Time for my yearly rant about seamanship, and water quality.

Time for my yearly rant about seamanship, and water quality.

Sunday, I spent the better part of my day, cleaning, and waxing my boat. I had to; because she had a red mustache above the waterline. This is because the bay is blood red from some sort of algae bloom. I believe that all this rain we are having is causing serious runoff. That magic mix of nitrogen fertilizer and poop is what is exacerbating the algae bloom. However, I don’t know that for sure. I do know that Nassau County has been closing the beaches for swimming. And that my telephone calls to Nassau Co, The North Hempstead Harbor Patrol, and the town of Port Washington, have all gone unanswered.

So I scrubed my waterline. As I was cleaning, I had to compound out some blue paint scratches where something had obviously scraped up against my hull. A buoy?; maybe? More likely another boats hull.

As I was working on my boat, I watched as 65+ foot yacht nearly ran down a yellow kayak. The boats bow wake thankfully pushed the little boat to the side. They didn’t even slow down. People were yelling and screaming from the dock. Three stories up, in their air conditioned cocoon, I don’t think anyone aboard the yacht even noticed.

After all the cleaning and waxing, the wind filled in. So I went for a sail. I was only out for three hours. As I approached my mooring, it became clear that some powerboat had run over my pennant; that it had wrapped around his prop, and he had cut my pick up lines to shreds. This would not bother me so much if it didn’t happen at least twice a season.
WHY ARE YOU ARE IN A MOORING FIELD WHEN THERE IS A PERFECTLY MARKED CHANNEL? And if you are in an obvious mooring field why don’t you turn down your music, put down your phone, and PAY THE F#@K ATTENTION!

OK Last one.

Saturday, I was on a starboard tack, pointing as high as I could, to clear Plum Point. [Note: Plum Pt is also were the 5MPH / no wake zone begins] There was another sailboat rounding the point on Port, just down wind of me. We had eye contact and I pinched a little higher so he could pass bellow me. Just as we were about to pass each other… some cigar chomping, Buda bellied, operator of a top heavy Clorox bottle, guns his engines and cuts right in-between us. It would have taken him no effort to slowly give way, as he is supposed to do. Instead he had to create wake that caused me to unintentionally tack, and almost ran the other sailboat aground. As the motor-head planed off into the sunset I doubt he was even aware of the damage his left in his wake.

I just don’t remember the big boats being run by A$$H0L#’s, who don’t care about anyone else but them selves. I guess that's changed.