|
Mutiny on the Boyle (Almost) Or: What passes for drama on the high seas in our line of work By
Captain Hughie Carola July 13, 2006 was a beautiful day without a hint of the trouble to come. I was at the helm of our venerable pontoon cruiser Robert H. Boyle and heading upriver with my good friend and colleague Ken Witkowski. Our destination was the Berry's Creek Canal and we were looking for birds.
Being a US Coast Guard-licensed Captain as well as having finished at the top of my USCG Auxiliary Safe Boating class, I immediately assessed the situation and determined that a.) We still had forward propulsion but b.) We had no control over speed, no reverse and c.) We were going to have one chance to dock the boat. Before I continue my thrilling story, let me share with you a little about the Boyle: I was there on Earth Day April 22, 1998 when Captain Bill and Mr. Boyle himself christened his namesake vessel. When the party was over, she went right to work. It's impossible to know exactly how many people have explored the Hackensack River from her deck since then but the number is surely more than 20,000! Also, I doubt there's a boat on the river whose engine has logged more hours than the Boyle's environmentally friendly 90-hp Honda four-stroke outboard. And not just the engine but the whole boat as well - especially the throttle cable. As it turned out, that's what had made the noise. Now back to our story… It took us about a half-hour to get to the Red Roof Inn at the speed we were going because the outgoing tide was against us. It was sort of like a certain police "chase" involving a certain ex-NFLer and his white Ford Bronco in that Ken and I also had a slow-motion date with destiny waiting. Ours was not with the LAPD of course, but with the dock. As we made our approach, Ken manned the bow while I steered the boat on a collision course with her dock - the only course available to us. At that point the only thing I had power over was when to shut off the engine. As I figured it, my decision could end in one of three ways: 1.) I cut the power too soon and we don't make it to the dock before the tide pushes us back down river, 2.) I cut the power too late and we crash into the dock or, 3.) I cut the power just right and the bow gently meets the dock and we secure the vessel. Fortunately for Ken, me and the Boyle, my training and experience added up to 3. Once we made her fast to the dock, it was time for the hard part - getting the boat fixed. There are only a few north Jersey boat mechanics certified to work on Honda outboards, but Jim at South Shore Marina on Greenwood Lake is one of the best. In fact, Jim and the Boyle are old friends; in 2002 he rebuilt the engine - power head and lower unit - and did a fantastic job of it. Needless to say, Secaucus to West Milford and back is a long way to trailer a boat (once we muscled her powerless 28-foot length onto the trailer), but we were glad Jim was on the job. He quickly determined the problem, replaced the throttle cable and gave the engine a diagnostic check-up (FYI, our 1998-vintage Honda 90 is in fine form). On July 20, the Robert H. Boyle was "back on the Hack" for an Eco-Cruise, thanks to Jim's expertise and our good fortune. An old joke says that "boat" stands for: break out another thousand (as in dollars). Unfortunately that's all too often the case (especially for a pair of hardworking vessels like ours), but this time we didn't have to break out quite that much. When I began writing this account, I'd planned to end it with an appeal for help because the Boyle was still in drydock. Although she's back on the job, the story still isn't over so I hope you'll allow me a couple more lines to tell you, dear readers, why your support is so important to the mission of Hackensack Riverkeeper. Were it not for our boats - starting with Captain Bill's original Queen Mary E and later the Boyle and the Edward Abbey as well as our fleet of canoes and kayaks - people would never have had the opportunity to learn the truth about the Hackensack River and the Meadowlands. Had those tens of thousands of people not seen the marshes and the wildlife with their own eyes, I shudder to think where we would be today. The boats are not ancillary to what we do; they are critical to our mission. But they are expensive to run (those four-stroke engines require Premium-grade gas) and maintain (as I hope this story has illustrated) so I think you can understand how much we need you as much as we need them. Most likely you'll never help us dock the boats, scrape their barnacles or check in Eco-Cruise participants but believe me, your financial support makes you as much a member of the crew as Captain Bill or I am. What do you say, matey? |
Tidelines readers may recall that Ken is conducting an avian
survey of the Meadowlands District for the New Jersey Audubon Society at the
behest of the NJ Meadowlands Commission. Part of the survey requirements are to
visit a series of locations within the Meadowlands by boat and record the
number of species seen and heard at each. We had just covered the entire eight
miles of river that flows through the District and we were making very good
time, so much so that we decided to survey the two sites along the Canal as
well. Once our decision was made, I hit the throttle for Full Speed but when I
did, I heard a loud <SNAP!> and the engine immediately dropped to a speed
of about 4 MPH. Hackensack, we have a problem!