Diversity in skills can be a way to survive a job loss during the pandemic

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Someone with multiple income streams would appear to be more likely to handle the financial impacts of the current pandemic, but that's not always the case. It has sunk many budget plans for 2020.

Milo Wolf has been sidelined from his job on the Land Shark where he gives witty tours around Santa Barbara both on shore and on a short ocean tour.

He also hosted a trivia-entertainment night at various locations including the Brewhouse in the West Beach neighborhood. It was called the Milo and Maddy Hammerhead Trivia Hour.

With those two options going quiet, Milo has surfaced at the Santa Barbara Harbor with a new line check service for vessels.

It may be just what he needs to stay afloat with about 1,200 vessels in the harbor and many visiting vessels weekly.

Wolf says, "there's an old saying: water flows and go with the flow, and that's what I had to do."

In making a change, Wolf surfaced with one of the smallest boats in the Santa Barbara Harbor. "I needed something that is small enough to get around in this harbor because I have to go right in between boats."

The Glen L Tubby Tug is 9 feet long and 5 feet wide.

Wolf uses it for his newer business called Line Check Services.

These days with the crisis, many vessels have absentee owners who don't know about the wear and tear taking place on their lines or other parts of their vessel.

Wolf says he has proven to be more reliable than many others. He is in the harbor regularly and lives a couple of minutes away.

"They tell me, 'My friends, my neighbor will take care of it.' What if your neighbor is taking care of their stuff?" he said.

There are cruise-by inspections and some up-close where he will see "that your lines are secure and there are no chafe points because this is where it will chafe and will break the line."

Now he has his harbor business and is also somewhat of a neighborhood watch leader.

"It's a pleasure to be down here with all my friends in the harbor," said Wolf while driving his still-unnamed boat around.

"God bless the harbor patrol here, they do such a wonderful job but they can't attend to the minutiae of every boat in the harbor," said Wolf. "I want to make sure your boat is not sinking, there aren't people living on it, there aren't people that don't belong there and that it's in a secure condition."

Like his life during the virus, he isn't sitting around and doesn't want these boats to be neglected either.

"You can't let them sit. You have to be proactive like engines, everything. Boats will really go bad quick in the marine environment," said Wolf. "It's the little things that can turn into a big thing. You want to be ahead of it, you don't want to be behind it."

For more information go to: Line Check Services.