Mobing the Southern Relentless

Trip Start Jun 16, 2007

Trip End Sep 26, 2007

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Flag of United States Ft. Pierce, Florida, United States
Saturday, July 14, 2007

So, time to mobilize the boat (mob for short). It took the boat an extra two weeks to arrive because it failed US Coast Guard safety inspection the first time it tried. So with the job already behind schedule we set into getting set up. I luckily had a good understanding of all the computer workings on board so I was usually assigned to a task that was in the air conditioning. I'm not being an AC snob or anything but it was freaking hot on the metal back deck in the Florida sun (To quote one of the crew "Africa isn't even this hot!). This mob was one of the most extensive I have ever been a part of, partially because of how many sensors would have to be used on this job. The two containers that I helped set up were placed on the back deck and welded down, I was set to the task of running communication cables all over the boat. Phones, intercoms, network cables, sonar interfaces, you name it - I helped run it and zip tie it into place. Donny and I played the "who can work more in the AC" game, I think he won

bell

. There was only one terrifying moment which was when they tried to set the small boat on the back deck of the big boat. The straps weren't equally weighted and when it set down on the blocks it tipped over and almost crushed one of the guys holding the stabilizer blocks. I made sure I was a safe distance away on the bridge, video taping the whole incident.
The mob was grueling and the days seemed to drag on and on, the worst part was we were sleeping on the boat so when the port closed up at the end of the day, we were stuck inside. We made sure all our beer was in coolers on the dock before the harbor master locked up for the night. After two nights of drinking on the dock we realized that the Captain had access to a gate key and could let us in whenever we wanted. The last three nights of the mob were much more fun.

There is an interesting set of rules aboard a boat involving Alcohol. The boat is dry, no exceptions! Those are the rules, especially in US waters. However, it's not against the rules to go five feet across the gangway and drink beer on the dock then stumble back across the gangway and pass out in your rack.
So beer drinking on the dock commenced, it always funny to see what happens when it starts to rain though - a true test of a man's character, there is no cover from the rain on the dock, but there is no beer on the boat.....

Dinner

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The family men quickly abandon their beer in mid-swig to run for shelter. Those more hard-core drinkers will finish their beer and then weigh how wet they are against the chances that the storm will blow over soon. Then there are the die hard sailors who take advantage of every last second of shore time and just drink alone in the pouring rain. I have been all three of these.
Regardless of which category you fall in, alcohol is a touchy subject once you set sail because everyone at one point or another sneaks a little bit of grandpa's cough medicine on board, and when they do, it's usually a very small amount. This creates an even stranger dynamic if you get found out sneaking some on board. Rules say, if someone catches you drinking and calls you out, there are two ways to go from there. Option one - your in deep shit and you have to throw it overboard, consequences may be in order if this happens twice. Or, Option two - you share you stash with the person who caught you and it becomes your secret together. The problem is that your flask diminishes really quickly and the only way two people can keep a drunken secret is if one of them is dead.
Basically if you get caught, your stash is gone, either over the side or down someone else's throat.

So a week of sitting in port mobbing the boat and we are finally ready to go, we set sail and headed for our instrument calibration site, calibrated and set to the task of surveying. In the first 72 hours of surveying I think we broke three instruments. About par for the course really...