PatMyGreen
08-09-2004, 08:57 PM
I took out Spearboarders Mike (LuvMyRedDog) and Jeff (Daddy Jeffy) Taylor as well as my friend Adam on Friday. Weather looked a bit rough due to constant westerly winds, but we all agreed to tough it out and shoot some fish. I'm sure they realized they were in trouble when I tried to break their legs with steel 120's I managed to shake loose from my roll control rack. I accomplished this by jumping a swell at close to 30mph while adjusting my GPS and not watching where I was going. Once we got to the first drop I told Mike and Jeff they were up first, I think it was Jeff that then said something like "hey, you're not going to leave us out here, are you?" I assured them I would motor on over as soon as they hit the surface.
After they rolled on over, I let the boat drift off down current a ways. I let Adam take the wheel for a sec while I took a wiz. When I took the wheel again I tried to turn us back into the current to keep us close enough to the bouy to keep visual on the bubbles. Tried being the operative word. The wheel just spun around and around and the engines stayed right where they were, all the way to the right. We quickly threw anchor to keep our position and tried to sort out what the hell to do. Not having much knowledge about what might be wrong I called a couple of people who might be able to help me pin-point the problem and fix it if possible. Wishful thinking at its best, voicemails all the way. So I called the only people who might be able to help...the coasties. They seemed to be much more interested in why I didn't have a name on my boat than having any advice or sending a boat to make sure that my divers could make it to my boat once they hit the surface.
The only other boat in the area was about a half mile to the south and east, it was a charter "deep sea" fishing boat and didn't answer my hails. He was on top the wreck "Commander" in a 40'+ boat 11 miles from the pass. Sounds like a half day charter to me. Fortunately when Mike and Jeff did resurface they were able to see the boat (I was afraid we might be too far away to be seen from the surface given the height of the seas) and make the long swim to it. I was pretty afraid I was going to be speared at this point. Once they were back aboard we waited for TowBoatUS to show up and pull us in. The whole way back in the waves got smaller and smaller and it became a truly nice day for diving. We also noticed that people don't wave back when you are being towed back in. I didn't get a spear in the head, but I would have preferred one to the bill from TowBoatUS. $438 before my $150 per incident coverage deduction. If I had paid for unlimited coverage it would have paid for itself about 3x over.
Upon inspection it turns out blew a hose causing me to lose my hydrolics. Sorry about the crappy day on my boat guys, I'd be happy to have you out again some other time all gas, ice, nitrox and hydrolic fluid on me.
After they rolled on over, I let the boat drift off down current a ways. I let Adam take the wheel for a sec while I took a wiz. When I took the wheel again I tried to turn us back into the current to keep us close enough to the bouy to keep visual on the bubbles. Tried being the operative word. The wheel just spun around and around and the engines stayed right where they were, all the way to the right. We quickly threw anchor to keep our position and tried to sort out what the hell to do. Not having much knowledge about what might be wrong I called a couple of people who might be able to help me pin-point the problem and fix it if possible. Wishful thinking at its best, voicemails all the way. So I called the only people who might be able to help...the coasties. They seemed to be much more interested in why I didn't have a name on my boat than having any advice or sending a boat to make sure that my divers could make it to my boat once they hit the surface.
The only other boat in the area was about a half mile to the south and east, it was a charter "deep sea" fishing boat and didn't answer my hails. He was on top the wreck "Commander" in a 40'+ boat 11 miles from the pass. Sounds like a half day charter to me. Fortunately when Mike and Jeff did resurface they were able to see the boat (I was afraid we might be too far away to be seen from the surface given the height of the seas) and make the long swim to it. I was pretty afraid I was going to be speared at this point. Once they were back aboard we waited for TowBoatUS to show up and pull us in. The whole way back in the waves got smaller and smaller and it became a truly nice day for diving. We also noticed that people don't wave back when you are being towed back in. I didn't get a spear in the head, but I would have preferred one to the bill from TowBoatUS. $438 before my $150 per incident coverage deduction. If I had paid for unlimited coverage it would have paid for itself about 3x over.
Upon inspection it turns out blew a hose causing me to lose my hydrolics. Sorry about the crappy day on my boat guys, I'd be happy to have you out again some other time all gas, ice, nitrox and hydrolic fluid on me.