[Caseym]

Took our 18' Stringari outta Newport on Sat to watch the jets. My 2 sons and I were having the time of our lives. The smell began to build during the final show w the Blue Angels. I honestly thought it was exhaust there was so much haze in the air from all the trails. Suddenly looked off the very rocky bow and saw this gigantic floating ball of crude about to consume us. It wrapped the anchor line for about 8'...imagine all the up and down with 1,000 boats firing up and motoring around. Then it splashed up and began sticking to our hull. We watched numerous guys haul oily lines and anchors onto their beautiful decks. After one idiotic attempt I realized my 13 year old had the right idea. We made the unfortunate decision to cut the line and anchor to save the boat. We motored back to Newport where we eventually trailered the boat and I finally got my first glimpse at just how bad it was. The entire length of the hull on the lower 1/4 was wrapped in tarry ooze. We towed her home and at o dark thirty the next day I began cleaning the hull with Gasoline and rags. The sun heated everything up (94 degrees in Temecula that day...naturally) and it began dripping all over my trailer. What a nightmare, By Day2 I had all the oil/tar off and had buffed and waxed the hull back to it's previous self. This had to be one of the most bizarre episodes of a day on the water ever and had me almost wondering "Why in the hell do I do this?" Here's to hoping it never reaches you guys down in Dana and South. I'll drop some pics in a bit.