The Skeddadle

Skedaddle on a clear and calm morning

Yesterday we hauled one of our three watertaxi's out of the water to put it up for sale.  As I watched the Skedaddle get towed away on a trailer I couldn't help but think of all the adventures I'd had on this little boat.  One of the most difficult tows I've done was with the Skedaddle and I'm so thankful that it was that boat that I was in.
        It was late afternoon in mid-August I was working on the dock waiting for one more boat on the reservations to come in.  My radio went off but was broken a broken transmission, "blind channel..." was all I heard " Blind Channel go ahead" I replied.  The response came back still broken but readable "We're a tender from a boat on your dock, were stranded on a beach on East Thurlow in Mayne Passage, could you help us?"

"Standby I'll send a boat out" I answer.  Phil Richter who had been listening to the conversation groaned, "I don't want to go out rescuing people now, I have things to do" he said I grinned, handed him my radio, and told him I'd go if he'd watch the dock.  I'm always down for rescuing.  I hopped in Skedaddle and headed out into a strong North Westerly blowing through Mayne Passage.  There is only one beach on East Thurlow in Mayne Passage so they weren't hard to find, no that was the easy part.  I idled offshore assessing the situation and setting up my tow line, they had their boat a 16" Whaler with a 50hp motor pointed bow towards the water high and dry on the beach.  I could pull it off the beach with Skedaddle but it was shallow and the gale force wind was making things complicated.  Waves pounded the beach and a sandbar just past the stranded boat.  I came in closer

Skedaddle entering Rock Bay

watching my depth sounder and the bottom, 2 feet, 1foot, I was still a long way from being able to get them the tow line. "It's not worth my prop" I told them over the radio "but I'm going to try coming in with my kicker."  Here I was thankful that I had Skedaddle, our only boat with an outboard I could at least lift the leg completely out of the water.  I came in a little closer with only the kicker but the 9.9hp motor was struggling against the wind and from a lack of use.  Despite that I was could now toss her the tow line.  She was waist deep in the water  by the time she got it and was still too far from their whaler, meanwhile the wind was pushing me ever further away.  The kicker to my great annoyance had given up completely and I was now only being kept off the sandbar by the efforts of my stranded boater.  I tied a loop in the stern line and kicked the ladder down, then with out a second thought I jumped overboard into a foot of water.  With our combined efforts we pulled Skedaddle close enough to tie the tow line to the stranded whaler.  The next challenge was to get myself to deeper water despite the wind's instance on pushing me up the shoreline and onto the beach.  As quick as I could I scrambled aboard and dropped the leg as low as I dared then threw it onto gear.  I didn't have enough water or time to turn around so I reversed out to deeper water.  But I still couldn't turn around with the tow line on and being buffeted by the waves.  I positioned my stern into the wind and after a few attempts I got the tow lined up where I wanted it.  At that point it didn't take much, with a shot of power the whaler slid off the beach back into the water, in a most satisfactory way.  I pulled back into the dock at Blind Channel just in time to catch the boat the last boat on my reservation list.

On Towing

Winter 2013/14 I worked with the coast guard search and rescue unit.  One of the best experiences I’ve had.  The benefits of working with unit have been phenomenal, the hours of intensive training have paid off more than I ever would have imagined.  I left the coast guard to meander up to Blind Channel in the spring, but I found myself back on fast response aluminum boats in the form of the Blind Channel water taxis.  The first call of the season came from Cordero Lodge’s Bayliner, adrift near Mayne Point.  Theses are the calls I live for and Hans and I launched off the dock in the Thurlow Express.  As we approached I set up a tow line which thanks to the coast guard training I can do with my eyes closed.  We got them securely tied to the dock and little did I know then that that would be the first of many tows over the season.

Summer forshadowing

The best mornings

This is a day on the dock story.  This is a comparatively uneventful tale but it started the summer and I feel it should be told.  The season really started on May 22nd when the first Waggoner flotilla filled up the dock.    My radio sounded into action as the first boat drifted in out of the mist.  I was ready on the end of the dock as they pulled in passing me a midship line.  Eliot and I sprang into action.  When all the boats were in and tied securely to the dock I couldn’t help but think how incredibly well the first busy spell of the season went.  It was still too early for the restaurant to be open but that didn’t stop them they came up that evening anyways with a potluck while we provided bar service (well I washed dishes).  It was an intro to the summer, a foreshadowing of what was to come and after that we dove straight into the season.

Dock Queen Introduction

I get along well with boaters..

Due to popular demand I’ve started an blog.  Actually popular demand was that I write a book, but that’s simply not happening.  So this post is an intro into what this is all about, into why i'm writing this.    

I am the Dock Queen, I’m still sure how I acquired the title but I’ve just rolled with it and I’ve gained several tiaras as a result (It’s a weird thing that's happened).  My story starts in 2010 when I started work at Blind Channel, but that’s not important, I’m going to jump straight into 2014.  The 2014 Season has been a wonderfully busy one, the dock was a hive of activity while the restaurant was a favourite of so many, and I gained fame.  That I’m still puzzling over.  I’m not sure when I first noticed but people started saying things like “oh I’ve heard of you!”  When people started asking for my picture I just shrugged and went along with it, sure why not?  So often I would hear “you should write a book” I even heard it today which brings me back to this blog.  It is true I do have a lot of stories tell, stories of days on the dock, stories of rescues in the boats, there’s never a dull moment, and in all honesty I don’t go looking for trouble, and yet trouble it seems always finds me (not that I’d have it any other way).  So standby because I’ve decided to transcribe the stories that exist only as memory in my head.   

My Dock Domain on a particularly spectacular evening.