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capt jake
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« on: December 04, 2003, 10:42:28 PM » |
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OK, I saw this thread on the WBF and thougt it might play out here as well.
Any sort of a boating story to tell?????
Here is mine:
Well a little strange but what the heck, right!
I had a friend who had, God forbid, a fiberg##ss boat. We had taken it out to do some crabbing on the Hood Canal. Mom was with us and it was a blustery day. Anyway, the motor decided it was time to overheat. So we obliged by shutting the motor down and raising the canopy in an effort to 'sail' while using the dead outboard as a rudder. First laugh, right?? Yup, it didn't work too well. Took us nearly 2 1/2 hours to return a mere 4 miles. Ha ha!!
Several weeks later, when the weather was clear we set out in the same boat to go shrimping and crabbing. All went really well!! In the morning we hauled almost 10 gallons of shrimp, a bunch of crab, picked Oysters and dug some clams. We happy and moored the boat at the local marina and set off to the cabin at Lake Cushman to have our 'lunch'!!!.
Here's where the problem started; the boat owner moored the boat at the dock with the bow towards the shore. It was glassy smooth waters and a beautiful day!
While thoroughly enjoying the third course of our lunch, the park ranger stopped by and asked if we had a boat moored at the marina. "Yes" acting rather puzzled, "Why do you ask?"
"Well it is under water and sinking fast!" replied the ranger.
We hurried off to the marina to find the boat swaying submerged under the dock, affixed by only the bow and stern line. White caps and the wind had picked up. The owner of the boat paced back and forth wondering what to do. Being the young energetic buck that I used to be (used to!!) I spotted an electric crane overhead!! I thought for a moment and decided that since I still had my shorts on from earlier (when it was nice) I would volunteer to do the diving in this rescue!!
The plan was for me to grasp the end of the cable from the crane and I would go down and affix it to the bow eye on the boat. Problem was the waves were slamming the boat into the dock at a regular rhythm. There it was!! A regular rhythm!! Since I am rather slender I decided to have the owner (burly guy) hold onto my legs and lower me into the water as the boat drifted away from the dock, in an effort to affix the cable.
Well this drew all sorts of attention from the locals as they had never seen such a daring attempt to rescue a worthless fiberg@#!@s boat! We work for what seemed to be an eternity in this venture until.... Bamm!! Yes I had finally hooked the cable!! We all rejoiced in our accomplishments!!
Next came the 3 plus hours of hoisting it out very slowly in an effort to not damage the hull which was completely full of water.
Eventually we got the boat out of the water and placed it back into the water. We turned it out with the bow pointed away from the shore this time! We able to start the outboard engine and also the trolling motor. Miraculously we had not lost anything out of the boat at all.
You might think this was the happy ending to the story and all lived happily ever after?? Not so; the next morning we went to the marina to go out and gather more of that fantastic seafood only to find the boat resting peacefully at the bottom of the marina!!!
The owner of the boat located the owner of the marina and said, "See that trailer over there?"
"Yeah."
"Well the boat that goes on it is over there below that dock, and here are the keys. Have a nice day!"
He turned and walked away, never looking back.
I haven't gone out shrimping since.
Have a great day!!
Jake
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August 23, 2004, 12:14:26 PM
