We left Demopolis at around 7 AM with another boat, a 40 ft sail boat named Island Time. Island Time was being run by Walt Tyson single handed. After about 7 hours, Walt's engine broke down. It was not just a fuel problem, it rattled, smoked and then stopped, he could not even turn it over. He is probably going to need a new engine. He called us on the radio and asked us to give him a tow, while he drifted dangerously close to the shore. We turned around and after much frantic activity, attached a line and had him in tow. Five miles of this until we finally got to Bashi Creek, a small anchorage with barely enough room for two boats. Entering the creek was no fun either, our trawler was easy to stop with its twin engines, but Walt's sailboat was not as to stop and consequently we made some contact. Nothing too serious. The wind blew a bit but settled down and we tried to sleep. Walt wanted us to tow him another 50 miles the next day to Bobbies Fish Camp. This would be very dangerous given our lack of experience, the narrow rivers, the large barges and the floating logs and debris. We slept on it and decided in the morning not to try it.
By the way, was that ice in the lock? And were those icicles on the banks of the river? There's something going on here and I don't know what it is.
By the way, was that ice in the lock? And were those icicles on the banks of the river? There's something going on here and I don't know what it is.
Is that you, Mr. Jones?
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