THREE SEA TOW CAPTAINS
By Russell Drumm
(7/23/2008) Mike Nordlinger instructed a boater, whose engine had supposedly quit not far from the entrance of Montauk Harbor, to remain in his vessel’s cockpit as he moved the Sea Tow boat close enough to connect a tow rope.
Safety is always a concern, said Capt. Jon Edwards, who stood
behind Mr. Nordlinger on Saturday as Sea Tow Montauk’s newest
captain was put through his training paces.
The former coast guardsman (Mr. Nordlinger was stationed at
Montauk and served on the Montauk-based cutter Point Wells) seemed
to have little difficulty with the required seamanship.
Remaining, as instructed, in the cockpit of the mock-stricken
craft was Capt. Bill Rauer. Captain Rauer oversees the Montauk-based
operations of Sea Tow, which, with 121 franchise bases of operation
nationwide, is the AAA for boaters. The company was founded in 1983
after the federal government decided that the Coast Guard should
focus on lifesaving and leave vessel towing to private enterprise.
Membership costs boaters $149 per year for 24-hour,
seven-day-per-week help, whether it be a tow, a battery jump, or a
fuel dropoff. If the latter, Sea Tow provides a limited amount so as
not to encourage an abuse of the service. Sea Tow does not carry
diesel because restarting a diesel engine that has run out of fuel
is problematic.
Sea Tow Montauk has three boats. They carry pumps and air bags
to float sinking boats, as well as booms to corral oil spills.
Nonmembers who call Sea Tow for help pay $350 per hour. The cost
includes membership if the boater desires.
Prior to Saturday’s training session, Captain Rauer and Captain
Edwards talked about their work. They explained that Montauk split
off from Sea Tow’s eastern Long Island division last year because of
the travel time between the eastern division’s Southold headquarters
and distressed boaters off Montauk.
Fortunately, the move unknowingly anticipated the dramatic
increase in the cost of marine fuel. Even so, “fuel is killing us,”
Captain Rauer said. “It’s increased more than 30 percent this year.”
“My wife says if they cut me open all they’d find is saltwater.
It gets in your blood,” said the 52-year-old former charter
fisherman and Navy veteran. Captain Rauer holds a master seaman’s
license.
Captain Edwards’s background includes a prescient event. He said
that when his father got back from World War II, “he bought a hulk.
When I was a kid, a northeaster put us on Plum Island. It was before
the animal testing. We spent a week there in the lighthouse. When
the storm finally blew through we were towed back to Connecticut,”
he said, laughing at how fate had turned him into the tower instead
of the towee.
He said this year’s blessing of the Montauk fleet had put him to
the test. The blessing coincided with a call: He had set out to
retrieve a boat near Cerberus Shoal north of Montauk when a violent
squall tore across Long Island Sound and forced the blessing fleet
to head for cover.
“We lost a tow line off Gin Beach. My tow was blowing onto the
beach. I had to go get a new line. It was only the second time I’ve
had a tow line break,” said Captain Edwards, who also works for the
company out of Annapolis, Md., during the winter months.
“When we go, the weather’s often not good,” he pointed out.
Montauk Sea Tow’s season stretches from May through the busiest
part of the striped bass fishing season in late September. Montauk
I, a 24-foot Privateer with twin 150-horsepower outboards, is based
in Three Mile Harbor. Montauk II, which runs out of Montauk Harbor,
is a 28-footer with twin 225-horsepower engines. A third, smaller
boat is kept on a trailer in case it is needed.
In good weather, Montauk Sea Tow’s range is about 45 miles,
although the business is contemplating the purchase of a larger boat
with a greater range to respond to disabled boats farther offshore.
Captain Edwards said it was “rapture of tuna” that caused
sportfishermen to sometimes head for offshore canyons “without
watching their fuel. On the way back it hits them.” Those who get in
trouble far offshore now are advised to ask another boater to tow
them to a spot within Sea Tow’s current range.
The most common emergencies are “evolving toward fuel,” Captain
Rauer said, partly because the ethanol now added to gasoline tends
to break down the resin in fiberglass tanks, causing a sludge that
is sucked up into boat engines. “On weekends, we see boaters that
are” — Captain Edwards struggled to find the right words — “not as
sophisticated.”
“Before we go, I ask them if the boat is in gear, or if they
have checked to see if they have fuel,” Captain Rauer said. Members
and others in trouble are able to communicate with Sea Tow by VHF
radio, cellphone, or satellite phone. The company does not use
long-range, single-side-band radios.
Captain Edwards and Captain Rauer agreed that the company’s
relationship with the Coast Guard, and with the East Hampton Town
Marine Patrol, was excellent and mutually beneficial — “even
including salvage,” Captain Rauer said, meaning the work of removing
unmanned wrecks that might pose a hazard to navigation.
As a towed boat approaches the Montauk, or any other harbor,
entrance, it is “put on the hip,” that is, brought alongside the Sea
Tow boat for greater control. A line is passed from the tow boat to
the bow of the disabled craft. A second line serves as a spring line
to a beam cleat and is also run via a stern cleat to the tow boat.
On Saturday, Mr. Nordlinger put Captain Rauer’s boat on the hip
single-handed, as is often required of Sea Tow captains. “We now
have three captains,” Captain Rauer said. “There’s always someone on
call. We do cover a lot of area.”
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