First Night... First Tow!

“Hey,” you may say, “that sounds like a pretty routine call”, And normally that would be the case. But, there are couple of interesting things about Dave’s situation that are extraordinary.

First it was only seven minutes into the new year... Not much boating going on in Boston on New Years Eve. Second, It was extremely cold...Zero degrees with a 10 knot wind. And last due to the difference in temperature between the air and the water, sea smoke (cold weather fog) was forming on the surface of the water up to a height of five feet. The sea smoke gave the cold dark scene an eerie surrealistic feeling with just the upper halves of the boats visible.

Dave's boat which has a generator and heat was the ideal place to watch the magnificent fireworks display. First Night, an annual Boston tradition, usually draws 500,000 people to the Boston Waterfront on New Years Eve for the fireworks and laser light show display that marks the finale of the evenings activities. The normally large crowd, news reports said, was smaller than usual due to the severe cold. Even with the cold several other boats had joined Dave to enjoy the display from the water side

“Although 99% of the area boaters around Boston either pull their boats out of the water for the winter or lay their boats up in a marina,” said Sea Tow Captain Steve Winkler, “we always keep at least one Sea Tow boat in the water and ready to go at all times, just in case.” “It was definitely a nasty night to break down,” Captain Winkler continued, “And I was glad we could respond quickly and get them back safely to their homeport, that's what Sea Tow is about.”