My First Boat

After I got out of the Navy and before starting college I stayed in Miami with a friend, Duane. We worked on a dive charter boat and did odd jobs around the Marina. The owner of the boat would rent it out “Bare Boat” and recommend Duane as a Captain when necessary. I worked as his crew. We were living on the boat. My pay was tips (all the diving I could do) and cash for odd jobs around the Marina. When we were not on a charter and the boat was chartered out, we stayed on a “concrete” sailboat the owner had in the Marina. After I had been there for a couple months the owner decided to take us out on the sailboat. I had never been on a sail boat under sail before. 6 years on power boats, ships and submarines, but never a sailboat. We motor out from the dock. When we got out into the harbor, we put up the sails and turned off the engine. Everything got quiet only the sound of the wind and the water. And, the motion. It was a soft gentle motion but I could feel the power of the wind, waves, and boat. The sailboat felt alive. It seemed to want to go, just for the joy of going. I had never felt anything like it.  I was in love.

After a short time in Florida, I started college in West Virginia. After college I started a job in Annapolis. I had better job offers, but Annapolis held the promise of being near sailboats. I took sailing lessons and stared looking for a sailboat. As I looked the cost of a new boat sort of set me back a little.  It was more than I could afford. I started looking at used boats, cheap used boats. I saw an ad in the paper for a boat in Virginia. It sounded good in the paper, but it was just above my expense limit. I call the number anyway and we talked. It sounded like what I was looking for, but it was 3 hour drive so…. Anyway, a couple weeks later he called me. I explained that the drive was too much to go look at the boat. He asked if I would come look at it if he dropped the price a couple thousand dollars. We did a test sail. I liked the boat a lot, but could not get over the price.  After a week he called me again and asked me what I thought of the boat. I said I liked it, but the price was too much. He dropped the price another couple thousand. I agreed to buy the boat and take it the next weekend. I figured it would take 2 days to sail back to Annapolis. We meet at the boat. He had taken the batteries to recharge them. As he was reconnecting them, he reversed polarized the battery and burnt out all the meters on the boat. He looked up with a dejected look on his face and said how about another couple thousand.

After I got the boat home I took a look at the meters. On opening the first meter I could see where one of the components in the power supply was burnt. It was a diode. I got a new one from RadioShack and replaced it. Everything worked. A friend of mine, Tom, named her. “This One Time”. I keep her for 8 years. We sailed all over the Chesapeake Bay.

Our First Boat

We bought a house in RI. It was one block up from the Kickemuit River. The previous owner had a mooring which he gave us. Annie and I nonchalantly discussed getting a boat. We were not really considering it. But, we set some parameters, Large enough that we could cruise on for a week or more, small enough to single hand. Fast enough for Wednesday night racing. Something in the 30 ft range like a Tartan 30 or a Beneteau First. And, started looking around just to see what was available.  We were enjoying the search. Traveling around RI, visiting marinas, talking to owners, and learning the state we had just moved to.  We were at the Newport Boat Show. Touring a Jeanneau. As I was walking up the companionway steps, I heard the salesman ask a lady “So, do you like the boat, is this something you would consider.” She responded. “Yes, but we need to sale her current boat first”, He asked “what kind of boat do you have”. She responded, “a J30”.  I remember racing against the J30s in Annapolis. Just to be funny I said, “You have a J30. I will buy it.” She laughed, we talked, I like what I heard. We set up a time for a test sail.  At the test sail we motored away from the dock. Put up the sail. And as we exited the harbor we were hit by a small gust of wind. A few days earlier we had been on a Beneteau, in similar condition. We were hit by a small gust of wind. The boat tilted over. Annie let out a surprise yelp. On this occasion, instead of tipping over the J30 leaped forward. Annie Smiled. We bought the boat. We named her Karinosa. We have had her for 25 years now. We sailed all over New England’s southern coast.

Our Second Boat (A Stripper Makes Them Forget)

We bought a 22 ft AquaSport with a cuddy cabin. We named him “Kulit Bulilit”. Later that same summer Annie, Duane (he was 4), Eliza (She was 1), and I decided to take Kulit to the Vineyard for some overnight fishing.  We left the house motored down the Kickemuit River, across Mount Hope Bay, down and out of the Sakonnet River and turned toward the Vineyard. It was a little rough. We decided to fish along the Southern MA coast. It was rough all day. By the end of the day, we had not caught anything and we were getting beat up from the roughness. We decided to forgo the night fishing, Put into Westport, Eat at the restaurant and Sleep in the Upper Westport River. We tied up to the dock at The Back Eddy Restaurant. They said another boat had called ahead and reserved the dock and we could not stay. We hung around hoping to be able to tie up next to the other boat. That boat never arrived. They let us stay. We finally got a table and finished eating around 11PM. Duane and Eliza were getting very tired and fussy. We left the dock, motored up the river and found a place to anchor. As we were settling down the Black Biting Flies swarmed us. It was so bad we could not stay. We decided to go up the coast to Third beach and spend the night there. It was still very rough out in the ocean, but now it was after midnight and very dark. Not a easy or pleasant ride at all. We made it to third beach and anchored. It was calm and NO flies. The rest of the night was pleasant. The next morning, I decided to make breakfast. I had forgotten the Matches. Annie and I started arguing. Duane moved to the opposite end of the boat and watched us with sad eyes. About that time Eliza got sick.  Stuff was coming out both ends. We were tired hungry and mad. Annie said “LET’s GO HOME.” As we were headed up the Sakonnet River, everybody as faraway from each other as we could get on a 22 ft boat, I said” Annie let’s troll back, put a line in the water”. She was not happy but did it anyway. As soon as the line went in to the water something hit it. It was a 24” stripper. Nice. We put it back and she put the line back into the water. Something hit is again. It was a 10 lb. stripper. She got excited. Put the line back into the water. Something hit it again. She said “I cannot reel this in!”. It was a 35lb stripper. Wow. We headed home. I cleaned the fish. Annie cooked it. We ate it. As we were setting around the table full and content I asked how was that trip. All three of them answered without hesitation “BEST TRIP EVER”. The stripper had made them forget everything that happen before.

