Dragon Recovery Service 7 Jun 2015
Martyn Fogg, helming Hat Trick, 597, very close to shore, at the top of the tide, felt the boat slow and knew his luck had run out…
Following a call for help at 22:00 on the Saturday evening, Carl Anderson, Richard Cosens and Yours Truly left the Club pontoon at 04:20 the following morning to recover Foggy's Dragon that had been literally parked on the grass between Roach and Wade.
( We know it was on the grass as none of the crew that left the boat there on the Saturday night had muddy feet on their return to the Club at 18:30 – Foggy even let slip that he stepped onto the grass when leaving the boat, didn't even have to jump off as the shore was so close.)
One interesting point, none of Foggy's crew (really don't know who was on board, so, conveniently, no names mentioned…) answered their phones on Saturday evening when the call went out to ask for assistance with the boat recovery! Was that a case of jumping ship? Perhaps they were all tucked up in bed, too tired, following their two and a half hour walk to the south shore, after Foggy had taken them on an unscheduled tour of the Cross Rail earthworks/bird sanctuary, whilst awaiting collection from Peter, the launch man early Saturday evening!
Mr. Fogg was suitably appreciative at Sunday lunch and gave wine to all the 'rescue crew'. Suffice to say he may very well be a race sponsor at the Otter Race Night on July 4th…