Until I met a man with no………

I went to Tampa with 2 boats to do the NMMA sponsored Tampa Boat Show there .

I have never done a “fall show” as most of ours fall in the winter or spring . I was leading Burt [our trusty truck driver] towing the 25 Ranger behind my truck and Burt carrying the R 29 Ranger Tug . Left Eastpoint about 5 A.M. and all was on schedule for a noon arrival at the launch ramp at Davis Island . There is an private airport and public Marina there and an old seaplane base . Beautiful area .

For whatever reason my factory representative and only scheduled help was no where to be found ,leaving me with a logistics problem getting 2 boats,2 trailers,and two trucks rearranged by myself. Boats in slips at Tampa Convention Center ,trailers in parking spaces at Performing Arts Center and Burt back on the road to pick up another trailer to bring back to Eastpoint was the task. Then there is the cleaning and staging of the boats.

So we pulled into the launch area and a crusty looking thin fellow came hustling over to tell us we couldn’t launch there cause there isnt enough water .He had a tide table to show me when the next high tide was and it wasn’t for a while . A local crabber concurred and graciously allowed me to get on his boat with his crab trap retrieval stick to check depth . He went to check his traps and offered to help .

Ranger Tugs , most likely due to their high profile, appear to draft more water than they really do , and those guys were being very helpful showing their concern . That was my first impression of Tampa.

As I spoke with my new friend [he is called Red], I noticed he was missing a few things .Like his right ear,eye and half his jaw. Red lived on his sail boat in the Marina and had been a skin cancer victim . He was not a wealthy guy and obviously lived a very hard life .He was lucky to have had a surgeon remove these parts to save his life . Not everybody in this country is that lucky.

But he was just there to help and spent his life doing odd marine related jobs . He didn’t ask me for a thing .

I was wrestling with the dilemma of whether to launch the boats regardless of the questionable depth situation or start cleaning them right then and there as I was rapidly running out of time .

Red disappeared and I was thinking I oughta go for it and launch . Then the thought struck me of how I was going to get back to the ramp after tying up at the convention center.

About that time my cell phone rang . It was the crabber . He said Im almost done and I could pull you over the bar after you launch to avoid damaging your running gear on the not too friendly looking bottom . I thought to myself ,that’s about all I can do and If I can get a ride back here on his boat I can launch # 2 and get Burt back underway .

I turned around to make one last ramp check and there was Red on his ancient skiff with his new 4 H.P. outboard . He said “I can pull you over the bar with this ,I tow stuff all over Tampa Bay” . Wow these folks are great . So I launched the 25 footer with no issue and before I knew it I had a skiff in tow and a deck and dock hand along and a new friend . There was my ride back in tow ,local knowledge onboard and most of my problem solved .

We tied off the 25 and rode back in the skiff . Then it was time to launch the 29 . It also went in without incident and off down the road went Burt, and the R 29 ,Red ,and I and “little skiff that could” went back to the convention center docks.

Both boats tied off , Ranger Factory rep on the dock helping set up , it was time to stop at Jackson’s via skiff for a beer for my new friend .Then back to move trailers . It was near dark when I was done . Red gave me his cell # and said if you need anything ,give me a call . I handed him some thank you cash , which I knew he could use . He came to the show every day to see if we needed help . I got him a pass . He was a little disconcerting for some to look at , but he was beautiful to me . Just a great guy that so far has beat the odds ,and is happy to be alive . Made me happy to have all I have and put alot of things in perspective.

We had a good boat show , I had good help getting the boats out , you can guess who made it happen .

Thanks Red !