Over Yonder

It was the end of our summer vacation and we were sailing back from Nantucket to our home in RI. As we were rounding the north side of Martha’s Vineyard, thru and area known as the West Chop it got a little rough. The Vineyard sound and the Nantucket sound currents both funnel thru this area. Add an opposing wind and the waves can get sharp and frequent. Then throw in the heavy boat and Ferry traffic and … well there is a reason it is called the Chop. I decided to shorten sail to make the ride a little easier. As I got to the mast, I realized I could no longer stand up. It was too rough. It was all I could do to hold on. I crawled back to the cockpit and sent Duane up to shorten sail. After that the ride was a little easier.

That started me thinking. I am getting older and less able. But I was not ready to give up the water. I need to find a boat that was more stable. In sail boat terms that usually equates to size, but I am partial to smaller boats. That means I needed to consider switching to power boats. Then at the Newport boat show the subject of the America Great Loop came up. Annie was interested. A Trawler stile boat would be perfect for the loop. Now I had a face saving excuse to switch. The next problem was she wanted a BIG boat and I am partial to small boats. I figured that as a minimum we need a bathroom with shower, plenty of water, water heater, comfortable sleeping accommodation, AC, Galley, Good refrigeration, enough power to run everything, and space for 2 people to move around on. Annie found “All Fin”. Not too big, 32 feet long. And, it either had the stuff from my list above or with minimum work and expense I could add it. That was not the case. We ended up with 47 project and 5 months of intense work.  The story that describes deserves a section all its own( see Preparing).

We did so much work that the whole character of the boat changed. She needed a new name. We did list, we did surveys, we discussed, we argued, we could not come to a consensus. One thing to note is that on the Great Loop it is hard to plan on when you will be where. You know the general direction, you just do not know how far you will go at any one time. That is the definition of Over Yonder “relatively far away, usually out of sight, but in the general direction being indicated”.  So Over Yonder became her name.

Cat On The Boat

While living in Annapolis I had a cat. One time I wanted to go to WV to visit family. I decided to take the cat. It was an 8 hour trip. On another occasion I had traveled with a dog that had got car sick. I did not want the cat to get car sick. Somebody told to try Dramane. I gave the cat a Dramane pill not realizing that the pill was designed for a 200 pound man and here I was giving it to a 10 pound cat. The cat passed out in the front seat of the car. It did not move for 8 hours. I thought I had killed it. It came to just as we were arriving in WV. That was the easiest long distance trip I had ever had with and animal.

After returning to Annapolis, I thought I would try and turn the cat into a boat cat. A friend of mine wanted us to do a weekend trip down the bay. We thought we would take the cat. I was still worried about the cat getting sea sick. I thought I would try Dramane again, only this time I would break the pill up and only give him 1/4 of a pill. At the boat I broke up a pill and sprinkled 1/4 of a pill onto his food. The cat took one bite and started foaming at the mouth and rubbing his tongue on the carpet. He made some strange noises and disappeared below. We could not find him.  That was surprising since it was a small boat. We decided to go anyway and hoped the cat would come out when he got hungry.  We sailed down the bay. Did a little fishing, went swimming, relaxed, spent the night, and started back the next day. We decided to stop at a small town and get something to eat. The cat had still not showed up. We anchored, left some water out for the cat, and swam ashore holding our dry cloths and wallets above our heads.

We walked around town, but could not find anyplace to eat. Somebody told us that they were having a social for young adults at the church. They would have food. We decided to check it out. There were a lot of people and the food looked good. We paid the fee and set down next to a group of girls and started talking to them. After a little while a group of boys showed up at our table with two meals packed in to-go containers. I do not think they liked us talking to the girls. They said here is your food, you may leave now. They had the look of no choice in the matter. We took the food, thank them for it and left.

We swam back to the boat holding our dry cloths, wallets, and now food above our heads. I opened my food container. There was bread, beans, potatoes, and large slice of Ham. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a fast moving blur. It was the cat. It grabbed the HAM and disappeared back down below. The cat had gotten my Ham. It was another 2 days before we finally caught the cat and was able to take him home. I did not take him on the boat again.

The Excited Yelp

We participate in Sail Boat Racing. Every Wednesday night during the summer and occasionally on Weekends. The average speed is about 5-6 knots (6-7MPH). That does not seem like very fast, but the boats can get big in an environment where everything is moving and  it is impossible to stay in one place. It requires the coordination between several people all performing different task. It looks like chaos, but it is organized chaos and the boat usually goes right where the skipper and crew want it to.

Then there are times when boats can get very close to each other. Especially at the start, mark rounding, crossings, and the finish. It can be exciting when 2 boats weighing several tons gets within feet of each other, moving without seeming to be under control and you look over at the other boat and nobody seems to be looking at your boat as they work and talk among themselves about how to go faster. (One of my favorite quotes is by Mario Andretti, “If it seems that everything is under control, then you are not going fast enough”). During those times Annie can get animated. Starts moving around, lets out little “surprise YIPs” and calls out how close we are to the other boat. She told one of the crew that she did not like doing that. He said just put your hands over your eyes and look down. She decided to try that. The next time we crossed another boat she did not make a sound.

Over the years “The Racing Rules of Sailing” have developed into a large complicated document. Most of which is to prevent boats from running into each other. And, for the most part it works. There are very few collusions because based on the Racing Rules of Sailing the skipper of each boat has an ideal about what the other boat is going to do in different situation.

Anyway, after the race I was talking to the skipper of the boat we crossed. He asked “Steve, what happened. You almost hit us at that crossing.” I said, “Yeah. when we got close. Annie did not make a sound. I did not realize you were there”. He got a far off look on his face and said “yeah, we use her also”.

Dancing On The Bow

This one time we decided to participate in a race in the eastern side of the bay that we had never raced in before. It was a long sail to get there. We got there early. While waiting Annie and Eliza were on the bow of the boat listening to music and dancing. Another boat showed up. Annie and Eliza got embarrassed and went below. I said, “Annie, what are you embarrassed about. We are far from home. Nobody here is going to know us.” Just as I said that somebody on the other boat shouted out “Hey Steve, who was that dancing on the bow”.

