Attemped marine assistance

Today while biking near the George Washington Bridge I saw a boat in distress (but not immediate danger). The mariners had built this boat, powered only by oars and a trolling motor with a battery powered by wind.

I can't even begin to describe this craft so here's my Flickr page. Despite how it looks in the photos, the boat wasn't sinking.

After traveling to NYC from Albany, NY, they were trying to get across the Hudson River with just one oar. The winds were high and they were going nowhere. They didn't have a marine radio to call for assistance, so I offered to bike down the to marina to get help.

By the time I got to the marina and called them back with the phone numbers for sea tow, they had already solved their problem.

Still, it was an interesting experience for me, and the dockmaster was very nice and grateful that I stepped in. Quite a crowd had gathered and no one else offered to help (except for suggesting that the boaters travel 6 miles to the marina with their one undamaged oar). I'm going to hang onto the dockmaster's phone number in case I run across any more jolly mariners.

Isn't it amazing how people will just gawk (and nowadays photograph) at people in distress and it never occurs to them to help? Even though they sorted out their problems on their own, I'm sure they appreciated that you at least tried to help. If I were in that situation, I certainly would have preferred someone ask if there was something they could do rather than see them taking a cell phone video of me struggling:rolleyes: