SEA JOE
10/4/2007 5:00:39 PM by Sandy Lindsey
The CEO of Sea Tow, Captain Joe Frohnhoefer, does more than tow boats all day — he’s responsible for saving lives and for ensuring that everyone’s time on the water is as safe as it can be in the wake of disaster.
Photo courtesy of Sea Tow
As the founder and CEO of Sea Tow, Captain Joe Frohnhoefer has seen just about everything that can happen on the water, and is a better man for the experience. “These days we handle about 600 cases per year. The ones that are really phenomenal, the ones that really stand out, are when we save a life, a true save,” says Frohnhoefer, a man who spends almost every day on a boat, whether for work or for fun.
Frohnhoefer says that one time his team received a call about a sinking boat with a little boy stuck in the bow. “Divers couldn’t get to him,” he says. “He’d been stuck there for about 45 minutes by the time we got there.” Witnesses described the scene as pure chaos with hysterical family members watching the boat sink with the trapped child lodged inside.
“We had only seconds to think and act,” continues Frohnhoefer. “We decided to pull the boat up and onto the beach. I sent one of my guys on board and told him to look down as the water rushed out the back of the boat. Sure enough, the child flushed out with the water and my guy grabbed him. He didn’t know what to do, so he slapped him, and it worked.” The boy started to spit out water and breathe just as an ambulance arrived. “It was an amazing day,” says Frohnhoefer.
Back in 1983, Frohnhoefer purchased a boat for $30,000 to begin what would become the revered Sea Tow of today. He took on a partner, and in 1984, they got their first trademark license and began towing off the coast of Rhode Island. That led to Long Island service and then to Florida. “It was mostly by word of mouth,” says Frohnhoefer. “We went to boat shows across the country to introduce boaters to our service.”
In 1985, Sea Tow began working for BoatUS. “They gave these $50 cards to their members and we provided the service,” says Frohnhoefer. “Ten years later, that partnership ended when I put my foot down when I realized we were diluting both brands. I asked the current members who they wanted to go with, and all but one went with Sea Tow.” Now the company is in Europe and Australia and is planning for upcoming locations in Italy, Spain and Dubai. “I never thought it would grow so big,” says Frohnhoefer. “I have a great life. I get to live it on the water. I get to visit franchises and have friends in every port.”
As to his wackiest experience? “It had to be when we got a call from a guy whose wife was nine-and-a-half months pregnant,” Frohnhoefer recounts. “He’d taken her boating to ‘shake her down.’ Then he ran out of gas. I’ll tell you, we rushed that gas out to him quickly! She delivered the next day.”