scariest boating incident / story

[fishdog4449]

What is the scariest time you have ever had boating?
Mine is either this story or backing the trailer down the ramp for the first time!!
In middle school, my buddy's parents had a house near Lewisetta near the mouth of the potomac. He had a 15' swan point center console with a little johnyrude 28. One day we were beached at a small tidal creek near the mouth catching blue crabs and a huge a** storm came out of nowhere! One minute there were clouds on the horizon next minute BOOM! Bolt lightning, high winds, pouring rain, the works. Needless to say we packed up our things rather quickly, but we were at least 4 or 5 miles from home and by the time we got the motor started the storm was there. Now we already knew that the light little center console didn't handle waves very well, but to the extent of this, we didn't know. We were getting so beaten up the bilge pump never quit the entire ride back. I was definitly much fearing for my life. That was a particulary nasty storm too...after we got the boat in boards started breakin off the dock.
If it doesn't sound scary...remember we were in middle school!!


So, how bout you guys?

 

[octane]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

I was about 15y/o, my friend was driving my dads 13 foot crestliner with at 40hp, and I was on a tube 50 feet back.

my friend decides it would be cool the start doing 8s in the middle of the lake, after a couple of them, the wake was getting very high in the middle of the lake, so he decides to go full speed right accross the 3 foot tall waves.

I jumped about 10 feet in the air, landed right on my stomach, lost my breath completely for at least 5 minutes (didn't know at the time that I broke a couple of ribs)

I manage to get back on the boat, to realize that the floor was popping up and felt all wobly. Water was coming in fast under the floor. We managed to get back to the cottage with about 4 inches of water in the boat... my father wanted to repair the boat, but he passed away before he could start his project, so the boat is still there to remind me not to do anything stupid on the water!

 

[jasonh]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

I was fishing near the Red River dam on Lake Texoma in an old Skeeter Hawk with a 85hp and stick steer. The stripers were schooling and shad were popping the surface like crazy while I reeled in one after the other until a cool breeze suddenly wafted across the water. I turned around and looked north towards the Oklahoma side and noticed dark purple and black thunderheads taller than any I had ever seen before. I quickly yanked the trolling motor up and chucked my rod in the holder ready to bail out when the outflow from the what I assume was a micro-burst/supercell blasted across the water at what felt to be over 50mph. After that, driving rain hit and a steady roar of wind began to build causing the once calm water to white cap with 4ft swells. I hauled out of there tacking into and out of the waves trying to avoid taking a swell over the side but the floor was already 2 inches deep with water and the bilge was running non-stop. I was heading west trying to get back to the cove I put in at and was running along the shoreline about 50 yards out. Suddenly the stick-steer handle started flopping and the engine turned abruptly to the left. Panicking, I shut it down and ran to the rear to see what the deal was and noticed the steering cable had worked its way off the steering tube. In the 2 minutes it took me to re-screw the cable on the wind and waves drove me within feet of the rocky shoreline that was getting hammered by massive waves. Fortunately the motor caught on the 1st try and I blasted out of there full throttle and took a large wave dead on center. The boat pitched upward almost vertical and landed so hard I can't believe the hull didn't fracture. I finally made to the cove and headed south with the wind at my back at top speed. I was drenched and all my gear was floating in water, but I made it. Hairiest fishing trip I ever went on by far.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

Ive had several from making inexperienced mistakes but the most dangerious was when I rode 2 miles back to the ramp in a thunderstorm . My boat is aluminum and I was the ONLY one one the water. Got back with pump running full speed and stll almost sank from the rain water taken in. The lightening was very bad, do you think it could strike a boat?

 

[angus63]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

Fishing on 17' crestliner when I was 22 yrs old alone. Huge blitz inside Montauk pt. on tip of Long Island. Sunset. Storm/Lightening in the distance. Fishing too good to worry bout that!!! While pulling in yet another beauty, got the tingles in my arms and neck, then BAM! When I came to, I was on my back on the deck. Opened my eyes but all I saw was milky blue. A few moments later I got my senses back and noticed the water boiling all around the obstruction bouy about 75' from me. My fishing pole was gone. I packed up and scurried home. I no longer fool with thunderstorms.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

So that means you shouldnt fish near a place lightning strikes right?LOL

 

[fishrdan]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

A buddy and I were fishing at Lake Mohave on my 16.5' SeaSwirl, it was really quiet and peaceful all night long. The next morning we did some trolling and decided to head home when the 2-3' waves picked up. We were taking a bit of water onboard so I had the bilge pump running. I didn't know there was a bug nest in the bilge pump discharge tube so water built up flooding the started and killing the engine. Cleaned out the offending bug nest, pumped the boat out and managed to get the boat started again.

