June 9 - Thursday

The day started out overcast and rainy.  The rain wasn't much more than a drizzle but we decided we  didn't want to ride into town with the threat of rain.  We decided to do a little around the boat, relax and watch Weeds on DVD.   Around 5, the sun started coming out and the breeze picked up.  As Beth and I were relaxing, a sudden THUD shook our peace.  A 45 ft motor yacht had hit the boat.  He was attempting to dock his boat and apparently the wind caught him and he almost hit 4 boats, ours wasn't an almost.  He was sideways and pretty much out of control and his bow pulpit and anchor hit Second Chance.  His anchor caught the netting ripping a nice hole in it and the edge of his anchor left quite a scar ( about 6 inches ) on the fiberglass of the deck.

Battle Scars

Needless to say, I was PISSED.  Beth grabbed the dogs and got off the boat just in case we were sinking but while the gouge was quite deep, it is well above the waterline and mostly cosmetic.
I watched "Briar Patch" dock across the way after being assured they would come over and talk to me once there were docked.  Impatient as ever, I walked over to their boat after being informed by one of the dockhands that the Coast Guard had been called to investigate.  Apparently a federal requirement when there in any boating accident.  I met the "captain" of "Briar Patch" whose name is Chuck and he didn't claim any equipment failure, just wind.  Personally, I believe inexperience with the boat complicated by the wind was the major factor.  Alcohol did not seem to be a factor.  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement Division showed up, took all our info and Chuck assured me that he would make good on the damage without getting insurance companies involved.  Personally I would rather not have had the law involved as Chuck seemed reasonable but neither of us had a choice in that.
I am meeting with him on Friday to finalize the paperwork.

After that incident, I was a bit worked up and decided to clean the forward hold.  Everything was wet from bouncing through the waves so we emptied it out, cleaned everything with fresh water and hung everything out to dry.  We enjoyed another spectacular sunset and had a nice dinner and the rest of the evening was quite relaxing.