Stuck, In the Middle of Nowhere

They were making super time on their way back from Martha's Vineyard. The sun was out, the weather was hot and the salty breeze was cool. It was June 14, 1997. Dave Britt and three friends were out in Dave's new 23 Chris Craft Concept opening up its big 330 horse power V-8 engine for the first time. A slight swell was running, as they came out of the Cape Cod Canal, which made for an exciting ride as the big engine dug in and powered up the face of each wave and then rocketed down the other side. This was, the dream come true that Dave had when he bought the boat.

Then without warning the engine sped up and the boat started slowing down. "It felt like somebody was putting the brakes on." Dave said later. He immediately pulled back on the throttle, to slow the racing engine down, as the boat came to a stop. "What happened? What went wrong?" his crew asked. The engine was idling now and sounded fine. All the gauges were normal. They didn't hit anything. The boat just wouldn't move forward when he put it in gear. "Where are we?" someone asked. Looking out at the horizon someone else said; "It looks like we're in the middle of nowhere!"

Dave had taken delivery of the boat less than a month earlier, from Russo Marine. It was his pride and joy. He took special care to follow the break-in procedures written in the owner's manual and explained by Russo on delivery. He wanted this boat to last and he wanted the engine to be broken-in correctly. Hours were spent at slow speeds, gradually changing rpm's and varying the loads per the owner's manual. At twenty hours of operation he had the appropriate service checks done. Oil changed, etc. He did everything on this boat by the book. What had gone wrong? Maybe it was the lower unit. All kinds of weird scenarios were running through his head. Well, it was a new boat with a warranty and Russo Marine had provided him with an "On the Water Assistance" membership from Sea Tow as part of their "Captains Club" program so he wasn't too worried.

Dave picked up the microphone of the VHF-FM radio, made sure he was on channel 16 and called, "Sea Tow, Sea Tow, Sea Tow, this is the 23' Chris Craft." He hadn't even had a chance to put a name on the boat yet. "Vessel calling Sea Tow, this is Sea Tow Scituate," came the immediate and reassuring response. He may have thought he was in the middle of nowhere but at least there was a Sea Tow nearby to give them a hand. Dave had a new boat but also, luckily, he had his new Sea Tow membership provided with the boat by Russo Marine. He just wanted to get his friends, himself and the boat home to his marina. He could deal with the problem, whatever it was, the next day.

Within 20 minutes of the initial call the Sea Tow boat, which was on patrol off the New Inlet in Scituate, had located them and was pulling alongside. "What seems to be the problem", asked Captain Daryl Mahoney of Sea Tow. "I think there's something wrong with the lower unit," replied Dave, "It won't go into gear." "Can you take me home to Baypoint Marina in Quincy?" "That's a pretty long tow but sure, Multiple Area Tows are covered by Sea Tow, I'll get you there, if that's where you want to go," replied Sea Tow. That was it! Within another 5 minutes they were hooked up and in tow.

Although there was no way of knowing it at the time, Dave's Boat had been disabled by a relatively minor problem. Russo Marine later determined that the propeller hub had spun. All they needed to do was replace the defective propeller. The prop change was made at Dave's marina slip without even taking the boat out of the water. To put the problem in prospective, it's about as involved as changing a tire on your car. The combination of the high horsepower boat and powering through waves for the first time probably caused the new prop to fail when it did.

Dave's boat stopped working correctly off Plymouth, MA. He was 35 miles away from his marina. At the normal cruising speed of his boat that equates to about an hours-running time. Under tow, however, making about six knots it would take considerably longer.

Sea Tow Scituate towed Dave's boat for a little over four hours. Up the coast they went, under tow, passing by Marshfield, Green Harbor, New Inlet, Scituate, Cohasset and Minots Light. Captain Mahoney had called ahead to Sea Tow Boston and arranged for them to relieve him of the tow. Each Sea Tow Franchisee has an AOR (area of responsibility) and Captain Mahoney was approaching Boston's. Sea Tow Boston would relieve him of the tow so that Captain Mahoney could get back to his AOR. Between Minots Light and Harding Ledge the two Sea Tow boats met and transferred the tow. Dave was hooked up by Sea Tow Boston and continued on the second leg of his Multiple Area Tow. Captain Steve Winkler of Sea Tow Boston towed Dave's boat for almost three hours. Continuing under tow they went by Harding Ledge, into Nantasket Roads, through Hull Gut, down the Fore River Channel, into the Town River and finally into Dave's slip at Baypoint Marina in Quincy MA. It was close to a seven-hour tow.

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Sea Tow Scituate passing the tow to Sea Tow Boston

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