Thought For The Day - "The cabin of a small yacht is truly a wonderful thing; not only will it shelter you from a tempest, but from the other troubles in life, it is a safe retreat." - L. Francis Herreshoff

One of the things I enjoy most about this crazy cruising life I lead is that you never know what will happen next. Today is a perfect example. We got up, went to church, visited a fellow cruiser in the hospital (he returned to his boat later today I'm glad to report) and returned to the boat planning to read the Sunday newspaper out in the cockpit while we enjoyed the beautiful fall air. However, on the way to the boat we learned that they were going to film a scene for an episode of "America's Most Wanted" right on our dock.

You might recall that the pier we're on is approximately 1,000 feet long and is substantial enough to drive cars on. There are about 10 piers of that length in this area because it used to be a Navy mothball fleet storage site. They set up a camera on the pier directly across from our boat, so at least the boat may get her 15 minutes of fame when this is shown on TV, assuming the editing room doesn't cut her out first. After we were alerted that they were about to begin we heard cars approaching very fast. Indeed, they passed by our boat doing at least 70 mph. It was an SUV being chased by a cop car. They did this about 4 times before they were satisfied with the take.

After they shot this scene, the actors and camera crew moved over to another pier where they were going to film a chase scene followed by a scene in which the SUV is driven into the water. This chase scene involved the cop car stopping at the entrance to the pier then the cop getting out and running after the SUV which was speeding down the pier. Again, they filmed several takes before they were happy.

Now for the SUV going in the water. Unlike the previous scenes, this one took a good bit of setting up. They had built a short ramp over which the vehicle would go into the water. They took all precautions to obey EPA regulations including removing the engine and any parts that could discharge oil. Since the SUV had no engine, it was attached to a truck via cable. The idea was the truck would start pulling the SUV, which contained 2 dummies, and once the SUV got up to speed, it would roll right up the ramp and into the water. They had all sorts of real and fake policemen, real firemen, and other safety officials on hand.

While we were waiting, we talked to the real policeman who had apprehended one of the criminals when this crime happened back in July. After the SUV ran off the end of the road into the water, he had jumped in the water, swam across the river and up the bank before he caught the passenger of the vehicle. The driver, unfortunately, got away and is still at large. The cop was playing himself in the episode and was driving the police car in the second chase scene.

After more setting up, including maneuvering a crane into place to raise the SUV after its dunking, again to please the EPA, all was finally ready for filming. Everything went off without a hitch. The truck started the SUV rolling, the SUV went up over the ramp into the water with a large splash, then the 2 divers in wetsuits, who were playing the criminals, swam away from the sinking vehicle. The real cop, mentioned above, reprised his role and jumped into the water in an attempt to apprehend the "criminals".

Since a stiff breeze was chilling us to the bone, we didn't hang around for the crane to raise the SUV from the depths, but returned to our boat on our bicycles. Enough excitement for one day. Stay safe.