Anyone who spends time on the water has stories to tell. As a TowBoatUS Captain, I spend most of my days on the water interacting with people with good and bad stories. They all have one thing in common. The stories end with a lesson learned. No Phone – No VHF- No Luck!
Just this past month on a very busy perfect weather Sunday we received a call from a Good Samaritan who was calling on behalf of a boater that had flagged them down because he had no phone or working VHF. The Good Sam explained that he had spotted the boat adrift with one male on board and that man was claiming that he had been drifting on-board his disabled open 21-foot boat for more than 24-hours. The lesson learned here is two-fold. Never leave the dock without a working VHF, cell phone and battery pack to keep that phone charged. Everything turned out fine, but it was a frustrating 24-hours for that non-member before he was returned safely to shore. The second lesson is to have a full unlimited towing membership so that you get priority service and free towing. After the ordeal of being stranded, this boater had to pay out-of-pocket to be returned safely to his ramp.
Sailors often say they don’t need towing. We disagree. On a particularly stormy summer night recently, we received a call from a loyal TowBoatUS member aboard a 27’ Catalina sailboat. The storm had hit and mangled the boats sails rendering them useless. The engine wouldn’t start and to make matters worse, he had recently lost his anchor. With no spare anchor aboard and all means of propulsion disabled, the boater had no control over where his boat was headed. In this case, he was too close to a bridge for comfort. Luckily, TowBoatU.S. Ranger was a short ten minutes from the member and was able to arrive before they struck the bridge. Lesson here is clear: Check the weather often, be prepared to head to port early and be sure to check that ALL of your safety gear, and spare safety gear, is present and accounted for. Few define an anchor as safety gear, but an anchor represents control when all else has failed.
These are just two of the many towing stories from this season and summer is not even half over. Enjoy your boat but remember that boating safely takes preparation and planning. Something you can easily do now is to download the FREE TowBoatUS towing app from your cell’s app store. Take the time to create the account and complete the settings options so that the app can do its job. Prompt assistance is just a few clicks away when you are prepared with your BoatUS towing app. To learn more about planning a safe boating day check out BoatUS on YouTube for the latest safety video or go to https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice We hope that everyone is safe and smart this summer. As always, happy to help.
