Post by captddis on Jul 8, 2010 8:14:28 GMT -5
Just returned from from taking a friends mint 1970 47 Chris Craft Commander from Jefferson Beach to Michigan City IN.
It started out with a friend picking me up at Midway airport and driving me up to stay aboard his pristine 1981 56 Hatteras MY in Saugatuck. Every year he puts on a pig roast for the marina and this was the weekend and I got drafted to help with the cooking.
We picked up 100lbs of cut up pig and a huge cooker. Rubbed the pig down with garlic and salt, then double bagged it, put in into a kidde pool purchased for the task then packed it in ice until morning.
The next morning at 6 dark thirty we set up the cooker then wrapped chicken wire around the meat and tied with wire.
Started cooking and we took turns dousing the meat with wine every 20 minutes and rotating the meet every 45 min. This went on for 10 hrs and about 6 gallons of wine and bags of mesquite chips and hickory chips.
There is a tradition on that day that that a dinghy run is held while the meat cooks. Kind of a dinghy poker run on the Kalamazoo river, while trying to drown each other with water cannons. Some even had gas powered pumps in their dinghy's!
A dock mate loaned myself and JW who was also going on the trip with us, his old dinghy with a 4hp Evinrude that ran at half speed.
I will mention my host has a new RIB with a 50HP on it.
I confiscated 3 water cannon's and paid the 20.00 entry and we were off. We held our own heading up to the first clue and card of seven. We held our own even though we were the slowest.
Half way to the lake where the cards was to be picked up, My host came back toward us with the rib. He was hauling ass and getting very close. Next thing I knew his bow was coming over us and right at me!!!!!!
In a split second I thought that this is how you read about people getting killed!. I tried to push back against his bow, but the hard bottom hit me on my right hip and took me right out of the boat into the river with two propellors coming at me.
I swam as hard as I could away from the boats and surfaced.
Fortunately both operators killed their engines with the lanyards.
Everyone was yelling and I told JW to come pick me up as I could not swim against the current.
My hip hurt like hell, I sliced the tops of both feet and was bleeding a little from my right ankle. My expensive sunglasses were gone also. I sat in the boat thinking about what just happened and told our attacker that I hurt but was sort of ok.
He headed for the next clue and eventually a speeding ticked near the marina!
Meanwhile the cooking continued and the party went on........
We did not win the 285.00 for the dinghy run, but I was happy that I was not in worse shape. But very pissed at my host for being so careless. I took one of the scooters to town to get some new sunglasses and later walked to town for some drinks and remember walking the mile back to the boat in pain!.
The next morning the three of us left for Jefferson Beach and the commander.
First I will say that we were doing this for a friend who almost dies back in March and was still not in condition to move it himself.
I take my deliveries seriously and have some hard and fast rules .
I had never been on a boat with either of the people going with me and the boat had not been used in the last two years. Lots of assurances were made and people got offended when i asked questions. Were told repeatedly that " everything was ready to go and seatrialed and full of fuel".
The next morning we head out into a gloomy choppy Lake StClair and head north. The promised 15 kt cruise is a pipe dream and I settle in on 9.3 kts. Heading north.
The first stop was going to be Port Salinack, however in spite of bumpy seas and a hard riding Chris Craft we decide to make Harbor Beach. Ten miles out of Harbor Beach while I am doing a engine room check, I hear the engines go out of sync.
Run up to the dash and the stbd engine is surging, then the gen shuts down. Fuck! The stbd fuel gauge shows a quarter and the port shows between half and a quarter. I don't trust gauges and figured that the trip should take 240 gallons tops and the boat holds 350. I am pissed beyond words! I always top off a boat before a delivery and I broke one of my rules because the previous and current owner swore that it was topped off before going into the building for winter storage! They got frustrated when I wanted to top it off.
Ten miles to go, 25 knots of wind on the bow and no fuel. I mull over options and figure that we have about 6 gallons of fuel in jugs for filling filters. I put on a life jacket and get onto the swin platform while JW hands me the three jugs and I pour them into the port tank to hopefully get us in. I keep thinking about running out of fuel between the marina and rock jetties with the worry of the wind taking us onto the rocks.
I pull out anchor line and get both anchors ready to deploy if needed. We slog along for eternity and finally make it to the fuel dock. The stbd 175 gal tank takes 177gal, the port tanks 144 gal.
The winds get worse. I tried to leave the next morning and get 10 miles north and turn around and head back to our slip and top up with 30 gallons for the wasted 20 miles. We sit for two days.