Crossing Cape Cod Bay

One year we were crossing Cape Cod Bay from the canal to P-Town. It was a beautiful sail, 10 knots of breeze, no waves and the sun was shining. But, it is a long sail, 5 hours.  I was topside steering and Annie, Duane, and Eliza were down below reading, playing games, sleeping, relaxing. Several Giant Bluefin Tuna came up next to the boat. I shouted out “TUNA, TUNA”. Annie, Duane, and Eliza jumped up and came to see. But they made so much noise getting topside that the Tuna swam away before they got there. They stayed awhile hoping the tuna would return, but nothing. They slowly drifted back below.

A little while later as I was setting there by myself, I saw a Sea Turtle next to the boat.  I shouted out “TURTLE, TURTLE”. Annie, Duane, and Eliza slowly got up and came to see. But they were slow and by the time they got there the turtle had swam off. This time they did not stay long and were not as slow drifting back below.

A little while later as I was setting there by myself a whale swam up next to the boat. I shouted out “WHALE, WHALE”. Nothing from below. I again shouted “WHALE”. Annie said “we do not believe you”. Eliza said “you are just bored”. Duane did not look up from his game. The whale stayed next to the boat. I could not convince them to come up and see. After a little while the whale seemed to look at me, he took a loud breath and waved his tale as he dove below.

It was a beautiful sail.

Emergency Storm Prep

When we race there are 3 things that will cancel or stop a race: No wind, Too much wind, and Thunder storms. They will usually try to start a race if there is no wind. For strong wind they will not start a race, but if a race is already under way they will let it finishes. (Though I have noticed that the definition of a strong wind has gotten lighter over the years.) Thunder storms stop everything.  This is a story about a thunder storm.

Wednesday night race. Nice breeze, clear skies, Prediction of thunderstorms overnight, but well after the racing. We arrived at the starting line. The committee boat was on station. It looked like a good turnout with lots of boats.  A couple min before the first start I noticed one of the boats was taking there sails down. I looked around and saw blackness of the other side of the Mt. Hope bridge headed our way. I ordered the sails down and tuned on the VHF radio. It came alive with weather chatter. The Committee boat canceled the Race. Within min of us getting our sails down, securing the top sides, and starting the engine, it hit, 55MPH winds (as measured on the wind meter) , driving rain, thunder, and lighting. Everybody went down below except Brian and I. I could not make headway into the wind. Visibility was very limited. We discussed our options and decided to try and maintain our position with the engines, but if the wind pushed us near shore to drop anchor or try and grab a mooring. Then it started hailing. Brian had to go below. The Ice was bouncing off my head and face and I could not see. Annie handed up a dive mask. I could see. It must have looked strange. Standing in the back of the boat, steering into a storm with the hail bouncing off the dive mask. Then it cleared. The wind calmed down. The sky turned blue. The bay returned to normal. It had only lasted 15-20 min. We were in the mouth of the Sakonnet river. The racing fleet was strowed all over Mt Hope Bay. One boat lost its mast and 2 boats lost engine power and had to be towed in.

We learned a couple things from this. Always be aware of the weather and the “Dive Mask” became part of our Emergency equipment.

Why I Paint the Bottom White

Many years ago, Duane was 2-3, Eliza had not been born yet, we were headed back home at the end of our summer vacation. The wind had been building all day. As we entered the Sakonnet river it was 30kts, gusting to 40kts from the SW. When we turned north, downwind, I took down the reefed main and poled out the 95 Jib. We were doing 9-10 kts under Jib alone up the Sakonnet. When we got close to the stone bridge at Tiverton, I decided to drop the head sail and motor thru Tiverton. I turned on the engine, went forward to take down the pole. For some reason I decided to release the mast end first. When I unclipped the pole, it went flying thru the air across the river.  It flew like a 12 ft arrow. I was frozen in wonder. The Jib sheet fell into the water and wrapped around the propeller which pulled the sail most of the way down and under the boat. The engine stalled out. There we were, NO ENGINE, NO SAIL, 30 Kts WINDs from the stern, and a 3 kt CURRENT flowing against us. No Engine and No sail and No way to get either back, The Wind was blowing us toward the stone bridge, The current was pushing away from the stone bridge. Everything balanced out, we were not moving either forward or backward, and I was able to steer the boat side to side. I was able to keep us in the center of the channel. Annie was able to reach the Tiverton Harbor master on the radio. He said he was not going to come out in this weather. A Jet skier pulled up. He said he heard us on the radio. He throw us a line and pulled us to a mooring at Standish Marine. I went over the side to clear the propeller. I cut away the jib sheet. The shaft was bent about 30° to one side. We were not going anywhere.  I pulled the sail back up on board. It was covered in black bottom paint that left stains I was never able to get out. After that I started using white bottom paint.

Climbing the Mast 1

This one time, many years ago, the Anchor light at top of the Mast went out. Since I was often anchoring out at night, I need to go up the mast to fix the light. I had a Bosman’s chair and so I asked my roommate, Don, if they would haul me up the mast to check the light. At the time I weight approximately 200lbs. My roommate was Vietnamese and weighed about 120lbs. When I asked the question he took a step back, looked me up and down, and said “Mabey you should haul me up.” I said ok, but we can make the decision when we get to the boat. As we were standing on the bow of the boat, looking up at the top of the mask and watching as it swung back and fort 5-6 feet from the waves, Don without taken his eyes of the top of the swinging mast says “Maybe I should haul you up the mask.”

Climbing the Mast 2

This one time, as we were crossing buzzard bay toward Marthas Vineyard the headsail halyard let go and the head sail came down. I asked Duane, a teenager at the time, to go up the mask and retrieve the halyard. He said ok, Annie said No. After much discussion about ocean waves, safety lines and just up and down she said yes, but that she could not watch and went below. He reached the top of the mast, retrieved the halyard, and was about to come down when Annie looked up and said, “Wait, let me get my camera.”  He set at the top of the mast for 10 min as she took pictures from ever ang she could think off.

