TheBoatman
New member
Last w/end I was swaning around the Medway in a powerboat making out I was something to do with the Medway Keelboat Regatta when on the Saturday I noticed a broken down mobo slowly drifting towards the piles on Thamesport Container Depot. I moved over to the vessel to enquire if they needed any assistance and was met by 2 guys that looked like they ran an East End scrapyard. It appears, according to them, that they had dirty fuel and the engine had stopped. I pointed out that they were drifting into danger and did they need a tow, there was some discussion and they finally accepted my offer of a tow to a safe place, but I sensed that they really were not that happy as they kept trying to get me to take them ashore at either Garrison Point (Sheerness) or Gillingham. After waiting for 5 minutes so that they could find a line I eventually got the tow established. During the tow I was able to gleen some information from them i.e the place they had set out from (some 13 miles upstream), that the boat was new to them (less than 2 weeks old and this was their first real passage). I towed them to a safe place and asked them to anchor, then passed another 10 minutes whilst they attempted to sort out the anchor & warp before I dropped the tow. I returned to them several times to make sure that they were OK and each time I tried to get more info out of them. I asked if they had a radio, to which the guy answered yes, but I don't know how to use it. When I finally located a mechanic amongst our crews I offered to put him aboard to have a look at the problem I was met with a completely different answer (to quote the guy) I think the carburation must be well off because our tank guages are reading zero.
Jezzus they had run out of fuel!
I arranged a tow back to our club where they eventually found there own way home and during all this not once did I hear a thankyou for your assistance.
Sunday.
I hear a mayday relay from Medway radio about a mobo that is "aground" on Darnet Point. I swan over to find a 28' mobo with 2 persons aboard anchored just off the point and using a boat hook to keep himself of the wooden piles, as I approach he asks me if I would "kindly" give him a tow off, he has a crew standing on the foredeck with a nice long tow line. The tow is established and they recover the anchor very quickly so as not to make my life more interesting than it already is because I'm trying to hold my boat across the tide whilst they recover said anchor. Whilst I was towing them to a mooring the guy shouts over that he's very sorry for causing me all this inconvienence, that he's extremely grateful for the tow, that his engine is working but the drive is not getting through to the outboard leg, what club do we belong to as he would really like to buy us a drink for our efforts.
I parked him on a safe mooring with him gushing thanks all over my crew and me.
AND folks thats all I needed for "payment" I wished him well a departed happy in the knowledge that I had been able to help a fellow boater in need.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES?
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Jezzus they had run out of fuel!
I arranged a tow back to our club where they eventually found there own way home and during all this not once did I hear a thankyou for your assistance.
Sunday.
I hear a mayday relay from Medway radio about a mobo that is "aground" on Darnet Point. I swan over to find a 28' mobo with 2 persons aboard anchored just off the point and using a boat hook to keep himself of the wooden piles, as I approach he asks me if I would "kindly" give him a tow off, he has a crew standing on the foredeck with a nice long tow line. The tow is established and they recover the anchor very quickly so as not to make my life more interesting than it already is because I'm trying to hold my boat across the tide whilst they recover said anchor. Whilst I was towing them to a mooring the guy shouts over that he's very sorry for causing me all this inconvienence, that he's extremely grateful for the tow, that his engine is working but the drive is not getting through to the outboard leg, what club do we belong to as he would really like to buy us a drink for our efforts.
I parked him on a safe mooring with him gushing thanks all over my crew and me.
AND folks thats all I needed for "payment" I wished him well a departed happy in the knowledge that I had been able to help a fellow boater in need.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES?
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