I rarely blog unless something unique happens but today something actually did. Nothing significant but makes a decent yarn.
I was out on the San Francisco Bay paddle boarding in an unpopular location. As I returned to my dock, I found a Tesla Model S in the water.
Having been to this location many times I knew this was unusual. I asked the man in the dark shirt to the right:
“Are you stuck?”
He said “no”.
As I docked, the Model S successfully pulled out of the water. I noticed two unusual things: a missing silver door handle and then the telltale MFG – manufacturing – plate on the back of the Tesla.
I asked the two men what they were up to. Turns out they are testing the ability to pull boats out of the water as they were working on improvements (I’m assuming software). I asked well
“Don’t you need a boat?”
He said “no, its actually all about the angle”
By the time I reached my ICE that can easily carry the paddle board, they had returned with their second vehicle a Model X and dunked it similarly in the water.
Being the ever curious nosy Tesla owner, I decided to film the pulling of the Model X out of the water.
The video quality is bad as the cheapie reading glasses slipped over the camera lens on the iphone. So I’ll just included a still.
But as they were trying to pull it out, the Model X slipped back even more, and they got stuck!
I heard the driver say “I don’t have enough power” to the guy sitting with a laptop in the trunk.
He thought about getting out of the car, but realized (I’m assuming) his shoes and pants would be full of sludge. He ended up calling I assume someone back at the factory for a tow.
The sludge is well pretty sludgy and sticky at the dock but the dock does have a grate as you can see in the photo below. This was at very low tide and perhaps the back wheel of the X was below the grate and in the sludge directly?
I didn’t wait to watch. More work needed on the software I’m assuming!
TESLA OWNER 