Using Seasick Medicine

Earlie in my sailing career I did not spend much time outfitting the boat. One case in point was my medical supplies. I carried just the basics in a homemade kit; brandades, Alcohol, splints and for medics I carried Aspirin, Sudafed, and dramamine all combined into one bottle. It was easy to tell them apart because of their color and shape.

 This one time I took a friend and his wife out for a sail. As I was getting the sails ready (this was before roller furling) my friend asked if I had anything for seasickness. I said yes it was in the bottle in the medical bag. As I was attaching the headsail he yells up from below. “Which ones, is it the red ones?”  without think I said yes. After I finish with the headsail I realized I had told him wrong. I yell down below. No, it is the small yellowish ones. He and his wife had already taken a couple Sudafed. They now took the dramamine.  We finished getting the boat ready. Threw off the lines and motored out of the marina. As we exited the marine we put up the sails and headed for the first mark. At the first mark I looked at my friend to help with the tack. They were both asleep. They sleep for the next 2 hrs. they woke up just as we were finishing our sail.    

Running Aground – My First Time

Running aground happens. Eventually I happens to everybody. I have ran aground a lot. The first time was in the Chesapeake Bay.  The Chesapeake Bay is both a good and a bad place to run aground. The bottom is mostly soft mud, so you will not damage your boat, but it is very sticky and be hard to get out of. Anyway, the first time I was going up the Rhode River, just south of Annapolis. As I was passing between 2 islands, the boat struck the ground hard. I had looked at the charts and knew I had plenty of water. But, when I looked at the chart after the fact I saw that what I thought was a speck on the chart that was actually a 1. At any rate I was going at full speed, in a sailboat with a 4 ft fin keel, and push the boat into and onto a 1 ft mudbank. I was truly stuck.  Reverse did nothing. Looking over the side I could see the bottom. I tried the boat hook, but it just sunk into the mud, never hitting anything solid. I thought about jumping over the side, but based on the boat hook I knew I would sink to far into the mud to do anything. I tried putting weight outboard to tilt the boat and raise the keel. I had as much weight as I could find outboard, and the engine at full throttle and still nothing. I thought to add my weight. I left the engine at full throttle and moved outboard to add my weight outboard. The outboard engine flopped to one side. The boat started doing circles with the keel at the center point like a screw. I started to move back to the tiller, but then noticed that the circles were slowly digging my way toward deeper water. I stayed where I was. After about 30-40 circles I was back in deep water.

Running Aground – Due to Misunderstanding

This One Time, I took my room mate out for a sail. He was new to sailing and wanted to learn a little about it. As we were heading out I explained some of the concepts and terms. On the boat I showed him how to get the boat ready to sail and to set things up. I showed him how to use the tiller and stir. I explained the channel markers and the mnemonic “Red Right Returning” to help remember. As we were going down the river I let hm stir and I went forward to make an adjustment. We were coming upon a mark and he yelled out which side, left or right. I said “Red, Right, Returning, so left side”.  I had forgotten one concept. When a sailor speaks, he is speaking in relation to the boat. So when I said left side I meant the left side of the boat. My roommate thought I meant left side of the channel mark. We ran aground. I then got to teach the concepts behind freeing yourself from mud.

Running Aground – Due to Familiarity

This One Time we took another family out for a sail. There were 8 of us. 4 adults and 4 kids. They were all familiar with sailing. We were sailing in an area I had sailed many times and thought I knew well. The kids were playing, The adults were playing. We were all talking and having a good time. We were sailing past Gould Island. There is a well-marked rock that I have fished around many times, but I thought we were further away and was districted by the kids playing and adults parting. Joe, the other adult asked isn’t there a rock around here. I said, “no, it is further away”. Just as I said that we hit the rock. The boat was moving at a good clip. The front of the keel hit the rock, the boat stopped suddenly, it did not get stuck, just bounced backward like running into a wall. Two of the kids and one of the adults fell down. Nobody was hurt, but the games and parting stopped. Everybody was looking for leaks and damage. Non was visible. We limped back to the mooring. I went over the side to check the Keel. There was a flat spot of the forward edge of the keel. Ig need to be faired, which is not hard since the keel is made of lead and is easily shaped, but the expense of pulling the boat meant putting it off till the end of the season.  I did not think it would have much of an impact on the performance of the boat, but we did not place as well in the remaining sailing races the rest of that year.

Running Aground – Someplace I should Not be

It is not unusual to see a fisherman with a bent propeller. It happened to me. I was fishing off of Sakonnet point on the outer edge of the Islands. I saw Kayakers catching fish between the Islands On previous occasion I had seen boats similar to mine pass between the Islands. I though I would try. I picked my way from one side to the other and back again. Did not have any problems. I decided to fish in there. On my first cast a nice striper hit my lure. As I fought the fish the boat started drifting to one side and next thing I knew I was on the rocks. I lost the striper. I got off the boat to check for damages and to push the boat back into the deeper water. There were a few scratches in the hull, but nothing that was not easily fixed with epoxy (better boating thru chemistry). I pushed the boat back into deeper water. Trimmed the engine up and headed toward the deeper water. At the edge there was a rock a little bigger than the other. I tried to slide over it. The boat slide over the rock and fell into deeper water. As it fell the prop hit the rock and bent.

Running Aground – In a Submarine

In the Navy the Captain has a strange role (at least on the Boats I served). He is ultimately responsible for the success and failure of anything and everything that happens on the Boat, but with few exceptions he very seldom gets personally involved in the evolution of any event. An example might be he will say “Officer of the Deck” bring us into port, bring on shore power and secure the reactors. Then everybody is very busy for the next several hours and the Captain mostly watches (though he might offer suggestion to the offices). If, during the reactor shutdown an enlisted petty office mistakenly releases radioactive coolant into the bilge in the eyes of the Navy, the Captain is responsible. If then during the clean up another enlisted petty office take some heroic action, then in eyes of the Navy, the captain is responsible for that also. (Note, the enlisted personnel will also be punished or rewarded as their action warrant, but the Captain is the one responsible.) And, there are events that will end a Captains career. For example, Running Aground.

