Rescuing a Stranded Pontoon Boat at Whale Key! | Grounding 22ft Bentley

Stop data brokers from exposing your personal information. Go to my sponsor aura.com/FGCMS to get a 14-day free trial and see how much of your information is being sold After having just completed two other jobs, Bobby and I get a call for a pontoon boat that’s stuck over by Whale Key. I had just bought a new DJI Mini 3 for this exact situation…to get a different perspective on a grounding, so let me know what you think down in the comments! This was also the first job I’ve ever done as a towboat captain where the customer wanted to take a selfie with me…so that was a bit awkward…
Camera used -Insta360 X3
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AI-Generated Description:
We’ve got an exciting episode for you today! After completing two challenging jobs earlier in the day, Bobby and I received an urgent call about a pontoon boat stuck near Whale Key. This situation presented the perfect opportunity to test out my brand new DJI Mini 3 drone, which I specifically bought to capture unique perspectives during our rescue operations.
As we arrived at the scene, I launched the DJI Mini 3 to get some aerial shots of the grounding. The drone provided an incredible view that really highlights the complexity of these situations. I'm eager to hear your thoughts on this new perspective, so make sure to drop a comment below!
During the rescue, something unexpected happened - the customer asked to take a selfie with me! This was a first in my career as a towboat captain, and it was definitely a bit awkward but also quite memorable. We managed to safely free the pontoon boat, and the drone footage turned out amazing!
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you never miss an adventure! Your support helps us keep bringing you these thrilling rescue missions from the water.
#TowBoatCaptain #DroneFootage #RescueMission #DJIMini3 #PontoonBoat #WhaleKey

[@MJB251]

Capt Ken, love your videos. You have amazing boat skills. Always respectful to the customers, your parents raised you right. I can feel safe in recommending your channel to others. Too many have such foul language.

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks MJB!

[@doncornish4173]

You need to make a Short of the rope catching on the post. I replayed it a number of times crazy how it just grabbed on. Great video keep them coming.

[@CaptKenO]

Hahaha. OK. I'll do that!

[@johnstreet797]

belay the bitter end, or find out why they call it that

[@craigroberson8757]

I can honestly say that I wonder how people manage to get themselves in such predicaments, but when you were asked for a picture everything made more sense.

[@FlipCouvillion]

I would like to say congratulations to Bobby for moving up from deckhand to cameraman🤙

[@CaptKenO]

Lol 😂 I'm not sure that's a promotion though 🤔

[@iceman9549]

Drone footage was great. Beautiful site Awesome job captain 👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Iceman!

[@doreendaykin6693]

Awesome video!! Enjoyed every minute! Those ladies were a complete joy!

[@mediadaemon]

A trick for those dji drones to prevent it running from you is to switch to sport mode on the controller. That disables the sensors so be careful, but it makes catching a lot easier

[@CaptKenO]

I might try that next time. I don't like flying in sport mode in close proximity to things because the drone is super touchy...🤷

[@billkaht2361]

The end of the tow line snagging the post! You must be living right, Capt. Ken! Great video!

[@CaptKenO]

Hahaha! Thanks Bill!

[@tomnorman2668]

Great drone pics! Law enforcement, hmmmmm!

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Tom!

[@tomnorman2668]

@@CaptKenO KLike the videos. Thank you for making them.

[@hippogod13]

We’re not lying! 🤥

[@tomnorman2668]

@@hippogod13 i believe you!!!!

[@user-xl5np5dp8n]

Those folks are deep into their cups! Funny....

[@CaptKenO]

I think they ran out and that's why they finally called for help 😂

[@RascalBoat]

Hopefully your boss appreciates the great advertising from the drone shots. Gives us a good view of what you’re doing and the TowBoatUS looks great!

[@CaptKenO]

Hahaha. Thanks rascal! He does appreciate the free publicity!

[@colinjohnson1865]

Nice video. Glad to see you have another person with you. Drone shot is a bonus. Also I like the signature music. Nice people on the boat you tow. This is the only video for me.

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Colin!

