Ok, so here is the story… chapter one.
My wife and I took delivery of our new Nordic Tug in Alameda, CA on Nov 10th and spent the night on board.
The next morning after a oil check and other preliminaries we fired up for the trip to the boat yard for a haul-out. You know just the usual bottom job and a few repairs.
We are just about at the yard and I spot a Coast Guard Rib coming my way… you know the ones with the machine guns fore and aft. His blue flashing lights are on, but, it looks like he will pass behind me so I keep trucking.
Well, after a bit, on comes the siren and I guess he means me… so...
I slow and he comes along side… a very young woman leans out and says they want to board and inspect my vessel.
So, fine… she and a young man come aboard… she says, "Captain, we want to inspect your bilges." What can you say?
While she goes about her business, the guy asks for my Coast*Guard Documentation…. Hummm, didn't Blythe take that OFF the boat and put it in the car??? As I am pondering my way out of this by stating that I have only owned the boat for 12 hours and am just going to the boat yard about 250 yards away, she (remember her) pops up and says "Captain, did you know that you have some red liquid in your bilge?" Well, no…
So, I look in the bilge with her flashlight and what do you know, there is about two feet of diesel swirling around… I just closed the hatch… thought I might check the engine room… yep, there it was again, still swirling around… and then the*coxswain on board the rib says, "Captain,*you are pumping something into our estuary..."
So now I am thinking, jail for stealing the boat, possible 10-30 thousand EPA fine for fouling the estuary and… well, things are not*looking real good… and*pumping and pumping… you know those automatic bilge pumps…. shutting them*down not too easy, but I did and disconnected the pumps.
So now we are sitting in this nice sheen of diesel extending to the horizon.
I throw caution to the wind and just ask,*"how about a tow over to the yard. It is just over there." Silence, then the coxswain radios his commander and they talk and we float and they talk some more. After quite some time they*agree that they will try and tow me…*25,000 pounds vs a small rib… they did not like this one bit in the close fairways of the boat yard, but, they did it.
As, I am waiting (for what), the young man completes his report and comes over to me and says, " Ok, Captain, I*have finished my report. I heard there was some fuel on the water, I did not see any. Have a nice day."
That was my first day on the water....
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