No problem, boat's running good again, bilge pump is pumping, waves outside of the cove are only 3-4' now,,, the boat has been through worse... As we round the point I see a 25-30' boat go cutting off to the right so I push on into now 4-5' waves,,, seen those before, have to take it slow and work through the waves. My buddy isn't sharing the anxiety about fighting through the waves and decides to jump as hard as he can as we are coming off a 5'er,,, he almost cleared the engine cover and wen t into the lake Right after that I look up swell and see a set of 3- 6-7' waves coming dead at us,,, whoa crap! After we cleared the last one I looked at my buddy and saw he was scared s**tless... Oh yeah, the engine decides to die again!

I grabbed the trolling motor and made our way into a cove. 6-7 hours later the engine still wouldn't fire, but when we poked back onto the lake it was glass smooth. Thank God! We had 4 miles to get back to the marina on the trolling motor.

When we got home everyone was concerned as it had been blowing 50-60MPH. I refer to that trip as "The Perfect Storm"

Oh yeah, when your buddy says his wife is going to be p***ed if he's not at home by noon use better judgment than I did

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

Not directly me, but it relates to my family.

My family back home are all trout and salmon fishermen.
Be 25yrs back now, my youngest brother and father where fly fishing the edge of a glacial lake....strong winds.....snow on the tops....getting on to dark.
Father said he thought he heard a squeak, so they both listened hard, then went on fishing. Father heard it again.....same outcome.
Only growth here is tussock grass (snow grass).....no trees or other vegetation.
They were moving along the shoreline casting, and every now again came this squeak.....then the wind stopped for a moment and they heard "help".
A guy had sunk his boat, approx 50m out, and was in a life jacket and holding his tackle box upside down to keep afloat.
Brother is a black-belt in some martial art, plus at that point in what you would call a State Polo Team, so he is a well built, fit and very strong swimmer.
He swam out and got this bloke in. He reckons the only thing that saved the both of them was the victim was older and sensible, and did everything the brother asked.
They both got to the shore exhausted, and suffering hypothermia.
Remember, this is an isolated area, so father then had the task of getting them both back the mile or more to the car, which I understood to be as big of an ordeal as the other 2 had gone thru
Anyway, everybody survived.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

So that means you shouldnt fish near a place lightning strikes right?LOL

Depends on how far you are from trees... best to get as close as you can to the nearest shoreline with trees on it... lightning will target the trees which are much taller before you, but make sure you're pretty close to them.

My scariest moment... pulling into a slip in Marathon in one heck of a wind storm where by the time you had the boat turned right, you were 3 spots down... had to WOT all the way to at least halfway in the slip, then nearly broke all our arms trying to keep it from nailing the dock. Oh yeah, and it was a rental boat, too... completely uninsured... we just knew we were gonna be out thousands... but we made it.

 

[angus63]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

1975 I was 12 yrs old (yup, 45 now). Six miles outside Jones Inlet (ocean) in October with my Pop in a 36' Novi wood double ender, full dispacement downeaster with a 120 Lehman and a dry stack (love to have her back today!). After a cold miserable day of fishing with not much to show for it, we pack it in. Pop yells "Crank er up and bring me home son." I loved to hear those words so I could navigate my way back to and thru the inlet via compass and horizon landmarks. The old girl growled to an idle and as instructed by my Pop several times, " let her warm up a bit before puttin a load her" he'd bellow while sharpening his favorite fillet knife and reaching in the bucket for our future dinner. I then put her in gear, gave her some throttle, and swung her hard to port to come around to the north and point her home.

Nope.

She kept heading south???? Then my Pop exclaims "What the he**???" I turned to see what was the plywood rudder now converted into flotsam drifting off in our wake......