[@user-dv7hb2sc9m]

They all seemed in good spirits.... and what nice catch w/ your towline, lmao, it caught itself & I thought it was going out on the water but so did you >> Nice drone shot giving a lot of perspective to this. Where's the electric winch? kidding. Another beautiful day..... be safe & peace

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Diggy!

[@curtishyde1842]

About the time you started the throttle up I realized those engines weren't synchronized I was going to say something and then you said something so you know what I agree with you you have a desynchronization within the RPMs of the motors which means once producing a little more power than the other you're a damn good Captain to have noticed it

[@CaptKenO]

Yeah, it was weird. On the boat it didn't sound that off, but for some reason, the mic really picked up on it 🤷

[@artmartin1913]

The drone footage and landing was awesome!

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Art !

[@havanashamrock]

Awesome now we have drone footage from now on. Great job

[@CaptKenO]

Sometimes maybe. It won't be a permanent feature

[@koli116]

Great rescue. Love the drone shots. Those will get better with experience!

[@CaptKenO]

Yeahhhhh, I fly drones as a side business, but it'll take some experimenting to figure out what angle we like best for these types of videos

[@TheTurdSculptor]

Awesome video brother. Drone shot definitely gives it a cool perspective. Good job on the ungrounding. As for the lucky line catch on the tow post, I think it was owed to you, line management can be a pain and it’s nice to catch a win from time to time! Keep that camera rolling capt Ken!

[@CaptKenO]

Hahaha! Thanks capt!

[@nedkent5239]

If I had the unlimited membership I would do that once a month to keep the crap off the bottom. Sand scrape it off…

[@CaptKenO]

Good in theory...but you'd be better off doing it every 3 months to make sure they don't kick you out

[@josephcitizen4195]

Dude, the drone is a great addition. Keep it up!

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Joseph!

[@jaysol1686]

Great video sure is a nice area to work!!

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Jay!

[@kittyztigerz]

oh forgot one thing congratulations bobby for being drone video

[@kittyztigerz]

your right engine aint running (in video if you look back it right engine is died or not in gear) i can see left engine is pushing but right doing nothing it awesome to see you got picture xD never seen once in life time your customer be your number one

[@CaptKenO]

The port engine died when backing up the first time, but after that both were running

[@kittyztigerz]

@@CaptKenO i was looking at footage and i can tell one engine aint doing anything idk if it in neuter not in gear and just revving up but i can see one engine doing heavy work

[@CaptKenO]

@@kittyztigerz I can assure you that both engines are in gear and running. The easiest way for you to tell is look at the engine angle. If I only had one running at high RPM, the engines would be hard over to keep the boat going straight

[@kittyztigerz]

@@CaptKenO i see get it

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

OMG hilarious!! REfreshing both in the getting wet and with the drone footage. Love the girls and their deep Florida accent. The towloine got caught solely on good karma! I would have gone way higher with the drone to get a more top down view. I have the same drone and I remember being afraid to go very high, but the drone is pretty capable and will warn you of communication strength. Out on the water, communication with the drone will be excellent.

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Patrick! Must've been good karma because I've got no other explanation for how it managed to do that 😂 We played around with the drone again on a job yesterday from much higher up, and yeah, it's definitely better

[@delclifton6096]

Your vids just keep getting better and better Cap'n!

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Del!

[@gilbertoluzgloria]

Essa filmagem deste resgate, foi incrível, agora sim, ficou completo, assistir seus vídeo. Obrigado.

[@jonsmith497]

Good video.

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Jon!

[@stevehartley8162]

Hi from Australia. Lovin the videos!

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Steve!

[@vancity2349]

Enjoyed that different rescue. The ladies were in a good mood which makes it fun. Is that sea grass slippery? Seemed to pull off pretty easy... I wondered what you guys were looking up at earlier then I realized it was the drone....nice work boys...

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Vancity! Yes. The seagrass is super slippery, but that boat still came off much easier than I thought it was going to

[@derick2986]

I think you need a small capstan to pull your line in for you 😅

[@CaptKenO]

Or a Bobby...😂

[@derick2986]

@@CaptKenO that will work too

[@CaptKenO]

@@derick2986 Too bad he was busy on this job and can't come out with me on every job I have...

