Thread: Pay Back Time?
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Old 11-18-2012, 08:25 AM   #226
psneeld
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City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,155
As I said...all the great assistance you or I could provide can be greatly diminished by those we try to help...then get blamed for it.

Yesterday I had to unground a 25 footer from a rock strewn beach with a small wave break...no way was I going in close enough to tie him off myself because of the shore break and the possibility of dinging the rocks or taking one over the transom...so I was at the mercy of whoever grabbed the fender/floating towline I floated in.

By then, the local cops showed up to help...one decided he was gonna be a good boyscout and grabbed the buoy and tied it off to the trailer eye...(I had specifically asked the boat owner if he knew how to tie a bowline)...unfortunately the police officer DID NOT know how to tie a bowline. Where is a good boyscout when you need one???

What could have happened is if that knot had failed for any reason....the vessel could have drifted back onto a rockier part of the beach subject to higher waves and I would have been responsible....for a severely damaged boat, injury or worse.

So would have anyone in that situation...so again..no matter how good YOU are (and I don't mean you Art...just the generic "you") who or what is the weakest link and will it ultimately come back to haunt you.

Sure...law of the sea demands that we assist...but the strict definition is to stand by to assist "survivors" or stand by till other help arrives.
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