“Pecking Order Re-established by Third Day” by Captain BullDog
Every new delivery has its burning-in process. Crews and owners, if Captain BullDog does commit to them (I am not big on this-I want my ‘no excuses’ crew) always take time to adjust. Crews and owners are anxious to show the Bulldog "how we do it”) and this, of course is a mistake. On Captain Bulldog’s company, there is room for only two ways of doing boat chores, "My way and again!”
My job is to make the boat safe for the trip, make the scheduled progress benchmarks promised in the Float Plan, weather and sea conditions notwithstanding, and to keep everyone happy as much as possible. If the owners on board think "who is this little upstart telling me what to do on my boat" and there's me thinking “Oh god, another obnoxious ingrate who doesn't have a clue how to manage this trip,” we usually come to the appreciation of one another. Owners who are very knowledgeable with mechanical and electrical systems, and are competent in the handling of the boat and my breadth of experience in navigation and ports eventually earn respect.
Cooperation comes from all sides but not necessarily from the weather. Today there was no snow, but there were Gale force winds gusting to 45 knots. One blast of what must have been over 45 knots actually rolled the boat to Leeward while turning in to St. Simon Sound inlet. We realized with building seas and increasing wind gusts there would be no Jacksonville today!
Leaving Charleston, we had shared the dock with Calvin. He was taking a 33' Rampage down to Tampa. We ran into big seas and wind that promised to only get worse. I called Cal and said, "turn around and go back to Charleston.”
We were in a 70' Hatteras Battle Wagon. Cal was getting tossed and rolled wickedly. When it was clear he would not turn back, he graciously accepted my offer to tuck up into my wake. We had done this technique before. It worked and Cal followed into our emergency per-determined cut off at The Golden Isle Marina in St. Simons, GA.
There is more to tell but the Bulldog took one for the team today and I am tired.
Master Captain BullDog Thal, Licensed professional Ship's Captain USCG and US Merchant Marine
ProCaptain's Delivery Service delivering vessels Sail or Power - up to 120' along the entire Eastern SeaBoard from Florida to Maine, the Canadian Maritimes, NY Canals, Great Lakes and ICW.
Cell phone for calls & texts: (203) 550-1067
Email: s.thal@snet.net
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This entry was posted on June 1, 2017.