McGyver time!!!!!! No cell phones, no VHF, no seatow, no one in sight....

Pop rigged up the three buckets we had on board to a heavy line. We put the vessel in gear, set her for 3-4 knots, and together for the next 7 hours we dragged those buckets behind us hauling them from one side of the boat to the other to create enough drag to give us some rough steering. Cause she was a double ender, we had to use the cleats at midships to get some separation. When it came to tighter turns in the channel, we had to shift to reverse hard several times and use the "torque steer" to get use pointed in the right direction. Right turns were tough cause we would have to shift back and forth until we turned 270 degrees! We went thru a bridge with my 110 lb frame on the bow pulpit using a broom stick boat hook to guide us thru.

We made it to the dock unscathed and everytime something difficult comes up in our lives, one of us ultimately says "We got home with buckets, we'll get thru this too!!!!"

 

[Mark42]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

I went to launch my boat at the local lake and....


THERE WERE JET SKI'S EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

(insert Psycho shower scene shriek sound here)

I was understandably horrified and revolted beyond belief.


Not sure if I have fully recovered from that experience to this day.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

Mark, may I interest you in my handy, dandy jet ski bow guard? It works sort of like a cattle pusher on the front of a train - you just go real fast and the annoying little buggers bounce off to the side of you.

 

[i386]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

Wife and I were whitewater kayaking in NC. Both of us beginners at the time. We both flipped and did a wet exit in the same rapid. She was ahead of me by a few boat lengths. After being tossed around for a bit under water I finally surfaced. Right about the time the water got of my eyes I saw her under the water as I was about to float past a rock. I managed to get myself on top of the rock and pull her head up so she could get a breath of air. I asked her what she was hung on but she couldn't tell. It took all I had to hold her head up out of the water and shield her from the current with my body so she could get an occasional breath. I felt around trying to figure out what had her but the water was 45 degrees and my hands were numb. Finally it dawned on my that her sprayskirt was stretched tightly over a rock. I had her take a breath and lowered her head back into the water while I struggled to find the edge of the sprayskirt and pull it free from the rock. As soon as it did she floated right up and I swung her over into the eddy and then on to the bank.
If I hadn't been behind her and saw her under the water nobody would. I wouldn't have had any way to quickly get back upstream to go looking for either. We were very lucky.

 

[eavega]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

So I was about 17 yrs old in south Florida, and had learned how to windsurf. I was at that point where you have more confidence than ability. I had taken the windsurfer out into the ocean for the first time (I usually stuck to the big freshwater lakes), and had a grand old time zipping up and down the beach. Well it was finally time to bring it back on in, so I am on my way back to shore. Apparently the tide had gone out, and I was crossing a sandbar that I didn't know was there when I headed out. My daggerboard caught in the sand in about 8-10 inches of water, and I lost my balance, got spun around, and fell backwards into the water. The sail fell over on top of me, and quickly filled with water, pinning me to the sand. I had no leverage to get the sail off of me (I was on my back), plus since I couldn't get any air under the sail even if I raised it, it would suck up the water along with it. For the first time in my life, I truly understood what panic was. Living in an outdoorsy state like Florida, I participated in many activities where the number one rule when something goes wrong is "don't panic" (SCUBA diving, camping, boating, etc). I remember my brain saying over and over "don't panic, don't panic, don't panic", but my body paid absolutely no attention to what my brain was saying, and I just kept thrashing under that bright red sail full of water. By some miracle, I manage to crab-crawl (on my elbows and feet) to the edge of the sail, lift the edge, and catch the breeze. Once it had air under it, it caught the breeze and lifted off enough for me to get out. My throat and chest hurt for days afterward. I still love the water though.

