Community Update

0630, a beautiful morning, clear skies, light breeze around 50˙. I am scheduled to take a 27' 1970's Skiff Craft from Rex Marine to Brewers Marina in Essex. The boat has been commissioned and cleaned a few days in advance and left to "soak" for a few days in an open slip. If you never owned or operated a wooden boat before, "soaking" is an essential part of wood boating. You have to let the wood swell in the water so you do not have any leaks. I arrived at the dock early enough to do a once over inspection and still make New Haven before the winds picked up, or so i thought. This is a great boat that I have run many times before for the owner, she has twin Mercury I/O's and handles very well. I brought my captain's bag, my morning muffin, some water and a sandwich for the trip which I figured would take around 4 hours to Essex and I would grab a cab back to Norwalk.

Before I left, I remembered there was not a VHF on board so I grabbed my hand held VHF just in case. The channel was full of rowing skulls and the oyster boats were just heading out as I glided past 14 and headed out towards Pecks Light. The sun was just about 30' of the horizon but I could make out the oyster sticks and markers OK. I throttled up to about 25 knots and headed out to 24 where I settled back with my muffin and set course for Middle Ground. About another 25 minutes later the starboard motor started hunting for RPM's, after messing a bit with the control, I wedged a piece of cloth in so as to hold the Rpm's. That worked for about 5 minutes when the motor just about stalled, as I came off plane, i saw green water come rushing into the cockpit sole. "Hmmm, never saw that before, I thought" As I looked off in the distance I noticed a trawler steaming east and thought "What a beautiful day NOT to go swimming"! With the water temps still in the 40's, I was sure that I did not want to get wet, I was about on the Fairfiled/ Bridgeport line about 4-5 miles off. Quickly I turned the boat around and headed home as fast as I could, I got on 16 and hailed Station Eaton's Neck, no answer, my hand held was not strong enough to reach, I called several more times and nothing. "Damn, I knew I should have convinced the owner to put in that VHF last year" I thought. Once more and Sector Long Island Sound came through. Having trained for years with the Coast Guard, this was a simple conversation to have. "Coast Guard, Sector Long Island Sound, this is the motor vessel No Name, I am a 27' black hull with a blue bimini top, located approximately 3 miles southeast of buoy 24. I appear to be taking on water". Always provide a solid description of who, what and where, knowing this ahead of time is essential for a quick rescue if you are ever in trouble. Situational awareness is key, as I teach my students, "you need to know the weather for the day, the tides at the time you leave, what the weather and tide will be like when you arrive and when you return". "Vessel taking on water, vessel taking on water, roger Captain, how many people are on board and have you put on your life vest?" This is what we were trained to say whenever we responded to any boat in distress, having trained for COMMS (radio communications), I knew exactly what he was going to say and was ready with the info. "Sector, vessel No Name, roger, I am 1 POB and I am wearing a life vest", "Captain, can you give me your Lat/Lon"? "Roger, I am located at 41.04777,-73.208771, how copy"? "Roger Captain, good copy on all, can you switch and answer channel 22 alpha? If you do not hear me there, switch back to 16" "Roger, switch" This simply means you agree to the change in channel and you go to what ever channel was agreed upon. I am still making about 28 knots and have 24 in sight, I figure if she goes down at least I will be closer to land if I had to wait for help it would come quick out of Westport. I called out on 22, nothing. A few more times and I heard him come on, "Motor vessel No Way, motor vessel No Way this is Sector Long Island Sound, over". When you are on the radio, words can easily get mixed up which is why the military and municipal departments use the phonetic alphabet, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie for A, B, C, etc. "Sector, (we are on a first name basis now) this is motor vessel No Name, I am about 2 miles SE of 24 now, the bilge pump seems to be keeping up with the water. I am returning to Rex Marine in Norwalk to have the boat hauled". "Roger captain, be advised, I have a Coast Guard vessel underway to assist you from Eaton's Neck Station". "Roger, No Name, standing by 22 alpha". At this time, I do not see any more water and feel pretty confident that I can make it back to Rex, I pass 24 and turn in for Peck Ledge and I lose the port motor. "Sector, be advised, I have just lost the port motor, it's probably flooded". "Skipper" Oh, so now I get demoted? "I understand you are a twin motor boat"? ""Sector, I was up until about a minute ago".

As I come around the light, I see a 44' Coast Guard lifeboat racing towards 26. I trained on the old 41's and was kind of excited to see the 44 up close, and I was about to... "Motor Vessel No Name, motor vessel No Name, this is the Coast Guard Small Boat on 22 alpha, do you copy"? "Roger Small Boat, I see your blue lights, I am right in front of this oyster boat at light 8, over". "Roger Captain" (That's better) "We have a dewatering pump and are prepared to come along side and assist" "Small Boat, my pump seems to be keeping up with the water, if you guy's could give me a lead into the harbor and clear any traffic, it would be appreciated" It was at that moment I saw the NFD boat racing towards us. I knew there was a lot of rowers in the channel before, and thought "How do these guys not swamp them"? The rowers really should stick to the water by Peach Island, if they hamper rescue effort or worse, get thrown into 50 degree water by a fire or police boat then we really have a problem. "Small Boat, it looks like Norwalk Fire has cleared the channel for us already".

"Roger Captain, we are going to come along side and put two Crew members on board to inspect the vessel while you continue, keep your course and way on". Cool, I have seen this done on the weather channel but never actually in person, of course I didn't really get to see it because the Fire Boats had come off plane and I had to deal with a set of 5' wakes coming at us on one motor while a 44' boat was coming along side me all while avoiding light 14. Piece of cake! Norwalk Fire and the Coast Guard exchanged some back and forth about what to do with me and it was decided that they would call ahead to Rex to clear the way. I felt a gentle nudge and two young men were on board, nicely done! They quickly went to work to see where the water was coming from, lifting hatches and inspecting holds. "It looks like the pumps done all the work" one of them said. He was from Arizona and was real happy to be on the water doing what he was trained for. "I'm sorry I didn't give you guy's more of a challenge, I think when the port motor quit, so did the problem" I had guessed that the raw water hose had let go and was pumping water into the bilge. They inspected the port motor and agreed there was quite a bit of standing water. They rode with me all the way in to Rex, we talked about a Chief Petty Officer we all knew who had trained us and again how appreciative they were to be able to get out of the Station on a call like this.

The Norwalk Fire boat led us up to Rex where we were to be hauled out. Before I got off the boat, I made one last call out. "Coast Guard Small Boat, this is Motor Vessel No Name, we are secured at this time. Thank you for your assistance" "Small Boat, you welcome, out." As it turned out, there was some separation of the planks and ribs allowing water to enter while underway, we suspect the engines malfunctioning was due to flooding. Always make sure you know your boat before heading out, have all of the required safety items, a VHF radio and know how to use it. I want to personally thank the Norwalk Fire Department and their Marine Squad and especially the brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard, Sector Long Island Sound and Station Eaton's Neck for their exemplary performance and response time. Should you ever need assistance on the water, you will feel secure knowing we have such well trained assets at the ready. "Semper Paratus"