LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. — A nonprofit that operates on Tellico Lake is helping stranded boaters make their way back to the docks.
Tellico Boaters Assistance Response Team, or T-BART, gives free boat tows for Tellico Lake. Any boater who is stranded for a non-medical or non-emergency reason can call 911 to be connected to T-BART.
"We ask them to call 911 because their phone will transmit a latitude and longitude that will then be relayed to us. So we know where to find them," said Bob Elgin, the president of the nonprofit.
T-BART members are volunteers and they respond to calls 24/7, 365 days a year.
"We went this past February in nine inches of snow and pulled 10 boats out of a dock that was feared that the roof was going to collapse. So that's the kind of thing we do," said Elgin.
Elgin said the calls gradually go up each year as more people move to the area.
"We tow better than 100 boats a year that are disabled or need to be moved from wherever they are to perhaps a launch ramp to be able to go to the shop and, and receive maintenance, repair or whatever."
Elgin said people should not be afraid to call for help.
"We're here. Don't hesitate to ask us for help. We've got a whole raft of folks who are, are more than willing. We do survive on donations and sponsorships, but we figure out how to make that work," said Elgin.
He said one of their primary sponsors is Yamaha Motors, which helps.
"We have no paid staff. So everybody you see is a volunteer, helps us keep things relatively cheap, but we also have some tremendous sponsors who have helped fund us. Key one being Yamaha Motors who provides the motors for all of our tow boats," said Elgin.
He said a decade ago, T-BART had no boats and members had to use their personal ones. Now T-BART has three.
"We have three tow boats, one based here at the Tellico Village Yacht Club. One at Kahite, so much further upstream. And then one based at Rarity Bay. We also have a small rigid inflatable that we keep on a trailer that we use in search and rescue, search and recovery missions to get into very shallow water."
T-BART also runs a life jacket loaner program where people are able to borrow life jackets if they need them. He said there are infant, toddler and youth sizes available too.
"At multiple places up and down the lake where there are major boat docks. We have a set of roughly a dozen life jackets of different sizes," said Elgin.
Elgin said this is an important program because life jackets are the law and they also help save lives.
"Almost every year, there are incidents where somebody falls into the lake and does not come back up. We'd like to see the number of those go to zero. The key is if you fall in with a life jacket on, you're far more likely to come back up," said Elgin.
Elgin said to his knowledge there are no other organizations like T-BART that offer free towing in the area. He said if someone wants to create one in their area, T-BART is happy to help.
"We've made it clear, we hope that if you live in a different way to see an organization like T-BART created, we will be happy to share with you our experiences, our learnings, and even our policies and procedures around," said Elgin.
T-BART also hosts lake orientations for people to know who they are, what they do and to get them familiar with Tellico Lake. He said it's a two or three-hour class in a traditional classroom-like setting.
"We share what we know about this lake. You know, where the safe spots are, where the restaurants are, where the fuel docks are, where the reefs and hazards are that we know about. And folks seem to really appreciate that most of our audiences will raise their hand and say, roughly 80% of them have been in this general area less than two years and roughly 40% of our audience have never boated before. So they're starting from scratch and then they tell their friends," said Elgin.