Poverty Bay Power Squadron Supplies Escort for The Parade of Tall Ships
Story & Pictures by By Bob Miller, Squadron Education Officer, aboard m/v Kathy M
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The Kathy M guards Europa’s port flank

The m/v Kathy M, with her Poverty Bay Power Squadron captain, Bob Miller and crew, Jackie Smith, Terry Smith, Rick Nelson and Jackie’s father Ed Huft, supported the Marine Heritage Foundation on Thursday August 15 by escorting the Parade of Tall Ships. The Kathy M rendezvoused with the big sailing ships as they gathered off West Point near Shilshole Bay in preparation for the parade. They then proceeded to Elliott Bay. They were greeted there by a chorus of ship’s whistles and towering water displays from the fireboats Chief Seattle and Duwamish.

Duwamish                       Europa                             Hawaiin
Click on picture for larger view
Click here to visit Duwamish Fireboat Site

The Kathy M accompanied the first boat in the parade, the 127 foot schooner Zodiac, from the gathering off West Point directly into the Elliott Bay harbor just north of the ferry terminal. There she took up her position as the outside (starboard) turn mark for the ships as they made their turn to port for a close pass along the Seattle waterfront. Those ships with cannon fired broadsides at the spectators on shore as they drew abeam of the crowds. The onlookers were enthralled by the spectacle.

 As the parade continued its’ northward shoreline journey the Kathy M fell in to escort the last, largest and tallest ship in the line, the 150 foot barque Europa at the end of the parade. The ships then worked their way back to the Ballard Locks so they could enter Lake Union and proceed to their weekend moorage and display at the Marine Heritage Center on the south end of the lake.

 We had a couple of interesting experiences during the day that were not part of the plan. The first occurred as we approached West Point near the end of the event when we heard on the VHF that someone was overboard. Within in just a few seconds we could see ahead of us that there were several people in the water off one of the “escort” vessels. They had been caught off guard by a wave and three people went off the bow in the water. The boat they fell from was a high sided, no cockpit 40+ foot Chris Craft with a lot of people on board who were obviously only spectators and not crew. The people who went overboard were apparently standing or in deck chairs on the foredeck of the boat when the wave hit them. This had all the making s of a disaster. Luckily the Coast Guard 40 footer with the large open cockpit was directly behind us and moved quickly to the rescue. They had all the people out of the water within a few minutes.  One of the tall ships had a doctor on board and they sent him over in a launch to assist if needed until they could get the people to shore. When I checked the following day they said all those who went in the water were in pretty good condition though they had been somewhat hypothermic.

 The second situation occurred during our trip back to Des Moines. We were about a mile and a half north of Three Tree Point on the east side of the Vessel Traffic System (VTS) lanes. We noticed what looked like a small boat about a mile away in the middle of the shipping lanes and something didn’t look right. So we turned west to investigate. As we neared the boat we realized the reason it looked strange was that it was not under way and there were no people visible in the 18 ft open boat. Apparently that difference in the silhouette from a mile away was what caught our attention. When we motored right up next to the boat we could see there was a man in shorts laying across rear seat. Nothing we did seem to be able to wake him. So we pulled along side and Terry went on board the boat to see what was wrong. Terry was able to get him to respond somewhat but not to our satisfaction. After telling him several times that he was in the middle of the shipping lanes and asking him if he wanted us to help or tow him to safety he was just able to respond that he didn’t want our help. So we notified the Coast Guard of the situation and their decision was to notify any commercial traffic of the potential hazard and to leave him there. Considering the boat was sound and not in any apparent distress we didn’t feel we had any choice either.

 Even with these two anomalies we all had a very enjoyable day a good learning experience. We also have lots of great pictures to share.

 Lt/C Bob Miller