This one time I was an electrician on a Submarine and had the SPM watch during maneuvering. The SPM is the Secondary Propulsion Motor. It is a motor located in the lower auxiliary machinery room, that can be lowered out the bottom of the Boat and turned 360°. Its purpose is for maneuvering near docks or tenders. I had never seen one used except in training or maintenance. It is a good watch to have because you are wearing sound power headsets so that you can hear all the maneuvering commands and so have an ideal as to what is going on. And it is located in the lower level where nobody else is, so you can get comfortable and listen with no real responsibility. On this occasion I had set some cushion on the aft workbench in the shape of an easy chair and was listening in. It seemed like things were getting tight because the commands were getting short, fast and loud. All of a sudden it got quiet on the headset. Then a voice said “SPM, this is the Captain, Lower the SPM.” I was shocked. I fell of the workbench. Chipped a tooth on the railing getting up. I think I said “Aye, Aye Captain.” Went to the SPM control panel and pressed the lower button. Near the bottom the SPM twisted and turned and water started shooting up around the shaft. I reported this over the headset.  The Captain said “Do not raise the SPM”. After about another 30-40 seconds everything stopped.  The Maneuvering Officer then came over the Headset and sail “SPM, raise the SPM”.  I pressed the up button. The SPM started rising, but stopped a couple inches from the top. One of the senior electricians came down to the lower level. We jockey the SPM back and forth and it finally slipped the last 2-3 inch into place. I found out later that we were coming into port in Fog. The Harbor Pilot had gotten turned around (lost) in the fog and the submarine was headed toward the river bank. Lowering the SPM stopped us from running aground. After that we started calling the SPM the AFTER ANCHOR.

Hurricane – in a Submarine

When a submarine dives it becomes very stable. Very little rocking and rolling. When the weather turns bad and you are close to the surface you can roll back and forth, we just normally dive a little deeper. In Hurricanes you can still fell the effects of the waves at +400 feet, though it is very mild.

This one time the sub was out on the Reactor Operational and Safety exam. The exam is administered by a team, it usually last 3 days, and is performed underway. From the minute they board to the minute they leave they are asking questions of anybody and everybody and checking all the paperwork and logs. If they feel there is a problem, they can fail the boat and shut it down for training (This is one of the things that can end a captain’s career). Most of the time they just have a list a discrepancies that must be corrected. On this occasion on the third day the port where they were station was hit by a hurricane. The captain wanted the examining team off anyway so were going in. The boat surfaced in the hurricane. It was extremely rough with the boat rolling wildly. After about 30-40 mins the captain decided to turn around and dive back under the water. It was 3 days before we could get back into port. The Exam continued for whole time. We passed, but the list of discrepancies was huge and it took us 3 months to correct them all.

Hurricane – Flying a Kite

In Rhode Island we occasionally get hit by Hurricanes. Usually we know well in advance and the hurricane has lost most of its energy by the time it hits us, but they are still events that need to be prepared for. When possible, people will pull their boat out of the water and store on land. When not possible to pull, they remove as much as they can from the top sides, and secure the boat in the water. The river we live on is relative well protected and is a popular place for people to bring their boat when hurricanes are brewing.

This One Time a hurricane looked like it was going to track right over the top of us. I took the sails, bimini, and all lose items and stored them below. I added and extra line to the mooring and attached it to the base of the mast. I pulled the power boat out of the water and placed it in our yard. A friend noticed I had pulled the power boat and asked if he could use it’s mooring. I said yes, but make sure to add an extra line to the mooring because though the pendent looked good it was on its second year (I usually replace them every 2 years). He did not add an extra line to the mooring. The hurricane tracked directly over us. At the start of the storm the mooring line chaffed thru and his boat ended up in the neighbor’s yard. The neighbor called me, I call him, and we went to the boat. He though that while the water was high, he could motor the boat back out into the river and pick up another mooring, which he did. We were watching him set on the boat on the mooring as the storm intensified. I decided to take my inflatable dinghy and bring him back to the shore. I motored out to his boat. Tied the dinghy to one of the aft cleats and got onto his boat to help make sure everything was secure. After we finished, we went to get into the dinghy. It was flying about 20 ft in the air. We watched in wonder. The dinghy painter was attached from the dinghies bow eye to the aft cleat on the boat. The engine was acting as a tail. The wind had got under the dinghy and lifted it into the air. It was flying back and forth like a kite. After a little while the wind died down a little. It flopped on its side and upside down in the water. We righted it and got in. The motor would not start. The wind was blowing toward the shore. We untied the panther and the wind blew us to shore.    

Fog – Racing in Fog

Fog is the weather feature I dislike the most.  Fog on the water is different from fog on land. On land pretty much every where we go is along paths or roads. If you slow down and stay on the path you can get to where you are going, and pretty much anything you meet will be along the path from the front or behind. On water there are no paths, everything is moving and changing. Left one min is right the next.

It is often better or worse where you are going then where you are at. In other words, it might be clear at the dock in the harbor, but when you sail out into the bay and thick fog. Or it might be thick fog at the dock so you stay and people later ask why you did not go, it was so nice out in bay. I am often surprised by fog and I hate being lost. My first real experience with fog on water occurred while racing. It was actually one of my first races on Mt Hope Bay.

This one time prior to the race the winds were light and shifty and it was hazy, but clear. At the start the wind shifted and the fog moved in. As the fog moved in I took notice of our position, the marks we needed to round, and the relative position of the boats we were racing. Then we could not see anything. The wind was light so we were not moving fast and we were not making very much noise. I noticed that when we talked to each other we talked in our whisper voice. In the distance you could hear people on other boats talking. They were speaking in their whisper voice also. You could hear them, but not see them.  And, the direction the noise was coming from is ??. You would hear a boat on your left, but when you saw it, it was on the right. 

