again. We don't have a windlass (a devise to assist in the hauling of the anchor, which is quite heavy) so by the time we found the one spot that would hold us, his back was done for the day. There was a guy in a trawler in the middle of this tight anchorage with like 300 feet of chain out. We knew this because his anchor line ball was at least that far out in front of his boat! That means that when the tides change and currents move around in the middle of the night he could wipe out anyone who gets within that circle. Very annoying. Later in the day we tried to help a fellow boater off the bottom but to no avail. We tried and then started running out of water ourselves. Fred on the Luna Maris will have to wait for Tow Boat US.

We arrived at Camp LeJeune at 2:11. We snapped the canvas back on to cover the windows and now we wait.....The thunderstorms should arrive shortly by the looks and feel of the conditions. Very windy but still no rain. The wind is picking up and the water is being swept along to the beach. An inflatable goes by with some persons of obvious military authority and some underlings in it. Out in front of it is a large red inflatable float being pulled along by some military type divers in the water. They just pulled the ball all the way to shore. (shoulder shrug)

Luna Maris arrived and we all clapped. Then Gary went over and picked him up, and we had a nice cocktail hour.

We got an early start from Camp Le Jeune and the weather is still holding out for us. It's 7:00am.

On Thursday we started off nicely and that included making our first bridge of the day right on time. However, a short time later we hear that the Veritas who was up in front of us a ways was helping a boat in distress. Seem there were two women traveling together on the "Windchime" and their engine stopped pumping water through it, so they anchored in the channel. Tow boat Veritas to the rescue ! ! ! They towed em for quite a span while we rode shotgun trying to make sure they didn't get waked. Most people are so nice. Then Tow Boat US showed up and took over and with a great attitude. As we travelled into the early afternoon a bridge had been closed and there were many boats waiting for the opening. This one old trawler with 18 ( I kid you not) bumpers on it. Four bumpers each in the corners of the stern and 10 in the bow. The boat looked like it had teeth. The woman driver was on the radio continuously asking other boaters what their draft was, that she was 4 feet etc. Then she asked the boat in front of her what he drafted and when she heard it was only 3 feet she asked him what the name of the boat was in front of him and on and on.

We passed through Shallot Inlet mile marker 330.

Friday the day started off as usual until the "Driftwood" a big beautiful 40+ foot trawler with outriggers runs aground just as its leaving the anchorage. So of course everyone starts looking in their binoculars at the helpless boat and getting on the radio to listen in on whats going on. It's high tide. Usually that means that, more than likely, he's in their so good he'll need professionals to get him out. But for what ever reason Fred on the Luna Maris wanted to lend hand. Gary had talked to the guy on Driftwood and asked if he had called anyone yet. Driftwood responded would you mind grabbing a line? We ended up standing to (watching) as Fred hooked up and with his two engines pulled and relaxed and then pulled again on the big vessel. Finally it heaved off the bottom and back toward the center of the channel. Of course once he got off he gunned it a bit and almost sent Fred onto the same shoal he got hung up on but all that was avoided. Thankfully.

As we revelled in the good deed accomplished Tow Boat US got on the radio and hailed us on channel 16. So we got on the radio and said "up one" which means go up a channel to 17. At first he was nice enough and asked if we were the boat that helped Driftwood off the shoal. Gary responded "No Captain we just stood to" WELL he started in on Gary with "I don't know what you do for a living but how would you feel if you just spent all this gas to get out to someone in distress and someone like you cuts into your paycheck and had already helped him off by the time you got there!" Gary apologized for any inconvenience that he went through , "But again Captain we just stood to".
Well this guy wouldn't let it go and kept being real crappy about the whole thing "Once we're called a contract is in place and we don't get paid unless we complete the call!" Gary is like "I understand your frustration Captain and I've been member of Tow Boat US for 8 years contributing to your paycheck." Gary started to get hot under the collar but maintained complete control on the airways. I was very proud of him, but I was concerned that his head was gonna shoot off his shoulders. A few seconds later the T.B. US boat comes flying past us and stops the Driftwood right in the middle of the channel. Reaming that guy out for getting help after calling him. Now on other channels people had listened to T.B. US yell and be totally unprofessional to Driftwood and simultaneously he was on 17 yelling at us. Anyway, everyone says the name of their boat and "we're going back to 16". But what I didn't know and Gary did was that we had a bridge coming up, and Gary had overheard the bridge tender and the T B US guy chit chatting like ol home week. So when we got to the bridge (which we missed the 8:00 opening cause of trying to help) all of a sudden the bridge has an oil leak and there would be a "delay" in opening until the mechanic got a chance to look at it. Uh Huh So there we are mulling around in the center of the channel waiting for the bridge to "be repaired". thankfully it must have been a quick fix cause we got through the bridge after about a 30 minute wait.



Keep us in your prayers, your in ours
XXOO
Victoria's Perspective