SANDWICH – I was skipping stones at Duck Harbor, surely about to eclipse the world record of 88, when my attention was drawn to a boat offshore. Someone was dancing around with signal flags, pausing only to sound an air horn. "Oh no," I thought. "Semaphore!" This was my own fault. I had commissioned Captain Lou "Leaky" Tubbs and his patched-up motorboat "Knot 2 Shabby" to patrol Cape Cod Bay seeking questions for the column. This had been a rather unsatisfactory arrangement so far: judging from his expense report, Leaky required enormous amounts of fried clams, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and STP gas treatment to even leave port occasionally.