At any rate, we were racing. I charted a course to the first mark. When we got there, I noted the mark and charted a course to the next mark. And, proceed around the course noting each mark as we rounded it. At the finish we could barely see the committee boat, so we sailed next go her to make sure she had out finish. Later that night they call me. I had finished first with the best time. They asked if I had gotten lost in the fog. I denied getting lost and swore I rounded each mark. After the call I reviewed everything. I had not gotten lost in the fog. I had sailed the wrong course.  They had changed the course when the wind shifted. I did not see the course change. And, during a normal, non-fog, race I would have seen that we were sailing a different course from everybody else and correct myself. I had to call them back and admit to sailing the wrong course. I do not know which is worse, getting lost in the fog or sailing the wrong course.

Fog – Lost In The Crowd

This one time we were sailing back from Nantucket to home. The forecast was for light patchy fog in the morning, clearing in the afternoon. It did not look to bad, so we left. It was patchy that morning, but in the afternoon it was thick. By late afternoon I was getting tired from stress of navigating in the fog and since I had slowed down, we had not made much distance. We were close to Cuttyhunk and decided to pull in there for the night. As we got close to Cutty the fog really thickened. I sent Duane up to the bow with a light and horn in case we meet somebody. I could not see him on the bow. It was a 30 ft boat and I could not see Duane on the bow. We drifted slowly toward where I knew there was a mooring. We passed a couple anchored boats, but found the mooring, there was nobody on it. We picked it up and settled in for the night, occasionally going topside to be amazed by how thick the fog was.  The next morning I went top side. It was clear. There were at least 50 boats anchored in the Harbor. Somehow, In the fog, we had threaded our way between all those boats l had only see 2-3 of them.

Anchoring, the more you do it the better you get

Anchoring is xxxx. I left it blank because everybody has opinions about anchoring. Generically, the holding power comes from the shape. It needs weight for the shape to dig in. And, a proper angle of pull to remain anchored. There are lots of articles, guides, and published studies covering anchors, gear, techniques, and even etiquette. The one thing I can say is that no matter which anchoring philosophy you chose to follow, the more you do it, the better you will get at it.

When I bought my first boat, the anchor recommendation was a plow anchor, one size bigger than the manufacture recommended and 20 ft of chain. I would occasionally anchor, but did not like it because the anchor was difficult to handle.

Then, this one time, I took a group of people to watch the Blue Angles from the boat in the Annapolis harbor. We got there early and anchored close to the Academy. Boats started filling in around us. Layering out as the area filled up. Soon there was no more room close to the Academy for more boats. And everything calmed down as people settle in for the show. We had drinks and snacks and I pulled out the ice cream maker for homemade ice cream.  Then this huge 45 ft power boat came our way, weaving thru the anchored boats looking for a place to anchor. Other boats were yelling at him that there was no room. As he passed in front of us his propeller caught our anchor line and became entangled. He then slid down the line and his boat started crashing against mine. He had a 45 ft boat. I had a 25 ft boat. We started yelling at each other. He said he did not know what to do as he was new to boating. His boat was so big he could sink my boat. I did not want to stay in that situation. I gave him a fender, told him to tie it to the anchor line as a float and then go over the side and cut the line off his prop. We will then pick up my fender and the anchor line. We did a circle weaving our way between the other boats. When we got back to where we had anchored, they had tied our anchor line to one of their cleats and they were drinking and partying. We asked them to get off our anchor. They ignored us. Another boat asked us if we wanted to raft up with them while we settled the problem. I though about it, but it was rough and crowed and I did not think it was safe. I wrote down his bow registration number and left.  The next day I called the DNR. They said they do not get involved just because somebody is a “Dick”. They did give me his name, address and phone number, but it turned out to be the previous owner. The “Dick” had not registered the boat.  I quit worrying about him and went about getting a new anchor.  

The only anchor I could find readily available was a Danforth, one size smaller than recommended for my boat and 6 ft of chain. I went from an oversized plow with 20 ft of chain to an undersized Danforth with 6 ft of chain.  Plows are heavy by design and Danforth are lightweight by design. Anchoring became a pleasure. It was so much easier to deploy and retrieve the lightweight Danforth than that heavy plow. I started anchoring a lot. The small anchor did have problems setting and a tendency to drag. But, I was anchoring so much that I got to where I could tell right away if the anchor was going to have problems setting or dragging, and as such could reset it right away before it became a problem.  The more you anchor, the better you will get at it.

Buying an anchor

I keep that undersized anchor for many years. I lost it when it became tangled with something on the bottom and I had to cut the anchor line. On this occasion I had time and did a little research and decided on a Fortress anchor. Fortresses are Danforth style anchor made out of aluminum. Even lighter.  Since it was lighter I decided to buy the size recommended for my boat. There were 2 marine supply stores in the area and this new thing called the internet.  I looked on line, wrote down the model number and price and then went to the store. The second store had the anchor I wanted in stock, but the price was almost twice the price as on the internet. I was standing there looking at the anchors trying to decide what to do when the salesman approached me and asked if I needed help. I said I was looking for an anchor. He asked what size boat I had. I told him and he pointed to the anchor I was looking at and said that is the one I needed. I said I know, but it was more than I was expecting to pay for it. He asked how much I was expecting to pay. I showed him the paper with the model number and price. He said wait here and went into the back room.  A few minutes later he returned and said “We can match that price.” It makes you wonder about the markup on marine stuff when they can drop the price by almost ½ just like that.

My First Dive

I got my Divers License in San Diego. At the time I was staying in the barracks. One of my barracks mates was also a diver, and had been diving for many years. He was looking for somebody in the barracks to dive with. He asked me, I said yes. We decided to go that weekend. Friday, I went to the local dive shop and rented equipment, tanks and dive suit. Saturday morning we loaded up his car and drove to La Jolla. Parked at the top of the cleft and carried all our gear to the beach at the bottom. There was a “C” shaped sand covered beach with a narrow entrance to the sea that was bounded by rocks. The ocean waves were breaking over the rocks and thru the entrance onto the sandy beach area. The water in the beach area was flat whereas the entrance and sea looked rough. I stated as such. He said we had already carried all our gear down the cleft and that we could get suited up in the calm area near the beach. Go to the bottom and let the rip current carry us out to the reef.  It sounded easy. It was easy. I carried all my gear out into waist deep water. Got suited up. Sunk to the bottom. Swam toward the entrance until I felt the pull of the rip current and then let the current do all the work. We skimming across the bottom faster than I could swim. Then rip died down and we were at the reef. It was good dive, though it was a little rough even at 30-40 from the waves, It was one of my first and I was really enjoying it. After about an hour my dive partner pointed toward the surface. On the surface we decided it was time to head back in. At that time, I realized I had not thought about how we were going to get back in thru the rip and the waves. He said we would use the waves and body surf thru the narrow entrance onto the beach. He would go first to show me how.  He lined up the waves with the entrance. Started kicking hard, caught a wave, and body surfed in full dive gear right thru the entrance and landed on the beach looking out toward me. My turn. I started looking for a wave. When one came, I started kicking hard, caught a wave and started body surfing. I did not realize I was no longer lined up with the entrance. I landed on the rock, In full dive gear. Before I could stand up another wave landed on top of me. I crawled over the rocks with the waves pounding on me. And slid into the water on the beach side where it was calm and swam up to the beach. I was ok, no cut a few bruises, but the wet suit was ripped to shreds. The dive shop took it back with a fee for repairs. That was my last dive on the west coast. I could not afford the cost of the rental gear.

Night Dive

I meet Duane when I was station on my first submarine. We became friends and had many things in common one of which was diving. We started planning dive trips together.

This one time, we decided to go on a dive trip over the Christmas holidays. There was a lady, Sue, who set up trips and then acted as the dive master during the trip.  She had charted a 60 ft boat set up for diving for a 4 day trip to Bimini.  She had 12 people. She wanted 4 more. Duane got his brother, Mark, to go and another friend, Todd who occasionally dived with us. We left Fort Lauderdale at 11Pm at night, arrived in Bimini at about 8 AM. Cleared customs and headed out to the reef. Normally on these trips we would anchor out the whole 4 days. Do 2-3 dives plus a night dive each day. On this occasion the generator was broke. We did the day dives, but were returning to port at night to recharge the batteries. It was good because we got to experience the Bimini night live over Christmas. It was a big party that often overflowed out in to the streets and the thing that made this different were the colors. Everybody was wearing bright colors and all the houses, bars, and restaurants were dressed with bright colors. It was a sight to see.

At any rate people were complaining that they wanted a night dive. On the last day the captain said we could do a night dive that night before heading back to Fort Lauderdale.  When it started getting dark Sue came around and said we could start getting ready. But, everybody was tired from the diving and partying. The only people that wanted to do the night dive were Duane, Mark, Todd, and I. We got ready. We were on the stern of the boat. The captain came back and said we are in 60 ft of water, the wind had shifted and asked if we would go down the anchor line. Check the anchor and dive around the anchor. Since we had suited in the stern we decided to enter in the stern and swim under the boat to the anchor line. Mark and Todd would be partners and Duane and I would be partners. Mark was the first to enter the water. He started straight down. Todd said I guess we go to the bottom and then to the anchor. He entered the water. I had a tendency to go in heavy so that I do nor bob to the surface. When you enter the water at night the first few min is sort of a magical time. You are adjusting your mask, regulator, belts, and harnesses as you sink. And then you start playing with the light. When you look around you only see what is in the light beam. You can make thing appear and disappear by swiping your light back and forth.  And when air bubbles from divers below you break thru the beam it reflects the light in all different ways. At any rate, after playing with the light for a few min I looked down thinking we should be close to the bottom. We were supposed to be in 60 ft of water. I did not see the bottom. The water was very clear. We were all swimming down. Todd was 10ft below me. Mark was 15-20 ft below him. Duane was about 10 ft above me. I saw Todd start looking at his depth gage. (I did not have a depth gage.)  He pointed his light down and swung it back and forth. He stopped swimming down and swam over to me and showed me his depth gage. It was pegged at 160ft.  He pointed to the surface and started swimming up. Duane swam over to me. His depth gage was also pegged. We looked at his brother. He was about 40 ft below us, head down, fins up swimming toward the bottom. Duane motioned for me to stay and started swimming down fast swinging his light back and forth trying to get Marks attention. Mark looked up. Duane motioned toward the surface. Mark looked down and then swam up to Duane. They swam up to me and we all started swimming toward the surface. It took forever to get to the surface. When we reach the surface there was nothing there. No boat, No mark. Off in the distance we could hear a whistle. We swam toward it. It was Mark. (We all carried whistles at night). He said that when he reached the surface the boat was just about to go out of sight. Sue was on a bull horn and said that the anchor had dragged. We were in the Gulf Stream. The batteries were dead. And, the captain could not get the engines started. We were floating in a circle. In the middle of the ocean discussing what to do.  We had on wetsuits, so we were not going to get cold. We had buoyancy compensators so we were not going to drown, We had fins, so we were thinking about dropping the rest of the gear and start swimming east. Them way off in the night we heard an engine start. Then a few min later we heard the big diesels start.  A few min later the boat came into sight. Turn the stern to us. We climbed onboard. The boat turned and headed for Fort Lauderdale.

As soon as we entered the water, Sue realized the anchor was no longer attached to the bottom. She told the captain and she stationed one person on the tallest part of the boat whose only job was to watch and point toward us. The captain stated the batteries were dead and then started working on the generator. He was able to get the generator running long enough to start the main engines. They came and picked us up. After we had stowed our gear I went up to the bridge next to the Captain. It was a warm night. As I was standing there, I got the shakes. The captain looked at me and handed me a bottle of coconut rum. I took a swig, the shaking stopped. Since then I have had a slight preference for coconut rum.

Ignoring a Shark

Sharks are pretty much everywhere in the ocean. If you do not see them it is probably because the visibility is so bad. They do spend more time in places where there is more food, but they can be anywhere. There is not a lot of food near beaches, so fewer sharks along beaches. There is lots of food near reefs, so lots of sharks near reefs. Divers see a lot of sharks. But there are very few diver related shark attacks. One reason is probably because a diver in the water looks pretty intimidating.  You have a 6 ft man wearing mask, snorkel, and fins which make him even taller, He is wearing a wetsuit, bouncy compensator, and tanks which makes him big in size and then he has all kinds of hoses, belts, bags and other stuff hanging off him. It would need to be a pretty big shark to casually test out a man. There is one case where that does not apply. It is when a shark gets in to a feeding frenzy. Then even small sharks are dangerous. I was into spearfishing and dove with people that were also into spearfishing.  We had a rule that no spearing fish when sharks are around.