Harbor beach is our favorite stop.
It started out with a friend picking me up at Midway airport and driving me up to stay aboard his pristine 1981 56 Hatteras MY in Saugatuck. Every year he puts on a pig roast for the marina and this was the weekend and I got drafted to help with the cooking.
We picked up 100lbs of cut up pig and a huge cooker. Rubbed the pig down with garlic and salt, then double bagged it, put in into a kidde pool purchased for the task then packed it in ice until morning.
The next morning at 6 dark thirty we set up the cooker then wrapped chicken wire around the meat and tied with wire.
Started cooking and we took turns dousing the meat with wine every 20 minutes and rotating the meet every 45 min. This went on for 10 hrs and about 6 gallons of wine and bags of mesquite chips and hickory chips.
There is a tradition on that day that that a dinghy run is held while the meat cooks. Kind of a dinghy poker run on the Kalamazoo river, while trying to drown each other with water cannons. Some even had gas powered pumps in their dinghy's!
A dock mate loaned myself and JW who was also going on the trip with us, his old dinghy with a 4hp Evinrude that ran at half speed.
I will mention my host has a new RIB with a 50HP on it.
I confiscated 3 water cannon's and paid the 20.00 entry and we were off. We held our own heading up to the first clue and card of seven. We held our own even though we were the slowest.
Half way to the lake where the cards was to be picked up, My host came back toward us with the rib. He was hauling ass and getting very close. Next thing I knew his bow was coming over us and right at me!!!!!!
In a split second I thought that this is how you read about people getting killed!. I tried to push back against his bow, but the hard bottom hit me on my right hip and took me right out of the boat into the river with two propellors coming at me.
I swam as hard as I could away from the boats and surfaced.
Fortunately both operators killed their engines with the lanyards.
Everyone was yelling and I told JW to come pick me up as I could not swim against the current.
My hip hurt like hell, I sliced the tops of both feet and was bleeding a little from my right ankle. My expensive sunglasses were gone also. I sat in the boat thinking about what just happened and told our attacker that I hurt but was sort of ok.
He headed for the next clue and eventually a speeding ticked near the marina!
Meanwhile the cooking continued and the party went on........
We did not win the 285.00 for the dinghy run, but I was happy that I was not in worse shape. But very pissed at my host for being so careless. I took one of the scooters to town to get some new sunglasses and later walked to town for some drinks and remember walking the mile back to the boat in pain!.
The next morning the three of us left for Jefferson Beach and the commander.
First I will say that we were doing this for a friend who almost dies back in March and was still not in condition to move it himself.
I take my deliveries seriously and have some hard and fast rules .
I had never been on a boat with either of the people going with me and the boat had not been used in the last two years. Lots of assurances were made and people got offended when i asked questions. Were told repeatedly that " everything was ready to go and seatrialed and full of fuel".
The next morning we head out into a gloomy choppy Lake StClair and head north. The promised 15 kt cruise is a pipe dream and I settle in on 9.3 kts. Heading north.
The first stop was going to be Port Salinack, however in spite of bumpy seas and a hard riding Chris Craft we decide to make Harbor Beach. Ten miles out of Harbor Beach while I am doing a engine room check, I hear the engines go out of sync.
Run up to the dash and the stbd engine is surging, then the gen shuts down. Fuck! The stbd fuel gauge shows a quarter and the port shows between half and a quarter. I don't trust gauges and figured that the trip should take 240 gallons tops and the boat holds 350. I am pissed beyond words! I always top off a boat before a delivery and I broke one of my rules because the previous and current owner swore that it was topped off before going into the building for winter storage! They got frustrated when I wanted to top it off.
Ten miles to go, 25 knots of wind on the bow and no fuel. I mull over options and figure that we have about 6 gallons of fuel in jugs for filling filters. I put on a life jacket and get onto the swin platform while JW hands me the three jugs and I pour them into the port tank to hopefully get us in. I keep thinking about running out of fuel between the marina and rock jetties with the worry of the wind taking us onto the rocks.
I pull out anchor line and get both anchors ready to deploy if needed. We slog along for eternity and finally make it to the fuel dock. The stbd 175 gal tank takes 177gal, the port tanks 144 gal.
The winds get worse. I tried to leave the next morning and get 10 miles north and turn around and head back to our slip and top up with 30 gallons for the wasted 20 miles. We sit for two days.
Harbor beach is our favorite stop.
