Our harbor is only serviced by one mooring company. It is one guy with some helpers and it is a part time gig for him. Somehow, in some way, he always does something to make the seemingly simple task of picking up my mooring for the first time of the season interesting. It isn't just me...pretty much everyone at our club has a story...or six.
This year was no different. He told me that my mooring was pretty much in its usual area. After 15 minutes of cruising around that area in my dinghy I find it in water too shallow for my boat about 50 feet from the island. I attached my pickup stick to it...somehow those always seem to go missing (both during the off season and in the water...stolen perhaps by someone who didn't get theirs installed this year...or perhaps by the mooring guy in a bizarre game of musical pick-up sticks) and this year I decided to buy a different brand so it would stand out from the crowd. Bright orange vs. the standard white with blue stripe.
I called him and then saw his boat moving through the mooring field. I flagged him down and he went over immediately and fixed it. Not a bad guy as he always takes care of things quickly when you point them out to him.
I shouldn't complain. Last year my friend, who has a slip but must maintain a mooring for storms, went to move his $200K boat out to its mooring for a hurricane and couldn't find it. He hadn't checked on it in the spring like he should have. The guy had sold it. Luckily for my friend one of the other guys in the club had pulled his boat and was able to loan him a mooring of similar size. It was promptly replaced...after the hurricane of course....but imagine explaining to BoatUS that your $200K boat was a loss because of this situation?
This situation was the result of one of my favorite charades. The fact that we are sold moorings and "own them" when it is more like paying an initiation fee. When I upgraded my mooring I got a trade in of $200 on a rig I paid $500 for against a new rig for $800 (500lb mushroom and accouterments). He seems to repossess them too. If you sell your boat it is pretty unlikely that you could sell your mooring too. It would just vanish into his coffers like so many before it. And somehow my upgrade only included on pendant that actually fits my boats cleats. The loop in the other is too small to make it easy to fit over the cleat. I could buy a new pendant myself but chances are slim I would have it next season. I could buy one from him, but it is the principle of the thing right? So I keep using the small one. It sort of fits as long as it is wet...
My question for all of you is...is it just us? Are there other wacky mooring guy stories out there?
This year was no different. He told me that my mooring was pretty much in its usual area. After 15 minutes of cruising around that area in my dinghy I find it in water too shallow for my boat about 50 feet from the island. I attached my pickup stick to it...somehow those always seem to go missing (both during the off season and in the water...stolen perhaps by someone who didn't get theirs installed this year...or perhaps by the mooring guy in a bizarre game of musical pick-up sticks) and this year I decided to buy a different brand so it would stand out from the crowd. Bright orange vs. the standard white with blue stripe.
I called him and then saw his boat moving through the mooring field. I flagged him down and he went over immediately and fixed it. Not a bad guy as he always takes care of things quickly when you point them out to him.
I shouldn't complain. Last year my friend, who has a slip but must maintain a mooring for storms, went to move his $200K boat out to its mooring for a hurricane and couldn't find it. He hadn't checked on it in the spring like he should have. The guy had sold it. Luckily for my friend one of the other guys in the club had pulled his boat and was able to loan him a mooring of similar size. It was promptly replaced...after the hurricane of course....but imagine explaining to BoatUS that your $200K boat was a loss because of this situation?
This situation was the result of one of my favorite charades. The fact that we are sold moorings and "own them" when it is more like paying an initiation fee. When I upgraded my mooring I got a trade in of $200 on a rig I paid $500 for against a new rig for $800 (500lb mushroom and accouterments). He seems to repossess them too. If you sell your boat it is pretty unlikely that you could sell your mooring too. It would just vanish into his coffers like so many before it. And somehow my upgrade only included on pendant that actually fits my boats cleats. The loop in the other is too small to make it easy to fit over the cleat. I could buy a new pendant myself but chances are slim I would have it next season. I could buy one from him, but it is the principle of the thing right? So I keep using the small one. It sort of fits as long as it is wet...
My question for all of you is...is it just us? Are there other wacky mooring guy stories out there?
