DRAMATIC RESCUE MISSION FOR ZUIDERDAM!

Zuiderdam was back in the water tonight for her first night cruise since January 2nd, when she also was stranded due to prop hex nut failure.

Tonight, she was playing Glenn Miller music, shortly after putting out when I stopped her for a brief pause. When I attempted to resume, nothing happened. I was quite disheartened as I had considered bringing a rescue boat but decided instead to "be careful". HA!

So, I stood for many minutes, deciding what to do, when it finally hit me. Go home (less than 5 minutes), get the RAFFAELLO, bring her back here with some on-the-spot alterations and perform a rescue mission!

So, I brought the Raffaello to Chapparral Lake and with some styrofoam attached to her bow with tape, I ran her out there. The Raffaello cannot control her throttle, but I figured with enough hits, she could push to Zuiderdam over to the near side of the lake. It worked far better than I had imagined!

The Raffaello, as you can see, swung around and hit the Zuiderdam exactly amidships. Her styrofoam got stuck between the Zuiderdam's lifeboats and it was a cakewalk as I brought the Zuiderdam in on the first try.

It turned out that the Zuiderdam's battery had died. When I switched the battery with a new one (which was also dying!) she ran fine.

THEN, because I could not carry both ships at the same time to the other side of the lake, I used a coathanger to TOW the Raffaello back to the other side of the lake behind the Zuiderdam!

Halfway back across the lake, the battery began to die, but I tweaked it and barely made it across the lake. It was a very amusing emergency. The first full-blown ship-to-ship rescue mission of Green Sea Ships!

Barrett Hochhaus
diamondback78@hotmail.com