This one time we were on a dive trip in the keys and there were 2 groups on the trip. 5 of us were spear fishing and 6 were shellers. Everybody had a partner except for 1 of the shellers. I do not remember his name. I will call him Jim. Spearfisherman have a tendency to range long distances looking for fish, whereas shellers will spend their time in a localized area looking for shells because shells are good at disguising themselves and therefore hard to find.  Because of the way we range shellers and spearfisherman do not partner up.  At any rate, Jim was a world renowned sheller, he had found may rare shells and had written several books on shells. The way he searched for shells was to pick out a small area, say 10×10, and spend the whole dive shifting thur that area. Even the other shellers got bored with that, so he dove alone.

When we arrived at a location, we would note the depth, drop and set the anchor. The dive master would give an update on any peculiarities in the area. We would suit up and enter the water. Duane and I were normally the first to be ready and enter the water. On this trip Jim always beat us into the water. On this occasion Jim was setting in the stern already suited up waiting for the anchor to be dropped. As soon as it was set he entered the water and headed for the bottom. As soon as we finished setting the anchor Duane and I got suited up and entered the water. We were 2^nd in the water. We entered heavy so we are sinking right away. I am adjusting my mask, regulator, catch bag. After that I start looking around. Jim is on the bottom, fins up head down shifting thru the sand around a coral head. Duane has finished adjusting his gear and is floating motionless in the water looking behind me. I turn and see a 10ft hammerhead swimming slowly thru the water toward us.  He gets about 10-15 ft away and turns and swims off to the side. Duane motion toward the surface. We surface next to the boat. Duane yells up, there is a hammerhead in the water, No spear fishing. The other divers nodded in agreement. We started swimming toward the bottom. Duane motioned toward Jim. He probably had not seen the hammerhead yet. When we got close, I banged on my tank with a dive knife to get his attention. He did not look up. Duane tugged on one of his fins. Without looking up, Jim swatted at whatever was pulling on his fins. Duane pulled the swim fin off. Jim looked up at us. We pointed at the hammerhead. He nodded and went back to shifting thru the sand around the coral head. Ignoring us and the shark.

Ignoring a Rule

On another occasion, I went on a dive trip with about 16-18 people, a mixture of spearfisherman and tourist, divers who are want to take pictures and sightsee. We had completed a morning dive and some of the people said they would like to dive the area again. The Dive Master asked if anybody had speared any fish. We said no. She said we could dive the area again that afternoon after our surface interval.  

After our surface interval and we could dive again 2 of the other spearfishermen were the first to enter the water. My dive partner and I got suited up and just as we were about to enter the water the first group surface, yelling about a shark attack. One of the divers was holding his arm in the air as they swam to the boat. We helped them on board. There was blood sipping from cuts in the wetsuit. The captain started the engines and headed for Bimini. Bimini did not have much in the way of medical facilities, but they did have an airport. The wetsuit was applying pressure to the wound, we added some more till we arrived in Bimini. There was another boat at the dock call “On Call”. The owner was an emergency room doctor and his wife was a nurse. They took over, stabilized they arm and put him on a plane to Miami. He had +100 stitches.

It seems they had speared a grouper during the first dive that morning. It had swam up into a coral head and they could not get it out before they ran out of air they had to surface. When the Dive Master asked if anybody had speared anything they kept quit because they wanted to retrieve the fish. When they reentered the water, they swam straight to the coral head where they had speared the grouper. As they were searching around the coral head a Bull shark grabbed one of the divers by the arm and started swing him around. It then let go and swam off. They surfaced. You know the rest. 

Following the spear

This one time we were diving and spearfishing a wall on the edge of the gulf stream. The top of the wall was at 60ft. The bottom was 2000ft (not that we went that deep). Gullies had formed running over the side of the wall. It looked like fingers where somebody had gripped a table. The gullies that were about 10ft high made of coral with sand and rocks at the bottom of the gullies.  Fish were everywhere. Small fish in the coral, bigger fish swimming in the gullies and even bigger fish swimming on the wall.  It was a trip to swim out into the ocean and look back at the wall.  Nothing to support you, just floating there in mid water looking back at the wall and something solid.

For spear fishing, we were using Hawaii slings. They look like slingshots for firing spears. The spears were ¼ in Stainless steel shafts 6ft long with a barb at one end. There is no string attached to the spear. You would spear the fish, it would swim into a hole, dragging the spear. Then you would swim into the hole to retrieve the spear and fish. I was swimming along the top of the wall, Duane was swimming along the side of the wall at the level of the gullies. When I spooked a fish down Duane would spear it. When Duane spooked a fish up, I would spear it. We were having some success. Then I saw Duane quit swimming. On top of one of the coral gullies was huge grouper watching Duane. Duane motioned for me to shoot it. I dripped down into the gully, swam to where I though the fish was, came up out the gully, the fish was right there, I could touch it. I shot it with a spear instead. The spear went all the way thru the fish and over the side of the wall. The fish turned and follow the spear over the wall. Duane swam over to me and we watched the spear and the fish disappear into the depths. We were at the top of the coral looking down, I was thinking about my lost spear. They we saw something big swimming up from the depths. It was a large mako shark. It was swimming very fast. I think it was following the blood trail from the fish. It got to within 10 ft of us and then started doing circles around us. Duane and I got back to back so we could watch all around and very close to each other so we looked like one big creature instead of 2 small ones. We started swimming along the bottom toward the boat, the shark swimming very fast, looking agitated, and circling us the whole way. We got back below the boat. We were setting on the bottom, trying to figure how we were going to surface, when the shark swam off, back toward the wall (and the blood trail). We surfaced and climbed back onboard the boat.