ICW Southbound – Thunderbolt: Part Two

 

Maker:S,Date:2017-10-21,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

We were on the outside of the dock in the ICW channel which meant we had no protection from boat wake and river current. As the rain got worse so did the wind and we quickly found ourselves rocking back and forth at uncomfortable lengths. Philip dashed out into the rain and onto the dock to add lines and fenders. We ended up with all four fenders out and six lines trying to hold us to the dock. As we sat there rocking, we noticed the outline of a police boat on a nearby dock that had been previously tied to portside now ran in a 45 degree angle from its previous position. It also looked like the twin engines on the boat were seconds away from smacking the dock. We took our spotlight and tried as best we could to assess the situation. We contemplated one of us going and trying to possibly resecure the boat but the walk to get there was pretty far in the pounding rain. We finally resorted to calling the emergency line for the marina and let them know what we thought had happened.

Maker:S,Date:2017-10-21,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y
Maker:S,Date:2017-10-21,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

A few minutes later we see a flashlight beam headed towards the unsecured boat. After many minutes of the flashlight beam dancing, we finally see the boat slowly move back into its proper position. The dockmaster was even nice enough to call us back and let us know that the boat had indeed snapped a line and the stern was swinging freely around the dock. We were glad all boats seemed safe again and went back to watching the boat rock. It was a miserable sleepless night.