Crazy story with a semi-happy ending

[tjspiel]

The short version of the story is that a friend of mine (Ben) was down at the lake working on his boat when he saw a man having a psychotic episode on another boat. This guy was throwing stuff in the water and going nuts with a whisker pole, - swinging it at the rigging, banging it on the cabin roof, and jabbing it into the companionway. Apparently he thought there was someone down in the cabin trying to kill him.

Ben is cool under pressure and managed to de-escalate things until the authorities arrived.

The boat didn't belong to the guy Ben encountered. The owners were couple who had just bought it this season. The guy had thrown off solar panels, a trolling motor, the battery, and a bag of sails which I would have thought would float but apparently did not. There were other items as well, but that was the big stuff.

This happened about 10 days ago.

Today, the good news today was that the couple had hired a couple of divers and they were able to find just about all of it.

I don't know what happened to the guy who went nuts. Ben had gathered he was on meth after having been sober for over a year. That part is tragic and I hope he can get sober again.

The story makes me think of that P-18 which sunk in a NC river. I'm sure someone could recover it. A shame.

[Brian N.]

Unfortunately, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction are raging problems not just in big cities as you hear on the news, but even in smaller towns and suburbs. Hopefully the owners have recovered all their lost items and the damage is not too costly. I hope the man responsible is getting the proper help.

One negative about a mooring or slip is security. Even areas with lights and CCTV are not immune. Heck, a buddy of mine had teens aboard his boat (minor damage) while it was in his driveway! I've had evidence that someone was snooping around my boat, also while in the driveway, used my pool cabana, and stole some garden tools. My little Honda engine is chained to a stand in the shed.

As far as sailing, the weather is lousy for the next couple of days, but later in the week clearing. Today (if the rain stops) I plan to bring aboard the items I forgot last time such as my bilge pump and life jackets for crew.

 

[tjspiel]

Unfortunately, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction are raging problems not just in big cities as you hear on the news, but even in smaller towns and suburbs. Hopefully the owners have recovered all their lost items and the damage is not too costly. I hope the man responsible is getting the proper help.

One negative about a mooring or slip is security...

Yes, this boat was in the first row of moorings, - a very easy swim from the shore which is how the guy got on the boat apparently. I always pick a buoy in the outer row both for this reason and because it makes sailing to and from the buoy easier.

There's not much of value on my boat and the trolling motor is locked to it. I have considered the potential for thieves or joy riders but not something like this. A guy in that state could do a lot of damage. In that sense they were lucky that things weren't worse. They easily could have been.

Hope you get out later this week Bryan. I have youth sailing this Thursday night and plans to go out on the 4th, - maybe rafting up with some other sailboats. Tonight or tomorrow night are possible too.

[Riggerdood]

That's insane (literally)! What an awful start for those new owners tho ...