[@superape339]

cool as ever

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks superape!

[@gidge34]

Seam like good people

[@MikeyDee25]

Good job Ken. Why not land on the boat top? Put an H on the top so it knows where to land! 😂

[@CaptKenO]

Hahaha. Thanks Mikey! The top is canvas and there's a bunch of stuff up there, so it's easier to just catch it

[@johnbaskett2309]

Those old cougars wanted more than a picture.

[@cheapme1850]

The only thing silly than a bunch of drunk college kids on spring break is…

[@xtremepowersports4329]

I’m thinking that there was a lot of alcohol involved in that pontoon boat

[@keepingdistance4404]

Put the sun behind the drone for better exposure if possible.

[@CaptKenO]

Yes. It would be better...but we'll have to play around with the drone to see if looking from the towboat side or boat being towed looks better 🤷

[@jondonron]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on obtaining a boat license. Do you think the licensing process is too easy? What recommendations would you make to reduce the number of accidents?

[@CaptKenO]

So simple answer is yes. In the US, the boating license is to easy to obtain and doesn't do enough to ensure people are safe boaters. That being said, with the number of boaters we have, I don't see it being practical to change it significantly enough to where it would actually make a difference

[@jondonron]

@@CaptKenO I live in Germany and it's so hard to get a boat license because you have to do so much theory you have to answer 40 questions out of 1200 and you have to navigation on a paper chart but practice is to easy you have to rescue a a person and dock the boat theory is to unrealistic and to difficult and practice is to essay

[@CaptKenO]

@@jondonron When you say boating license, do you mean for recreational boaters or for commercial captains? That sounds like what it's like to get a captain's license here. A lot of theory that isn't really useful for 95% of the boating situations most captains will encounter. I want to say for our recreational boating license, it's a 50 question test, but it's open book and really just covers the basic safety topics

[@jondonron]

@@CaptKenO recreational boating license

[@jondonron]

@@CaptKenO no open Books it’s exam It’s so hard Because you have to choose from ABCD and sometimes they are similar, but one word is different

[@xtremepowersports4329]

How fast does your tow boat go?

[@CaptKenO]

23kts at 4k RPM

[@xtremepowersports4329]

@@CaptKenO so 4k rpm is maxed out?

[@CaptKenO]

No, it probably maxes out around 5600 but we don't ever run it that high

[@xtremepowersports4329]

@@CaptKenO probably a dumb question, do the engines have hour meters? Just curious how many hours are them because you guys use them so much.

[@ErnestConnett]

This guy is a professional person who has honor and morels to help others get back to land safely while risking his own!!!! They work with coast guard and fish and game and remove and recovery of aquatic boats for environmental services!!! Fun job and need more people to help

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Ernest!

[@clinty51]

See if your drone has the ability to track then you just set the frame up how you want and the drone will follow you, I have experimented a bit with mine. Launching and retrieving from a boat and the heartbeat certainly picks up some, also if you continue to hold the down stick it overrides the sensors to catch it...I read somewhere that flipping it over to kill it, will eventually kill it, messes with gyros and the rest of the wizardry inside....gives a really good perspective....and , well, advertising 🫡🙏🙏

[@CaptKenO]

I thought it would since my old mavic pro did...but it doesn't, so I'm returning it and getting the mini 3 pro which does have tracking

[@clinty51]

@@CaptKenO Nice, that's the one I have, so many cool features, and you don't have to fluff around connecting to a cellphone with the dedicated remote 🫡

[@ErnestConnett]

This guy is a professional person who has honor and morels to help others get back to land safely while risking his own!!!! They work with coast guard and fish and game and remove and recovery of aquatic boats for environmental services!!! Fun job and need more people to help

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Ernest!

[@ErnestConnett]

This guy is a professional person who has honor and morels to help others get back to land safely while risking his own!!!! They work with coast guard and fish and game and remove and recovery of aquatic boats for environmental services!!! Fun job and need more people to help

[@CaptKenO]

Thanks Ernest!