Disaster hits Crawdad.......

Our plan was to leave Manasquan, NJ (Hoffman's Marina) early morning for Great Kills, NY, which is a small, protected harbor within New York Harbor. New York Harbor itself is huge and we were looking to fill our fuel tanks and move closer to Manhattan for an early morning start the next day.

Wayne and Ruth offered to meet us and assist at the dock while the Dock master, Mike boarded the boat to assist in our move to the fuel dock due to the extreme current. Slack tide was published as 710AM and we were off about 630AM.

Disaster hit as we left the dock and the current literally slammed Crawdad against a sport fisherman bowsprit. Crawdad continued to move and then slammed into the bowsprit of a boat on the fuel dock. All aboard and at the dock looked in horror as the teak rail was literally ripped off the boat and two of the stanchions flew up into the air and into the deep abyss.  The canvas cooler mounted on the deck was torn off and thrown unto the lower deck. A welded ring from the boom was torn away, leaving a gaping hole. The fiberglass was wickedly scratched.

Notice anything missing? After tying at the dock, the Dock master jumped into his skiff and raced down the river. He found a piece of the missing rail. Too bad he isn't a fish because we are missing two stanchions that are almost impossible to replace.

The stanchions that are left, are leaning a bit......

Bent and missing hand rails are a bad thing when cruising.

The canvas was cut, but when we removed the cover we saw the cooler was completely demolished. Everything inside was protected despite the coolers demise.

This is the most significant damage. The boat was being delivered to CT and the broker was the captain. This is the most significant damage on either boat. Not so bad....considering Crawdad.

It isn't easy to get a picture of the end of a bow pulpit. This boat was a huge sport fisherman. See any damage? Neither do I. Wonder what claim will be filed by this owner.

There was little to do at that point so we exchanged information with the other boats. On to Great Kills. The next stop after Great Kills, NY is Stratford, CT to visit Adrienne and Joe. The plan is to leave the boat for a few weeks as we return to see James III, our first grandchild. We will deal with the details when in Stratford.