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Tug Restless Heading Home

04/02/2007 — General Maritime

I put in the call to see where Capt Roland was, this was his answer.

In mid January, it was necessary to take a break from the trip and head home for the purpose of getting taxes done, paperwork and a physical, which included a Colonoscopy that had been scheduled some months previous. For some reason doctors view a “Full Moon ” different from everyone else in the world and I can assure you that their observations have nothing to do with its affect upon the Tide.

Doing the Loop is in deed a long trip. It is not unusual to see boats and their crew several times during its transit in marinas or while underway, that you initially passed months earlier. Keep this in mind in the event you have, bluffed someone over the Rules of the Road somewhere on the ICW, as a result of the size of your boat. It can come back to haunt you.

As I write this very article, while tied to the dock in Charleston SC, I was approached only minutes ago by a couple stating “We owe you an apology. We've passed you a couple times on the Intracoastal (who hasn't) and rocked you pretty bad. I wish we had checked our speed better”.

Many a boater that I have met doing this trip, has spread it out and done it in stages. Leaving the boat in either dry or wet storage at various points and gone home for a multitude of reasons. For those who do this trip in something less than a mega yacht, walking into the front door of your home after several months living aboard a floating Winnebago may come as somewhat of a surprise. The square footage of your house seems to have suddenly doubled.

On the16th of January, Restless is hauled at Oasis Boatyard in St Augustine FL. The choice of this yard is for a host of reasons. In addition to being a full service yard it allows owners to perform their own maintenance (including bottom painting), allow living aboard while on the hard and provides 24 hour gated security.

Boatyards have always provided me with an interest and curiosity since I was a kid. Many a day has been spent roaming about their interior, some having been with less than an honest means of entry. Each has had its own section that has been turned into a bone yard, where wooden hulls are left abandon and await the final match. Steel hulls rust away and become derelicts to be turned eventually into razorblades and those of fiberglass, that have hulls cracked like eggs, recycled into Clorox Bottles. Yards on the ocean seem to have a certain “Saltiness” for reasons other than Sodium Chloride in the water. Here there tends to be a more varied display of size, type, damages and the tales that go with them. (to be continued)

Capt Bob |20:47 EST |Comments (0)

 

 

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