[Rhodes22-list] Ranger Friend

[Bob Keller]

Ed & Others,
This is a rare day at the office with not much going on, so let me finally 
tell a little story about how I got to know my Ranger Friend with the 
Georgia DNR.  I have avoided telling this story despite repeated urgings 
from Rummy for one simple reason:  it is really embarrassing.  But, since it 
occurred almost two years ago, it is easier to laugh about now.  It was May 
2002 and I was out sailing the relatively new (to me) R-22 on Hartwell with 
three friends.  Great wind and a grand time, but it was time to head in, so 
we were motoring in with sails furled.  Along comes a DNR boat (Dept. of 
Natural Resources - the cops) who pulled up alongside and asked me where the 
registration numbers were on the boat.  Since the boat came from Virginia, I 
had removed the old numbers but never replaced them with the GA numbers.  
The truth is that I did not know that these numbers were required, which is 
what I told my DNR friend, whose name was Mr. Padgett, or Inspector Padgett, 
as he is now known around our cove.  After checking my license and 
registration, (I was sufficiently sober so that there were no S.U.I. issues, 
plus, he was just getting warmed up), he asked about my fire extinguisher.  
Didn't know I needed one, was my brilliant reply.  Then he checked our life 
jackets, and I was wearing the Stearns belt pack variety and he began to 
question the suitability of that, but decided it was OK.  He asked if I had 
a head on board, Yes, Sir; then asked porta potti or marine head, and I told 
him a marine head.  Then he asked if I had a "pump-out log," but in that 
thick southern accent I thought he said "pump-out lock" (since I had never 
heard of a pump-out log anyway) and I said yes.  Hey, my boat's not named 
Yankee Clipper for nothing.  So, he asked if he could see it and I said yes. 
  Then we just looked at each other and he asked again and I said, "sure, 
it's on the Y-valve!"  Bingo!!  Inspector Padgett just hit the jackpot.  He 
told me that Y-valves were illegal on inland lakes and that I would have to 
remove it.  Then he wrote me a ticket for an illegal MSD which carries a 
$1,200 fine.  I think he probably took pity on my ignorance and told me to 
remove the Y-valve and call him and he would stop by and inspect the boat 
and tear up the ticket if it checked out.  That is exactly what I did and 
when he stopped by to look at it he was as nice as can be and hardly even 
looked at the boat, but took care of the ticket.  Nice guy after all was 
said and done.

The post script to this story is that the following spring we took the boat 
back to south Florida, but I did not check the holding tank and it filled up 
while we were on the trip.  We had to cut our trip short by a day to sail 
back to a pump-out facility because there were no facilities anywhere 
nearby.  Boy, was I pissed...

There, I feel better now having confessed all that.
Bob K


>From: "Kroposki" <kroposki at innova.net>
>Reply-To: kroposki at innova.net,The Rhodes 22 mail list 
><rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Keller - S.U.I.
>Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 12:53:09 -0500
>
>Bob,
>	On your side of the lake, the rules might be different, but on
>the South Carolina side that ranger friend that knows you well, can cite
>you for S. U. I.
>	Sounds like you learned too well from Rummy's experience.  Were
>you on that most famous episode?  Sounds like same causes....
>             Ed K
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
>[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of
>R22RumRunner at aol.com
>Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:52 AM
>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Story: Forward Weight?
>
>Rik,
>I have heard this story before and have some time to reflect on it and
>come
>to the conclusion that the entire problem was caused by "operator
>error." The
>real questions is: "Why would anyone want to do this knowing full well
>what the
>end result would be?"
>Since we had been tied up for at least an hour or so, I believe rum was
>to
>blame for this incident. One hand on the rum and another on the cigar
>doesn't
>make for good sailing. Bob needs two more arms and
>hands............they're
>called crew.
>
>Rummy :)
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