From Bad Forecast to Lost at Dock: A Towboat Story | Tow 47ft SeaRay

This afternoon I got a call for a boat that was about 2 miles off of Siesta Key needing a tow to Snead Island Boat Works. When I called the member, they said they had one engine working and were making about 5-7 MPH heading north to the Tampa Bay Inlet. I said, ok, keep heading that way, and I’ll chase you down and we’ll go from there. I was not expecting it to be this windy or the seas to be 4ft as the marine forecast was for 10kts out of the south seas 1-2ft, so it was a bit of a wild ride on the way up the coast trying to catch up to this boat. When I finally arrived on scene, I asked if they wanted to stay under their own power for the time being since they were making better way than I could towing them in these seas, and they said yes but they weren’t sure how long their remaining engine would last, so we elected to head into longboat pass instead as it would be a more comfortable ride and safer to hook up if they did decide to have me tow them. Other than that, it was a pretty standard tow until we got to Snead Island as we arrived after hours and no one was exactly sure where their assigned slip was located.

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AI-Generated Description:
What started as a simple tow job turned into a wild nautical goose chase up the Gulf coast. I got the call in the afternoon—just a boat about 2 miles off Siesta Key, heading north toward Tampa Bay with one engine still limping along. The plan? I’d chase them down and give them a tow to Snead Island Boat Works. Easy enough, right?
Except Mother Nature clearly didn’t get the marine forecast memo. Instead of the predicted “10 knots, seas less than 2 ft,” I got smacked in the face with 4-footers and wind that felt more like a small craft advisory. By the time I caught up to the boat, I was bouncing around like a cork in a washing machine.
The captain aboard still had one engine pushing them at about 5-7 MPH, so we made the call to keep running under their own power—at least until it died or we both got seasick. To play it safe, we diverted into Longboat Pass where conditions were more manageable and I could hook up if needed without surfing a breaking wave.
The tow itself? Pretty standard after that... until we got to Snead Island after hours and realized no one knew which slip they were supposed to be in. Picture two guys staring at dock numbers in the dark, calling people who aren’t answering, trying to reverse-engineer the world’s worst scavenger hunt.
Moral of the story: Always know your slip number. And never trust a calm marine forecast when you're chasing a half-broken boat north in 4-foot seas.