Lowering the Boom

It took me a while to find volunteers to help me lower the boom.  That was the least of the problems.  I was able to get a boat, but it was much smaller than I thought I would have liked.

Jared the boat operator navigated out of Providence Harbor towards Block Island.  The boom was supposed to be at the dock for us to pick up.  When we arrived at the dock, there was no boom, but a middle-aged man who told us we had to get the boom in the office.

The building where the office did not seem that big.  There was no way there was 30 miles of boom.  I shouldn’t be complaining though because there is no way we could fit it in the boat.  We soon got in the office and saw the boom.  It wasn’t 30 miles or even 1 mile.  It was 300 feet.  It was all they could get on short notice.

300 feet suddenly seemed like a lot of boom when it came time to take it out to the boat.  Boom is heavy.   We were able to get it from the building to the boat.  The hard part was finding a way to get the boom in the boat.  Jared got on the boat and made room for the boom.  The rest of us hoisted the boom up to Jared.  Foot by foot by agonizing foot, the boom was hoisted and placed until the entire boom was on the boat.

The boom was loaded and we were ready to head out.  Jared suggested we go a half mile south of Block Island.  There will be critics that will say that 300 feet of boom will not do a thing.  Every little bit helps.  There is still time before the oil from the Gulf of Mexico reaches Rhode Island.  The 300 feet will be a starting point for the boom to be placed in the weeks to come.  Preparing now and not waiting until the last minute will save Rhode Island from having tar balls on its beaches and waterway.

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