We did not Need BoatU.S. Until we did.
“No, thank you.”
We are that kind of customers.
We do not purchase extended warranties, upgrades and additional memberships. We fix things ourselves – toilets, bathrooms, boats.
Once we started living on a sailboat, we also picked up the schooling of the kids in our own hands.
How the Story Began
We decided to start our liveaboard journey by cruising the ICW south, towards Florida.
Joe was still working full time, and the kids and I began the boating dream on our own, with him joining on the weekends.
Reserving marinas, organizing the cabins, cleaning mold, figuring out homeschool and three seriously upset children (they hated the boat at first), was a lot to handle.
Then, some sailor, at some marina mentioned, “Do you have BoatU.S.?”
“What’s that?”
“A towing membership.”
“We don’t need that.”
The Poor Stuck Boats.
Off we motored into the murky cola-colored water of the ICW. It was already November and it was cold, so cold. I could not wait to reach Florida.
As we motored along, I was amazed at how many other boats were also headed that way. Wow, we were not the only crazy ones!
We were on a small sailboat, a 1985 Grand Soleil 39. It barely moved at 5 knots, using the engine. I could not imagine a better way to travel – slowly, without traffic and without any stress.
Then, as we traveled further south, the number of boats increased, yet the ICW channel became less well-marked and maintained.
We passed by a few boats, strangely tilted on their side. BoatU.S. motorboats were trying to get them freed from the mud.
“Poor guys, can you imagine getting stuck like that?”
(Actually, BoatU.S. receives around 70 000 calls for assistance, every year.)
Why we signed up for BoatU.S.
And then I remembered the guy with the BoatU.S. talk. Let me see how much a towing would be, should it ever happen to us.
Oh, between $500 and $2000, depending on the distance.
Hm, I checked that BoatU.S. membership – a little over $100 (that was back in 2018). For the entire year! We could handle that expense.
Today, that same membership is $140 (as of November 2023).
Our movies subscription cost more than that.
So, I went ahead and signed up. We would probably never need it…
The Embarrassing Rescue.
It was a beautiful evening in Miami, FL. We had finally arrived and were tied to a mooring ball, in Biscayne Bay.
Joe was on a business trip, and I was boat alone, with the three kids. We had returned aboard, after a grocery run.
After 30min of rowing (we did not have a dinghy engine yet), I was exhausted, and my soft, silky palms had quickly furnished themselves with blisters.
I sat down in the cockpit and enjoyed the sparkling jewel of downtown Miami with a glass of red wine.
Because, naturally, white wine does not work.
The Dinghy is Floating Away!
“Mom! The dinghy! It’s floating away!”
“What?!”
“It came loose and is floating away!”
The feeling of seeing our dinghy slowly drift away on the dark water, towards the dark horizon was just like the feeling of watching our car roll down an icy road in a blinding blizzard, just as I hopped out and pulled our kid out of her booster seat, while eight months pregnant.
The latter story had been told and retold in our family, granting it some sort of literary value, transcending personal embarrassment.
“Get out of my way, I’m jumping in!”
“No, mommy, don’t jump! There are sharks!”
Sharks hunt at night. The “Beware! Crocodiles!” sign at the docks flashed in front of my eyes!
I am not jumping in. I am calling Joe.
“Joe, the dinghy is floating away!”
Joe took the call after an afternoon of food poisoning, as he awaited the next vomiting episode, “Jump in and get it!”
“No! I’m not jumping in! Joey is holding a flashlight pointed at the dinghy, and it’s floating away! That’s it, we don’t have a dinghy anymore.”
I was not sure whom I was punishing and what for, but someone had to be in trouble for taking us on that boating adventure in the first place. The husband was a safe bet.
“OK.”
“Fine!”
What do I do now! I’ll yell for help at the other boats around!
“Hello!…Hello!…Hello!…” It was not working. The boats were not answering.
I’ll call BoatU.S., we are members!
“Ma’m we’ve never been called for that before.”
BoatU.S. had not had anyone call for a float away dinghy. But sensing my desperation, they agreed to send someone out to help…
Within minutes, the rescue boat arrived.
Our dinghy was brought back to us, much to my surprise, because all the information we provided was the general direction it had vanished into.
My Super Short Sales Pitch
Once we had lived aboard for a while, we ended up hearing all kinds of other stories of boats being rescued, either by BoatUS, or the Coast Guard, or both.
None of them topped mine in responsiveness to stupidity.
So, this is why having BoatUS Membership makes sense, if you have a boat and are sailing in the US.
Instead of copy-pasting the membership features, which anyone can read, I decided to share my personal story.
Take a look at their current membership options and decide if any of them work for you.
If you decide to purchase a membership, I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you.
The moral of our dinghy story.
After that night in Miami, we always kept our membership up-to-date.
We also always kept two lines on the dingy. One was thick enough to hold a cruise ship in place.
And that story of the car being stuck in the winter blizzard, it has been since demoted.
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25 Useful and Adventurous Books for Boaters.
References:
- BoatU.S. – Top 5 Reasons Boats Get Towed | BoatUS
