bertram31.com

yep....seemed like nothing compared to today. because of hurricane bill a very rarely surfed island spot became not just rideable but very very good. just cause my port engine dosen't idle i figured thats NO reason not to go so i did with two friends. did the in gear start and got there fine. the waves were great and we all got some memorable rides...head high to overhead and fast and hollow.

OK...back on the boat. start the starboard , pull the anchor, start the port in gear ...BUT wait a minute, why is the bilge pump on? why is the exhaust steamy?, why is the starboard engine overheating? and why are there 5 surfboards on the engine cover?? chinese fire drill!!

bilge has a foot of water in it and its rising as im watching. yikes!! switch the two 2500 GPH pumps to manual. they work. never been on in the 11 years ive owned the boat. last winter i installed a raw water shut off. the old one was way under the oil pan with a broken handle. good move there....saved the boat. it turned out to be a broken raw water hose but i couldn't restart the starboard engine and was afeared of screwing with the running engine by switching batteries. so once again i came in on one engine. now if you think docking on one engine is a challenge ....try it on no engines. (port engine...no idle) i do not want to make a habit out of that.

in the end we all got great waves (i even got tubed a few times) and the worst thing that happened was when the boards got moved in a panic.....surf wax got all over the boat....what a mess!!

That sounds like a pucker factor to me. Glad you made it home.

Way to go Randall, you knew the boat inside & out and didn't lose her. The rest will work itself out. The main thing is that she stayed afloat.

Nice save Randall..I know what you mean about the ball valves on a 25.. Your arms need an extra 4 inches.. Those packing glands & spark plugs are fun too
Wayne

there was noway with the old set up. it would have been crash valves on and off all the way home and then what?

first time i did the plugs it literally took all day. now...less than an hour. the trick is a stubby open end wrench like for a skill saw and and friction tape on a socket and.......dont even try to look.

At least you had 5 waxed liferafts onboard if it did sink.

there was never one second when i was concerned about personal safety. we were about 500 yards off the north side of gardiners island. my friend richard had his 34 fountain 10 yards away and shadowed me half way home.

we got one more wave rounding bostwick point. if you ever doubted that bertrams perform well in a following sea you should have caught this act.

Glad that things were not worse for you. The first 30 seconds after you see water in the bilge can take 10 years off your life. But even if you couldn't find the source of the water you still had a chance at survival with all the other guys aboard.. a long time ago an old salt told me...

"The best bilge pump in the world is a frightened man with a bucket"!

Glad that this story had a HAPPY ENDING.......

Good going Randall.....

Now may be a good time for a little maintaince......

Harry

A little Xcitement for you, glad it turned out okay.

My Xcitment this weekend was going out to the sandbar and trying to surf waves with the Kayak. I was having a ball riding those waves till I stuffed the Bow. Kayak did a great impression of a Diving Yellow Submarine, unfortunaltey it didn't know how to do the part where it comes back up. Luckily it was only several feet deep and I was able to lift the kayak a bit to dump some water out, then bailed it out somewhat more so a Buddy could tow it into the beach. Another buddy towed me back...

I now see where a skirt would be real helpfull. I think I also need to add some some real flotation in that bugger. Thats this weeks new project.

randall wrote:there was never one second when i was concerned about personal safety. we were about 500 yards off the north side of gardiners island. my friend richard had his 34 fountain 10 yards away and shadowed me half way home.

we got one more wave rounding bostwick point. if you ever doubted that bertrams perform well in a following sea you should have caught this act.

500 yards off the north side of gardiners ? ... you surfing at the ruins ??
.... and when out there in the line-up ...say Hi to Nancy Atlas for me.

nancy is a friend of mine . for those that dont know who she is....she is an outstanding singer ,song writer, and performer....and a competent surfer too.

no we surfed the look out tower near eastern plains point. . it was breaking all the way around to tobaccolot bay. on the way home we saw two guys in the water off bostwick point but it really didnt look to rideable and was a quarter the size. we did however surf one wave through the rip with the boat.

sim...skirt and a hand bilge pump for sure. if you need to abandon ship rip the skirt from the boat...dont try to get out of it.....lesson learned the hard way.


today was still overhead and flawless glassy perfection with a light off shore wind. i'm tired but happy. bill was pretty good to me.

Nanc is a good friend of mine as well .. and yes, WAY talented. I know her originally from "Corner Bar" in Sag Harbor, she used to waitress there, pre "stardom". From what I hear, storm was rockin the ocean, but Sag Harbor was glass .... whew !
I get to worry north and south

Randall-

Came back from my vacation early to catch Bill,,,and not be caught by it in RI Sound coming home. Sure would like to get in on that spot.....Had one less than perfect day condition wise Saturday with less crowd factor which actually made it perfect (Matunuck), and one perfect day Sunday...which was less so becasue it was an absolute zoo in the water (just north of PJ). Funny thing....looking old and crusty does buy you a little space.


Giff

not here...there are lots of old guys.