Did something I normally wouldn't do yesterday...saving life

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Carol and I were headed back into Noank from a short sail over to East Harbor on Fisher's Island yesterday afternoon about 4PM. Got just off the Northeast shore of Ram Island and spotted a 16' outboard powered skiff with 5 souls on board! Vessel was interesting as the cover to the outboard was off and the male was working on it. Weather was 10-15 knot winds, 1 to 2 foot seas and choppy in the channel. I remarked to Carol that I thought they needed help. One adult male, one adult female, and three tow headed youngsters on board.

We circled her, got slightly up wind of her so she could lay quietly in our lee. Asked the male "what was the problem". Said that it would only run a short time at idle and the carburator was leaking gas!! I told Carol, get the longest line we have and prepare to tow. Told the male to get all hands into life jackets NOW! (The kids were in life jackets, but mom and dad were not!).

I might add here that on circling the vessel, I noticed that it was absolutely trashed! Decks and hull all faded out, with dings all over, interior that was visible also trashed. Outboard left the same immediate impression.

We circled them again, got within 6' of them, tossed them a tow line, told the male to take a wrap around the forward cleat(at least it had that!), not to tie it off and we were on our way. By the way, SeaTow was in the area, two of them were assisting a large cruiser about 1000 yards away. But, this lash up of a crew looked as if they would have a tough time paying for filling the gas tank, let alone paying SeaTow! Also, the skiff did NOT have a VHF!

Carol positioned herself so that she could maintain a constant vigil on the tow, and we proceeded at about 2 1/2 knots towards Noank. Going through the channel into the Mystic River was exciting as other vessels could not see that we had a tow behind us. Some of the wakes caused the skiff to bounce a LOT! Finally got the male off the bow, and of course the tow line let go! Circled and restablished the tow.

As it was ten minutes to Noank Marina's gas dock, I hailed them on the VHF and asked them to have some of the crew standing by to catch this vessel as we towed it by. They did a great job, and in a few minutes it was all over. THEN, the line squall hit, heavy rain, 35 knot winds and stormed tossed seas. Imagine, if they were still out there!

Things learned from this: Quite often, you will not even know if you are in trouble! Don't ever go to sea in someone else's boat that hasn't been checked out(the couple were thinking about buying this seagoing wreck, it wasn't their boat!). Have life jackets for all SOB's and make sure ALL hands wear them when something goes wrong. And finally, signal for HELP if ya need it, we all understand how hazardous it can get out there and how rapidly it can develop.

Dave Stump
captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Don Carr]

Nice job Dave BTW..I'm glad I picked Saturday to sail. We had gusts up
to 50 knots inland here in Hartford yesterday. Couldn't imagine being out in that squall. I bet you know when to take a reef in now.



carrd48@netzero.net

[Bill Goldsmith]

Come on skipper, sounds like something you normally WOULD do. Must have been some sight, a sailboat towing in a motorboat!! That family probably does not appreciate how you saved them from disaster given the conditions. That's one in the bank for you!!

Bill Goldsmith
CD27
Second Chance

Carol and I were headed back into Noank from a short sail over to East Harbor on Fisher's Island yesterday afternoon about 4PM. Got just off the Northeast shore of Ram Island and spotted a 16' outboard powered skiff with 5 souls on board! Vessel was interesting as the cover to the outboard was off and the male was working on it. Weather was 10-15 knot winds, 1 to 2 foot seas and choppy in the channel. I remarked to Carol that I thought they needed help. One adult male, one adult female, and three tow headed youngsters on board.

We circled her, got slightly up wind of her so she could lay quietly in our lee. Asked the male "what was the problem". Said that it would only run a short time at idle and the carburator was leaking gas!! I told Carol, get the longest line we have and prepare to tow. Told the male to get all hands into life jackets NOW! (The kids were in life jackets, but mom and dad were not!).

I might add here that on circling the vessel, I noticed that it was absolutely trashed! Decks and hull all faded out, with dings all over, interior that was visible also trashed. Outboard left the same immediate impression.

We circled them again, got within 6' of them, tossed them a tow line, told the male to take a wrap around the forward cleat(at least it had that!), not to tie it off and we were on our way. By the way, SeaTow was in the area, two of them were assisting a large cruiser about 1000 yards away. But, this lash up of a crew looked as if they would have a tough time paying for filling the gas tank, let alone paying SeaTow! Also, the skiff did NOT have a VHF!

Carol positioned herself so that she could maintain a constant vigil on the tow, and we proceeded at about 2 1/2 knots towards Noank. Going through the channel into the Mystic River was exciting as other vessels could not see that we had a tow behind us. Some of the wakes caused the skiff to bounce a LOT! Finally got the male off the bow, and of course the tow line let go! Circled and restablished the tow.

As it was ten minutes to Noank Marina's gas dock, I hailed them on the VHF and asked them to have some of the crew standing by to catch this vessel as we towed it by. They did a great job, and in a few minutes it was all over. THEN, the line squall hit, heavy rain, 35 knot winds and stormed tossed seas. Imagine, if they were still out there!

