Hi everyone! My name is Brady Watson, and I’m so thankful and excited to be the 2023 Summer Intern for the Boston Sea Rovers! For my first assignment of the summer I get to work with Rick Simon and his crew from Shoreline Diving. We started the day meeting at Rick’s boat in Connecticut bright and early to get a start on the day. Starting with loading up the boat with help from Ricks employees Dave and Austin, the boat was packed with a ton of different tools and hardware which we would need for the day. Then we headed out for a day of work. On the docket today was a mix of work on different boat moorings in the area. Shoreline has numerous jobs dealing with inspecting existing moorings, or even placing new ones. When we arrived at the first mooring of the day, the entire shoreline crew worked to attach the boat so we wouldn’t float away, and then replace the steel chain that had been worn down over years in the water. I never imagined steel chain could wear down so thin, but it’s crazy to see how thin it got! Rick explained that the constant tugging combined with the friction from sand caused the chain to wear down within only a few years.
After working on 2 different mooring inspections, we had a great lunch cooked by Rick on the grill, plus some amazing blueberry cheesecake provided by a super sweet customer! After lunch we moved closer to home to install a few new moorings. Rick let me hop in with him to see how these were installed. The entire process has a ton of steps, but Rick, Dave, and Austin work great together to ensure every step is done efficiently and safely. Including preparing the heavy equipment such as an auger (a hydraulic drill) which was lowered into the water with a lift bag attached so that it was easily handleable beneath the surface. After dropping some of the pieces into the water, Rick and I swam down so I could watch as he drilled a long helical anchor into the substrate, then capped it off with a termination piece, and finally bolted in the moorings chain and buoy. Once the new moorings were in place, we headed back to shore for the day. It’s clear that the work Rick and Shoreline do is super important, and I have a ton to learn. I can’t wait for the rest of the week! 🙂