I have really enjoyed reading these stories and thought I would share one of my stories with you all.
My wife and I and some friends were all at a local lake camping for the weekend. Me and the guys went fishing early Saturday morning and came back around noon. I beached the boat in a nearby cove and we all began taking the fishing tackle out to make room for the afternoon trip with the girls planned for later in the day. I tied my rope to the front left cleat and jumped out of the boat and screwed my boat stake into the ground. My buddy said that he would go ahead and tie the other end of the rope to the stake while I finished getting the ice chest. After he tied the rope up I asked if he was sure that it was secure and not going to come loose.
He said and I quote "That boat aint goin' nowhere".
After about an hour I looked from our campsite down to the cove, where the boat was beached, and it was still there. We decied to go ahead and go swimming in another cove to cool off. A couple of hours later it was time to go out on the boat again. As I walked down to the cove I noticed my boat was gone, but the stake that I screwed in was still there. I knew exactly what had happened. The tie job my buddy did was crap! I was so worried and frantic, not about the boat, but that I didn't want anyone to get hurt with a loose boat out in the water. After walking the shore line for 50 yards, I saw my boat in the next cove over. Luckily some nice person must have saw the boat floating around and beached it and tied it up for me. Thank you whoever you were! I will be sure to do the same if given the chance.
My buddy felt really bad about the whole thing. To this day we joke about it.
I will call him up out of the blue and ask "Have you seen my boat?"
My lesson learned:
Always check and do things yourself when you are the one responsible. Don't trust someone if it's your butt on the line.
My wife and I and some friends were all at a local lake camping for the weekend. Me and the guys went fishing early Saturday morning and came back around noon. I beached the boat in a nearby cove and we all began taking the fishing tackle out to make room for the afternoon trip with the girls planned for later in the day. I tied my rope to the front left cleat and jumped out of the boat and screwed my boat stake into the ground. My buddy said that he would go ahead and tie the other end of the rope to the stake while I finished getting the ice chest. After he tied the rope up I asked if he was sure that it was secure and not going to come loose.
He said and I quote "That boat aint goin' nowhere".
After about an hour I looked from our campsite down to the cove, where the boat was beached, and it was still there. We decied to go ahead and go swimming in another cove to cool off. A couple of hours later it was time to go out on the boat again. As I walked down to the cove I noticed my boat was gone, but the stake that I screwed in was still there. I knew exactly what had happened. The tie job my buddy did was crap! I was so worried and frantic, not about the boat, but that I didn't want anyone to get hurt with a loose boat out in the water. After walking the shore line for 50 yards, I saw my boat in the next cove over. Luckily some nice person must have saw the boat floating around and beached it and tied it up for me. Thank you whoever you were! I will be sure to do the same if given the chance.
My buddy felt really bad about the whole thing. To this day we joke about it.
I will call him up out of the blue and ask "Have you seen my boat?"
My lesson learned:
Always check and do things yourself when you are the one responsible. Don't trust someone if it's your butt on the line.
I never trust anyone elses knots. Don't know why, can't recall any particular incident, never had my boat float away or anything like that, (except for that Hobie 16 with the tight sails that blew off that beach on Anna Maria island 
