Page 26: of Marine News Magazine (May 2006)

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26 • MarineNews • May 2006

His first jobs steering included the ferries of New York Waterway. "Eighty dockings a day," he recalls, "after almost a year it was burning me out. I wanted to get back on tugs." He drew a stint with Reinauer as a training mate, and from there went to the

Sandmaster as a mate. Then he bought the

Gotham, but did not quit his day job. "We towed it across to the yard next to

Perth Amboy Drydock for a number of months, then to Perth Amboy Drydock itself." Along with his brother Ken, and

Capt. Pat Cannon of the Sandmaster, and ex-classmates who were happy to help for the experience — the old tug turned out as school of sorts after all — "we changed the heat exchanger and began to rebuild the lube oil pressure pump. Once Perth

Amboy Drydock closed, we spent a year on a mooring in the middle of Amboy anchorage. We used a skiff to get to the boat." The Gotham's days below the Out- erbridge had included New York winters, and "just about every pipe that had any water in it froze and burst — generator piping, main engine jacket water piping, both main engine heat exchangers, gear box heat exchanger, all potable water pip- ing, countless valves for everything."

New York winters may be bonechilling, but "we had no heat that first winter. We made a list of the most critical issues, and heat and running water were not on it." It might be bitter, but a tug can do work, the- oretically, without either — "I can't work without an engine and fire pump."

The Human Q-Tip

The damage from freezing was formi- dable, but only added to what crippled the tug in the first place. "We rolled-out and renewed all the main bearings on the engine, replaced the lube oil pressure pump, really had to dig into the main engine. In order to get to some of the gas- kets, I had to crawl under the engine in the bilge, to the gearbox," face-down all the way. Although the bilge was empty, there was the residue of a half century. "Chris

Nelson, who was a big part of our progress, said I looked like a human Q-

Tip."

By the spring of last year, the Dorothy

Elizabeth, the old tug's new name in honor of Capt. Vinik's grandmother, was ready for business. But business was slow. "I was getting a couple jobs a week," Capt.

Vinik reports. "It's probably understand- able, all things considered, but at first hardly anyone was willing to try us out."

Then Capt. Steve Richter of the Newport

Pilots made some introductions at K-Sea, and before long "Paul Mahoney of the

Normandy was getting me leads. I can't thank him enough."

A single-screw tug is forbidden to tow petroleum barges, but it can assist dock- ing. K-Sea became a regular in those first days of operation, but still, things were slow. Did everybody know Vinik Marine was there?

Then came last September's Tug Races, the Labor Day event nearly deep-sixed by

City regulations. The industry steered around the obstructions, with the Kristy

Ann Reinauer and a deck barge in the

Narrows obviating need for City approval.

The 2005 races were the first under the

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A six-hour ride from the "port city" of New York, the 600-ton Travel Lift at the Derektor yard in Bridge- port, Conn. eases the freshly scraped and repained Dorothy Elizabeth back to the water. (Photo: Don

Sutherland.)

Dorothy Elizabeth's "coming out" at the New York Tug Races last Labor Day weekend. Mike Vinik claims to have come-in fifth, but in this photo, shortly before the finish line, the "totaled" tugboat might be mistaken for third place. (Photo: Don Sutherland)

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