Things learned from this: Quite often, you will not even know if you are in trouble! Don't ever go to sea in someone else's boat that hasn't been checked out(the couple were thinking about buying this seagoing wreck, it wasn't their boat!). Have life jackets for all SOB's and make sure ALL hands wear them when something goes wrong. And finally, signal for HELP if ya need it, we all understand how hazardous it can get out there and how rapidly it can develop.

Dave Stump
captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

goldy@bestweb.net

[Michael Heintz]

Always good to give a hand. We were also out there Sun, comming back from a beautifull cruise to the Thimble Islands off Branford. ( Great place tricky navigating ) We were heading back Sun tacking back and forth nearing Norwalk ( our home port ) when my brother decided to catch the 3 pm weather update, predicted storms were comming our way and we beat feet under power for the harbor....... I have never seen anything like it.... there must have been "hundreds" of small & somewhat larger motor boats "screaming" into the harbor, the channel was churned up like boiling water!!!! We arrive at our dock safe and sound..... washed her down and let the rain do the final rinse!!!!!

Lesson learned.......listen to the weather


Michael Heintz
CD 30 MKII
Macht Nichts hull 004
Norwalk, CT



Mzenith@aol.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

It just surprised me that people would take such a cavalier attitude about going to sea with one's familly. The conditions were just not good for that!

Dave Stump
captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Warren Kaplan]

Dave,
A very nice job indeed! You deserve an entire bottle of MaCallan 18 year old scotch (my everyday beverage) for that. Both your deed and the scotch definitely pass the nose test!
Warren



Setsail728@aol.com

[John Lesage]

We Sailed on Sunday also. Around Faulkner's off Guilford. Very stiff to even begin the day. Left with two reefs in the main: returned with the wind from the Southwest. Son and I were back home just momemts before it all hit. Sitting on the back deck enjoying the light show and the rise of wind. Just glad we had the right idea to not enjoy the wind when we saw the "bumpers" to the west and headed in instead. Spent the latter part of the evening with a chainsaw clearing the driveway of an oak tree so we could all go to work this morning.

Congratulations on your compassion; your timing was also very fortunate (for all).



cdtyphoon@snet.net

[Ken Coit]

Dave,

Congratulations on making it a better afternoon for those unfortunate souls. I have been wondering if it wouldn't have been prudent to bring them all aboard Hanalei, just in case their boat became even less seaworthy. Would have it been possible? Was it inadvisable for some reason?

Thanks for keeping the stats in much better shape,

Ken

S/V Parfait
CD36 # 84
Raleigh, NC

Carol and I were headed back into Noank from a short sail over to East Harbor on Fisher's Island yesterday afternoon about 4PM. Got just off the Northeast shore of Ram Island and spotted a 16' outboard powered skiff with 5 souls on board! Vessel was interesting as the cover to the outboard was off and the male was working on it. Weather was 10-15 knot winds, 1 to 2 foot seas and choppy in the channel. I remarked to Carol that I thought they needed help. One adult male, one adult female, and three tow headed youngsters on board.

We circled her, got slightly up wind of her so she could lay quietly in our lee. Asked the male "what was the problem". Said that it would only run a short time at idle and the carburator was leaking gas!! I told Carol, get the longest line we have and prepare to tow. Told the male to get all hands into life jackets NOW! (The kids were in life jackets, but mom and dad were not!).

I might add here that on circling the vessel, I noticed that it was absolutely trashed! Decks and hull all faded out, with dings all over, interior that was visible also trashed. Outboard left the same immediate impression.

We circled them again, got within 6' of them, tossed them a tow line, told the male to take a wrap around the forward cleat(at least it had that!), not to tie it off and we were on our way. By the way, SeaTow was in the area, two of them were assisting a large cruiser about 1000 yards away. But, this lash up of a crew looked as if they would have a tough time paying for filling the gas tank, let alone paying SeaTow! Also, the skiff did NOT have a VHF!

Carol positioned herself so that she could maintain a constant vigil on the tow, and we proceeded at about 2 1/2 knots towards Noank. Going through the channel into the Mystic River was exciting as other vessels could not see that we had a tow behind us. Some of the wakes caused the skiff to bounce a LOT! Finally got the male off the bow, and of course the tow line let go! Circled and restablished the tow.

As it was ten minutes to Noank Marina's gas dock, I hailed them on the VHF and asked them to have some of the crew standing by to catch this vessel as we towed it by. They did a great job, and in a few minutes it was all over. THEN, the line squall hit, heavy rain, 35 knot winds and stormed tossed seas. Imagine, if they were still out there!

Things learned from this: Quite often, you will not even know if you are in trouble! Don't ever go to sea in someone else's boat that hasn't been checked out(the couple were thinking about buying this seagoing wreck, it wasn't their boat!). Have life jackets for all SOB's and make sure ALL hands wear them when something goes wrong. And finally, signal for HELP if ya need it, we all understand how hazardous it can get out there and how rapidly it can develop.

Dave Stump
captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

parfait@nc.rr.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Ken,

I thought about bringing the wife and kids aboard, but it was a short tow to the gas dock, seas not to rough, kids already frightened, wife mad as blazes, so...thought it best to leave well enough alone. Yeh, transfer at sea would probably not have helped the situation, but if it had gotten worse(like about 1 hour later) I might have HAD to take them aboard. Anyhow it all worked out okay.....

D. Stump