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Holiday 2018
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boatingonthehudson.com
Mooring
Balls
and
their Trailing
Pick-up Ropes
S
mack in the waters of New York Harbor and the Hudson River
are huge mooring balls with two hundred foot trailing lines that float.
The pickup line is designed to be attached to a ship waiting for a
dock to open on shore. There are hundreds of these buoys on east
coast waters. IT IS THE ONLY WAY FOR A SHIP TO TIE UP EASILY
AND SAFELY IN A DESIGNATED SPOT.
The danger of these buoys is to be avoided at all times, as the trailing
line is a danger to other ships. That is what happened here.
Diver “Z”, one of the most impressive experienced divers in the
area, had to dive under a ferry boat at midnight in the middle of New
York Harbor and “free up” one of these monster buoys. The pickup
line had wound around the prop, dragging the enormous buoy under
with it. This created tremendous tension on the lines.
Diver “Z” really knew the dangers.
And here is his story………
It all began at The Brooklyn Barge with a “Diver Z”
performance which was a huge success.
Here’s The Big Dive, direct from Z.
A daylong dive presentation took a lot of juice out
of me, I am thinking about a good dinner and a good
nights sleep.
My truck is loaded with dive stuff - regulators, full-
face masks, powerful lights, wireless communication,
a remotely operated underwater vehicle, cameras, and
more.
I am ready for any action.
Suddenly my phone rings. I picked up and asked,
”What’s going on and where?”
I’m being briefed. A mooring line was wrapped around one propeller of a 200
ft. long dinner boat.
The message is: just cut that line free and the vessel will go back to the dock.
“Ok, so the dinner boat has one engine that is working right?” I asked.
The Coast Guard already evacuated passengers.
Before I get myself into the frenzy I shout: “Do we have that job on the
dinner boat?“
“Let me give you a call back in a few minutes to confirm”, he says. and we
hung up. I keep driving, the phone gets me again, so does the thunder, and
heavy rain, and the wipers are fighting their battle – left/right, left/right…
“Ok, we got the job, now to Dobbs Ferry.
A speedboat is on the way.
The mission is on, now there is no way out.
. The heavy wind tears off my jacket. I’m soaked in a matter of seconds. A
headlamp is navigating the dolly wheels over the bumps, through the gate,
and on the dock. I’m bouncing on the dock as the river is thrown in every
direction. Lighting is pretty strong, I can see far out when it strikes. Rain
is like a power washer. As the boat turns in I begin to see a red side light of
the approaching vessel, now the green one.
There is not a second to waste. All hands on deck! His first mate is a big
help. We are all set.
I’m soaked. The boat takes off towards to Verrazano Bridge for a long
ride. Better say it feels like a bull ride as the boat jumps in every direction,
all my equipment is slamming on the back of the boat, I’m sitting down in
between all that and assembling the equipment piece by piece to be ready.
It is a crazy job, being outside, at the stern, my air tanks are bouncing loud
and I’m catching what I need at the moment and putting it together with
precision - my life will rely on it later.
Water is splashing over the front glass as the vessel is cutting through the
mighty Hudson, into the night.
We are flying into the dark night, seeing little in front of us. Seeing very
little in front of us, our eyes are piercing through the darkness to spot for
other vessels, or anything else that may be in the way. The skipper is an
excellent captain and knows the river. He handles the boat like a Sunday
morning ride to the deli. He has got it!
I go back outside on the stern, sit and bounce down and every now and
then I experience weightlessness until I land hard back on my butt when
the boat takes a jump. Now I’m suiting up to my trusty worn out neoprene
with holes and tears from many different missions. The weather slowly
lightens up, the downpour is now rain, and the wind is a breeze.
For now, I can enjoy the scenery of New York City. We have about 15
minutes to get to where the vessel is trapped at the mooring. I see the
Verrazano Bridge in the distance. The last gate when leaving the NY harbor
waters and the first one to welcome mariners back from their voyages. City
lights are well behind us and we now entered the dark zone again.
Here we go, we are in the mooring field! It is more like a minefield, where
giant steel balls the size of a little Smart car are bobbing on the surface. They
have no lights and when you see one, it is almost too late. Each of
those lonely quiet giants has strong connections - something to
be aware of. Connections with the depths of the River as they the
heavy chain goes down to a giant anchor down below. Tugboats,
big ocean-going barges, occupy this field and some of those
balls are waiting for the companion of another vessel. There it
is!!! We arrived. I see a big, I mean a really big passenger vessel,
3-story high. Captain behind the wheel confirms, “This is it”. I’m
a little shocked; our 35 ft. fast boat is nothing next to this 200 ft.
monster.
We are pulling in, slowing down and just now we all feel how
choppy the water is. Up and down … up and down … catching the
right moment, the skipper takes a jump and I see him calling for
anyone aboard the dinner boat. My equipment is good to go, I’m
suited up, ready for anything. Another of our crewmembers is like a pro
deploying the diver communication system. We go over the signals in case
the comms go wrong, and lastly our lifeline signals - series of pulls as a
simple or emergency resort of keeping in touch.
I jump on the boat getting to know the crew and Captain. We walk the
Edited by John H. Vargo, Publisher
by
Diver “Z”
The pickup line
had wound around
the prop, dragging
the enormous buoy
under with it. This
created tremendous
tension on the lines.