Posted by Captain Tim on January 18, 2005 at 18:22:33:
For several years now, in fact since the accident at Farnsworth Banks I have always had some sort of chase, or safety boat. I had two "Zodiac" type boats, but the sun or UV is very hard on them, and they are very expensive. So a couple of years ago I decided to by a hard boat. The boat of chose of course is the "Boston Whaler". This is the history of the poor thing. I should send this to them as an add for them.
The first thing happened at Cortez Banks. We were in some pretty heavy swells and the "painter line" got caught in the props. It pulled the whaler under the GE and we proceeded to smash the whaler and repeatedly push it under the water. We had just bought some new "Kevlar line" to pull it with and had a hell of a time cutting though the line. Finally we did. The whaler was scratched, but did not sink. Next time we were coming back from Cat and in some very heavy seas and the whaler filled with water and broke the clevis pin and capsized. I called the CG to report it and the next day they called me back and told me it had been located near the oil rigs. We went out, righted it, and on our way. Finally, and this may be the end. A San Pedro fireboat ran over it. It still did not sink, but has been badly damaged. We had called it "Gump", but changed the name to the "unsinkable Molly Brown". It reminds of the classic Timex add, "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking". Boston Whalers are truly remarkably boat.
Captain Tim