Boating; Bad Deliverys

During a delivery of a 44 Viking from Annapolis to the Keys, we were moving right along but moving to slow. We got caught by the owner's son in Jacksonville and he and a girlfriend came aboard for the final legs. No problem, sit down, shut up and hold on.

When you are being paid by the day with expenses, having the owner on board can be pleasantly entertaining. They aren't in a hurry and usually pay for everything but this delivery was a 'bid' contract. Getting the boat to it's destination quickly was the only way to make money. Every delay eroded the profit margin.

The owner's was son drunk when we picked him up and the girl didn't seem to know him very well. Almost immediately we were ordered to find a Yacht Club for the overnight. There was at least 3 and maybe 4 hours of daylight left but the new crew wanted to party with some rich 'Yacht types.' When I didn't veer off the waterway into their destination, the son threatened me with mutiny.

Since I and my crew had been paid half wages for the trip we figured Jacksonville was a fair distance for the money. I figured we could renegotiate the contract and party down the waterway. As ordered, we returned to the Yacht Club. The dock attendant took our documentation and fueled the boat while I called the broker who called the owner who called the boat.

He was angry at me, not his son and threatened to have my ticket pulled among other dastardly blood oaths. I informed him that if his son remained on board, I and my mate were renting a car and heading for Fort Myers Beach. “My son is perfectly capable of taking our new boat to Marathon,” click!

When I tried to give the keys to the inebriated son in the bar he was obviously not understanding the situation. He was very obnoxious and pawing the girl like she was a pole dancer or a hooker. The Sargent of Arms was extremely unhappy and informed me that were were about to be ejected from the bar and possibly the Yacht club/marina.

I informed him that we would remove him but the boat wasn't moving until the morning. I also ordered four of the most expensive dinners off the menu and asked that they be delivered to the boat. “We'll leave in the morning,” I told Jeff, my first mate. The meals were great, the girl tried to restrain the drunk but we still ended up in the emergency room after he fell down three steps and split his head. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We never saw the girl again. Maybe we shouldn't have left her in charge of his wallet.

A much more reasonable owner was on the phone in the morning. “Leave my son in a hotel near the airport. His wife will fly in and escort him home. I understand this will cost more. I'll send a grand over to the broker. Let me know if you need more, thanks and goodbye.”