Super Boat Race 28 Sept. 2014   

The Super Boat Race was held off of Clearwater Beach with many spectator boats attending. The spectators were not as many in past years due to the weather forecasts as the area had been plummeted with torrential down pours. The day of the race turned out to be a beautiful day on the water with calm seas & the spectators took full advantage by rafting up, swimming & diving off their boats. There were very few incidents the people stayed 50' off the course marked with red buoys. We only had to remind one vessel to move back from the course.  After the race our vessel Seas Life (11-10) coxswain Steve Rea, Crew Buddy Casale, Kristi Mackey, Walter Murray & trainee Miriam Ortiz 11-7 was assigned to monitor boat traffic in Hurricane Pass. The traffic was relatively light and we were instructed to RTB (return to base). As we entered the Marker One Marina channel there was a Florida Fish & Wildlife vessel citing and arresting a boater for BWI (boating while intoxicated) they hailed us & requested if we could tow the vessel involved to the Dunedin Marina. The coxswain called Station Sand Key received permission to tow the vessel with one of our crew aboard. Steve Rea asked for a volunteer to step forward to crew the towed vessel , Mackey, Murray & Ortiz all took a step backwards and Rea thanked Casale for volunteering.  Since the vessel in question was a relatively small  high performance vessel 18' with low gunwales it was decided to take it in a short stern tow. As we started down St.Joseph's Sound some heavy weather rolled in and the rains were very heavy. We tried to slow on coming vessels with a Securite broadcast however all the vessels either didn't have their radios on or were not familiar with the Securite broadcast as a result we were plummeted with heavy wakes. Our frantic waving of arms to slow down only resulted in getting friendly waves back from the passing vessels which only reinforces the need for mandatory boating training for everyone who operates a boat. Needless to say Buddy Casale was soaking wet due to the heavy wakes and the torrential downpour.  We finally made it to the Dunedin Channel and entered into the marina which is relatively narrow with 2 sharp 90 degree turns to the boat ramp. Seas Life is a 29 ' Sea Ray with a wide beam so we couldn't get the towed vessel into a side tow. We opted to shorten the stern town & guide it around the 90 degree turns, needless to say Steve Rea's experience got us to the boat ramp. There wasn't any room to dock as there are wet slips on both sides so we guided the towed vessel around and handed it off to the Florida Fish & Wildlife crew. We attained the critical information for our report and had to retrieve Casale from the dock as he stayed on the towed vessel. There wasn't really any room to dock Sea's Life as  it was just too big. I have to say Steve Rea's excellent handling of our vessel in such narrow confines was impressive. We opted to have Casale go to the end of C Dock where his boat Suzy 2 is berthed so we could retrieve him. We rafted up to Suzy 2 and successfully retrieved our soaking wet crew person, Buddy Casale who I might add forgot to take his foul weather gear. I have to mention we had some assistance from one of our Radio Operators , Guy Warner met us at the boat ramp to assist in handing off the towed vessel. We eventually did RTB (return to base ) where we critiqued the mission. Bravo Zulu to the crew of Sea's Life

Buddy Casale crewing towed vessel	Kristi Mackey raftng up to Suzy 2
Kristi Mackey retrieving crew Buddy Casale	I reminded Buddy he was out of uniform with the improvised rain gear