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Latest observance of the situation from the Sailing Anarchy onsite reporter:
This saga is taking a turn toward the dark side.
Around 5:00 I ran over to the shoreline path to check in on FH. (My apology in advance for not taking my camera, I really planned on just a quick status check, since the weather had been quite calm all day. Little did I know.)
Chapter 1 Signs of contact - The first thing I noticed was a bunch of black scrub marks (like from tires or - - maybe the black barge-pusher fenders on the bow of the Marina's tow boat) all over FH's starboard bow. They're right over that area I highlighted for possible damage in one of yesterday's pics, and they run from almost the waterline right up to the rail. Looks like somebody or some thing hit that area several times. Also, that area near the waterline that I marked "possible damage" yesterday, has gone from a small, sharply-defined black mark yesterday to a more widespread, sick-looking discoloration today. Maybe it's just oil or mud that got spread around or maybe something is breaking down behind the fiberglass curtain. Finally, the more I looked the more I became convinced that the lines just aft of the black marks - essentially the first piece of skin that starts to curve in from the straight side to form the bow - looked a little off, like maybe something was broken behind the scenes. But then I noticed that a lot of the seams between his plywood sheets, especially down in the tunnel between the hulls are more noticeable than they used to be, so who knows?
Chapter 2 Anchor Woes - Second, I saw HR up on the bow working around his anchor winch. He had removed the anchor line completely from the winch itself. It was just threaded through the fairlead on the outboard part of the winch structure and then tied into a block and tackle which was fastened to the end of the big pipe "bridge" on the upper deck (the structure that's supporting the mainmast.) That line was really taut - like a rod - and ran out to the anchor at a 90 degree angle to the heading of the boat. It was literally stretched across the leading edge of the port bow. In fact, the motion of the line had cut quite a neat groove into the wood of that bow. Then I saw the other pieces of the puzzle: 1) There was a second anchor that had been dropped on a chain from the stern, quite close in to the boat and 2) it looked like the boat might be aground - the scum line seemed to be a little farther above the water than before and FH wasn't swinging in the breeze at all. This was about 2 hours before low tide
Maybe he was aground or maybe there was another sequence of events, but the situation was that somehow he'd gotten FH crossways to the southerly wind, held with anchors fore and aft, and it was pinned that way by the wind on that enormous freeboard, maybe with some help from our infamous bay mud. Later (after the events of Chapter 3) HR and "crew" (see next chapter) tried to use that block and tackle to horse the bow around into the wind, with no success. (I could hear HR explaining to crew that they needed to get the tunnel lined up with the wind to reduce the pressure. He knows about these things.)
Chapter 3 Tempers Fly - As HR was messing with his anchor tackle, the Bayliner appeared from the direction of the marina towing the dinghy (aka "tender".) It was being driven by the guy I've started calling "crew." This is a big, younger guy with long (like down his back long) reddish hair. He's been with the boat since they left the marina, but back when they were anchored farther out, and I had to use a 20-40x scope to see anything, I was identifying him as Mrs. Rod based on the hair. (I've since seen her puttering around, and she has short gray hair.)
So, crew ties the bayliner alongside and he and HR disappear onto the back porch (which is out of sight the way the boat is lying.) Shortly thereafter a hellacious screaming argument breaks out, with Rod doing most of the screaming. I was able to pick up a few repeated phrases . . . "asshole!" a lot and . . . . (wait for it) . . . . "knocked a hole in my f***ing boat!" . . . . or sometimes "knocked a f***ing hole in my brand new boat.."
After his screaming match with Crew (maybe we should call him "Red" or "the Viking"), HR paced up and down the deck shouting much of the same content into his cellphone.
Eventually I pieced together that Crew's mission when he went to the marina had been to meet with the person who had knocked the hole and arrive at at some kind of agreement or admission of liability or whatever, and that HR was going ballistic because this had not been achieved. Somewhere in there I heard mention that a "bent prop" was part of the argument.
Here's my wild-ass guess as to what possibly could have happened: Today's low low tide was at around 7:30 am. HR wakes up to discover that FH is hard aground, possibly creaking and groaning from all the new, uneven pressures on the structure. He calls the marina and asks them to send their towboat out to get him off. The towboat comes out, and the only way they can see to get FH off the mud is to push - - - hard. They break some of the wood up around the starboard bow (where the black marks are) and they damage their prop on the mud in the process. Rod is certain the marina should fix the damage to his boat. The marina wants to talk about the damage to their prop (and perhaps something about his ridiculously weak construction . . . and the unpaid bill for two month's tie-up in their prime jumbo slot. . . . and how they ever allowed themselves to get into this rat-fuck in the first place.)
Low tide is at 7:50 tomorrow morning, and I plan to be over there with scope and camera to fill in the blanks and document whatever craziness is next.
Good night and good luck.
_________________  Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY
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