E

 

[ilmostro99]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

Well, not boating, but definitely water related... A few years ago, I was backpacking in the high sierras. We were camping at 9,500' near a lake with a small island about 150 yards offshore. As soon as we got there, I said I was going to swim to that lake. Well, by day three, I still hadn't and we were getting ready to pack up, and I knew I would regret it if I didn't... I decided to go for it. The water was cold, but it didn't seem excessively so, so I jumped in and took off for the island, with 2 friends on shore watching me. At what I estimated to be just over half way there, my body suddenly shut down. I had extreme difficulty getting my limbs to work and I couldn't catch my breath. Too late to turn back, too far for my friends to come help, I had to keep going.
I've always prided myself for the ability to remain calm and not panic in dangerous situations, but this was the ultimate test. Strange things start coming into your mind in these situations. I started imagining being sucked under by underwater currents, etc. Almost instantly, I pushed these thoughts from my mind, I focused on getting as much air into my lungs as possible, trying to float on my back, and forcing my nearly useless limbs to propel me through the water, ever so slowly. Obviously, it worked and I eventually made it to the island, but had I panicked, there is no way I would have made it. The best I can figure, the combination of cold water (hypothermia) and the thin high altitude air worked together to cause my body to shut down.
I've never understood how people can drown being relatively close to shore. It always seemed to me that all you have to do is put one arm over the other and force yourself to swim. Now I know...You can't if your limbs shut down.
Erik
Oh yeah, how did I get back? There was a chain of exposed rocks spaced about 10 yards apart leading to shore on the other side of the island. After about 1 1/2 hours rest, I swam from rock to rock to shore and hiked back. Yes, I knew about it before I started my swim, but that would have been cheating. I didn't mind so much on the way back.

 

[sunaj]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

My diving incident.
When I was younger and freediving I set out from a spot near Monterey, with my speargun and bag attached to my surfboard which also served as my flotation device.
The surf was rough but I thought I could paddle thru it. I launched, and the undertow pulled me under a huge wave, knocking my snorkel and facemask off, seperating me from my board, roiling me in the water.
I come up gasping for air, and again a wave smashes over me, I decide to drop my weight belt. Now, on top of the water, without the weight belt I can't get any traction in the water, as I am floating on the top, my board is 20 yds away me, but I make it to my board, get on top. I am so tired now I know if I fall off I am gonna drown. I have the pervading feeling of death and I know if I panic I am going to die.
The waves are crashing over me, but the tide keeps me away from the shore. I study the waves, and decide to shoot for the shore, I get close to the beach and I am clawing in the sand to keep me and my gear from getting sucked back out. I collapse on the beach, too tired to move.
A local walks by and starts telling me how dangerous this part of the beach was, and how divemasters drown out here from time to time. Later I found the beach sharply descends into a deep canyon, which accounted for the dangerous undertow. Guess that's why they call it mortuary beach.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: scariest boating incident / story

My dad's friend and I go duck hunting on Christmas eve and I fail to tie the boat in the boatblind part of our duckblind and it drifts off. The water temperature was about 50 degrees or colder and the air temp. was about 40degrees. My dad's friend can't swim and always wears his life jacket, so the life jacket was inside the back of the blind instead of in the boat. I'm about 25 at the time and thought I was in darn good shape from playing sports in college (about 4 years ago at the time). So feeling like a fool for not tying the boat better and knowing that everyone else is at home on Christmas eve so there's no chance of help, I confidently take off my hunting clothes and take what I think is an EASY swim to the boat which had drifted in the wind about 60 or 70 yds. from the blind at the time. He advised I wear the life jacket and I actually listened although I didn't really think I needed it at the time since the boat wasn't far away and I am a strong swimmer. Not wanting to slowly get the family jewels wet, I dive in with no problem. After going not 30 or 40 yds., I feel my arms and legs getting weaker and weaker and beginning to go numb. The boat has of course drifted further away by this time and is now about 75 yds. further away from me. By the time I get there, I had been backstroking, using the life jacket to float on and can barely lift my arms. But I still have to get IN the boat. I muster my last bit of strength and grab the sides of the boat, pul, and luckily I barely get in. I truly think that had I not gotten in on that try I would not have had the strength to do so, and probably would have died from hypothermia. The life jacket was also just that. Thankfully, the '84 15hp johnson cranked on the first pull even though I could barely get my hands to hold the pull cord.
That was the coldest I've ever been and I now know just how dangerous cold water is and how quickly it can make a pitiful weakling out of any adult. It was a good lesson and I'm glad I survived it!
BTW, If anyone has seen the "seinfeld" episode where George talks about "shrinkage"----it's TRUE, especially in 50 degree water!!!
JBJ