TLDR. A person who should not own a boat wrapped their anchor in their outboard, almost risked certain death and gave me stink eye for taking a picture of his idiocy after we saved them.
A couple of years ago, my son and I were down in Snead's Ferry staying on the new river. On this particular day, we went out the inlet but it was a little rougher than we felt like fishing, so we anchored at the "S" turn back in the intlet and bottom fished. See red arrow.
The tide was going out and we heard a boat blow a horn 1 time. Then a minute later again. I mentioned to my son that 4 times means distress. Sure as heck, they then blew it 3 times.
Annoyed but doing the right thing, we pulled up gear and anchor and went to see if we could help. When we get there the guy with his less than thrilled son, explained that he got his anchor caught in the prop. They were right off of North Topsail with an outgoing tide. He said that they were thinking about bailing out and swimming to shore.
Anyone who knows the New River inlet knows that swimming in an outgoing current goes from being a rescue to a recovery in minutes.
So, no life jackets in view. No marine radio. He hadn't even called the CG when he realized they were in trouble.
I tied off my anchor line and tossed it to him and he proceeds to start pulling his boat towards us. NO. Just stay in your boat, use the OB as a rudder and I will pull you to someplace to untangle the anchor rope. The current on the Topsail side was FAST as expected, so I idled up onto the sandbar and set my anchor before gradually releasing the line to him. When they were set, it was about 3' of water. I told him to get out and untangle it.
It wouldn't budge. I asked if it was in neutral. Nope. Once his kid put it into neutral, it came right out.
NOTE. It was not just rope and chain. It was the actual anchor wedged in there. I could not resist a pic and got Stink Eye in return for dropping everything and helping someone who should not have a boat in the first place. He said that he didn't have his wallet so couldn't pay me to which I replied "Get a marine radio!"
A couple of years ago, my son and I were down in Snead's Ferry staying on the new river. On this particular day, we went out the inlet but it was a little rougher than we felt like fishing, so we anchored at the "S" turn back in the intlet and bottom fished. See red arrow.
The tide was going out and we heard a boat blow a horn 1 time. Then a minute later again. I mentioned to my son that 4 times means distress. Sure as heck, they then blew it 3 times.
Annoyed but doing the right thing, we pulled up gear and anchor and went to see if we could help. When we get there the guy with his less than thrilled son, explained that he got his anchor caught in the prop. They were right off of North Topsail with an outgoing tide. He said that they were thinking about bailing out and swimming to shore.
Anyone who knows the New River inlet knows that swimming in an outgoing current goes from being a rescue to a recovery in minutes.
So, no life jackets in view. No marine radio. He hadn't even called the CG when he realized they were in trouble.
I tied off my anchor line and tossed it to him and he proceeds to start pulling his boat towards us. NO. Just stay in your boat, use the OB as a rudder and I will pull you to someplace to untangle the anchor rope. The current on the Topsail side was FAST as expected, so I idled up onto the sandbar and set my anchor before gradually releasing the line to him. When they were set, it was about 3' of water. I told him to get out and untangle it.
It wouldn't budge. I asked if it was in neutral. Nope. Once his kid put it into neutral, it came right out.
NOTE. It was not just rope and chain. It was the actual anchor wedged in there. I could not resist a pic and got Stink Eye in return for dropping everything and helping someone who should not have a boat in the first place. He said that he didn't have his wallet so couldn't pay me to which I replied "Get a marine radio!"
Last edited:
